How do you create your characters' names?

[Senkusha]

There are many different methods for creating a name for your character. I know that in anime, sometimes the author will name a character based on some quirk or quality of their character's personality. I've known some people to just use a Baby Name book (or website) and pick a name they like, or has significant meaning. Maybe you're character comes from another author's book, and you just like the name. But when it comes to Japanese names here I've found that I usually just take names from other anime characters.

How do you create names for your characters?

 

[Yityat]

If it's for a Japanese character, then I use Jisho. Put in a word, find a matching kanji. Put in a kanji, and there'll be a list of personal names or surnames where that kanji is incorporated.
So when I name a character, I'd like to think about what kind of hopes or expectations a parent would have for them rather than just a pun. So let's use "healthy" as our word for this example. Hey look, the kanji: 健. Any names? Here it is: 健一, Kenichi. Do a little Googling to make sure it's not a kirakira name and whaddya know, there's a singer-songwriter named Kenichi Takemoto (竹本健一)! Personal name done. As for surnames, there's this website.

 

[Senkusha]

That's actually a pretty neat process! I'll have to look into Jisho.

 

[SuperNerdBro]

I come up with my original characters through random name generator sites and other sites that has downloadable first name and surname text files.

 

[Sailor Marin]

I usually just pick from real names based on what sounds nice to me. If I'm really desperate, or it's just a fairly minor NPC, I'll touch a random name generator for some help.