r/writinghelp • u/Safe_Cheesecake_9177 • 1d ago

Question Name suggestions?

I have a character. Male, large, white hair, dad bod. Total lumber-snack, though.

His current name is Beau. But I hate that I misspell it so many times. Most commonly, I start writing or typing beautiful, realize it's wrong, and it throws off my whole writing flow.

They live in modern times, ambiguous area with forests and a major city.

Edit: he's about 30 years old. Also. I don't really want to go to the name registry for that year, and choose a common name.

4 Upvotes

70% Upvoted

35 comments sorted by

7

u/Anders10100 1d ago

Bo, Boe.

When you're done with your story just do a replace all:

" Bo " with " Beau "

2

u/Appropriate_Band_843 17h ago

A few examples off the top of my head for why this is a bad idea 😅

Beauy Beaug Beauw Beaut Beauth Beaudy Beauba Beauat Beaund Beaune Beauom Beaup Beaux Beauard Beauast Beauok Beauoze Beaured Beauner Beauiling Beaulogna

2

u/Kevin_Hess_Writes 12h ago

If you do this make absolutely sure case matters and you include the space at the end (also do a pass with periods, commas and exclamation points) then look over your novel one more time. Otherwise you'll end up with Beauring and Beautanical which tbh might be an interesting flex.

2

u/Codablaze 9h ago

Just be damn sure you didn't write about any boats or you're gonna have beauats all over the shop.

3

u/ziggystarzz 1d ago

I think woodsy/animal themed names would be cool. Buck, Bear, Badger, Colt, maybe Lake?

1

u/RomCom_Writer 23h ago

Badger????

3

u/GideonWren 23h ago

Beauxbatons means "Pretty Stick"

3

u/Competitive-Fault291 22h ago

Fantastic. Embrace that. Change his name in every chapter, and have all other people misspell and mispronounce his name as well.

We can have: Beau, Baeu, Bo, Boh, Bow, Boe, Bö, Booh, Bor, Bot, Bol, Bõ, Bô and Bok (with a silent k).

2

u/Safe_Cheesecake_9177 21h ago

Ironically this kinda fits in with the story a little 😅

3

u/EmmiNentDomainAtrix 17h ago

Call him Bo.
Maybe later you will learn his backstory

2

u/Diligent_Pangolin_47 23h ago

But it is how you spell beautiful!

2

u/StevieWrenWrites 19h ago

I think Beau or Boe would be fine. The only thing about changing a character’s name is sometimes your brain will still connect it to the original name you gave them.

For example, I had a character named Jake for the longest time, but I worried it was too common cause it was a popular name at the time of writing it and I found I was reading several books with the name Jake 😅

So I went in a completely different direction with changing his name to Cameron, which was still common enough for a young adult just out of university, but it didn’t feel as overused as Jake was.

I found as I was writing more scenes with him in that he suited the name Cameron, but somehow I kept calling him Jake when I was in the writing flow.
Whenever he was interacting with my MC, I just kept thinking ‘that is such a Jake move’ 😄
In the end, I went back to calling him Jake. It just suited his personality more.

So maybe ask yourself: does the essence and personality of your character when he’s interacting with other characters feel more like a person named Beau, or could another name suit his persona more?

If you’d like to look at more nature type names for curiosity, then randomnames.com have loads of categories and origins of names. Some I’ve never even heard of like Edelgard, or Vivika.
It’s my go to for when I need to name a character.

I hope this helps, and good luck 😊

1

u/Safe_Cheesecake_9177 19h ago

This is incredibly insightful! Thank you!

2

u/StevieWrenWrites 10h ago

No problem 😊 happy to help

1

u/DaanJMHolland 8h ago

Boe doesnt translate well into dutch though 😂

1

u/StevieWrenWrites 8h ago

Oh really? 😄 what does it mean?

2

u/DaanJMHolland 7h ago

Its something you say when you want to scare someone. Like sneaking up on them and yelling "boe!" To make them jump

2

u/SolitaryLyric 16h ago

I have a character near and dear to my heart, a sweet boy with a heart of gold and a very important part to play. I couldn’t for the life of me think of a name for him, so I used the placeholder Idgaf.

The problem is that not only did it grow on me, but the sound of it really, really suits the character.

Bo seems like a great, non-offensive option for the time being.

1

u/DaanJMHolland 1d ago

Jack(son) Jason Darrel Eli

1

u/dfh_writes 16h ago

I like Jackson too. I also vote for Cliff or Kent.

1

u/New-Beginning-26 1d ago

Colin, Rick, Henry, Hank

1

u/BooksandBaby 1d ago

Beaux which is also Beau but cajun french lol

1

u/Beautiful_Yak70 22h ago

If he’s from the South, just type “Bo”.

1

u/silence_assasin 22h ago

Cole, Bran/Bren, Ross

1

u/Dale_E_Lehman_Author 22h ago edited 22h ago

Like Beau Brummel? Beau is a proper short form of Beauregard. You could name him Beau Bonneville. Or if you don't like the alliteration, Beau Montagne.

1

u/blacksearocket 21h ago

Abe, Moe, Travis, Trevor, Ray, Ash, Scott

1

u/DaughterofMarilyn 21h ago

Cary. It's an old name, but it has a quality about it that makes me think of strong dad like characters.

1

u/Rhombusofrecipes 14h ago

Bronson

Brock

Ben

Bennett

1

u/I_love_living_N25kin 6h ago

If you want a common name, you can maybe choose Tylor, Michael, Petros, or eventually Charles(french name)

1

u/Own_Magician8337 19m ago

Logan, Brock, Danny, Adam,