Looking for help

[John Dragneel]

Hey everyone I am brand new to this website but I came looking for help. I am planning on writing a book and need helps with name for nations/countries/factions. This is just the start and I will probably need help with other stuff too but for now this is what I need. If anyone has the time would they let me know and I will talk to them about what I am looking for. I have some ideas for my novel but am always looking for more and any tips are welcome. If you need info about my plan too I can give you more. I only have a little though. I am just in the planning stages. Hope you all are well and hopefully I can get to know you all. (My book in a light novel style btw) (Kind of like an Isekai)

-John Dragneel

 

[Prince of Spires]

What I do, because I'm terrible in coming up with names is I open up Google maps. I go to a country which matches my fantasy setting reasonably well and I zoom in. You will find loads of interesting place names and names for lakes, rivers and areas. I write down whatever sounds fun and then I start playing around with them. combinaties of two different place names etc

 

[Azeroth]

Hello! I'm sort of new (registered ages ago, haven't been around much) and while I would love to help I'm afraid that I have trouble with these things myself. It takes an excruciatingly long time for me to pull together some names for places, characters, everything. I often use https://www.fantasynamegenerators.com when I get stuck. I admit that some of the names that pop up are terrible, but you can easily mix and match. And hope for the best nobody else has already laid claim to it.

 

[John Dragneel]

What I do, because I'm terrible in coming up with names is I open up Google maps. I go to a country which matches my fantasy setting reasonably well and I zoom in. You will find loads of interesting place names and names for lakes, rivers and areas. I write down whatever sounds fun and then I start playing around with them. combinaties of two different place names etc

Thank you I will try that out.

 

[John Dragneel]

Hello! I'm sort of new (registered ages ago, haven't been around much) and while I would love to help I'm afraid that I have trouble with these things myself. It takes an excruciatingly long time for me to pull together some names for places, characters, everything. I often use https://www.fantasynamegenerators.com when I get stuck. I admit that some of the names that pop up are terrible, but you can easily mix and match. And hope for the best nobody else has already laid claim to it.

Thanks I appreciate it. I have been looking at generators and its still kind of rough.

 

[enoch driscoll]

I would encourage you to learn a bit of Latin. It sounds really hard, but English is in fact a Latin based language. I am by no means fluent in Latin, but i know a few suffixes, like anti, un, and dis means no, and television is Latin for Distance(tele) sight(vis). It is really easy and if you don't want to commit any to memory you can just google translate into Latin.

 

[John Dragneel]

I would encourage you to learn a bit of Latin. It sounds really hard, but English is in fact a Latin based language. I am by no means fluent in Latin, but i know a few suffixes, like anti, un, and dis means no, and television is Latin for Distance(tele) sight(vis). It is really easy and if you don't want to commit any to memory you can just google translate into Latin.

That is a good idea. I actually do know a bit of latin and I also had the same idea. I have been trying sometime to use root words and stuff like that. Thank you so much for the info and have a great day. I really appreciate it.

 

[Miles Lacey]

I would begin by thinking of the most significant figure of the place that you've created and the general setting. For example

Here in New Zealand the majority of place names are Maori and the names often refer to a significant feature. For example Paraparaumu means earth oven. It refers to the fact food was plentiful in the area so there were a lot of earth ovens around.

Place names are also named after historical figures or events. For example, Nelson is named after a British admiral. There''s even a place name in the Hawke''s Bay called Taumata-whakatangihanga-koauau-o-Tamatea-haumai-tawhiti-ure-haea-turi-pukaka-piki-maunga-horo-nuku-pokai-whenua-ki-tana-tahu. It means “the hill of the nose-flute playing by Tamatea — who was blown hither from afar, had a slit penis, grazed his knees climbing mountains, fell on the earth, and encircled the land — to his beloved.”

You could name the capital after the founder of the Empire your story is set in. A town could be named after a type of food unique to the town. A village could be named after a nearby geological feature such as a valley.

When I named places in my world in my WIP I used the names of streets and suburbs in the greater Wellington area of New Zealand.

 

[Azeroth]

Taumata-whakatangihanga-koauau-o-Tamatea-haumai-tawhiti-ure-haea-turi-pukaka-piki-maunga-horo-nuku-pokai-whenua-ki-tana-tahu

That is one huge-arse name for a place

 

[Miles Lacey]

That is one huge-arse name for a place

Try saying it! Even the locals struggle with trying to say it without getting tongue tied.

 

[John Dragneel]

I would begin by thinking of the most significant figure of the place that you've created and the general setting. For example

Here in New Zealand the majority of place names are Maori and the names often refer to a significant feature. For example Paraparaumu means earth oven. It refers to the fact food was plentiful in the area so there were a lot of earth ovens around.

Place names are also named after historical figures or events. For example, Nelson is named after a British admiral. There''s even a place name in the Hawke''s Bay called Taumata-whakatangihanga-koauau-o-Tamatea-haumai-tawhiti-ure-haea-turi-pukaka-piki-maunga-horo-nuku-pokai-whenua-ki-tana-tahu. It means “the hill of the nose-flute playing by Tamatea — who was blown hither from afar, had a slit penis, grazed his knees climbing mountains, fell on the earth, and encircled the land — to his beloved.”

You could name the capital after the founder of the Empire your story is set in. A town could be named after a type of food unique to the town. A village could be named after a nearby geological feature such as a valley.

When I named places in my world in my WIP I used the names of streets and suburbs in the greater Wellington area of New Zealand.

I love your idea and its helped a lot thank you so much.

 

[Vogel]

I did some research on this point, went a bit crazy in how each country got its name. Like England came because of Country of Angels, that's what those people were called back then. etc. etc. so if you are thinking of imaginary names I would suggest first opting for language of that place, maybe come up with a history. If European, it's easy to go with Latin names since it was the oldest, but even that could change between Greek, German. There's origin in languages too like Germanic languages, Latin, Slavic, etc. So you just pick a language and find words that describe well the people, landscapes, or the position of the country. Its a bit of a long process but everything feels authentic. I found this technique simple because this helps me to come up with the names of the characters who were born in the said region. It would sound foolish if you have an English name in Chinese ancestral region unless there's an invasion or proselytism. That also helps you develop a history for the region.

 

[John Dragneel]

I did some research on this point, went a bit crazy in how each country got its name. Like England came because of Country of Angels, that's what those people were called back then. etc. etc. so if you are thinking of imaginary names I would suggest first opting for language of that place, maybe come up with a history. If European, it's easy to go with Latin names since it was the oldest, but even that could change between Greek, German. There's origin in languages too like Germanic languages, Latin, Slavic, etc. So you just pick a language and find words that describe well the people, landscapes, or the position of the country. Its a bit of a long process but everything feels authentic. I found this technique simple because this helps me to come up with the names of the characters who were born in the said region. It would sound foolish if you have an English name in Chinese ancestral region unless there's an invasion or proselytism. That also helps you develop a history for the region.

Wow thanks for taking the time to write this. I will 100% use this. Thank you so much. This will help me a lot.