The importance of naming characters in your screenplay.
The main importance of naming characters in your screenplay is that they will help you to reveal your characters personality and in so doing enable your readers or audience to understand your characters goal in the entire story.
Naming characters in your screenplay transcends all labels because they can help you in the following ways I will mention and explain below.
- It reveals your characters traits.
- Convey associations and emotions.
- It helps to differentiate your characters.
- Adds depth and meaning to your story.
1. It reveals your characters traits.
The name you give your character in your screenplay can go a long way to reveal their personalities and background as well as help the audience to know what is going to become of your character or their role in the entire story.
For example, naming your protagonist “Victor” and your antagonist “Scavenger” can easily reveal their respective roles in the whole story.
2. Convey associations and emotions.
The names you give your characters in your screenplay are capable of evoking emotions, memories or even their natural associations.
For example, you can call your character “Mars” to reveal his association with the solar plexus.
3. It helps to differentiate your characters.
It is clear and certain that all your characters in a screenplay will not go by the same name, thus naming your characters in your screenplay will help to differentiate their personalities.
Use unique names to distinguish your characters and make them stand out in the story and it will help your readers and audience to easily follow your character.
Avoid giving two characters the same name in your movie.
4. Adds depth and meaning to your story.
You can also use character names in your screenplay to create symbolism or reveal the theme of your story.
Best practices for naming characters in your screenplay.
The best practices for naming characters in your screenplay are:
- Develop a character profile.
- Choose names that fit your theme or genre.
- Adopt character name categories.
- Use cultural sensitivities.
- Avoid repeating names.
- Use names your audience can relate.
- Use ironic names to create suspense.
- Keep your characters names short and simple.
- Embark on a name research.
1. Create and develop a character profile.
The best way to name your character is to start by creating and developing a characters profile by accessing or considering their personality, age, background, traits and role in the entire story.
For instance, giving your protagonist a positive name and your antagonist a negative one will easily define their role in the entire story.
2. Choose names that fit your theme and genre.
Another way to name characters in your screenplay is to choose names that fits the theme or genre of your story.
This means that an humorous or ironic name should be chosen for a comedic screenplay while a serious or emotional name must be given to a tragic story.
3. Adopt character name categories.
Adopting character name categories is another great way to name characters in your screenplay. And below are the character name categories you need to consider:
- First names, surnames and last names.
- Nicknames.
- Aka’s or Aliases
- Titles like Mr., Mrs., Dr. Engr. etc.
- Symbolic names; that is names that reflect a character’s trait or background.
For example, you can use nicknames, shortened versions, or variations of names to add depth and nuance to your characters.
4. Us cultural sensitivities.
Another great way to name characters in your screenplay is by using cultural sensitivities; that is to say using respectful and authentic names that represents a particular culture or community.
This method is best if you are writing an epic story. This goes to say you must look for a particular culture to attach your storyline to and use names to help your readers and audience easily understand that culture or community.
5. Avoid repeating names.
I think I said earlier on in this article that you should avoid repeating character names in a particular story because if you do it will make it difficult for your reader or audience to know the character you are making reference to in a particular scene.
So even if you have a thousand cast in your screenplay, make sure they all have unique names to help your audience differentiate them in any scene they are featured in.
6. Use names your audience can relate.
You can also use names your audience can relate when naming characters for your screenplay.
It is always certain that too many people are going through a particular circumstance in life at any given point in time and the fact remains that these kinds share one thing in common, which is their names.
For example, Jeremiah was a suffering prophet in the bible who lamented a lot, and it is also certain that people who bear the same name are also going through that kind of situation in this our generation.
So you can adopt this trick when naming characters in your screenplay so that your audience who are going through the same situation or circumstance in life might relate with that character.
And the result of this is having a dedicated audience who will be eager to watch the story to the end in order to see what becomes of the character in the end; in the hope that they are going to share a similar fate.
7. Use ironic names to create suspense and character arc.
Though some screenwriters might frown upon this point, but using ironic names to create suspense and character arc is another great way to name characters in your screenplay.
For example, you can call your character “Lucky” but start the story by making him experience so much hard luck which you can attach to his behavioral pattern.
But towards the film’s resolution, you can make your character discover that his own attitude is the reason he is going through this much hard luck, and opts for change.
Then once your character changes his attitude (which establishes the character arc), he begins to be a living example of his name “Lucky”.
8. Keep your characters names short and simple.
Always keep your characters name short and simple by avoiding names that are too difficult to remember or pronounce.
Now one of the ways a film sells in the marketplace is through word of mouth, that is people verbally recommending the film to others.
So think of how giving your character difficult names will make it hard for your audience to describe or mention them to others while trying to recommend your story.
Besides, we have seen so many instances where movie characters end up publicly bearing the names that made them popular in a particular movie, as well as how so many movies are recognized by the name of an outstanding character or even characters.
Now when you inspect those names you will discover that they are names that are very easy to remember and pronounce.
9. Embark on a name research.
Before naming your characters in a screenplay, you can embark on a name research to verify their authenticity.
For names you don’t know their meanings and associations, make sure you do a name research to ascertain their meanings and associations so as to avoid any unintended consequences.
Finally, by sticking to the practices I have taken the time to list and explain above, I believe you will be able to create character names that will enrich your screenplay, reveal your character traits, as well as engage your audience.
Always keep in mind that, naming characters in a screenplay is an art that requires thought, creativity, and attention to detail.
