Why do fiction writers need help naming their characters?

I feel the same. Most of the most popular and well-known characters have regular names.

Twilight's hunk? A boring old Edward.

Star Wars? Despite being long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away...the protagonist is a Luke.

Star Trek? James.

Blade Runner? Richard.

Dune? Magic spice, galactic war, kilometers long sand worms? Pretty sci-fi only to star a mere "Paul" as it's lead.

One of the best selling novel series of all times and who gets to go to Hogwarts? A normal old Harry.

Just look at successful literature. It isn't full of Maddisyn's or Peppers or Runegolds. It is normal names people can relate to.

People forget about several things.

First, people don't name themselves. So it doesn't matter if your star wants to be goth, unless his parents were, he probably has a normal name like Jason and not "Razzor."

Second, overly weird names generally serve to make the story less relatable and more prone to sounding dated or stale.

Third, when all your characters have weird names, none of the names sound weird any longer.

Fourth, worrying about names to the point you aren't writing until you find the "right" one..that's an amateur sign of wanting to talk about writing instead of actually writing. If you really don't know, just pick something and change it later. You have a computer. Find and replace has been around since 1995. Just write and you can always change the name later if you want. Don't waste time worrying about it at the expense of not actually writing your story.

Occasionally it works. You have your Ender Wigginses and your Frodo Bagginses, but those are by writers who knew their craft inside and out. And even then, look at their other works and 90% don't star weird or edgy names.

Not all do, but trust me when I say that naming the characters is actually the hardest part. Your undermining the significance of names, they are a LOT more important than you think. The plot is one of the easiest parts when you get going. The names have to have meaning. Asking for help on ANSWERS just gives them more ideas. Nothing wrong with it. As a writer myself I am speaking from experience: names can be bitches to come up with.

Apparently they missed the memo about the creative nature of fiction writing...perhaps?

As for YA people, they're beginners and they make amateur mistakes. Most are also kids and what kid doesn't try to cheat on their homework?

As for names in general, they're important if used properly. A name can suggest a lot about a character before the author even begins to develop that character. It introduces origins, heritage, gender, ethnicity, religion, etc. So names are more important than simply tacking on a name tag.

I'm a young teen writer myself. I have asked many people friends and on here for name suggestions. The reason some writers may ask is because we need a variety and the more names you get the more choices you have. For me I ask for lists of names so I can go through them and when I read one that feels like it will fit the character I choose that one. Sometimes you don't need help because you already have/know the perfect name. Honestly I have a difficult time to find good names because most are overused so I want something unique and ask for that. Some writers need help sometimes(like me) other writers have it come to them like its no problem at all :)

Personally, my issue is that I tend to name my characters one of 4 names. That's just a habit. So when I introduce a 5th character and need a new name, I draw a complete blank.

What I usually do is ask my friends if they know anyone like the character, and if a name fits, I use it.

I believe that most writers that go to Yahoo Answers for help may need to consider their line of work, no matter hobby or profession. I agree with your points, but sometimes thinking of a name for a character is hard for a writer no matter who the are. But again, if the writer is going to go to online sources so that others can write THEIR story it isn't really their own.

I find it really hard to name a character. I don't know why, but to me it is SO important. If my character's name would be something like Jessica Smith, it wouldn't be memorable compared to Sherlock Holmes or Hannibal Lecter. Those two names are SO controversial. Even if you haven't read the books, you know who Hannibal the cannibal is. Yes... maybe they didn't use help on naming them, but who would have thought of that? I often ask my sister which names she prefers to help me. Getting advice on Yahoo helps me because everyone has opinions and it's interesting to see what people think.

Authors want an original name that is remembered by the reader and something they won't forget.

Everyone knows who Katniss Everdeen is from The Hunger Games or

Hugo Cabret from the Invention of Hugo Cabret

or Peeta Mellark

or Bell Swan

or.... I think you get the point.

Because when left to their own devices they come up with some weird freakin stuff like Hangelica moonport aris and they know it

they just need ideas to choose names from

I do that, I just ask for list of names, just ideas that I could use for the character(s)