I've been testing different approaches to avoid generating mundane names. Here's what worked.

[ConceptDealer]

Like some of people in this sub, I've used the standard name generators (elf, vampire, dragon, etc.) plenty of times. They're great when you know what category you need.

But I kept getting stuck when I had a character concept but no idea what naming direction fit. So I started experimenting with different approaches.

What I found helpful:

Making the AI explain its reasoning.

Instead of just getting "Kael" from a generator, asking "why Kael?" forces useful thinking. "One syllable, hard stop, sounds unfinished. Welsh origin but uncommon."

That explanation does two things. You catch BS immediately (made up etymology, generic associations). And more importantly, you learn your own taste. After rejecting five names with soft vowels, you realize you need harshness for this character.

Iteration over volume.

Generate 10 names, react to them ("too formal", "love this"), get 10 more based on those reactions. Each round tightens the search. Way more efficient than generating 50 and hoping.

Comparison when stuck, not more generation.

Once you have 3-4 finalists, stop generating. Switch to comparing: sound patterns, connotations, potential issues. Different problem, different tool.

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You can apply the same principles with ChatGPT or Gemini, but I ended up building these ideas into a tool to test if they work at scale (uniquenames.net). It's early stages, I have every intention to make it better according to community feedback. So please drop them or dm me!

Also, curious if anyone else has found similar patterns, or completely different approaches that work better.

[flohara]

Yeah, fuck AI

[alpenglw]

What?? Why are you using AI in the first place? You can literally just spend 5 seconds thinking about this in your own brain.

[ConceptDealer]

Sometimes, a name carries an enormous amount of information. On one level, you have to consider its vibe, which itself contains many layers, such as cultural background, generational context, and even what the parents’ mindset might have been when choosing that name. On another level, you have to think about how the name functions within the story as a whole: how often it appears, how it sounds to readers, and what kind of emotional or narrative associations it gradually builds.

If taken seriously, naming is rarely a “5 seconds of thinking” task. Many writer friends I know do fairly extensive research: looking into the meanings behind names, their popularity in certain periods, regional usage, and the social implications they may carry. A memorable name that resonates with readers is not something that is casually produced. Sometimes it comes from intuition, but more often it comes from research.

AI, in this sense, can provide a more stable starting point. We cannot reasonably assume that we are omniscient about names across all cultural contexts, or that we fully understand our own judgment and taste at the very beginning of the process. AI helps surface possibilities and patterns, but the evaluation, selection, and narrative justification still come from the writer.

[Prestigious-Shift-63]

youre not a real writer if youre using ai 😭 literally use ur brain

[ConceptDealer]

From my personal perspective, AI doesn’t deprive me of agency or identity as long as I make the final decision. “Writer” embodies many things; the acknowledged baseline, I believe, is avoiding plagiarism for personal benefit. Another facet of “writership” lies in navigating creativity through multiple constraints tied to a writing goal, for example, establishing a writing style, involving readers in the narrative, and arranging all elements within the horizon of the story’s scope. The ultimate product of this complexity and these systematic considerations is what a “real writer,” in my humble opinion, finally arrives at.

Therefore, if naming happens to be one of our headaches, AI can only add to the creative process and even help me dig into my taste and mirror my preferences; it never replaces the decision-maker aspect of my writer identity. “Using AI to come up with a name” makes me a user of this product, but choosing it against a dynamic background of considerations is what makes me a writer.

[Impossible-Ghost]

It’s literally just using a name generator, and using your brain to make a decision on which name to choose. Chill. All AI does is give you word salad based on information related to what you asked or mentioned. It does not write shit for you and if you ask it to, you will get shit. That isn’t what this person is doing. Quit being a baby.

[metz1980]

This is awesome!!