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Naming characters: how do you do it without being cringe worthy?
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Naming characters: how do you do it without being cringe worthy?

I have a Irish catholic boy in my novel and I can't get past Sean/Patrick/Brian/Keiran without feeling the cringe factor so badly.
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Try 'Owen'
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Other people reading your book won't care much about what you name your character, as long as it isn't something really crazy and distracting. Giving a normal Irish name to a person of Irish descent isn't cringe-worthy, it's perfectly fine. Unless you intend for your character's name to have some literary meaning, then naming him something simple sounds like a good idea. You want his personality to be the thing that draws your reader in, the name doesn't really matter.
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Use a pet's name for the first name and the street you grew up on as the last name.
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>>7332948
>Snowball 7th Avenue
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>>7332948
Spike Laraway
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>>7332948
>Cerberus Halford

Sounds like something from a YA fantasy novel
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>>7333012
Finally I know how Animal Farm was written.
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>>7332922
Stephen
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What's wrong with "Brian"?
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>>7333017
See? That's pretty cool.
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>>7332948
>Charles Clemmons III Galano
There was no I or II--we just skipped straight to good ol' III.
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>>7332922
Copy a name from history that has similarities to your character. The best names have meaning.
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>>7332948
>Nut-Nut Jericho
or
>Peanut Nancy
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>>7333865
Why have I never made this connection?
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>>7332922
Try opening a phone book on a random page and seeing if a name is acceptable.
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>>7332922
Look at baby naming websites and find names the relate to your character.
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just google it man
http://www.irishcentral.com/roots/most-popular-irish-baby-names-in-america-101287949-237711871.html
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>>7333874
Fuck man. That's amazing.

Is Tellytubbies the most patrician preschool show?
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>>7333931
It's like Ulysses. If you don't get it, you're just not appreciating the finer subtleties of literature.
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