Names

[Konstanz]

One of the most irritating things about fantasy I can think off are the unpronounceable names many (budding) writers use for their characters. Usually, they just take some vowels and consonants and mix them until they have something that looks cool. Another commonality is that they never use a "t" but always a "th". Someone once called that curiosity the "Fantasy th".

I usually pick an (old) language and then use that for my names. For my world, I use old german/dutch/english for the Thessallian Empire (and some slavic influences for the northern part) and I use old french for Arlonds. Some of the names I have so far are:

Konstanz, Conrad, Dietmar, Bernhard, Alfonz and Leopold for my Thessallians.

Hercule, Arnaud and Abelard for my Arlondikes.

I (personally) think those names sound a lot better than "Thakash" or Pherokoth" or whatever others conjure up from their mind. They are obviously not names you come across in real life (or not a lot anyway) and they definitely have a nice medieval ring to them I think.

So what do you use for your names?

 

[Codey Amprim]

It's all about taste, really. You like those types of names, sure, that's great, but some people might actually like more fantastical or other types of names. Your names are neat, I won't lie, but some people might think them too Earth-like, and not of another world. I'm not saying this is the case, I'm just giving an open-minded standpoint on the issue.

Some names of my world (notice the difference):

North (Ragen): Andahallan, Highgrove, Dracomont
Middle land (Trollhelmia): Mawgannon, Herenlam
Eastern land (Hadradian Desert, Wylvaheim, Sandhowl Ridges): Ordrellon, Jurem, Maplebrook, Bal'lai Plateau
South (New Therelon): Belfort, Golsalun

 

[Konstanz]

I don't mind names like "Wylvaheim" because at least it makes some sense to name a settlement like that. Heim means something like home or protection (I don't really know, but I know it's an existing word). It doesn't make sense to just invent a name for a settlement. Sure you can name a person Caldar or something like that - and I don't mind that. It's "Nëaphath" and stuff like that that seriously gets on my nerves.

And it's even worse for settlements. People don't just invent a name for their settlement, they put meaning into it. Wylvaheim could be named after a founder, a saint, a hero, a river or something like that. But Ordrellon (not that it's a bad name, I can cope with it) doesn't really have any meaning - unless you invent your own language. But still... Naming is really important for world consistency. Having both the name Cealith and Seabridge for two cities seems wrong. Why would they switch between two languages?

It's nitpicking, I know, but to me it's important.

 

[Barsook]

I agree with Codey, they are cool but a bit to Earth-like. Try to use RinkWork's Fantasy Name Generator but use the Advanced Interface so you can have rules for making names for your world.

 

[Konstanz]

I agree with Codey, they are cool but a bit to Earth-like. Try to use RinkWork's Fantasy Name Generator but use the Advanced Interface so you can have rules for making names for your world.

Sorry but that name generator represents everything I hate about Fantasy names. They are pointless and have no meaning or history. It's just randomly generated letters with a few parameters.

 

[Barsook]

You can make up the history of the name in your world. Name Generators help you to get names then history behind the name.

 

[Codey Amprim]

You can make up the history of the name in your world. Name Generators help you to get names then history behind the name.

Exactly. Any name can have a history to it, as they should. While they may not seem to have a history from a first glance, obviously you aren't going to label something just to label it.

Name generators are quick inspiration sources used just to give the writer a name to build something upon.

And, yes, you can go the other way around and put a name to an already established land.

 

[Amanita]

It's a matter of taste, really.
I usually choose one real world language as a basis for my fantasy language and use names from there or make up some which sound alike. I try to stay away from names that are too common though. The same goes for my place names. In real life, the origins of those often aren't known at first glance anymore either. As long as everything that's supposed to be the same language sounds that way, I'm satisfied.
When reading something, the names usually don't matter to me too much, as long as it's nothing completely unpronouncable. I also dislike names I strongly associate with a certain ethnic group used for people with a completely different background. (Or names with completely different background in the same family for no reason.) I also dislike names that reference God in some way, if they're being used in a fantasy world. The same goes for names strongly associatied with religious contexts. I wouldn't like to see someone called "Moses" or "Petrus" in a fantasy world.

 

[Butterfly]

The names I dislike the most are common names spelled differently. The most memorable one I came across was Paul, spelled as Pawl.

 

[Benjamin Clayborne]

Essentially what you're saying is "I don't like names that don't sound like they're from Earth." Which is entirely your prerogative; but in the fantasy genre as it currently stands, most people do not have a problem with bizarre, offworld-sounding "fantasy" names. Just because a place is named Ordrellon (which is a pretty cool-sounding name) doesn't mean that the author doesn't have a reason for it or any history behind it, and I don't think the average reader automatically takes more away from the name "Arnaud" than he does from the name "Pherokoth," especially if the author is trying to make the name sound strange, foreign, and mysterious.

For my part, I'm using English names for commoners, and Albanian/Kazakh/Uzbek names (sometimes modified) for nobles (due to the history of the realm, which was originally a rural English-style culture that was invaded and colonized by a warlike Eastern European-style culture). The nation to the north uses German-like names, the nation to the northwest uses Italian-like names, and one of the nations far across the sea uses Chinese-like names.

 

[Konstanz]

No, I'm not really against names that sound "off-worldly" I'm against names with an unnecessary amount of "th", "ph", "¨" and "^". I dislike fantasy names that are just random letters that are unpronounceable. That's why I prefer names that are based on one of our languages, because they still sound off-worldly or medieval, but you can pronounce them and they make sense.

Pherokoth might be a good name for an Egyptian faction, but when I see a knight named Pherokoth all I can think off is why so complicated? And that's a name without any unnecessary punctuation - so I can live with it. But when they start with Phërokôth I just feel sorry for the guy that has to type that name over and over again. And I know people who actually do use names like that.

 

[Corvus]

I have everything from real still in use names to ancient names to made up names. In my defense I haw a lot of different cultures and species (races) so can afford some versatility. But mostly I just go whit what sounds right. I also connect names whit the few words of a made up language I had to invent for the plot.

Some names I made up:
Persons:
Azarin
Belreg
Verengal

Places:
Kel'Acer
Kaldan
Irindel
Veres'Ilen

All in all I just dislike names that are long and hard to pronounce especially if there are several similar names because I get confused as to who is who.

 

[Queshire]

One thing I try to do is have all my main characters, or at least the major ones, have names that start with different letters of the alphabet, it makes them easy to tell apart.