Where do I get the names for my cast? Form a variety of places, including from the air, books I’ve read, people I meet and more. But when the spark of inspiration doesn’t appear, I’ve some staples I like to search:
http://www.20000-names.com/ – This is a great resource even if its drowning in ads and pop-ups. It’s not very easy to use, but give it the time to dig, you will find gold.
http://oobleck.org/steam/ – I nice name generator for steam punk when you’re in a pinch. I prefer to make my own name combos but this someone gives you gems.
http://www.parenthood.com/babynames/baby-names.php – This is a babyname site but the search engine is very useful! It has it’s limits but it’s worth using to see if you can get what you want.
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~poindexterfamily/OldNames.html – This ia a great resource for Victorian names and thus steampunk.
While I use these a lot for C.O.G. Chronicles, most of my favorite names are ones I find randomly and I just sort of keep in the back of my mind to be used for ideal projects like this one. That is where names like Ballantyne & Rosejack come from.
C.O.G. Chronicles - The Graphic Novel 