Place names in fantasy worlds?

[Varamyrr]

Excuse me for piggy-backing this thread but is it wrong that I base my character names on real data? I have generated a list of all medieval names that existed in western Europe and what I basically did was generate names based on that data.

 

[Mindfire]

Excuse me for piggy-backing this thread but is it wrong that I base my character names on real data? I have generated a list of all medieval names that existed in western Europe and what I basically did was generate names based on that data.

That sounds like a highly counter-intuitive and unwieldy way to create names, but if it works for you, go for it.

 

[ThinkerX]

Excuse me for piggy-backing this thread but is it wrong that I base my character names on real data? I have generated a list of all medieval names that existed in western Europe and what I basically did was generate names based on that data.

I use a 'low-tech' version of this for my names. Years ago, TSR put together AD&D rulebooks for a sort of 'fantasy europe' at different historical era's - roman, greek, viking, holy roman empire, celtic, ect. These handbooks all included lists of common names for those respective peoples.

As the denizens of my primary world are mostly descended from people kidnapped by aliens from earth thousands of years ago, I kept the names...and major elements of the cultures.

 

[Gurkhal]

I usually just take a look at history for the period that I'm inspired by and either copy them outright or make my own twist on them.