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Creative future names for people, cities, spies or sentient artificial intelligence.

Genly

Minstrel
Yeah, I guess the question is what makes these names "future names". How will language (presumably English, but not necessarily) and society evolve over the next few hundred years and how will that result in changes to names? For instance, during early Medieval times, most people did not have surnames. Surnames became used as ways of identifying individuals e.g. John the Cooper, for a tradesman who made barrels, eventually becoming just John Cooper. Since the given name "John" and its variants have been around for thousands of years already, it will probably still be around hundreds of years from now. On the other hand, more and more people these days seem to be giving their children invented names, so making up a future name is not entirely out of the question.

One suggestion: in the present day, some people of Chinese origin choose to use both western and Chinese given names, mostly for convenience. Maybe given China's increasing political and economic influence, in the future many westerners might also adopt this terminology ...
 
how will that result in changes to names? For instance, during early Medieval times, most people did not have surnames. Surnames became used as ways of identifying individuals e.g. John the Cooper, for a tradesman who made barrels, eventually becoming just John Cooper
As someone who works with identities every day I can tell you that there still are plenty of people around without surnames (or first names or dates of birth for that matter). So not just a medieval thing.
 

pmmg

Myth Weaver
One suggestion: in the present day, some people of Chinese origin choose to use both western and Chinese given names, mostly for convenience. Maybe given China's increasing political and economic influence, in the future many westerners might also adopt this terminology ...

In one sense, your name is whatever your respond to. There are many handles I would accept as names for me, and in several different contexts. I would not expect my family to call me pmmg, for instance.

In the computer world, names get used up. Computers hate duplicate ID's, so if your name is john smith, and so is someone else, you both cant have that name in the computer. To fix this, you will get a Key, and the computer will know you by your key string. If computers get to do the naming, you will just be the next number in the database.

I dont care if I pick up a Chinese name. When then context is there, I'll answer to it. But...I don't have one yet. Here, Pmmg, Dragon, Goldie, and maybe some others will do.

If computers are not doing the naming, I suspect whatever seems trendy will prevail. Maybe we will have hybrid names, like pmmg1264.
 

Genly

Minstrel
Your suggestion of computer-generated personal names might provide a link back to the OP. The "future names" in the OP sound a bit like what an AI might produce if it were asked to create some unique personal names with a given phonetic structure. In the future, these could be ones used in official communications. For everyday interactions, people might use nicknames instead.
 

Malakota

Dreamer
I find that I have fun making names that are driven from things that are common. I will create names from common cities and change the letters to make a fantasy name. Sacramento = Saicon. Boom! Now I have Knight character. Tallahasse=Tahlesse Pow! Magic Caster.
 
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