A character's name is working long before the character does anything. It hints at where they're from, what era they were born in, how seriously to take them, and sometimes how their story ends. Readers absorb most of this without noticing, which is exactly why it works.
This guide covers the naming patterns that recur across anime, cartoons, film, books and games: meaning names, puns, sound symbolism, alliteration, Japanese honorifics and name order, codenames, and the naming systems built into fictional worlds. It ends with a practical method for naming your own characters and the mistakes to avoid.
The main naming patterns
Most memorable character names use one or more of these techniques. Use the filter to see them by type.
Meaning names
The name's literal meaning hints at the character
The name translates to something relevant: an animal, element, virtue or fate. Done lightly, it rewards readers who look it up. Done heavily, it gives the story away.
- Examples
- Remus Lupin (Latin lupus, wolf), Kakashi Hatake (scarecrow, field), Light Yagami (his given name is written with the kanji for moon)
Pun and theme names
A group named after one category
A whole faction or family shares a joke or theme. It makes casts feel connected and gives fans a puzzle to solve.
- Examples
- Saiyans named after vegetables in Dragon Ball, the Black family's star names in Harry Potter (Sirius, Regulus, Bellatrix), the Gems named after gemstones in Steven Universe
Sound symbolism
How a name sounds shapes how it feels
Hard consonants (k, t, g, z) and short vowels feel sharp and aggressive; soft sounds (l, m, n, w) and open vowels feel gentle. Psychologists call this the bouba/kiki effect.
- Examples
- Voldemort, Sauron and Zarkon sound harsh; Luna, Moana and Olaf sound soft
Alliteration
Matching first letters
Repeated initial sounds make names catchy and easy to remember. Stan Lee said he used alliterative names partly so he could keep track of his own characters.
- Examples
- Peter Parker, Bruce Banner, Reed Richards (Marvel), SpongeBob SquarePants
Allusion names
Borrowed from myth, history or literature
The name points to an older story, inviting comparison. Wink allusions are obvious to genre fans; slow-reveal allusions look ordinary until their meaning lands later.
- Examples
- Minerva McGonagall (Roman goddess of wisdom), Lucifer and Lilith in Hazbin Hotel, Loki (Norse myth)
Codenames and titles
A chosen or imposed name
The gap between a character's birth name and the name they use is a place for story. Choosing, refusing or reclaiming a name can be an arc in itself.
- Examples
- Deku in My Hero Academia, Homelander (The Boys), "Dread Pirate Roberts" (The Princess Bride)
Descriptive names
The name says what they are
Common in comedy, children's media and fairy tales, where clarity matters more than subtlety. Usually avoided in serious drama, where it can feel cartoonish.
- Examples
- Grumpy and Sleepy (Snow White), Mr. Krabs (SpongeBob), Mr. Freeze (Batman)
Famous pun-name systems
Some franchises turn naming into a running game. A few well-known ones:
| Franchise | Group | Theme | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dragon Ball | Saiyans | Vegetables | Vegeta, Kakarot (carrot), Raditz (radish), Nappa (napa cabbage), Broly (broccoli) |
| Dragon Ball | Bulma's family | Underwear | Bulma (bloomers), Trunks, Bra |
| Dragon Ball | Frieza's family | Cold | Frieza, Cooler, King Cold |
| Harry Potter | The Black family | Stars and constellations | Sirius, Regulus, Bellatrix, Andromeda |
| Pokémon | Professors | Trees | Oak, Elm, Birch, Rowan, Juniper, Sycamore |
| Steven Universe | Gems | Gemstones | Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, Peridot |
The trick works because it rewards attention without demanding it. A viewer who never notices the vegetable joke loses nothing; one who does gets a small extra pleasure every time a new Saiyan appears.
Japanese honorifics
Honorifics are suffixes added to names. In Japanese-language stories, they're a running signal of how two characters relate, and English subtitles and dubs often have to flatten them.
| Honorific | Meaning | Used for |
|---|---|---|
| -san | Neutral polite | Most adults, acquaintances, strangers. Roughly "Mr./Ms." |
| -kun | Informal, often masculine | Boys, younger men, juniors; teachers often use it for male students |
| -chan | Affectionate, cute | Children, close friends, girls, pets, loved ones |
| -sama | Very respectful | Customers, nobility, deities, people you revere (or mock with exaggerated respect) |
| -senpai | Senior | Someone ahead of you at school, work or a club |
| -sensei | Teacher or master | Teachers, doctors, artists, authors, martial-arts masters |
| -dono | Formal, old-fashioned | Historical settings; Kenshin in Rurouni Kenshin uses it for almost everyone |
| (none) | Yobisute | Close friends, family, or deliberate rudeness |
Honorific changes are story events. A character who has called someone "Yamada-san" for fifty episodes and suddenly says just "Yamada" is making a statement: closeness, equality, or a challenge. Moving from family name to given name is an even bigger step. In romance stories, the first time someone uses the other's given name can land harder than a confession.
Gojo calling his students by their first names without honorifics in Jujutsu Kaisen says something about his casual authority. Bakugo's insult-nicknames for almost everyone say something about him. When you watch subtitled anime, listening for these shifts reveals a layer the translation may have smoothed over. Our page on manga vs anime touches on other things that get lost in adaptation.
Name order
Japanese names put the family name first. In the original, the Demon Slayer lead is Kamado Tanjiro; most English releases flip this to Tanjiro Kamado. Some translations keep the Japanese order. Neither is wrong, but a cast list should pick one order and stick to it. The same applies to Chinese and Korean names, which also put the family name first.
Codenames and the "true name" structure
Some genres are built on the difference between a birth name and a chosen one. Superheroes have civilian names and hero names; ninja take titles; magical girls have alter egos. How a character relates to their second name is part of their arc.
My Hero Academia has the best-known example. "Deku" begins as Bakugo's insult, from dekunobō, a useless person. Ochaco Uraraka points out it sounds like dekiru, "you can do it," and Izuku chooses Deku as his hero name. The name doesn't change, but its meaning does, and that change mirrors his growth. The same series uses hero names constantly to show how characters see themselves.
Fantasy has an older version: the "true name" that grants power over its owner, found in Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea books and in folk tales like Rumpelstiltskin. Spirited Away uses it too: the witch Yubaba takes Chihiro's name and renames her Sen, and forgetting her real name would mean she could never leave.
Naming inside fictional worlds
Good world-building gives each culture its own naming patterns, so you can tell where someone is from before they introduce themselves.
- Avatar: The Last Airbender draws its four nations' names from different real-world languages and cultures, so Water Tribe, Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation names each sound distinct.
- Game of Thrones gives illegitimate children a surname based on their region: Snow in the North, Sand in Dorne, Rivers in the Riverlands, Flowers in the Reach, Hill in the Westerlands, Pyke in the Iron Islands, Stone in the Vale, Storm in the Stormlands and Waters around King's Landing. Jon Snow's surname tells you his status every time it's spoken.
- Genshin Impact gives each region names drawn from the culture it's modelled on: Liyue characters have Chinese-style names, Inazuma characters Japanese-style names, Mondstadt characters European-style names.
- Tolkien built whole languages first and named characters from them, which is why Elvish, Dwarvish and Hobbit names sound so different.
When a name breaks its world's pattern, it's usually deliberate. A character whose name doesn't fit their homeland may be an outsider, an exile, or hiding their real parentage.
How to name a character
- Start with the world — where and when was this character born? Names follow fashion. A woman born in 1940s America is more likely to be Dorothy than Madison.
- Consider who named them — parents choose names for their hopes, families and beliefs, not for the plot. A name that reflects the parents tells you about the family.
- Choose the sound — decide whether the name should feel hard or soft, short or long, plain or ornate, and pick sounds to match.
- Check the meaning — look it up in its source language. Make sure it doesn't mean something you didn't intend.
- Test it against the cast — vary first letters, syllable counts and endings so names don't blur. Avoid Jake, Jace and Jack in the same story.
- Say it aloud — in dialogue, shouted across a battlefield, whispered. If it's awkward to say, readers will stumble over it.
- Search it — check it isn't already a famous character, a real public figure or a brand.
- Plan nicknames — who calls them what? Nicknames and honorifics are a cheap, powerful way to show relationships.
Worked example: naming a rival
Say we're writing a school sports story and need the protagonist's cold, precise rival.
- World: modern Japan, so a Japanese name, family name first.
- Sound: sharp and clipped. Hard k and t sounds, few syllables.
- Meaning: something cold or distant, used lightly. A family name containing the kanji for "moon" or "frost" hints at remoteness without spelling it out. Haikyuu does exactly this with Tsukishima, whose name means "moon island," for its coolest, most detached player (see Haikyuu characters).
- Cast check: the protagonist's name starts with H and has four syllables; the rival should start differently and be shorter, so they never get confused in dialogue.
- Relationship through naming: the rival uses the protagonist's family name with no honorific (blunt), and the moment he first uses their given name becomes a turning point.
Common naming mistakes
- Names that look alike. Brennan, Brendan and Brandon in the same chapter. Spread names across different letters, lengths and sounds.
- Meaning too obvious. A villain called Mordrik Doomblade reads as parody. Subtle beats obvious.
- Joke names that age badly. A pun name works for a comic side character in episode two, then feels wrong when that character gets a serious arc.
- Inconsistent world naming. If half your elves have Norse names and half have modern English ones, the world feels thin unless that's a plot point.
- Unpronounceable fantasy names. Apostrophes and consonant clusters make readers skip the name, which weakens the character.
- Ignoring real-world meaning. Borrowing a word from another language without checking what it means, or whether it's sacred, can cause embarrassment or offence.
Names work alongside a character's look and voice; our guide to character design covers the visual side.
Frequently asked questions
Why do Dragon Ball characters have food names?
Akira Toriyama built name puns into each group. Saiyans are named after vegetables (Vegeta, Kakarot for carrot, Raditz for radish, Nappa for napa cabbage), Frieza's family after cold things, and Bulma's family after underwear: Bulma (bloomers), Trunks and Bra.
What do -san, -kun and -chan mean in anime?
They are Japanese honorifics. -san is the neutral polite form, -kun is informal and usually used for boys or junior colleagues, and -chan is affectionate, used for children, close friends and cute things. Dropping the honorific entirely signals closeness, or rudeness.
Why are Japanese names written family name first?
In Japanese, the family name comes first: Kamado Tanjiro, where Kamado is the family name. Many English releases flip the order to match Western convention (Tanjiro Kamado), while others keep the original. Both are correct; consistency is what matters.
Should a character's name have a meaning?
It helps when the meaning is subtle and rewards attention. Remus Lupin's name hints at wolves without announcing it. Names that spell out the character's role, like a villain called Doomblade, usually read as parody unless the story is meant to be playful.
How do I come up with a character name?
Start with the setting and the character's background, then the era they were born in, then the sound you want. Check the name against the rest of the cast for clashing first letters and syllable counts, and say it aloud. Our step-by-step method on this page walks through it.
What does Deku mean in My Hero Academia?
Deku comes from dekunobō, an insult meaning a useless person, which Bakugo uses to mock Izuku Midoriya. Ochaco Uraraka hears it as sounding like dekiru, "you can do it," and Izuku later takes Deku as his hero name.