Muse Names

For me, and I know a lot of other writers feel the same way, finding the right names for your characters is a time consuming challenge. Naming characters properly is an essential part of bringing characters to life in your stories. After you've written hundreds of stories, it's easy to fall into the trap of using the same names over and over again, and that's not a good habit for a writer to develop.

Up until recently, writers have had little or no support with help finding character names. Sure, there are a few choice books out there (and our favorite standby, the phone book), but as far as software goes, the pickings have been slim. Most of the software I've looked at simply generated names randomly. One promising piece of software, Character Naming Software, turned out to be a flop for a number of reasons.

Now for the good news. Muse Names. I discovered this software by accident. How I missed it before is a mystery to me. I am always looking for the best writing software on the market, and there were many times I searched for software that would not only offer me a huge database of existing names, but would let me edit and add to the database as well. Until Muse Names came along, this was only something to be put on my wish list.

Muse Names comes with a database of over 40,000 names from over 50 origin and nationality groups. The software I mentioned earlier, Character Naming Software, had only 12,000 names. Other software I've tried proudly boasted 21,000. The names in the Muse Names database can be searched by name, origin, gender, or meaning. Additionally, you can set various search criteria. For instance, names can be searched by exact match or simply by entering the letters you'd like your name selections to contain. Each name listing includes origin info, the meaning of the name, and numerology information that offers insight into character personality.

As an added bonus, Muse Names lets you create and print decorative name certificates that include name, origin, and meaning.

The best part of this program, though, is the freedom to add to and edit the database. While Muse Names puts more than enough names at your fingertips to last a lifetime, you might stumble upon a name not included in Muse Names (this is extremely rare) and you can add the new name to the database. You might simply want to expand the information about an existing name's meaning. Muse Names lets you do that. Hell, you might even come up with an original name of your own. No problem, add it to the Muse Names database. Muse Names is writing software you will never outgrow. It's functional, expandable, and versatile.

Visit the Muse Creations web site and download a fully funtional trial of the software to see what I'm talking about. You can purchase Muse Names as a download for $59 or get it on CD for an extra ten bucks. The price might seem a bit steep at first glance, but when you consider the research time saved, the headaches avoided, and the higher quality of names you choose for your characters, the cost of Muse Names is minimal and worth every penny.

Read my interview with Vanessa Grant Oltmann.