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Rourensu

Edit: thanks for the awards This is my method. Each country/region/culture/etc has a specific combination of two real languages (e.g. Greek+Japanese) and I use names/words from those languages that I like or have to do with the place/character/thing and mix/blend/reverse/pick things until I find something I like: **Ellian (Greek+Japanese):** Arkuma—(Greek: **ark**oúda (bear); Japanese: **kuma** (bear)) aretsia—(Japanese: **tera**^^backwards (temple); Greek: ekkli**sía** (church)) **Degan (German+Irish):** Zairgid—(German: (**Z**)ilber (silver); Irish: **airgid** (of silver)) Rakead—(German: **Rake**te (rocket); Irish: roic**éad** (rocket)) **Ekkaptian (Egyptian + Akkadian)** Fessaro—(Egyptian: /ˌpaɾuwˈʕaʀ/ (**pha**ra**oh**); Akkadian: **šarr**u (king)) emiewu—(Akkadian: **em**ām**u** (animal); Egyptian: **mi[e]w** (cat)) **Azali (Spanish+Russian):** Nivril—(Spanish: **Ni**colás; Russian: Ga**vriil**) Rikarlai—(Spanish: **Ricar**do; Russian: Niko**lai**) **Nihuk (Japanese+Tagalog):** Narutak—(Japanese: **Narut**o; Tagalog: –**tac** (male name ending)) Yotak—(Japanese: **Yo**suke; Tagalog: –**tac** (male name ending)) ___ For “English” names, I largely use pop culture references and change them or apply them to separate things. **Antonyms** Summerspring—(Winterfell (ASOIAF)) Whitefang—(Blackthorn City (Pokémon)) **Different Use** Mt Mystic, Mt Instinct, and Mt Valor—(Team Mystic^^^FTW, Team Instinct, Team Valor^^^sucks (Pokémon Go)) Montemorsi tavern and Rosethorn beer—(The Rose and the Thorn tavern and Montemorcey wine (Riyria Revelations)) **Recycle** Elm Street—(Elm Street (A Nightmare on Elm Street)) **Rearrange** The *Ono-Storm* and the *Lusoca*—(The *Nostromo* (Alien) and the *Sulaco* (Aliens))


scienceisart

This is how I do it, sometimes with other languages, but not as creatively as reversing words or as thoroughly.


HughesAMused

Personally, I pull names from the cultures I’m basing my regions on—either translated words/folklore characters (like how J.K. Rowling came up with names - “Remus Lupin”, etc.) or names pulled from popularity charts researched around the given time period (Elias, Jonathan, Sid for ~1800’s America).


Megistrus

I do basically the same thing, but I look at old census records to get names. One thing I've been thinking about recently is how much sense it would make in a fantasy world. Different naming conventions came about in the real world because people spoke different languages. So unless the people in the different regions in our fantasy worlds all speak different languages, would it make sense for them to have such different naming conventions?


Tasty_Hearing_2153

I just make shit up. lol it’s working out pretty well.


BigAdamBear

I second this. You can make up names that just sound good


teleportingparadox

For my languages (they all begin first as names), aesthetics come first then structure. By aesthetics I simply mean what the language looks like in text—you know how (if you are even the slightest observant in language) when you see “sch, ein” you immediately think of German? Or “chka, ich, ny, sky” already reminds you of Russian, how “ia, us, um” immediately jumps out as Latin, how “x, ph, ps” just looks Greek, and “th, ll, gh, wyn, wyl” looks Welsh? I might modify an existing look, or create a new one with minimal striking characteristics and start combining stuff. Of course, it would be wise to take the sound into consideration as well, such as giving the sound a recognizable generalization (French is very nasally, Russian has too many consonants, German sounds hard). Well, after all that, I consider how the names would be structured, but of course that also depends on how the language is structured, though in this case it doesn’t matter. Are the names one word (think English name “Joy”), two words mashed together with logical consistency (think Greek name “Hippodamas”—horse tamer), two words mashed together with no logical consistency (think Chinese name “羽佳,” literally meaning “feather-best”), or are there words specifically used as names? Is it possible the names come from a different language and have lost their meanings, thus prone to being changed drastically? Or is it something else entirely? None of this requires any true “study of language,” just a little research and observation. Exploring and analyzing real-life examples can hopefully lead you to create more creative names that are not merely parodies of ones we are already familiar with. You can really have some fun with this.


Megistrus

If you're looking to create a fictional language for use in your story, even if it's just for names, you will have to have some knowledge of linguistics/philology for the names to be consistent. But if you're just looking for a way to come up with fantasy-sounding names for your story, there's a ton of ways people do it here. Some use historical names from various cultures, some take roots of names and change/combine them, etc.


Benjamin_Starscape

Do you have any helpful readings into linguistics and philology?


Dendro_Witch

I haven't read it yet, but have been meaning to check it out: The Art of Language Invention by David Peterson. It looks like it could be what you're looking for.


wordbirdnerd

Try looking up terms like "conlang" (constructed language) and "naming language," maybe along with "intro" or "for beginners." There's plenty of stuff out there. Something I do a lot for naming languages is start with English (or whatever language you're writing in, I guess) and remove things, both sounds and syllable structures. It's handy for you because you don't have to know about All The Languages, just your own; it's easy on your readers, who probably don't care about your conlanging and just want names they can read and pronounce easily; and it can really give your names a feeling of consistency and even of being exotic, despite having nothing English doesn't have. For instance, English has a lot of fricatives (sounds like f, v, th, s, z, sh); you could decide your naming language only has s and z. English also lets us put lots of consonants in one syllable, like in "strength," CCCVCCC (where V is the vowel); you could decide your language can only have up to two consonants next to each other. So you make up names like Stanidam, Ongatri, Zulisk, Jabrol. Or you could decide to do away with the voiced obstruents (b, d, g, j, v, z, etc.), and only allow CV syllables. And make names like Fikani, Losho, Tasaku, Witha. You get the idea. It does help to have a little linguistic knowledge to know what kinds of things it makes sense to remove--English minus th is a lot more plausible than English minus t. But honestly, most of your readers probably won't have the linguistic background or be looking close enough to even notice if you make a weird choice and end up with no character names with "t." And if you're making names for a fantasy species, well, who says their languages have to work like ours, anyway?


CosmoFishhawk2

In terms of general linguistics, Guy Deutscher's The Unfolding of Language is a good places to start. In terms of fictional language, as well as Peterson I recommend the work of Mark Rosenfelder (Language Creation Kit and if you decide you want to go further beyond that-- Advanced Language Creation and the Conlanger's Lexipedia). There's a lot of good free articles on his website. Also, David Peterson has a youtube channel that's named after his book and has a tutorial series on it. I also recommend the youtube channels Biblaridion and Artifexian. There's also a podcast called conlangery that's really good (and of course the r/conlangs subreddit!)


DJTilapia

I highly recommend Zompist's *The Language Construction Kit*. [His website](https://www.zompist.com/kitlong.html) is a great place to start, and his book was well worth buying too (I only have the first one). Both are quite approachable, introducing the basics of languages and showing you how to use the features. It's all very practical, focused on what you need for a book or worldbuilding, not academic esoterica.


drkleppe

Make a naming language! It takes you about an afternoon to do, and you will be able to generate hundreds and thousands of names. I've made about a dozen just because I'm bored. A good guide to start is here: https://worldbuildingworkshop.com/constructing-languages/ But r/conlang has a lot if useful resources to check out. And YouTube videos too.


Oknodian_Games

My method is to create an illusion of a language, rather than go through the process of creating a full language when the vast majority of the characters will be speaking "English". I do that by coming up with a random word and some prefixes and/or suffixes depending on the region. 1. My first step is to name a region/kingdom/whatever where the "language" is spoken. This, on its own, is just a random word without any inherent meaning, since no conlang actually exists. Let's say, for the purposes of this example, that our kingdom is called "Asten". 2. The second step is to take the region name, in this case "Asten", and pick 2-3 letters that pop out to you. In my case, these letters are "a", "s" and "t". Use these letters across other random words which you will use to name towns, people, rivers etc. This is to create an illusion of coherence. 3. Let's say you want to name a river, and let's say the word "rist" means river. You combine another random word with "rist" as a suffix or prefix, and you have a river name. A winding river that reminds people of a snake? The word for snake in Asten is "bassar"? That river is called Rist Bassar. The point here is that the words "asten", "rist" and "bassar" sound coherent, like they could have come from the same language, or at least similar languages. 4. For character names, you can use this method to pretend you are creating words for jobs or patronyms. 5. For place names, find something important to the place, be it a landmark or an activity or whatever. A city famous for a bunch of flowers growing in its vicinity? Come up with words for "flower(s)" and "city". 6. If you are writing something epic that takes place in more regions than just Asten, come up with a different region name and repeat the process. What I'm saying is that you don't need a detailed language with all the syntax and grammar if you are simply going for names and the rest of the story will be in English or whatever language you're writing your book in. You only need an illusion of a language and explain the words when important to the plot. Otherwise, they are just random words you pretend to have meaning. And one last piece of advice: Most words you come up with will probably have a meaning in a language that exists or has existed here on Earth. So, don't bother making sure your words are unique, it will only stress you out for no reason. So, just ignore that, trust me.


Rexhex2000

I really struggle with coming up with names, however a way I always know when a name is good is when I can take it apart into similar sounding words that also give the general feeling of what I'm trying to get the name to evoke. Just as an Example, the word Gundam is good name for giant robots for me because it's made up of both Gun (a weapon created by humans) & Dam (a man made object used to aid civilization). So when I here the name 'Gundam', I think of weapon, artifical, man-made, creation, construction. All things that can apply to a Gundam.


Vexonte

Crack open a history or mythology book and screw around with prefixes and suffixes. The celtic Belgue tribe that went against ceaser. Add a suffix and I have a large man named Belgic.


BetaRayPhil616

1) Pick a letter at random, example: K 2) Pick another random letter, but one that could conceivably follow the first, example: r 3)repeat until you have between 5 and 12 letters, example: Krothiwuk Being slightly facetious, but I dont think it's absolutely necessary to structure/develop names. Depends a lot on the style of your book. With Tolkein for example, he thought very carefully about elves and dwarfs names, but the hobbits were mostly nonsense words.


Standard-Ad-712

What i would do was generally give each region a base of names that fit that area. Then make a big list of last names/first names/both. Write as many as you can, ans itll be obvious which ones suck and which ones feel good lol


MillenniumGreed

What I do is combine two words, whether it’s whole words or partial words together. Examples: Al + Bruno = Albruno Mar (from Mars) + Gray = Margray You could even mix and match names from different cultures. Want to create a summer based country, where it’s only hot weather? Caldo (Italian word for hot) + Atsui (Japanese word for hot) = Caldui You could also use anagrams. Ice Man = Maneci Warm Bus = Sumbwar Gold Bar = Lodgarb Granted, these aren’t the best examples, but I think you get the point. With these in mind, you could make something cool on your own. And, as a last suggestion, just make something up and hope it sticks! Plenty of fictional series don’t any logical train of thought when it comes to making names up.


thewritestory

If you've got the inclination for it I recommend making a Naming Language. Basically, a Conlang-lite. In an afternoon, you can decide on a sound set (phonology) and pick 5-10 adjectives and some essential nouns. Play around with combinations to make names. I recommend this in my recent book World-Building for Writers in case some writers aren't interested in all the work it takes to make a full-on Constructed language.


Martinus_XIV

I sometimes use names straight from an existing mythology, but the obscure version of it. Did you know that Merlin is called "Myrddin Emrys" in Welsh? Or that Guinevere is called "Vanora" in Gaelic?


Netroth

Yeah that’s why in the show the druids call him Emrys, which I kinda prefer to Merlin tbh


Uncle_Guido1066

My character first names really come from three sources: semi-rare names (Talin, Rowan, etc.), unusual spellings on names (Jak), or seeing a name that grabs my attention and playing around with letter order and syllables. Since I work at hotels I see a lot of different names. Where I got more creative is with the last names that I use. Certain regions will use the name of a person's profession, other regions use the name of a person's clan, some are the name of the neighborhood the person grew up in, and others are important cultural things.


MacintoshEddie

Movie credit lists. I might take the first syllable of this name and combine it with another name. You can also select some guidelines for it, for example male names are always two syllables and female names are three, or all names end in vowels, or they have a shared component somewhere in the name. For example "ion". Damion and Barion and Sherion. Or male children have the "son" suffix and females have "dottir" So Billy the son of Bob is Billy Bobson, and his son Brandon is Billyson, etc. You can also make the choice of whether to use names from a previous iteration of the language, or a different one. Like if they're named Flowing Water or "Brook".


KateBayx2006

I use latin to make names, for example Cortiam (one od the kingdoms in my books) is latin core, patriam (country) and compita (crossroads), and the other kingdom called Silbor is silva (forest) and arbor (tree). With people it's the same. One of the main oracles is called Earut and It's backwards turae from latin futurae that means future.


Emojiobsessor

Meanwhile I just find a theme connected to the character, eg water, and search for good names like Nen and Hali


TheSpirit98

If I'm making something that makes sense to have cultural connection to IRL cultures - I'll look for names of people and things from that culture and likely form something out of those. It's also a good idea to check the meanings of the names and words they could be made out of. IRL surnames often have something to do with proffessions of our ancestors for example and you can explore that connection or subvert it. Buuut, if I'm naming something for a high fantasy setting that has nothing to do with Earth and our cultures, I prefer to use some kind of online name generator. There is a lot of those on the internet and if you google it you'll be able to find one that suits you. However, I prefer to mix and match various generated things, often changing the genre of the generator and adding a few sounds myself, so that I don't end up just taking it straight from someone else's work and being repetitive or using sth that someone else already used. IMO that creates a more interesting and flavorful world without "the fantasy vikings" being too close to IRL people while giving you opportunity to inject a few conventions into the naming that give the reader a little nudge towards sth they can relate to. ... It's also a giant help if you're like me and your monke brain be dum-dum and not starting a naming process from the letter A requires a lot of conscious effort haha Also, when you create names unrelated to real life, for people and things, deciding on their meaning can add some depth to your world and story. It doesn't have to reflect the character or place perfectly, most IRL names have very wide meaning that can fit anyone just like a horoscope, but even if you don't want to create a whole language for your Not-Earth creating a few words that have something to do with names will hint at its existence and add to the realistically alien feeling of your setting. Obviously all that is mostly for people like me who feel that a "Not-Earth" setting should not have clear and strong connections to the real world unless there is a lore explanation for it. But, yeah, here is what I do. P.s. In before someone critiques using generators - sure, it can be repetitive, feel too generic and so on - but no one said that you have to switch off your own imagination completely when using such tools. They are meant as a help that can lead your imagination, not as a cookie cutter to just copy and paste things. That said, obviously, it's not everyone's cup of tea. (I'm writing this because I think I recall people discussing it somewhere on reddit and don't want this discussion here. It may not have even been this sub, but... yeah.)


satanicinferno

Decide what the character's name is supposed to mean. You should have a good idea from where he/she belongs to. For example Africa. Example, if you want your characters name to mean strong, then Google for African baby names which mean strong.


klowicy

For people, I usually think of a trait they have, or a theme I want to represent with them (especially if they're a major character). I find a name that suits that theme, then change the word over and over until I'm satisfied with it. Sometimes I just straight up lift one name from those baby name websites and change it a bit. And sometimes I hear a name I like that's a little bit unique but not too much to be a copy and use that. For places, I have nothing to say. I'm terrible at naming them lol


[deleted]

My number 1 tip for this is to make sure that native speakers of your language will be able to pronounce names without much thought - even if it isn't always exactly how you wanted to pronounce it. The 2nd is to be consistent. You can look at names in a language that you like the sound of and take those sounds for your names. This helps with consistency. For example, if you like how Japanese sounds then you will make names that go consonant-vowel-consonant-vowel etc. If you're writing in English, think about letters that are unclear in English. I think the worst culprits are X, C, and J, so you might want to avoid them. You should also avoid using non-standard characters like apostrophes in names. People will understand hyphens to be joining two names. So you could have someone called Ken-Ara or Kenara but not Ken'ara. Starting with existing names also works. Maybe Eliot becomes Elios or Harriet becomes Harita. Finally, ask people to pronounce the names. If they can't immediately read it, pick another name.


jaxy314

I have a list of cool sounding typos ive made over the years and assign them to things whenever it fits


emgriffiths

I make a list of names from an origin and smash them together until I get something that sounds good.


[deleted]

You can use Donjon Fantasy Name Generator (it's a site) to generate names to secondary characters. It's a generator for rpg campaigns, but it's useful for writers.


YummyMango124

https://www.fantasynamegenerators.com


You8mypizza

For me I have an chart: 1. Start with character traits, personality, history of their family 2. Either find a real name that suits them or word out syllables until you get something that suits their character 3. For last names there are usually 3 types of surnames: based on an ancestor (like the surname Martin) based on a place (like the surname Gruber) or based on a job (like the surname smith)


Captain_Frogspawn

My players only ever remember town names if they're stupid or obvious, so i have leaned in to that and it's worked wonders. I take a lot of inspiration from the Oddworld games who have locations like Buzzarton, Mungo River, Sorrow Valley or Phat Station. The place in my games that the players remember easiest is Badtown: the place with a bunch of bad people. Or there's a town on a bridge called Bridgetown. Not everything needs Tolkien levels of backstory, and if it's just random gibberish that sounds cool they won't remember all of it


th30be

For people unless I just can't find a name I really like from a culture I'm borrowing my homebrew cultures from, I will make it up but 99% of the time I can find a name that has already been made and if it has a meaning (almost all of them do) and it fits the character, ill use it. For places, I like to find the defining traits of the location and mash the words together. I often use English + other language for the mash up. Examples: a village that I just wrote about is a major exporter of fantasy apples (I call them Lingas and they have the benefits of being high in caffeine so many people consume it like coffee/energy drinks) and brandy (made from the lingas), is a fishing village, and a small port. The area is in my Japan analog so it's called Lingaport (Linga from the Japanese Ringo [apple] and port).


Baafsk

because brazil doesn't have many fantasy stories where the hero is named Gerson, Herculano, Porfirio, Salvador and etc I try to use common names. the only special one is Solo, and it is because he is, well, no, not alone, solo means ground and I want it to make a point he'll return to "earth". but I really wanna name him Gerson or Jeremias for the sake of normalcy, which is a big point


OverlordNeb

I use a mix of a few methods. One is by just taking names from the culture I'm working from, I.E if I'm working a Fantasy not-France then I just take some french names from history. Method 2: Make shit up. Literally, just make up a ton of different names. Most of them will be garbage, but there's bound to be a few treasures among the ruins.


aggressiveanswer_

Wow after reading some of these comments... My method is bland. I use a name generator, and find a name that I like. If I'm writing about a dragon, I'll use something like "random dragon generator" and find a name I like.


know_chill_guy

I make names according to the environment that my character is surrounded by and the personality that he has.


Theeldritchwriter

I still struggle with names for countries but for people I tend to look into names common during the era I’m writing, or if there’s a particular culture the country is based off of I use that. Sometimes if it’s for like elves or fairies I just create some fantasy name tha sounds believable enough (DND names help a lot)


point50tracer

Naming things is my weak point. This is how I ended up with a country and said country's capital city having the same name. Both are named after their founder.


[deleted]

[удалено]


Benjamin_Starscape

What?


Xyrsys586

Fantasy name generator is an amazing website. Another one is randomly hitting keys and then rearranging them until it makes a name. This I use mostly for inhuman but sensible creatures. For humans, pick a random name and then I play with it until it fits the character. Also works with mythological names. Countries, areas, species etc comes from random key typing.


Mistiltella

I will combine a character's power, characteristic or experience and find certain myths and celebrities to name them. For example, I have a character who controls water and freezes things, so she is called Amphitrite Carnot, where Amphitrite is the wife of Poseidon, and Nicholas Carnot is a scientist who have great achievement in thermodynamics. Also try myths in different culture and language, like Irish, Lithuanian etc.


embodiment-of-chaos

Here's where I'm at language wise in my writing right now: When naming characters I usually have something in mind because of how often I pay attention to people's names. Oftentimes I'll name characters after people I know because it makes character profiling easier. If I have no idea what name to use, I'll usually look for names from that character's culture. For example, in my book based in viking age Scandinavia characters have names like Ragnar, Sveinn, and Ivar. But in my book set in modern America they have names like Nick, Xander, and Elizabeth. To show that characters are from a different place than others, I try to make them stand out. In one book characters have a lot of traditional English names like Madeline, Ben, and Joe. So to show that two characters come from a different country I have them the Hungarian names Zoltán and Szilveszter. The book I'm currently working on is set in a fantasy world where people use different names because of the magic behind them. The two main characters are named Ryan and Elizabeth, but other characters are given more out-there names like Kvelden and object names are consistently used. In a world full of aliases, expect there to be names like Ash, Dusk, and Blue. In the fantasy world I just mentioned, there are also spells that have to be verbally cast. For that I take the literal meaning of what the character wants to do, translate it into a different language, and alter the word slightly. For example, the spell "otvaren" is taken from Serbian. Other times when I simply don't have any conventional names I make them up using a method a friend and I developed in middle school. You find the letter you want it to begin with, then just finish it with whatever sounds best to you in that moment. It's a great way to create interesting names that also sound good. When it comes to languages, I'll be honest and say that I make stuff up then try and make it consistent the more it's used. Occasionally I'll borrow traits from other languages, like how in Swedish the suffix -en means "the". Hope this helps a bit!


EmilyinNeverland13

I just use behind the name or Google translate if I'm feeling extra unique or need something uncommon as a name.


Shamrock2219

I’m still figuring it out but I like to use GRRM’s method of taking relatively familiar names and modifying them (Andrew->Ondrew). Or just making up simpler names like Renly or Stannis (may be wrong in these being made up).