Minteay
(?)Community Member
Offline
- Posted: Wed, 23 Feb 2005 20:54:42 +0000
I've seen a lot of threads along the lines of "Make me some names plz!!!!!1111eleven!111one!" and I think it's about time there was some advice on this seemingly popular topic. Particularly among fantasy writers such as myself original names are in high demand as there seems to always be yet another seemingly insignificant character popping up who needs a name. However, simply using "Bob" would shatter the world that so much effort went into crafting.
These are just some basic guidelines which I like to consider when naming my characters. They aren't the laws for creating the ultimate names without fail every time you need one, but hopefully this will reduce the number of repeat threads in this forum and provide some inspiration for my fellow writers. I'll try and do this as a series of "steps" or "points to consider" to make this post more coherent.
Please note that this thread is about creating original names rather than taking ones directly from similar cultures. Of course, you can always take a name and modify it as explained below....
Happy writing!
______________________________________________________
WORLD MECHANICS
First things first. One of the instrumental factors in determining anything about your characters should be the world they live in. This includes things such as time period, genre and level of technology. No believable character in a Medieval European fantasy would ever be called "Junior" just as no very few self-respecting Sci-Fi characters would show their faces with names such as "Ellendrill Fa Thistledown", although there is more leeway for experimentation with futuristic genres as their names could arguably have been taken from the ancient mythology of their home worlds. Go with what feels right for the type of area your characters inhabit.
Consider that it is a writer's job to strive not only to create a believable character but also a conceivable world where they live and to express that the events described in any story are simply part of that world's history. Something I always try to keep in mind when writing is that my characters are not the focus of their world's attentions, only mine. As such, try and keep your characters names somewhat unassuming (no one would name their child "Mighty Erdrenne Who Will Vanquish The Demons" unless they were high, whatever language the name was written in - people have to do something before they get flamboyant names) and within the style of your world. Make them a part of the bigger picture, not the painting itself. Before you write, pause and consider this question:
"Does what I'm doing now fit in with everything else I already established or will this new person damage what I've already done?"
CULTURE
After considering your world as a whole, it might be an idea to think about the individual culture your character stems from. What are the political or religious systems, if any? What kind of education have they had? Who are the people they are likely to have taken their names from? What role do they play in their community? What's the geography of their continentcountry, human and physical? What's their social "class" if they have one at all?
All of these things will shape both the personality and the likely name of your character in very fundamental ways. Races and cultures affiliated with guarding the planet and loving all nature will probably name their progeny after features of their landscape; a village on the summit of a mountain where the faith is primarily about ecology could name a child something along the lines of "Tundra", "Vast Sky", "Ivory Snow" or "Vista". A people of seafaring traders might name a child "Zephyr", "Cyan", "Sea Breeze" or "Tide".
These are literal examples which in general you will wish to modify to seem less forced. For example, for the Captain of a ship from the sea trader people described above, "Cyan" could easily become something like "Cynreil", "Cheyli", "Brecianne" or "Y'reince".
Most of the names I come up with are principally appropriate for fantasy as that is the genre I enjoy the most. However, if we take the idea of a Sci-Fi story for a people of star ship pilots who roam their galaxy, we could easily change the words "Great Navigator" - navigation being a skill valued in that society - into "Mret-Vytor" or "Nigottra".
By changing words in Earth languages that reflect the pursuits of a people you can often create unusual names that seem relevant to the character but subtly so. Similarly, there is nothing stopping you from taking the root of a word "family" - such as "omni" which as far as I can tell signifies that the word has something to do with "all" eg omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent - and playing on that to create a new name.
Be careful that you don't rely on "word scrunching" too much however as it can lead to repetitive naming trends that you had not intended.
As well as their locale, consider the main "theme" of your country and the sounds you consequently associate with those pursuits. A military or industrial country is likely to use short, plosive sounds, whereas a more peaceful community might prefer free-flowing, multi-syllabic names. This will be a feature that will come into play if your characters speak a language you have created (see further down for more details) as names usually reflect the general trend of language within a set area.
Class and education usually influence the length and complexity of names. The poor farmer's son who has never been to school and is illiterate will not take the name "Amarsef Keirennon Lucildent XIV" just as the prince of the same land will not be called "Wrett Flintspear". The "common" labourers caste of any society rarely has more than two names and the wealthier classes usually take their titles from ancestors. If your society is without the distinction of class, consider occupation or income as a guideline.
Culture can also be on a much smaller scale; a family of forgers might name their children after any deities of the trade or heroes who wielded the weapons they crafted in the hopes that the success of the previous generations can be continued.
Culture is more specific than the general mechanics of the world and is more likely to have a strong influence on your character.
If your culture is similar to an Earth one, or you haven't decided on a concrete background for your character, you might consider doing some research into the similar cultures for some inspiration. You could easily take names or words and change them to suit your needs. In my Medieval European world, many of the characters have names rooted in Latin which I found in the dictionary. Never be afraid of research!
LANGUAGE
90% of characters speak some form of language. It's always best to write in a language your audience understands, but there's no reason why you can't throw in the occasional word of dialect or other language to spice things up a little, especially when naming.
Language will be different for different societies. As mentioned before, the more physical a community, the more plosive sounds tend to be used, while those of a more cerebral nature tend to lean towards longer, more elegant words.
You could easily create a few words of an entirely new language as a part of your character's culture and then integrate those into the naming process.
For example, let's take that seafaring people again. If I want to create a new character I decide her parents would probably pick a name to do with the sea. I make the word for "the sea" "kru". Now, let's suppose she was very pretty when she was born. I create the word meaning "fair": "aile". Now I stick the two together and her name is "Ailekru", or "fair sea". I can proceed to write about her, and let's say she meets another captain of a ship. This woman is blind, which I decide to mean she is considered to have great luck because of a story in the people's mythology. If she was born blind, her parents could have played on that. I make the word for "fortune" "reimme". Her name is "Reimailme" which combines the words "fair" and "fortune". I have followed no logic for the placement of adjectives in description, but who's to say that "fair fortune" isn't already a single world in their vocabulary or her parents decided to create a new word especially for their daughter? Both characters now have a cohesive link that is not immediately apparent to a reader but gives the impression that they are a part of the same community.
Creating a language, even an incomplete one, gives a greater sense of the wider world around the characters, reaffirming your efforts to craft a full and exciting society.
Rather than creating a language per se, you could also consider just the general trends that might be a feature of your genre. For example, many fantasy books have "y" as the dominant vowel in their culture, make heavy use of "ae" and doubled consonants and begin most words with a vowel. All of these things put the reader in the mindset "This is a fantasy book, so I'll suspend disbelief and enjoy myself!" as well as emphasising the shared culture discussed earlier. By selecting some common sounds that you incorporate into several names - be they of places, people, or cultural features - you will be bringing your reader further into the world as they begin to see trends and patterns indicative of your world which they quickly come to associate as a trademark of your writing. Try and avoid using the same language trends as everyone else, however, or your writing may fall flat when readers recognise something they've seen a dozen times before. Be inventive!
In terms of language, you could also take words and simply translate them into a language other than your own, but keep in mind that if your work is intended for an audience outside your own community there are bound to be people who know what the real meaning of your name is which could spoil the world for them, especially if they are used to reading in the language you opted to translate into.
More than anything, I find making up a word or two is the most convincing way to create a character fully integrated into their environment. However, it can be taxing and sometimes you come up with little of high quality. I think it's well worth the migraines, though.
As a side note, if you happen to be bilingual or own a good dictionary, you could always look up the translations of relavent words and jiggle things around a bit. I'd advise in general against using combinations that translate literally as things such as "ShadowJungleCheese" or "SleepySnowdriftCat" as they may irritate native speakers of the language. However, there is no harm in taking a few words and "smooshing" them together, as it were. Modifying terrestrial tongues is fun and saves a lot of time that might have been spent creating a language of it's own.
NAMING CONVENTIONS
Really this links in with culture and language, so I decided to give it it's own section.
By naming conventions, I am referring to things such as the number of names, order of names and type of names any one character may have. By varying these factors you can create different cultures within a country or continent.
One race, for example, may value experience over supposition. As such, they will give their children simplistic, temporary names when they are born which are added to each time a significant experience is encountered. If I decide they are also pious, then the progression of naming might go like this...
Born "Eirm" - "Uncoloured"
At physical maturity "Khra-Eirm" - Sharp-sighted uncoloured
At adulthood "Khra-Louch'Eirm-Jhe'Desptre" - Sharp-sighted one who was uncoloured now crimson
....and so forth.
When deciding on naming conventions you should take into account culture and language as already described above.
INSPIRATION
When you're really struggling to come up with a name, sometimes it's simply best to stop, take a break and pay attention to the world around you. Sometimes you find inspiration from the names of real people you know or hear about on the news or in the papers. Real people can come up with some beautiful names and a little editing to make something you like suit your purpose can be the key to a whole new story.
Of course, you could always pick your names and then create a culture around them blaugh
GOING AGAINST THE GRAIN
Especially when creating an anti-hero(ine) it can be fun to go against the grain. Give a character a name that completely doesn't suit them (in terms of meaning usually as messing with cultural things can have complicated repercussions throughout the rest of your world) can be fun and provides opportunities for humour or emotional turmoil within a character who feels she doesn't deserve her name. Try it out! You never know what might happen.
IN CLOSING
I hope this little guide has been of some help to you. If you have any comments or anything to add, please post or drop me a PM. Please don't use any of the names mentioned in this thread as I have created them all from scratch. Remember that you can always disregard some of these factors if you're going for something unique. This was written with the intention of providing a basis from which you can create names as needed for your own purposes, not to be gospel.
USEFUL LINKS
These links have all been provided by helpful users who have visited this thread. Kudos to them!
Language Creation Sites
Langmaker.com - A good language creation help site.
Zompist.com - More indepth information on linguistics. Good for more detailed and intense approaches.
Ardalambion - A site about Tolkien's languages and their construction. Useful for fantasy writers of that ilk.
Elvish.org - Further information on naming elves (if you still need more!)
Mun.ca - A look at Old English words. Useful for standard Medieval period writing.
Archives.nd.edu - Information of latin roots and words which are useful and often applicable to the most surprising of situations.
A SPECIAL THANKS GOES TO:
foryourfaults - Offering an addition to the "language" section.
mage_cat - A contribution to the "culture" section.
Neko Demon Seka - Offering tips for bilingual writers.
Penden - Linking us from a forum sticky. Thanks for that!
LostNamed - Providing ample fodder for me to create a "useful links" section for the truly internet savvy.
I hope I have been of some help!
Keep writing!
These are just some basic guidelines which I like to consider when naming my characters. They aren't the laws for creating the ultimate names without fail every time you need one, but hopefully this will reduce the number of repeat threads in this forum and provide some inspiration for my fellow writers. I'll try and do this as a series of "steps" or "points to consider" to make this post more coherent.
Please note that this thread is about creating original names rather than taking ones directly from similar cultures. Of course, you can always take a name and modify it as explained below....
Happy writing!
______________________________________________________
WORLD MECHANICS
First things first. One of the instrumental factors in determining anything about your characters should be the world they live in. This includes things such as time period, genre and level of technology. No believable character in a Medieval European fantasy would ever be called "Junior" just as no very few self-respecting Sci-Fi characters would show their faces with names such as "Ellendrill Fa Thistledown", although there is more leeway for experimentation with futuristic genres as their names could arguably have been taken from the ancient mythology of their home worlds. Go with what feels right for the type of area your characters inhabit.
Consider that it is a writer's job to strive not only to create a believable character but also a conceivable world where they live and to express that the events described in any story are simply part of that world's history. Something I always try to keep in mind when writing is that my characters are not the focus of their world's attentions, only mine. As such, try and keep your characters names somewhat unassuming (no one would name their child "Mighty Erdrenne Who Will Vanquish The Demons" unless they were high, whatever language the name was written in - people have to do something before they get flamboyant names) and within the style of your world. Make them a part of the bigger picture, not the painting itself. Before you write, pause and consider this question:
"Does what I'm doing now fit in with everything else I already established or will this new person damage what I've already done?"
CULTURE
After considering your world as a whole, it might be an idea to think about the individual culture your character stems from. What are the political or religious systems, if any? What kind of education have they had? Who are the people they are likely to have taken their names from? What role do they play in their community? What's the geography of their continentcountry, human and physical? What's their social "class" if they have one at all?
All of these things will shape both the personality and the likely name of your character in very fundamental ways. Races and cultures affiliated with guarding the planet and loving all nature will probably name their progeny after features of their landscape; a village on the summit of a mountain where the faith is primarily about ecology could name a child something along the lines of "Tundra", "Vast Sky", "Ivory Snow" or "Vista". A people of seafaring traders might name a child "Zephyr", "Cyan", "Sea Breeze" or "Tide".
These are literal examples which in general you will wish to modify to seem less forced. For example, for the Captain of a ship from the sea trader people described above, "Cyan" could easily become something like "Cynreil", "Cheyli", "Brecianne" or "Y'reince".
Most of the names I come up with are principally appropriate for fantasy as that is the genre I enjoy the most. However, if we take the idea of a Sci-Fi story for a people of star ship pilots who roam their galaxy, we could easily change the words "Great Navigator" - navigation being a skill valued in that society - into "Mret-Vytor" or "Nigottra".
By changing words in Earth languages that reflect the pursuits of a people you can often create unusual names that seem relevant to the character but subtly so. Similarly, there is nothing stopping you from taking the root of a word "family" - such as "omni" which as far as I can tell signifies that the word has something to do with "all" eg omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent - and playing on that to create a new name.
Be careful that you don't rely on "word scrunching" too much however as it can lead to repetitive naming trends that you had not intended.
As well as their locale, consider the main "theme" of your country and the sounds you consequently associate with those pursuits. A military or industrial country is likely to use short, plosive sounds, whereas a more peaceful community might prefer free-flowing, multi-syllabic names. This will be a feature that will come into play if your characters speak a language you have created (see further down for more details) as names usually reflect the general trend of language within a set area.
Class and education usually influence the length and complexity of names. The poor farmer's son who has never been to school and is illiterate will not take the name "Amarsef Keirennon Lucildent XIV" just as the prince of the same land will not be called "Wrett Flintspear". The "common" labourers caste of any society rarely has more than two names and the wealthier classes usually take their titles from ancestors. If your society is without the distinction of class, consider occupation or income as a guideline.
Culture can also be on a much smaller scale; a family of forgers might name their children after any deities of the trade or heroes who wielded the weapons they crafted in the hopes that the success of the previous generations can be continued.
Culture is more specific than the general mechanics of the world and is more likely to have a strong influence on your character.
If your culture is similar to an Earth one, or you haven't decided on a concrete background for your character, you might consider doing some research into the similar cultures for some inspiration. You could easily take names or words and change them to suit your needs. In my Medieval European world, many of the characters have names rooted in Latin which I found in the dictionary. Never be afraid of research!
LANGUAGE
90% of characters speak some form of language. It's always best to write in a language your audience understands, but there's no reason why you can't throw in the occasional word of dialect or other language to spice things up a little, especially when naming.
Language will be different for different societies. As mentioned before, the more physical a community, the more plosive sounds tend to be used, while those of a more cerebral nature tend to lean towards longer, more elegant words.
You could easily create a few words of an entirely new language as a part of your character's culture and then integrate those into the naming process.
For example, let's take that seafaring people again. If I want to create a new character I decide her parents would probably pick a name to do with the sea. I make the word for "the sea" "kru". Now, let's suppose she was very pretty when she was born. I create the word meaning "fair": "aile". Now I stick the two together and her name is "Ailekru", or "fair sea". I can proceed to write about her, and let's say she meets another captain of a ship. This woman is blind, which I decide to mean she is considered to have great luck because of a story in the people's mythology. If she was born blind, her parents could have played on that. I make the word for "fortune" "reimme". Her name is "Reimailme" which combines the words "fair" and "fortune". I have followed no logic for the placement of adjectives in description, but who's to say that "fair fortune" isn't already a single world in their vocabulary or her parents decided to create a new word especially for their daughter? Both characters now have a cohesive link that is not immediately apparent to a reader but gives the impression that they are a part of the same community.
Creating a language, even an incomplete one, gives a greater sense of the wider world around the characters, reaffirming your efforts to craft a full and exciting society.
Rather than creating a language per se, you could also consider just the general trends that might be a feature of your genre. For example, many fantasy books have "y" as the dominant vowel in their culture, make heavy use of "ae" and doubled consonants and begin most words with a vowel. All of these things put the reader in the mindset "This is a fantasy book, so I'll suspend disbelief and enjoy myself!" as well as emphasising the shared culture discussed earlier. By selecting some common sounds that you incorporate into several names - be they of places, people, or cultural features - you will be bringing your reader further into the world as they begin to see trends and patterns indicative of your world which they quickly come to associate as a trademark of your writing. Try and avoid using the same language trends as everyone else, however, or your writing may fall flat when readers recognise something they've seen a dozen times before. Be inventive!
In terms of language, you could also take words and simply translate them into a language other than your own, but keep in mind that if your work is intended for an audience outside your own community there are bound to be people who know what the real meaning of your name is which could spoil the world for them, especially if they are used to reading in the language you opted to translate into.
More than anything, I find making up a word or two is the most convincing way to create a character fully integrated into their environment. However, it can be taxing and sometimes you come up with little of high quality. I think it's well worth the migraines, though.
As a side note, if you happen to be bilingual or own a good dictionary, you could always look up the translations of relavent words and jiggle things around a bit. I'd advise in general against using combinations that translate literally as things such as "ShadowJungleCheese" or "SleepySnowdriftCat" as they may irritate native speakers of the language. However, there is no harm in taking a few words and "smooshing" them together, as it were. Modifying terrestrial tongues is fun and saves a lot of time that might have been spent creating a language of it's own.
NAMING CONVENTIONS
Really this links in with culture and language, so I decided to give it it's own section.
By naming conventions, I am referring to things such as the number of names, order of names and type of names any one character may have. By varying these factors you can create different cultures within a country or continent.
One race, for example, may value experience over supposition. As such, they will give their children simplistic, temporary names when they are born which are added to each time a significant experience is encountered. If I decide they are also pious, then the progression of naming might go like this...
Born "Eirm" - "Uncoloured"
At physical maturity "Khra-Eirm" - Sharp-sighted uncoloured
At adulthood "Khra-Louch'Eirm-Jhe'Desptre" - Sharp-sighted one who was uncoloured now crimson
....and so forth.
When deciding on naming conventions you should take into account culture and language as already described above.
INSPIRATION
When you're really struggling to come up with a name, sometimes it's simply best to stop, take a break and pay attention to the world around you. Sometimes you find inspiration from the names of real people you know or hear about on the news or in the papers. Real people can come up with some beautiful names and a little editing to make something you like suit your purpose can be the key to a whole new story.
Of course, you could always pick your names and then create a culture around them blaugh
GOING AGAINST THE GRAIN
Especially when creating an anti-hero(ine) it can be fun to go against the grain. Give a character a name that completely doesn't suit them (in terms of meaning usually as messing with cultural things can have complicated repercussions throughout the rest of your world) can be fun and provides opportunities for humour or emotional turmoil within a character who feels she doesn't deserve her name. Try it out! You never know what might happen.
IN CLOSING
I hope this little guide has been of some help to you. If you have any comments or anything to add, please post or drop me a PM. Please don't use any of the names mentioned in this thread as I have created them all from scratch. Remember that you can always disregard some of these factors if you're going for something unique. This was written with the intention of providing a basis from which you can create names as needed for your own purposes, not to be gospel.
USEFUL LINKS
These links have all been provided by helpful users who have visited this thread. Kudos to them!
Language Creation Sites
Langmaker.com - A good language creation help site.
Zompist.com - More indepth information on linguistics. Good for more detailed and intense approaches.
Ardalambion - A site about Tolkien's languages and their construction. Useful for fantasy writers of that ilk.
Elvish.org - Further information on naming elves (if you still need more!)
Mun.ca - A look at Old English words. Useful for standard Medieval period writing.
Archives.nd.edu - Information of latin roots and words which are useful and often applicable to the most surprising of situations.
A SPECIAL THANKS GOES TO:
foryourfaults - Offering an addition to the "language" section.
mage_cat - A contribution to the "culture" section.
Neko Demon Seka - Offering tips for bilingual writers.
Penden - Linking us from a forum sticky. Thanks for that!
LostNamed - Providing ample fodder for me to create a "useful links" section for the truly internet savvy.
I hope I have been of some help!
Keep writing!
