Creative Pony names?

[ChibbyBrony]

Hello everypony,

I've been having a difficult time thinking up creative names for pony ocs and was wondering if anypony knew of any good tricks on how to think them up? =><=

-ChibbyBrony

[GhostGirl]

I like to find interesting vocabulary relating to the OCs talent. Murrine Quartz, for example. She's a glass artist, and murrine and quartz are both materials used in glassblowing.

[RarityDash]

Names are one of the hardest things for me, but there are some things that help me.

It can help sometimes to look at a thesaurus or a general search for some ideas and to avoid going for the most obvious name components. You want to keep from picking anything that would be too pretentious sounding though (unless that would fit the character). It's easy to go too far for the sake of uniqueness, which can be a mistake.

The important thing to pick words that actually work well as a name. Don't go overboard with the syllables. Twilight Sparkle is just four syllables. All of the other mane six use three. You really don't want it much more than five in most cases. It needs to roll off the tongue effectively.

It can also help to pick something that you can shorten effectively. Don't go with something where the components don't sound right without each other. Whether you call her Rainbow or Dash, it works as shorthand for Rainbow Dash's name. Remember the point of the name is as something for the character to be addressed as practically. It is not supposed to perfectly describe multiple facets of the character.

In fact, that can be a misguided pursuit. You don't need to necessarily capture some deep and meaningful truth about your character with their name. It doesn't necessarily need to say something about their talent or their cutie mark or their personality. It just needs to suit them. What does Pinkie Pie really mean in regards to the character? It's just the obvious color that she is put together with a pastry to which she would only marginally be associated. It works as her name perfectly though.

Finally, wwo word names seem most popular, but always remember you can have single word names too. Rarity's name does the job efficiently in just one simple word. If you find the perfect word for naming an OC, remember it doesn't necessarily need anything else.

[MetalBronyATL]

I like to name my OCs after song titles. My main character right now is named Moonshield, and I plan on eventually creating a character named Gyroscope, both of which are the names of In Flames songs.

[SilverMoonlight]

I try to give them a name that is unexpected and still makes sense. Like Black Orchid for a pony who has some black in his/her mane,and plants flowers. It sounds cool and I don't think orchids are black. Or Sea Wind for a pegasus who controls weather around a beach.