Don't tell anyone this but on the little reference shelf next to my desk I have a copy of Bruce Lansky's 100,000 Baby Names. It's a delightful book that not only shows the meanings of names but also the origins. I sometimes use this to come up with names for characters.

In my story, A Little Dolphin Story (https://medium.com/grab-a-slice/a-little-dolphin-story-92768e014867) I talked about how unborn children might want to pick their own name rather than settle for what the parents come up with. Well, I've found that sometimes when I'm writing fiction the characters I'm developing also want to pick their own names. Some characters seem adamant about this.

Sometimes I will employ the art of stichomancy when trying to find their names. The baby name book is divided by gender with the first half of the book containing female names and the second half of the book containing boy names. I will close my eyes and open the book at random in whatever appropriate half of the book is called for and drop a finger down onto the page that I opened up to. I then open my eyes to see what name my finger landed on.

This doesn't always work but sometimes I can find just the right name very close to where my finger landed. Other times I don't bother with the book and just ask the character what name they want. Not all characters respond but occasionally a name will suddenly just pop into my noggin. Yet other times I will pick a name out of my noggin's memory files from someone I've known in my life whose personality comes close to that of the character.

And sometimes I just make shit up.