Names you want to see in YA! (Or how I learned to stop worrying and steal names from my friends)

I just want people who use Asian or Asian inspired settings to research actual names and naming conventions so we don't keep ending up with a million and one Kira's or that one Japanese guy named Kim.

Come on, people. It's not that hard to research.

I like to pretend I have good names, but then I realize most of them are just foreign, shrug.

I wanna see the name Sanjay

I use a lot of foreign names because I like to write non-American-born characters. I wish there were more of them in YA.

I have one! Amalia Ramirez, but she goes by Amy. She's born in (futuristic post-apocalyptic doesn't exist as we know it anymore) Mexico but is moved north to (previously "American" still English-speaking) communities at a young age and she and her mom picked an English nickname for assimilation purposes. She speaks a decent bit of Spanish in the novel. Because futuristic books set in sort-of-America need more Spanish.

Can I just say I LOVE YOUR NAME? Idris Grey - that would be an AWESOME YA character name!!!

When I was 12 and wrote LOTR fanfiction, my MC's name was Arlynel. I still like that name...

Unisex names!
Or names that could lead to really cool nicknames. Like Edie for Edith, Marley for Marlene, Jules for Julian and such

None of my characters are from America because all of them are from alternate world fiction.

I have a WIP with entirely Basque names. Someone should use those.

I have several Polish names in my WIPs.

I use a lot of Japanese names, admittedly, since a lot of my stories take place in fantasy versions of Japan or separate fantasy worlds based on Japan. I sometimes worry I use Japanese names too much for western audiences, though....

I named a character Brooklyn once…

I love the names Fergus (M), Seren (F), and Angus (M), but probably going to use one or other for future baby names so haven't used them in any books!

When I was seven years old, I told my teacher that when I grew up I would name one of my sons "Pongo" (like the dog... someone watched too much Disney). Enter WIP, many years later, and I have a pale character named Pongo that has a lot of moles. God, I love writing.

ANYWAY... let's see some more wacky names. Not foreign, just different. Go ahead and name that character something like Mr. Pringle.

Nogetsune said:

I use a lot of Japanese names, admittedly, since a lot of my stories take place in fantasy versions of Japan or separate fantasy worlds based on Japan. I sometimes worry I use Japanese names too much for western audiences, though....

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So long as the story is relatable and the names of the characters are distinct from each other and relatively simple to remember, you shouldn't have a problem in my opinion.

Also, Khosszu, thanks! I'd love to see a few more Idrises floating around YA.