Names for cities and races?

[Struddles]

I was curious how others came up with the names of their cities and races or factions in your fantasy world. What are some thought process' you've used to help get you creative juices flowing. I've kinda gotten into a block so to speak in the writing process of creating cities. I get some ideas in my head but often times I feel they seem quite bland. Is it just me second guessing myself?

 

[Chilari]

I find it easier to name places when I have established their linguistic origins. I'm no linguist; in fact I'm awful at languages, but I like to establish a general feel of the language as far as a real-world comparison is concerned and use appropriate sounds and combinations when naming characters from that culture and places within it. I've based linguistic qualities on Gaelic, Scandanavian, Etruscan and Persian languages, including taking actual names from these cultures and changing them slightly, or taking common sounds or constructions and creating names from that. The same goes for locations, though generally with locations I prefer to establish certain suffixes or prefixes which mean certain things, like hill or bridge, for the sake of consistent naming.

Don't let not having a name for something stop you from writing about it though. I use square brackets if I don't have a name, and use a unique descriptor like [copper mining town] or [northern hill fort] as a stand in, which I can later replace with a suitable name.

 

[Struddles]

Thanks I greatly appreciate it I will definitely use the strategy that you suggested about putting stand in temporary names.

 

[Lawfire]

I keep a list of names that I have jotted down as they come to me. I will look through it and try to find something appropriate for what I need (people, places, things). Occasionally I will use an online fantasy name generator to add to the list, but I often end up manipulating the results into names I like. It gives me a place to start when the creative juices are not flowing well.

Don't let not having a name for something stop you from writing about it though. I use square brackets if I don't have a name, and use a unique descriptor like [copper mining town] or [northern hill fort] as a stand in, which I can later replace with a suitable name.

THIS is brilliant. I really like that idea. Thanks for sharing!

 

[ALB2012]

Crivener has a name generator and you can set it for region say if you want "eastern" sounding names. I haven't seen if this is just people's names but you could take first name only and use that.

Or make a list of actual names and change them- "wold, feld, ton/taun, don, ham," are common suffixes at least in Britain, you could use that- Grenwold, Greenwold, Grunwold, whatever.

My friend who is also a writer focuses on a specific region or race and adapts those- Persian, Roman etc, for a specific region.

Personally I just find something I think sounds right and go with that. I am sure there are tons of free sites for interesting placenames. I agree with above, if you can't think of anything mark it as x or (add name) and then return to it. Really if its just some small stop of that doesn't impact overly it may not matter a good deal.

 

[Saigonnus]

Don't let not having a name for something stop you from writing about it though. I use square brackets if I don't have a name, and use a unique descriptor like [copper mining town] or [northern hill fort] as a stand in, which I can later replace with a suitable name.

I do something very similar to this for my work alsom but only for locations that aren't really that important to the story; like the character stays at the inn for the night and moves on the next day, or just stops at the apothecary for some herbs. If they are pivotal to the story though (like much of the action takes place there or the characters spend significant time there) then it has a name before I even start writing. I tend to world build quite a bit even before I start and continue as I write so I have a general idea of the layout of the land, the major population centers and even a bit of the history of an area including all the major communities whether the character will visit them or not.

 

[icewindel]

Aside from determining linguistic or regional origins, or if you really don't know or don't want to use anything relatively real world-ish, you can do what I usually do. You could live in the small port town of Poplest Ruick (courtesy of the 'post quick reply' button) or the outlandish towering spires of the citadel of Vancadgo (courtesy of the 'go advanced' button) and just pick random words and smash them together. It's actually a lot of fun to do that anyway, so why not make names with it?

 

[Lawfire]

That is an interesting technique.

 

[ALB2012]

Aside from determining linguistic or regional origins, or if you really don't know or don't want to use anything relatively real world-ish, you can do what I usually do. You could live in the small port town of Poplest Ruick (courtesy of the 'post quick reply' button) or the outlandish towering spires of the citadel of Vancadgo (courtesy of the 'go advanced' button) and just pick random words and smash them together. It's actually a lot of fun to do that anyway, so why not make names with it?

Awesome plan

 

[Alex97]

I tend to base my names on the culture they're linked to. For example if a culture in the story is simmalar to a real world culture such as Greek, Roman, Celtic.... I'll search up names for places linked to them then change them a bit. Alternantively I'll use google translate and search up a few words related to that place. For example if I have a town near a river beloning to a Greekish cullture I'll search the word river and words related to river in Greek and then change them a bit.

Sometimes using real names can work quite well, like street names as longs they're not too obvious or the names of small villages.

 

[King Raven Stark]

For me I just use the names of real places but change the government, society etc, and as far as factions and races I dont know how i come up with it I just do. Remember it's your story and your imagination, if you think a name you might have is bland use it anyway, like I said before it's your story you can do whatever you want.