What's in a Name?

For writers looking for character names in their stories, there are many fun sites on the Web that can help. Take, for instance, Behind the Name, a random name generator where you can select first name, middle name (or more than one middle name), gender, and optional surname from dropdown menus and then check the box for the ethnic origin of the first name, everything from African to Icelandic to Welsh. Or, select the first name from categories like mythology, the Bible, witch, rapper, or hillbilly.

If you don't want to think that hard, you can try something like the Random Name Generator which uses data from the US Census to randomly generate male and female names.

Finally, of course, google the finished result you get to see if anyone famous (who might sue you) has that name and you've got yourself a character for your next novel.