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Naming a Fantasy World

Misusscarlet

Minstrel
Names are hard to pick. I wanted to name my planet Avalon, I always liked books about Avalon, but then I realized there are a ton of books with the name Avalon. So I named my planet Avaria. Simple, elegant and makes you think of a vast beautiful place.
 
Names are hard to pick. I wanted to name my planet Avalon, I always liked books about Avalon, but then I realized there are a ton of books with the name Avalon. So I named my planet Avaria. Simple, elegant and makes you think of a vast beautiful place.

Your planet name makes me think of birds and makes me think of a carefree society.
 

Misusscarlet

Minstrel
Now that you mention it you're right.
Your planet name makes me think of birds and makes me think of a carefree society.

Avaria is very close to sounding like Avian which in definition means flight.
 

Lia-Art

New Member
I'm stuck between three different names for my world.
Vieorsa
Suiverra
Vuissula
They are all a mix of Spanish and Latin, which are the only two languages I'm going to use to name places in my world.
The worlds main sentient creature is a dragon like animal.
 
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JBryden88

Troubadour
The world doesn't have a name, well, not known to the people in it. The continent does. Arnhaal. I don't think anybody's used that :p
 

Zak

Dreamer
I don't think it's a good idea to name your world. Is our world named? No. We have continents, countries, cities, etc. and that's all there needs to be in a fantasy world.
 

Devor

Fiery Keeper of the Hat
Moderator
Is our world named? No.

"Earth."

The fact that you're saying that, though, probably goes to show how unimportant it is. "Earth" doesn't appear on a map, and it's probably weird when characters talk about their planet, unless maybe they're the fantastical version of environmentalists.
 
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Wordweaver

Dreamer
I actually named my world after someone I know: Auria. It's probably been used before, but I thought it was nice, and elicited a sort of fantasy-fiction-y feeling when I heard it. Also I didn't want something that was complicated with to many syllables or other-worldly pronunciations because I want it the reader to feel at home in the realm of the story.

But I have to say I agree with Devor on ths one...not many people actually refer to the entire world in everyday conversation by name, except in science fiction interstellar types of stories. My current WIP does have a tribe of treehugging geomancers that have something of a connection to the "spirit of the land," so they tend to refer to Auria by name, more as a deity then a planet though.

Also consider the fact that a thousand years ago, the fact that we live on a "planet" in the sense of a spherical heavenly body floating around the galaxy was not known, let alone that there are other "worlds" out there floating alongside us. So there was really no need to refer to the world by name, other then the names of countries or continents. Thinking from the POV of the technologically undeveloped people in the realm where my plot takes place, it wouldn't make much sense to have them refer to Auria as a planet.
 

Ghost

Inkling
I'm not sure that naming a world is useless just because the inhabitants don't care about it. As a reader, it's nice to sum the world up in one or two words instead of saying, "You know, the world Ouroboros writes in that series with the long, stupid name."

I recently destroyed many of the original names (don't worry, I made them up in high school so they are pretty bad). The name of my world was originally made for the northern continent. I realized it actually worked better as a name for the world. I don't remember how I originally came up with it.

I don't know what makes a world's name sound credible. I'd expect something short unless it was a formal name. Apostrophes and difficult to pronounce names make me wince. For it to be laughable, it could mean (or sound like) something naughty, like Terranus (sorry, JustSpiffy).
 

Terra Arkay

Minstrel
In my story, the name of the world will play a lesser role compared to the role of the uber mega city Arkaydia. OR... I haven't decided on a world name :p
 

Jabrosky

Banned
I came up with my conworld's name (Gorrinth) a long time ago, but exactly how I thought it up, I don't know.
 
I don't think it's a good idea to name your world. Is our world named? No. We have continents, countries, cities, etc. and that's all there needs to be in a fantasy world.

Last time I checked our world had a name "Earth" and if you really look hard some people have gone to the trouble of going so far as to give our Earth it's own deity type personality "Mother Earth".

Mother Earth has shown up in mythology for nearly as long as people have been here. Mother Earth represents Motherhood. Since humans did not have the information that we do today they tried to explain things as best they could with their primitive skills, and knowledge. Mother Earth was belived to be the litteral Mother of the first people. Having given 'birth' to them and then 'mothered' them by providing the means to substain them for their whole lives. Not unlike a real mother if you think about it.


However, unless someone is refering to this quasi-deity one does not say Earth in a normal conversation. At least not outside of the science minded circles or scientific type conversations.

Alas since our world does have a name, you wil never hear something like this:

"Hey Todd, I was wondering do you happen to know how old our spherical, rotating globe is? It was a question that I was told would come up on the test."

That is silly... you would however expect to hear:

"Hey Todd, Do you happen to remember how old the Earth is estimated to be? It is going to come up on the test and I totaly flaked in science class."

Hope that helps clear up some confusion...

So all in all NAME your WORLD! Even if you only use the name once in blue moon.
 
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Liu Xaun

Dreamer
I had named mine Millenis. Latin for thousand. That number is a recurring theme I throw around.
I usually find anything that ends in "s" really cheesy and cliche, but I stuck with it due to lack of anything else. It slowly grew pn me.
 

Ireth

Myth Weaver
In one of my newest WIPs I named the planet Rakar-ai, which is Draconian for "The Nest". That being the place the two dragon deities created for their eggs to hatch on. Right now it's the places and such IN the world that I'm having trouble with, especially since the world is currently populated by both humans and dragons.
 

Mindfire

Istar
For the world at large, I chose Ensis. It came to me while I was rearranging the syllables of the word "existence". But I hardly ever actually use it in the text. The characters don't much need to refer to anything beyond their own continent.
 
I'm like Mindfire, the name of the world seldom comes up except maybe from scholars. Most people refer to surrounding locations and their own. There is no real actual name for the world aside from the different cultures possibly having one. That can go for a world with a varied background of races, though I can see how one would be used if the world only had no more than one or two indigenous groups.
 
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