Suggestions on blending names?

[Shreddies]

I'm trying to flesh out my Ninja Elves a bit (it's intended as a humorous story, obviously), and I've gotten stuck on their names. Personal and family names, I mean. Ideally I wanted them to read like Elven names and sound Japanese out loud, but I can't seem to reconcile the two.

I've looked through several Elven name generators (and a few Japanese name generators), but nothing is clicking yet.

Any suggestions?

 

[Devor]

I'm trying to flesh out my Ninja Elves a bit (it's intended as a humorous story, obviously). . . .

So not obvious.

Elrond + Sephiroth = Sephirond

Legolas + Pikachu = Legochu

They sound fine to me.

 

[Garren Jacobsen]

Doku (dobby+goku) *drops mic*

 

[Mythopoet]

What do you mean when you say "read like Elven names"? Elves in different books have very different kinds of names.

 

[Mr. Steve]

You could go the route of using Tolkien-esque Elven names. However, I have read some works that give Elven names a Gaelic/Welsh flair to them, maybe consult some Gaelic and Welsh name listings alongside the Japanese listings and blend from there.

 

[Shreddies]

So not obvious.

Elrond + Sephiroth = Sephirond

Legolas + Pikachu = Legochu

They sound fine to me.

Glorfindel + Fujibayashi = Glorfibayashi (lol)

I kind of wanted to stay away from a straight graft like that though.

What do you mean when you say "read like Elven names"? Elves in different books have very different kinds of names.

True. But I've noticed that a common thread in a some fantasies I've read/played is to have their elven names lacking (or just downplaying) sharp noises, guttural pronunciation, and things like that. And they seem to be . . . I don't really know how to describe it . . . Flowy?

I was kinda hoping someone could point out other trends they've noticed that make them think 'Elf' when they see a name written down.

Or Japanese. What traits makes you think 'Japanese' when you see a name?

You could go the route of using Tolkien-esque Elven names. However, I have read some works that give Elven names a Gaelic/Welsh flair to them, maybe consult some Gaelic and Welsh name listings alongside the Japanese listings and blend from there.

Yeah, I'll look into that. Thanks.

 

[Mythopoet]

True. But I've noticed that a common thread in a some fantasies I've read/played is to have their elven names lacking (or just downplaying) sharp noises, guttural pronunciation, and things like that. And they seem to be . . . I don't really know how to describe it . . . Flowy?

I was kinda hoping someone could point out other trends they've noticed that make them think 'Elf' when they see a name written down.

Or Japanese. What traits makes you think 'Japanese' when you see a name?

Well, a lot of authors do try to emulate the feel of Tolkien's Elven languages. Of course, Tolkien created two different Elven languages. One is very much influenced by Welsh, the other very much influenced by Finnish. So you might try taking a look at Welsh and Finnish to see what common characteristics you can identify there that you like. Finnish has a lot of words ending in an "en" sound, for instance.

Japanese words are characterized by syllable sounds that almost always end in a vowel sound. The only exception is syllables that end with an "n". You won't find any words ending with any other consonants. (Except for loan words, obviously.) So Japanese words are composed from a series of these syllables which leads to a series of consonant + vowel sounds (with the occasional sound ending with n).

Like in your example of Fujibayashi. The syllables are fu ji ba ya shi.

You might try combining that combined syllable structure of Japanese with the kinds of sounds found commonly in either Welsh or Finnish. Study a word list for either language, make a list of sounds beginning with a consonant and ending with a vowel (or n) and then combine them in a similar way to Japanese.

 

[Trick]

I'm trying to flesh out my Ninja Elves a bit (it's intended as a humorous story, obviously), and I've gotten stuck on their names. Personal and family names, I mean. Ideally I wanted them to read like Elven names and sound Japanese out loud, but I can't seem to reconcile the two.

I've looked through several Elven name generators (and a few Japanese name generators), but nothing is clicking yet.

Any suggestions?

Try finding homonyms from Gaelic languages and Asian languages e.g. Kieran/Kirin, Ronan/Ronin

And even ones that are just close to homonyms (all listed Gaelic/Japanese) :

Aine (AWN-ye)/Aina (Ah-ee-na)

Daithi (DAH-hee)/Daichi (DAH-ee-chee)

Kean/Kenta

Mahon (MAN)/ Manami (MAH-nah-mi)

Roisin (ROSH-een)/Ryoichi (ryo-ee-chee)

There are likely more but I think you get the idea

 

[Reilith]

Doku (dobby+goku) *drops mic*

Doku is actually the Japanese word for poison, but that actually works for Ninja Elves quite nicely. xD

I don't think that it is too hard to reconcile the two, but have you thought of maybe doing an elven name and making hte surname sound more Japanese-like?