How do y'all make up "fantasy names?"

[Naruzeldamaster]

Nicknames also help with that. So a character like Averzaphyyris would just be called Ave or Averz or Avers by everyone in the story except when that character states their full name.

You can also use palindromes for names, those are fun, Ace Attorney does that quite a lot.
There's also Pun names. for example, an Elf named Jon and a bard named Sina and when they appear a particular trumpet theme plays...

 

[xena]

Well, I mix real languages for sounds, tweak spellings or steal naming rules from cultures instead of names.

 

[KATutin]

I'll tend to use name generators and then play around with inserting or removing letters, moving them around. Have them read aloud to see if they hit the ear right.

 

[jhmcmullen]

Depends in part what kind of story it is.

If it’s a very short story and it doesn’t need much in the way of world-building at all, sure, a name generator and fiddling until it sounds right.

Let’s assume this is straight secondary world fantasy with world-building and the whole bit; we’re not doing pun names here. Generally, I decide on whether the structure of the language, in a broad sense. An agglutinative language often has very different names, for instance (Hawaiian as an example). What kinds of sounds are common — does the language have a lot of harsh consonants (to English speakers) or are they softer? Have I already defined words that would be appropriate?

And all of that needs to be checked if it sounds the right way to modern English ears. I don’t care if “Marrjuh Rinn” means “Slayer of Demons,” it sounds like “margarine” and for a straight story, those are the wrong connotations.

 

[Super Fantasy]

Try relating words to names, a character might be rather introverted and shy,
You could name her "Shyera",
Or simply think of interesting sounding names that are perhaps rarely used,
"Neremia"
"Arvaria"
Think of some common names,
"Delilah"
And change the letters around a little,
"Deliliava"
There is all kinds of names and the like to try out,
Add some personification,
"Shelly"
"Shellyvera"
"Nervy" A lady who is often nervous,
To me, a fantasy name could be all kinds of things.
Simply mix and match

 

[D. Gray Warrior]

I usually just make up gibberish that I think sound somewhat alright as a name.

I did name one character after Soren Kierkegaard just because I needed a name on the spot, and Soren is a cool name.

 

[Adam Scribentis]

Remember the golden rule, it's not a fantasy world if there's not at least one character with a 'normal' sounding name lol
(it's not an actual rule but a lot of video games do it)
The realistic named character can be something like bob or jill, but it also can be something more fantasy-leaning like Elliot

A lot of my characters have fantasy names but the main protagonist is just Sinbad, yup, Sinbad, no relation to the mythological character at all

How do y'all make up "fantasy names?" like seriously. Some sounds cool and some ends up being too goofy.
Mind you, I'm NEW to the fantasy world, so I just do normal names.
I write medieval romance/fiction. So, most of my words are of Latin origin--yet they aren't as "Magical" or doesn't really give of that vibe.
So, if anyone has any suggestions, would love to hear it!

I used mostly English-based names, some newly coined. Objections from nitpicking readers are anticipated and disarmed in the foreword, where it is explained that English names and wordplay in the dialogue are supposed to be translations or adaptations out of the ancient language that the characters spoke.

 

[FRRBStories]

I find coming up with fantasy names is a lot easier if you're familiar with the culture/s they're coming from. Look at Tolkien, look at the names he gave his elf characters. It would be hard to come up with names like Fëanor or Glorfindel on the fly. But I imagine once he had a full functional language to draw from, coming up with names for his elf characters was a piece of cake for Tolkien.

That's not to say that you have to make a full conlang to come up with names, but it helps to at least have a foundation of a language of the place your characters are coming from. If you really have to, consider the environment and look up similar environments on Earth and what kinds of cultures and names sprung up from such environments. Or at least come up with some sounds that are common in your fictional culture and apply them to your characters.

Or you know, just find a fantasy name generator online. At least it's quick.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

How do y'all make up "fantasy names?" like seriously. Some sounds cool and some ends up being too goofy.
Mind you, I'm NEW to the fantasy world, so I just do normal names.
I write medieval romance/fiction. So, most of my words are of Latin origin--yet they aren't as "Magical" or doesn't really give of that vibe.
So, if anyone has any suggestions, would love to hear it!

Do you want to know the single, never fail, always perfect trick?

Practice.

 

[El_d_ray]

I actually tend to be very specific with names and often don't do them at all. Avoiding naming characters and places as much as possible untill I have to. And when I do, then I try to give as much context as possible. If there are any cultural references, I'll try to use name that would sounds from that region.
For places I want the name to awoke some sort of image without lengthy description, so I tend to have a names that either show why it was named such way or some sort of understandable narrative (Saltpick, BlackRock and such). The problem is to make it sound unique, so I go through many iterations untill I settle for something.

 

[Miles Lacey]

I just borrow words from Maori, Tahitian, Hawai'ian and Tongan. The island the story I'm writing is set in is Pounamu. Pounamu is the Maori word for greenstone. The enchanted magical rock the island is famous for is called pounamu and the indigenous people are called the Pounamu. The highest point on the island is called Mou'a Ereere (Black Mountain). The island is part of the Banjari Empire. Banjari is something that sounded vaguely southeast Asian that I made up. The name of the main character is Leilani (a Polynesian girl's name I looked up on a baby name website) Qing (the name of a certain Chinese empire that was overthrown in 1911). Her partner in the adventure is called Birmingham (after the British city) Greene (after one of the colours of the Irish flag with the "e" added because it looked better).

I drew a lot of inspiration for names from southeast Asia, the Pacific islands and the Maori language and culture here in New Zealand.

Sometimes you can find plenty of ideas for names much closer to home than you realise. Remember that what might be everyday names and words to you may be exotic to people from other places so take advantage of that.

 

[Adam Scribentis]

I find coming up with fantasy names is a lot easier if you're familiar with the culture/s they're coming from. Look at Tolkien, look at the names he gave his elf characters. It would be hard to come up with names like Fëanor or Glorfindel on the fly. But I imagine once he had a full functional language to draw from, coming up with names for his elf characters was a piece of cake for Tolkien.

That's not to say that you have to make a full conlang to come up with names, but it helps to at least have a foundation of a language of the place your characters are coming from. If you really have to, consider the environment and look up similar environments on Earth and what kinds of cultures and names sprung up from such environments. Or at least come up with some sounds that are common in your fictional culture and apply them to your characters.

Or you know, just find a fantasy name generator online. At least it's quick.

JRRT, of course, also had "translation" language-bases, e.g. Old English to represent the "real" language of Rohan.

 

[Filifjonken]

I mainly use Scandinavian names, since the fantasy that I do write, usually takes a lot of inspiration from my own culture (I'm danish)
So there will be a wizard named Jens Henriksen, and it will fit the genre because he lives in a town with lindworms who eat smørrebrød, in a flat windy land with no mountains. It also fits because I say it does, and I make the rules for what I write, especially when it's fantasy ~

"Do I want to include x? Then I will include it," is one of my personal principles for writing stories. Anything goes as long as it's done well.
The first Dune book (not fantasy, but still relevant in my opinion) had me confused in the the beginning, because of all the made up words. Now, however, I'm of the opinion that it's done well. The words share similarities; regarding being able to tell that they are are from a specific (made-up) language, because they fit well together.
"I don't know what croissant means, but I can tell it's a french word."

"Gom Jabbar" is also just a fun word to say, and it's easy to remember too. So if I were to make up names or words, rather than use existing simple ones, this is something I'd try and keep in mind ^^

 

[TheKillerBs]

I find coming up with fantasy names is a lot easier if you're familiar with the culture/s they're coming from. Look at Tolkien, look at the names he gave his elf characters. It would be hard to come up with names like Fëanor or Glorfindel on the fly. But I imagine once he had a full functional language to draw from, coming up with names for his elf characters was a piece of cake for Tolkien.

That's not to say that you have to make a full conlang to come up with names, but it helps to at least have a foundation of a language of the place your characters are coming from. If you really have to, consider the environment and look up similar environments on Earth and what kinds of cultures and names sprung up from such environments. Or at least come up with some sounds that are common in your fictional culture and apply them to your characters.

Or you know, just find a fantasy name generator online. At least it's quick.

Tolkien also straight up yoinked some of his names from mythology. Gandalf is from one of the Eddas, for example.

 

[Prince of Spires]

A good thing about place names (and similar) to keep in mind is that most real world place names are very unimaginative and often just reference something. It's how we end up with names like the River Avon, where Avon is just river in ancient English (or Welsh) and thus it's the River River or Torpenhow Hill, which could be interpreted as 'hill-hill-hill' Hill (though that one is more folklore than an actual hill....). But the same goes for all the places called -ford. And there are plenty of New Towns which are older than many countries.

We're just not very imaginative as a species.