There many ways to create a unique name. In fact, in many cultures, it is traditional to give a child a unique name. In China's culture there are very few common names. Here I will list several methods that I know of. First you gotta figure out what kind of name you want. Do you want one with an actual meaning to it? Do you want to base your name on someone or something? Or do you just want a name that sounds good? This is important to answer, because if you want a name with an actual meaning, then you would need to prepare to do a lot of research. Getting a name that just sound great to you would take less time and hassle. Unless you're picky:) Considering how many names there are in this world, it should not surprise you if you actually come up with a name that already exists.
Anagrams:
Defined as switching around letters within a word or another name to create a new word or name, anagrams are best used if you just want an interesting sounding name. It's not often that anagrams will have the actual meaning your going for unless you happen to have the letters to make a name like that. Technically it's more along the lines of basing what your name came from. Like say you want the meaning based on "dragon". Switching around the letters you could come up with names like "Gardon", "Adrog", "Dargon". True, they sound a little weird, but I'm just giving examples..^_^ That's about the closest you get by actually basing on meaning. Either using the literal word or the same word in another language. Like another language word for dragon is Tatsu (japanese). And you can switch it around to something like "Satut", "Sutat", "Tutas", or even "Statu". In anagrams, the name can be created from animals, ideals or even a person you admire:) In a lot of cases you can do this towards more than one word or name. Whether your making more than one name or one whole name out of several is up to you.
Let's use actual names for an example. Melinda and Ariel can be
mixed up as Arlian or Meridan Leil. In this case I had to take
off some letters or it wouldn't sound right (at least to me..^_^) on the first
one. Let's try using words. Peace and Bird could become Cepria
or Bedi Caper, depending on whether you would use all letters or remove
excess, but in general anagrams are words, phrases or names that are literally
using all the letters in the word/words used.
Combining Names:
Here's an interesting method. This is where you take one part of a name or word and add it to another word or name. One or both could be broken down and added together to create something new. I've done this for one of my online (also IRL) buddy. I'm not gonna say what her name is:) It's unique to her..^_^ But I will explain how you can make your own this way:) Of course you simply have to adjust how you mix the name so that it sound not only correct, but is also pronouncable.
You can create a unique name using a specific origin. Like say you want a chinese
name, you would have to look up and research chinese words or names and figure
how to create a new one by mixing up what you want together. Depending on what
origin you use, you would, in some cases, have to have at least some understanding
of the way they set up their names. As mentioned, this is where the research
comes in. Now here I'll not get into how each culture works on names, because
that'll be a whole setion onto itself. If you want to create a new name based
off language, gotta do your research and careful how you combine since, like
the asian culture, what you put together may originally mean what you are looking
for seperately but when put together may mean something else entirely..^^;
You can in a lot of cases, mix different names from different origins. Let's
say you use the name Victor (latin for victory) and the name Lander
(greek for lion man) and com up with something like Vicander, Lavictor,
or Vandor. Another example, we'll use Faye (celtic for fairy or
fairy folk) and Luna (latin for moon). You could get Faluna, Fayena,
or even Lufaye. Now let's say you want to use actual words. Here's some
good examples, Rose and Pixie could become Roxie.
Apheresis/Apocopation:
Apheresis is dropping unaccented syllables from the begining of a word or name.
For example, Matilda can become Tilda. Apocopation is the opposite,
dropping unaccented syllables from the end of a word or name. Another example,
Elisabeth to Elisa. This method can be used alone or after you
have used other methods to create a new name to further downsize it (especially
if you wound up with a really long one:) But this method is commonly used for
giving nicknames.
Diminutives:
After doing any of the above you may want to create a diminutive by dropping
the last syllable and adding a pet ending. Example, -ette added to Anna
could become Annette and etc. There are dozen of name ending that can
be used. If you've noticed, any name can be rearranged to become feminine or
masculine, doesn't matter the gender sound of the name. This method is one of
the common used one for that. For example, John in feminine form is Jonna,
Jonni, etc. Mary in masculine form is Marren, Marnett,
etc.
Here's a list of common ending for females: -ette, -ir, ie,
-ia, -a, -iana, -anna, -anne and -ana,
etc.
Here's a list of common ending for males: -ett, -son, -rty,
-ten, -ton, -le, -ris, -ston, -win
and -rick, etc.
Hybrid:
Hybrid would be using two or more methods mentioned above. With using the hybrid
method, you can create some very interesting name. Let's use some of the examples
in the above method as examples for this method. Lufaye from the name
combining and the diminutive - ette and you'd get Lufayette.
Or use the diminutive -ten and get Lufayeten.
Using the apheresis' Tilda with anagram Arlien and you get
Tildarlien. There's many ways to go about it, so just use what works
for ya :)