# Races named after Gods



## Androxine Vortex (Nov 1, 2012)

In a new project I am working on, all the different races are descendants of Gods. I am going for a Greek-ish feel to them so I wanted some advice on naming them.

One Goddess I have in mind is Atheca. So her people would be called, Athecians.

There is an "evil" god and I want to name him Dipotholes (pronounced Dip-oth-O-leez)

1) Do you think the way it is written makes it hard to understand to pronounce? I don't want people to think it is said, Dip-oth-O-less.

2) I can't figure out what to call his people. Dipotholean? Dipothlean? Anyone care to give me some advice when it comes to naming things like this?

3) Do these names sound Greek-influenced to you? These are the only ones I have made so far. I'm using them in my story:
Theocleed
Exthellion
Atheca
Dipotholes


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## Mindfire (Nov 1, 2012)

Actually I think most people would mispronounced Dipotholes as DY-po-THOHLS. I would spell the name as Dipotheles or Dipotholese to avert that. Your names sound quite Greek, though Exthellion is quite similar to Tolkien's Ecthelion.  And I'd go with Dipotholaean or Dipothelaean.


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## Saigonnus (Nov 1, 2012)

Androxine Vortex said:


> One Goddess I have in mind is Atheca. So her people would be called, Athecians.



Similar sounding to Athena and the aptly named Athenians that stemmed from her wisdom. I certainly hope she is decidedly different from the actually greek goddess or people may see it as a cheap imitation. Perhaps a different name could throw that similarity off among the readers. 



Androxine Vortex said:


> There is an "evil" god and I want to name him Dipotholes (pronounced Dip-oth-O-leez)
> 
> 1) Do you think the way it is written makes it hard to understand to pronounce? I don't want people to think it is said, Dip-oth-O-less.
> 
> 2) I can't figure out what to call his people. Dipotholean? Dipothlean? Anyone care to give me some advice when it comes to naming things like this?



Dipotholes certainly has the greek ring to it in my opinion. I think perhaps if you included a glossary of terms like Robert Jordan did for his Wheel of Time series, complete with pronounciation, you won't have the issue of mispronounciation. I really don't think it's necessary though, people will say things how they want and as long as it doesn't take something away from the character, it shouldn't matter. DIP-O-THOLES (like holes) is a bit strange but certainly not bad for an evil god.

As for what they should be called Dipothean - (De po thay an) sounds pretty good rolling off the tongue. 



Androxine Vortex said:


> 3) Do these names sound Greek-influenced to you? These are the only ones I have made so far. I'm using them in my story:
> Theocleed
> Exthellion
> Atheca
> Dipotholes



The only one that gives me pause is Exthellion as it bears striking resemblance in sound to Icthelion from the Lord of the Rings fame, but I wouldn't worry to much if he/she is decidedly unique. Exthelinus (Ex thel eye noos) is a possibility as a derivative name from that, with Exthelunites (ex thel oon ites) or "Thelun" for the race name.


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## A. E. Lowan (Nov 2, 2012)

Androxine Vortex said:


> There is an "evil" god and I want to name him Dipotholes (pronounced Dip-oth-O-leez)



Maybe it's just the way my brain works, but I would steer clear of any name that starts with the syllable Dip (or anything else that could be considered a derogatory word).  I like the "oth-O-leez" part of the name, very demonic sounding, but I would be forced to mentally call his people the "Dips," and I'm sure you don't intend that.


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## Gurkhal (Nov 2, 2012)

As have been mentioned I like the Greek stuff but I personally don't think that all the names sound very Greek. Atheca and Dipotholes sounds very Greek to me, but Theocleed and Exthellion doesn't at all make me think of the Olympians, or Hellas for that matter. 

But maybe that's just me of course.


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## WyrdMystic (Nov 2, 2012)

I like the names, but have to agree with aeolwan on dipotheles. It makes me think of dipsticks - that may just be a pronunciation thing though as I'm a Brit.


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## Mindfire (Nov 2, 2012)

aelowan said:


> Maybe it's just the way my brain works, but I would steer clear of any name that starts with the syllable Dip (or anything else that could be considered a derogatory word).  I like the "oth-O-leez" part of the name, very demonic sounding, but I would be forced to mentally call his people the "Dips," and I'm sure you don't intend that.



Not sure what you're referring to, but apparently there's a creature called a "dip" in Catalan myth, a demonic hound that sucks human blood.


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## Mindfire (Nov 2, 2012)

WyrdMystic said:


> I like the names, but have to agree with aeolwan on dipotheles. It makes me think of dipsticks - that may just be a pronunciation thing though as I'm a Brit.



If the Dip thing is British slang, then I wouldn't worry about it. Americans won't notice it and I have no clue what it means.


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## Ireth (Nov 2, 2012)

I don't see much of a problem with Dipotholes -- knowing it's influenced by Greek, I'd automatically read it as die-PO-tho-lees. But I can see how others would take it in different ways.


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## WyrdMystic (Nov 2, 2012)

Mindfire said:


> If the Dip thing is British slang, then I wouldn't worry about it. Americans won't notice it and I have no clue what it means.



aelowan's from missouri, so it's not just british. I agree though, stick with the name, these are just opinions, and my answer was my opinion on Q1. 

Any ancient language type word is going to be pronounced by different people in different ways based on where they are, where they were born and their level of education - case in point, I know practically nothing about ancient greek and would pronounce the world wrongly, however, Ireth seems to know and would opt for the correct version. That's life.


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## Leif Notae (Nov 2, 2012)

Why not use the confusion to your advantage and utilize it in your other characters. The way they say it may affect their communication, but it can give your world some personality. You are admitting, through your characters, that the name is difficult to pronounce and you're taking a moment or two to point it out and laugh with them.


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## ScipioSmith (Nov 2, 2012)

Gurkhal said:


> As have been mentioned I like the Greek stuff but I personally don't think that all the names sound very Greek. Atheca and Dipotholes sounds very Greek to me, but Theocleed and Exthellion doesn't at all make me think of the Olympians, or Hellas for that matter.
> 
> But maybe that's just me of course.



Cleed may not be, but Theo definitely sounds Greek to me: Theocritus, Theophanes, Theogenes etc. I do agree the hard -d ending is a little odd. Most Greek names that I've seen have an -n or an -s ending.


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## Androxine Vortex (Nov 2, 2012)

Yes I do understand that Exthellion does sound like the LOTR character. I assure you it is unintentional. I made a thread awhile ago asking if the members here thought it would be a problem. Most of them said no because that character was barely mentioned and wasn't a major part of the story.

I was actually thinking of including a pronunciation glossary. I don't think that my names are difficult to pronounce and hard on the eye as are a lot of fantasy names, it's just that they are easy to mispronounce.

I know that Exthellion isn't really a Greek sounding name but I kind of like it. What kind of origin do you think it resembles? maybe I can sort of mingle the two together?

EDIT: I'm not trying to go far a 100% historically accurate Greek sound. Just going for something that can sort of get the image across.


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## SeverinR (Nov 5, 2012)

The concern of Dip, would be:
Dippy:mad or foolish
Dipstick: a common put down on Dukes of Hazard, possibly of the south?

Changing it to DY, would keep the Greek sound and not be percieved by some as a put down.

This bank gave a radio show a few laughs and some bleeps when the wrong pronunciation is used: Fukuoka Bank (fu ku oka bank) fu not fa. In Japan, I doubt this would be a problem.


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## Androxine Vortex (Nov 5, 2012)

Thanks guys for the advise. But what sort of language/origin do you think the name "Exthellion" resembles? I think I might make a blend between whatever it is like and Greek. 

Oh and I also made a new God named Acazeus


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## WyrdMystic (Nov 5, 2012)

Exthellion to me sounds latiny greeky. Excellion was an autobot. Azazeus sounds demonic. Don't worry too much about the origins though, if they sound right and feel right....plow ahead.


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## Saigonnus (Nov 6, 2012)

Exthellion sounds like latin to me too... and it isn't a far stretch of the imagination to have a culture "borrow" religious rites or even gods from other places. Perhaps long ago pilgrims came from a distant land and brought it with them. As the years passed, more people took the god as their own and eventually it would become part of the pantheon even if not devised by the people living in the kingdom. 

The early form of christianity used alot of pagan symbols and rituals to make conversion to their religion more palatable to the ordinary people; who based alot of the trappings of their "religion" on things like the summer solstice, winter equinox, lunar/celestial events and what not.


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