Culture, names of places and people.

[JustSpiffy]

So, I've been doing a little world building recently, I've got seven cultures I'm currently working on, each based on the following,

Pride,
Justice,
Joy,
Strength,
Honor,
Wit,
Love.

I'm trying to convey these things in the name of their people, names for each of the individual people and their place names. I'm not finding it terribly difficult, but I was wondering how you guys do it? I've found it useful, for example for love to look up the words people consider most beautiful and pinpointing what it is that makes a word fluid and appealing, no sharp sounds, since I want those people to be very beautiful, words like: Folician, Sorasil. Or for strength, I went for more tribal sounding words, Aghcak, Utan.

I think I'll keep it to one language in this particular kingdom however, except for maybe and Agchak, who live in a place too harsh to receive too many visitors, so it makes sense... Well, except for those intending to hire them as mercenaries, they make very good mercenaries.

 

[Samp]

I'm sure how I can help here, but I guess I'd just contribute something anyway.

Usually, I'd head over to a name generator and pick out certain names that seem fine, but that's almost sort of lazy. Well, you can probably pick some syllables from a name generator, or such, then fixing them together to form your own names. As you mentioned in your post, having the names fit each culture/value shouldn't be hard if you spend some time thinking about it.

 

[Whytemanga]

I like talking, forgive me! Read a slice of my reply & decide from there if any of the rest is worth your time, honestly speaking. ^_^

I think what you're doing with applying soft-sounds to the names of the "beautiful" (i.e.) is incredibly smart. Be sure not to shy away from also applying that sense to other aspects of your cultures, such as adding the oft-thought "softness" of curvature to the "beautiful" people's structures, and etc. Then again, someone might argue that softness and curvature have little to do with beauty, and how very Western of the world maker to think so. Readership opinions may conflict if these cultural settings are said to be "word of god"-like truths, and not the ideals of mere mortals. Again, I guess it depends on how much of the author, yourself, you want inscribed into your work -- your ideals, your beliefs. Are they mainstream enough to float you? Or can they garner a niche audience who care enough to float you? Or does that matter to you? I don't have anything to push here, I'm just potential-box-expanding. :>

For me, a big thing I've currently been doing is researching historical nomenclature.

If I want this cultures aesthetics to look a little Norse, I'll look for norse words of a meaning, or, more likely, I'll make up entirely new words that actually mean nothing, but sound Norse based off the study. Maybe I'll take the first three letters of that Norse word there, and the last five letters of this Norse word here even -- or if it's a combined cultural influence, I might smash an Egyptian word with a Arabic one. Softening up a word is great, but the better the image you can give readers, or the better they understand a culture before even meeting them, the...well...the better.

I just wan't to touch on your cultural conventions a bit more, though…

Don't get me wrong, I think the kind of overarching idea-based structure you present here, JustSpiffy, is an absolutely charming method for an "epic poem" like tale, where the inclusion of overly romantic/story-like/idealised divisions work well.

If the story is ment to be more of that "this could actually be real" thing, I think that kind of structure is a little too rigid. Even gods screw up what they intend to create sometimes, you know? To me, it might feel like that thing-where you walk into that township where everyone seems perfect, but you get this eerie sense that their being forced to be that way, "or else". Well, it may not seem so eerie, since you aren't suggesting it's something enforced…but that strange sensation may proceed, you know? Like the often frowned upon planet of hats trope.

Structure isn't bad, humans want everything to have great meaning as a part of our humanly condition, it's just not very realistic in such overly metaphorical terms, IMO. Great for a romanticized story, or a story within a story, though, IMO!

The best thing to do for you, I think, would be to…

A) play up that romanticized-like feel to the story to better incorporate that "everything has meaning" vibe, or…

B) play around with this culture code you've wrought a bit. Make the majority, sure, follow what you're laid out, but have two or three stray from their paths for one reason or another, such a the "love" being taken more physically then, say, the overlord/deity had intended, or Wit being corrupted intro more of a Sly Greediness by the presence of another deity who may have killed and taken rule in the original stead. Some excitement, even in the seemingly structural?

Mmm… My bottom line is, such structure is a great basis for a culture, but not the end point if it is to be believed that so many people could conform in such a tightly knit manner. One's culture encompass many many things, perhaps one or more could be off key to better "ground" it as plausible behaviour. If so, be careful -- 'cuz again, some people may not think your pinch of salt is enough salt to yet find your dish agreeable with their tongues & stomaches.

If all else fails, trust your gut, and your readership may eventually let you in on what they think -- and you can from-then-on smarten-up (or denser-down if need be ).

 

[Kelise]

Robin Hobb named her characters things like Verity, Regal, Patience, Dutiful... and so on, which worked perfectly.

What I personally do, is look up name meanings of traits that I want the character to have, then I merge the names together to create something a little more individual. Like my main character, Jairdan Dusaquin is broken down to be: 'Dusan (spirit), Quin (handsome) and Jordan (to flow down).' Then changed to have 'air' in it, since he's a Sky Pirate.

 

[Jenna St. Hilaire]

Great question.

I like my names to mean something relevant to the character, when possible, though it's tricky to do without being desperately obvious. While behindthename.com is my first go-to, I've done things like resorting to words from other languages, letter-scrambling, hunting up obscure words and modifying them, and the like.

Also, I love it when cultures explore a prized virtue, especially if it's done with subtlety and nuance. Robert Jordan's Aiel, Atha'an Miere and Seanchan all develop the idea of honor in unique and complex ways. I remember spending pretty much an entire day thinking through the Aiel people's <i>ji'e'toh</i>, their code of honor and obligation, and how it worked with and against Western ideas. Fascinating stuff.

Best of luck with your story!

 

[Lancelot]

One of the things I like to do is use a thesaurus to find all of the similar words to the concept I'm trying to convey, then I think of ways to change out letters or rarrange syllables so it sounds cool.