Sometimes, you just get stuck for a name. You want something specific, but also fitting with the pony spirit. Sometimes random pony name generators aren't good enough. And pulling names out of baby name books is fun, but for this universe, they're just a bit mundane most of the time. So I have to crowd source.

In all seriousness, I'm having some troubles coming up with names appropriate to the pony verse for OC characters for some of the stories I'm writing. I swear, there used to be a group for this purpose but I don't know what happened to it.

You guys are my last hope.

Character #1: 20 year old guy who would serve as a love interest to Sonata Dusk. Works at a bar at the hotel the Dazzlings are staying at during the events of Rainbow Rocks. Look and personality wise, he's based off of Andy Dwyer from Parks and Rec: Goofy, kinda dim at times, but a pretty nice guy all around. He also has a side job as a crystal meth manufacturer, and is a talented chemist. Incidentally, Sonata is the only Dazzling who doesn't know about this.

What is it with me and Breaking Bad?

... Okay, that's all I have for now regarding specific characters. Though if anyone know any good hippie names or names related to faith or religion (prepares shield just to be safe) feel free to add some here too. Thanks in advance for any and all suggestions.

4513970 I like the name Bubbles, and associated names (Bubbles Blue, for example). Nice, not all that smart, and hints at a talent with chemicals and reactions.

I've picked out names often enough to name a handful of methods, but two such methods aren't perhaps as apparent (yet are the ones I use most frequently)

Ever wonder why certain languages and sounds are as they are? Certain sounds carry a subconscious impression with them; onomatopoeia is a type of this. S-words sound all sorts of silky smooth, K-words konjure all kinds of kooky kharacters (derp), while words that have an ae in them are often connected to the sky. Knowing this basic fact, letting air out of your mouth and forming basic syllables whilst imagining the character you are trying to name will move you in the right direction. Do this alone unless you want to get looked at weird though, as it sounds remarkably like baby babbling. This article gives some good examples of sound symbolism near the bottom.

It's a little more intuitive and quicker than the second method, which requires familiarity or willingness to spend hours of wiki-walking in numerous places and fandoms. I'll use a recently crafted example from looking into language construction and old deities (a personal favorite go-to for naming) The end result is Fornemain, who is a Griffon Emperor in something I'm working on.

It is the product of a prefix and an Irish deity. The prefix, For-, is common in many English words to instill a pejorative meaning. Forsake, forgot, forbidden, etc. I originally pulled it from looking at an old Norse god by the name of Forseti, who is a god of justice.

The other half comes directly from an Irish goddess-like figure, Nemain. She is said to personify the frenzied havoc of war, who could kill 100 men with a single battle cry. ...Even if one didn't know the origins of the components, the sense of the components imparts into the end result, with the end result still sounding like the name of some(one/pony/bird) important. The history of the components came from the desire to make him a kind of warrior-king, hence the choices.

In a sense, it's a lot like cooking. The end result does not look like the ingredients, yet is the sum of them. Google-ing a simple feeling and looking at how other cultures interpret it can also yield results, it's just a matter of knowing what to look for and willing to play with the spelling if need be. In a similar vein, I needed a Dragon Empress and came up with Sandraugga; it is a simple corruption of the name Sandraudiga, which is Norse-centered and known as "she who dyes the sand red". Pulling the -draudiga portion of the name to bring it closer to sounding like "dragon" was easy, while adding sand in front of it both refers to the original meaning and makes it a kind of twisted portmanteau of sand and dragon.

For your character, I would suggest looking into historical names that contributed to chemistry and see if you can't find anything that inspired Dwyer's creation or the show itself. You might get ideas there.