Fantasy Names

[The Blue Lotus]

Names to me have a special connection with the characters, thus I spend a lot of time naming mine.
I use names that are uncommon but still used in the region that the story takes place in.

For
example, Nitesh is one of my MC's (India) Means Lord of Dance. Which to me means a happy-go-lucky type person who enjoys life to its fullest.

Xīng on the other hand, means Sing. Someone who studies and works hard to prefect her skills. (Taiwan.)

Trinity (self-explanitory) {American} hyper obsessive personality but also very kind with a huge heart and a fierce desire to protect those she loves.

But then again I spent 8 months picking out my sons name too...

 

[Hëradïn]

The people of Hurkyulës (also known as the orange people) like names that include their word for man for males like Hëradïn, Hanudïn, Fëordïn etc. They also like Hëra because it means strong, so Hëradïn means Strong-man. The blue people (aka Orïtans) have a strange habit of doubling the /ee/ sound if it is in the first syllable example: Fiira, Diijra, Biirien etc. As for the Hauldwïn (aka lizard/dragon people) named themselves very complicated names like Anïnuanïnan, Lïlolëthia, Brienërbënoi etc. more to come later.

 

[Noda]

I tend to pull the names use from history. From people you never hear about in history.

 

[Emeria]

I don't really have a universal naming system I use, but a lot of the male characters have a ' in their name somewhere. Ish'tar is a half-dragon fire mage, though his mentor has a name that you might see belonging to someone in this world (Nat'iel - short for Nathaniel - Winters, almost always called "Nate" or "Master Winters"). To be honest, most of the names of the minor characters come from letter combinations that I think sound cool when I'm half asleep or something like that. Or it's just because the main character decides to call them that.

 

[KingArthur]

I like to make it fit the people i'm writing for and make it easy to read but pick unusual names like Jayin, Anais, Akireyu and Temis

 

[Fiain]

For me, all my names have to be based on the culture and the language of the area my characters are from. I'm not saying that I create a whole langauge or anything like that, but lets say I'm writing about a character who is from a country who's architecture is Arabic-like, the culture is Arabic like, the language they use is Arabic like...then of course, my character's name will sound Arabic-like. I think that sometimes, authors don't put enough thought into what actually makes a name; behing a character's name is the entire cultural and liguistic history of their people. In my "head", I simply try to imagine what the culture of my characters looks like, what their language sounds like, and what real-world (if any) cultures I have based their culture on, and go from there. Where it gets really fun is when I try to fuse a few real-world cultural groups together to create my fantasy culture lol.

 

[Benjamin Clayborne]

In my WIP, commoners typically have English/Scottish/Irish/Welsh/Gaelic names, and nobles typically have Eastern European/Albanian/Ukrainian/Uzbek names. (One nation was conquered by another, and the conquerors became the ruling class.) But the naming is sort of a vestige; it's been 500+ years since the conquest, and the nation has its own merged culture now.

 

[Gryffin]

I have learned a lot reading this thread. Names are important to me. I have to have the right name that I feel speaks for a character. I tend to look at baby name websites for some ideas and if I really feel like it, I will try to put new spins on popular or well-known names.

 

[Queengilda]

I do like to get a easily pronounceable name. I want my readers to be able to remember the name, so it has to be a little different, but not so different that they can't tell their friends about it. I will often take an old name from years ago, before they standardized the spelling of English names, and rework it just a bit, to get a new name. Or I add a whole new syllable to the end or beginning.

 

[Shadoe]

Have you ever had someone read your story then comment on it and you didn't know what they were referring to because they mispronounced the character's names?

I had that happen once, and I don't think I made any of the characters' names unpronounceable.

 

[Codey Amprim]

Honestly, I'll sit there sometimes (when the occasion calls for this, aka- extreme boredom) and just mix and match words or letters until I come up with something that sounds fluid and interesting. That's how I've come up with a number of names sadly enough, but it works! Trying to stay regional while coming up with brand-new original names can sometimes make it easier, as you already have a general sense of what you product should look and sound like; plus, it adds believeablility and authenticy to a work in my opinion.

So the next time you're flying or doing something (bored in lectures) find a word somewhere and put it into a fantasy mold, you'd be surprised what you'd come up with.

 

[subdee]

I used to look around the internet for name generators which didn't do much for me so I gave them up.

My mind works wonders coming up with names that sound like they alone could describe the character. If that fails, looking through mythologies of the world does wonders!

 

[Devor]

I find the names that I come up with fit into a certain style, and if it doesn't I'll look at it and think it's just wrong. That's great when I'm writing for a custom fantasy setting, as they feel natural and connected, and it's terrible when I'm not.

One of my works is supposed to take place in a real-world mythology, and naming the endless cast of characters in the style of a strange, real-world language is literally holding me back. I find that once I find a name the character and their personality takes shape immediately, so even typing in filler names is ruining my sense of progression.

I think I need to just pick randomly from a list of real world names and run with it, and when I get used to the names maybe it'll get easier to pick and choose the right ones. I dunno.

 

[Terra Arkay]

The names I choose are abnormally magical but they've got deeper meanings to them, I tend to avoid fantasy names like Gandolf and Vendreveden. Instead, I choose names similar to Terra and Sora, names like Xavia and Seren since my story shall take place on an alternate version of Earth for a bit before moving onto another planet.

 

[Zak]

I usually go to Google Translate and type in something about my character and translating it to another language and use that. I usually use Latin.