The ones Nocturna gave are all given names from the Bible, but some, such as Jackson, function as surnames as well. You don't have to have Jackson as a surname or use it at all.
I highly recommend Behind the Surname
for this; the Baptist sect originated in 17th century England, so you might want to check the English surnames section of the site.
Thanks for the link, I didn't realise you could search by state on the site. After a few searches it seems that personal names really don't vary much by state, at least not for boys. "Christopher" was popular everywhere from Maine to Mississippi in 1985. So maybe we should focus on the surname. I was originally going to look up a real Southern aristocratic family and give him the name, but perhaps that's a bad idea.
No, then you'll be getting into Famous-Named Foreigner territory for some people, which is just really lazy.
"Jack, you have debauched my sloth."I don't think it's quite that bad. For example, if his surname was "Bulloch" very few readers are going to think it's gimmicky or implausible. Even though there was a real Bulloch family from Georgia who were slaveowners and in the Confederate navy. But on the other hand, the real Bulloch family doesn't seem to have any surviving members with that surname, so it would still be bit weird to insert an imaginary descendent.
While I applaud your attention to detail, I really don't think it matters. Yes, your character won't be a real Bulloch (or Jackson). Is that such a big deal?
Writing a post-post apocalypse LitRPG on RR. Also fanfic stuff.Perhaps not. I'll give it some thought. Here's a harder character to chose a name for: She was born in 1985 too, to American-born Chinese parents in San Francisco. They were pretty thoroughly assimilated, so they gave her a Western personal name (but not one that sounds like anything bad in Chinese). Her surname is Chinese, but it might modified to fit better into English, like "Lee". I can come up with dozens of possibilities, but I'd be interested to see other people's suggestions.
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This should be relevant to your interests.
As for the given name, my recommendation is that you trawl the Behind the Name
database for something that sounds good.
Also, you are not necessarily confined to time periods. Yes, you do have to observe when names came into use, but that doesn't mean that that's the only time they were used. My name came into use in the 1970s, but I was born in the mid-90s.
Ruthenia, maybe? It was a Latin rendition of Rus, a region where the Eastern Europeans who were the predecessors of the Russian people lived.
I'm having a little trouble with the name of one of my post-Cataclysm cultures. In English, "Kingdom of the Lion" sounds awesome, but in Latin, "Regnum Leo" might sound a little strange. I'm not 100% sure, though. Are there any good alternatives, or does it sound good as is? I'd appreciate the feedback. :)
Come on! Let's bless them all until we get fershnickered!I'm having trouble naming some characters, and also places.
The protagonist, first of all, is a fallen princess (former blue blood, kind of) turned rebel who's initially very vain and haughty with a side order of snobbery. She's also intelligent, sensitive (she tends to pick up on things quite easily) and deep down, quite kind and generous, and becomes a mage as the story progresses. She needs a name.
The leading man is a mercenary who comes across as ruthless, independent, resourceful and a great shot. He seems quite selfish, but underneath it all is a hidden, jaded and rather cynical heart of gold. He also needs a name.
Yes, defrosting seems to be rapidly becoming a theme with my main characters.
My setting needs a name too, a country where the government rebelled against magicians (who were in power before them) and that is now run by a bunch of muggles who will execute anyone hinting that they're magically gifted for the greater good (and the country as a whole is ran quite well), as the magicians really did abuse their power. It would be a slightly futuristic society, with sufficiently advanced technology (not quite Star Wars or crystal spires and togas advanced, but still).
"In the end a gentle heart may be worth more than pride or valor."I need something to call my Sentai style Magical Girls. They already have their own names and the like, but they need a codename for when they're fighting their enemies.
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I really, really should have been more specific, haha. For the names of the characters, something Western (but with a little bit of fantastical...ness (that's now a word (I'm bracketing in your brackets so you can bracket while you bracket, yo))) would be ideal. Similar with the actual country, but if there was something sort of meaningful (like Panem in THG —> Panem et circenses) that would be brilliant.
edited 16th Mar '12 3:01:42 PM by Pattyunknown
"In the end a gentle heart may be worth more than pride or valor."
Thanks for the help with the name change, jewelleddragon. :)

I'm working on a story set in the present-day US, and I'd like some suggestions about appropriate but not stereotypical names for the characters. The first character was born in 1985. He's a white man from the Southern US, the descendant of slaveowners and Civil War soldiers. His parents are conservative Baptists. Anything you can suggest for either his first or last name, or both, is welcome.