A question for writers

[Trivun]

I tend to take symbolic names from places. Or just names I really like. I don't usually make anything up, because I'm no good at that. As an example, an idea I have at the moment is set in a fantasy/sci-fi world called Arcadia that runs parallel to Earth - how original is that! The main characters are:

Villain - Gabriel
Villain's sidekicks - Maria (name I really like) and Kane (symbolic)
Main protagonist - Luna (name I really like, also she's slightly mad - lunacy)
Secondary protagonist - Scarlett (Red Riding Hood analogue)
Tertiary protagonists - Jack and Meg (Hansel/Gretel analogues, also twin brother/sister, and in love with each other - guess the reference), and Alice and Matt (Alice/Mad Hatter analogues)

The main city where most of the action takes place on Arcadia is a city called Persephone - named for the Greek mythological character. There's also an analogue to Earth's UN, the Global Alliance (GA), based on Liberty Island (in the rough location of the North Sea) - a place also home to the ironically named Liberty Island Maximum Security Penitentiary. Another fictional universe idea I have involves a main villain called Abigail Crowe - crows aren't exactly considered the nicest birds for a character to be involved with. And her plan revolves around freeing a demoness called Lilith - yes, the Lilith of myth (wife of Adam and all that jazz...).

So you see, I take inspiration from a variety of sources, but I don't really come up with my own names. If I was making a purely fantasy universe a la Discworld or the Three Worlds Cycle or Game of Thrones or something then I'd put more effort in, but until then...

 

[Bocaj2000]

When you're making your fantasy world, no matter what the genre is, the need to make names comes up. Surely you want your world to be unique with new countries, languages and customs...

So how do you write up names that don't sound really stupid but are original enough to be different from most others?

For me this has come up several times...

Look up names in other languages. Look at their meaning and decide based on that. My story is set in Germany, so I look up Germanic names.

Another method is to spell names backwards:
Harrison= Nosirah

 

[Revnak_v1legacy]

When you're making your fantasy world, no matter what the genre is, the need to make names comes up. Surely you want your world to be unique with new countries, languages and customs...

So how do you write up names that don't sound really stupid but are original enough to be different from most others?

For me this has come up several times...

Give each culture a base language. Go on a baby names site and give characters names based around the language for their culture. Name other things in whatever language their culture has.

It makes everything consistent at the very least, too consistent really, though given your only other real course of action is a massive amount of linguistics and study I prefer my method, as I am lazy. It also helps to use the names to make a history of sorts. Maybe there was once an empire that conquered much of the known world and many of the names they gave things and places are still around even though they aren't.

 

[Dense_Electric]

I'm working on a science fiction project set in a large city around the turn of the next century, and the main thing is that it's a speculative continuation of the real-world timeline after a hypothetical first contact around 2015-2016. So some of my characters have names that are in common use today (Kelly, Rachel, Brett, Will, etc.), while others have names that are slight variations on real names but don't sound totally alien (Ven, Kat, Kev, Cel, Lor - I imagined a three-letter fad at some point around the time they were born ). It's a great technique for keeping everything realistic while also making it sound futuristic.

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

**opens mouth**

Let Rich Burlew show you the way it's done.

**blinks**

**reads**

**closes mouth**

Ahem. Yeah, that.

I believe Mr. Burlew said everything I was going to say, and then some. Wow. Very well thought out cultural construction. I've bookmarked that for future reference.

 

[Pebkio]

I usually go for something allegorical... usually with the last name. For instance, someone more modern, an information broker or a tech specialist might get the last name of Lanpro. Then I choose a first name that fits well with the last: Jack.

Jack Lanpro
High school computer graphics instructor.

Or if I want a more tactical leaderish type, I'll go with a last name that's similar to an old general (in this case, French): Dupont. That should go with an impressive first name that has at least three syllables: Alexander.

Captain Alexander Dupont.
Of the 32 Precinct in New York, NY.

But that's just fantastical Earth. The naming also depends a bit on the setting. If it's more spacey, I tend to use more apostrophes. If it's magical fantasy, I make the names slightly more "chantable" by accentuating the vowels.

 

[Spineyguy]

No-one creates in a vacuum. You'll never be able to come up with something truly original, unless you just chuck random letters together, and even then you'll end up inadvertently following a common pattern anyway. To be honest though, originality is not as important as people like to think, especially not originality in naming. You can convey a huge amount of meaning with a more conventional name, one that your readers will recognise and relate to instantly, leaving you with more energy, time and wordage to focus on what's actually important in a story: the story.

Come up with interesting, clever and significant names for items and places by all means, but don't choose that over coming up with interesting, clever and significant characters or events, it's not worth the trouble and the yield in terms of actual story interest is negligible. You only have a certain amount of energy, spend it wisely or you'll burn yourself out too quickly and end up writing trash.

 

[Queen Michael]

I try to look around the room and use the names of what I see, but of course I change the spelling to ensure that it sounds appropriate to a fantasy setting. For instance, my latest character is called "Bagoff Hardkandy." He joins the quest of Tuthbrash Milkarton, in the magical land of Zodabotel to save king Emptikarton Ofhägendazz.

 

[GTwander]

Well, I like to get a mental visualization of a character and then go "yeah, he looks like a 'Jim'". A name doesn't have to link to thematic angles, you could have an evil overlord named 'Bob' ffs.