I’m writing a mid 20th century drama novel

[Guest]

.. I have a female character who writes her son a heartfelt letter and I need a strong name for the young male, but I’m really struggling with his name.

Any help would be great!

[Jeff]

Maybe have it so she never calls him by his real name in the letter since it's personal (uses pet name/nickname), and have some kind of twist in the climax where readers figure out this other character is her son (his real name is revealed).

[Peter]

Popular boys names in England in the 1950’s were Christian names : Peter, John, Stephen, Anthony etc. Other names had old-English tones to them Eric, Geoffrey, Brian etc. Nick-names were popular and used rather than the boy’s name- parents also. Buster was one for a strong character. IT might suit your character- Eric known as Buster. Good Luck.

[Sarah]

Unless he’s gonna be a character that keeps cropping up, he doesn’t need a name. Readers don’t need to remember names that aren’t characters who drive the story forward, said my agent.

With that said here are a few ideas.

Bryce
Tyson
Trey
Keith
Tor
Heath
David

[Pippa]

Go through popular baby names for that period and area and pick the one you like most - if you want to get more into it, research the meanings behind your top 5 choices and decide from that.

[Joel]

In all honesty, this is where ChatGPT can be very helpful to authors. Sign on to the sight, enter your question, with specific parameters (this is what they call “prompts”) ie. “Looking for a man’s name common to such and such a time period that conveys a strong meaning, something romantic/mean/heroic etc. give me ten suggestions.” Just like asking random people, some will be terrible, some will be great. Tweak your prompts and in short time you’ll have a few to work with. You can even ask things like, “I want a name that reminds me of Mr. Darcy, or something that might come out if a Charles Dickens novel” It won’t write your book, (thankfully) but it can defiantly help with these sorts of details.

[Rachel]

What country is the story setting? If it is the US, some mid-century names that were considered 'strong' would be James, Robert, William, Walter, Charles, Gary, and Greg (or Greggory).

My grandfathers from a little earlier than that era were named Martin and John.

[Alma]

I'd go with whatever event had positive impact on the mother. For example: if WW2 had strong impact on mother maybe named Winston, Dwight, Joseph. The axis power leaders. Or even a solder that had impact on her. Potentially explain why choose name in letter.

[Jade]

I think of the character trait that best fits the character, theme, and feel of the story. Then I go and look up baby names with that trait in mind. That’s how I choose names, if one doesn’t pop into my head first.