Notes from the Slush Pile: Fantasy Names

http://nielsenhayden...ves/006415.html

Today I saw an error I’ve never seen before. If you’re writing SF or fantasy, and you need to make up a new name for someone or something, please don’t use a common English suffix: tion, ality, esque, izer, cious, teenth, matic, et cetera. I’ll stumble every time I read it, wondering where the other half of the word has gone.

While you’re at it, run your new words through Google. It’s surprising how many of them turn out to be the names of drugs, Indian side dishes, or obscure islands.

While you’re at it, run your new words through Google. It’s surprising how many of them turn out to be the names of drugs, Indian side dishes, or obscure islands.

From personal experience, I can say that's a good advice. I've always done that myself... sort of thought of it, myself. So far, none of the names I've come up had a pervy or undesired connotation, at least according to Google.

Of course, this rule doesn't make it any easier to come up with names in the first place, something I find so damn difficult. One poster there mentioned name generators. I've used those on some occasions, but I never use the word that the generator gives, I try to switch a few letters around, trying to make it sound the way I want it... sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

While you’re at it, run your new words through Google. It’s surprising how many of them turn out to be the names of drugs, Indian side dishes, or obscure islands.

Woah! I never thought of that...

But I guess inventing new names for things is quite a challenge. After all, it sharpens your creativity. But that would be a very hard one though...

Yeah, when I named one of my characters Rebos, I found out that it's the name of an organization to help recover from drug addiction, but I really liked the name so I used it anyway. I didn't know other people ran things through google too.

Hmmm . .

A friend of mine does have a name generator program, but both she and I tend to use it more for minor characters then for major.

Luckily, none of my character names (that I know of) have any odd meaning . . . but one never knows. I tend to take traditional names and play with them, or have a name evolve as the character evolves. I find as I work with a character, the pronounciation of their name changes, and often the spelling does too. *shrug*

I try to avoid naming characters after things, mind. Sometimes in a first draft, yes, I get some names that I later look back at and shake my head.

Hmmm, heres a list.


Daie: An altered version of my own name. Don't moan at me, I like it.

Vanya: The elvish word for 'Fair' in the grey company dictionary


Maron: I didn't realise at the time, but there's a 'Maron' in the Illiad. A male priest, I believe.


Most of my names I make up, but I have found examples in other places, forex 'The gloomy and purposeless trousers of Uncle Vanya' - The Fifth Elephant, Terry Pratchett.

I'm sure I've seen a 'Tyron' somewhere too.

Most of my names I make up, but I have found examples in other places, forex 'The gloomy and purposeless trousers of Uncle Vanya' - The Fifth Elephant, Terry Pratchett.

That's actually a reference to Anton Chekhov's "Uncle Vanya". "Vanya" is a Russian name.


I'm afraid I would still use a name, even if it would mean something: normally they just settle in my head, and seem awfully natural, so I just can't discard them.

I love using Russian names, that sound like European ones: Ala, for example. Though if I used something like "Natasha", "Sasha", "Yura" or "Olga"(the last one my own), it would make me wince: the dissonance between a Russian name and the story in English would be too great.

Daie wrote:

Most of my names I make up, but I have found examples in other places, forex 'The gloomy and purposeless trousers of Uncle Vanya' - The Fifth Elephant, Terry Pratchett.




That's actually a reference to Anton Chekhov's "Uncle Vanya". "Vanya" is a Russian name.

Yeah, I know. I prefer Pratchett though. Hehe.

I'm afraid I would still use a name, even if it would mean something: normally they just settle in my head, and seem awfully natural, so I just can't discard them.

Same here. Once I've associated a name with a character, I can't change it.

I've got a character who has the same name as one in a book I've just read. I want to give her a different name, but can't. She's going to be Aunt Kirrith forever now...

*blink* There's a name generating program now?
I am DEFINITELY stuck in the past.
And I'm only a teenager. Weird me.

Well, I'm pretty good with nomenclature, but not so much with titles. you'd think one would go with the other. Any randon title generators out there? A title that has nothing to do with the story can't be as bad as a hackneyed or cliched title.

Well, I'm pretty good with nomenclature, but not so much with titles. you'd think one would go with the other. Any randon title generators out there? A title that has nothing to do with the story can't be as bad as a hackneyed or cliched title.

Seventh Sanctum has a large collection of generators and links to generators of various types.

A favorite of mine, linked there, is a Fantasy Novel Title Generator. Also check out the main page for the site that hosts it, Serendipity, for another collection of generators.

I also like WritingFix, though their title generator is very limited.

Lots of generators of various types are linked at The Generator Blog; the song title one might be good, or perhaps a phrase from one of the song lyric or poety generators.

Instant Title Generator. My favorite so far: You Are Not Your Shoes.

Not a generator, but The Star Trek Fan Fiction Generator's Titles Without Stories has lots of ideas.

While it may be slower to generate names through an manual process of scrambling and tinkering, i think it makes them feel like something of your own instead of something of your neighbors.
Someone mentioned that he's been using name generators, then switching letters around, and HEURISKEI! A name.

But i think it's more fun to derive your names from words with meanings...
Or maybe not, if you're writing something serious, but anyway:

Elephant --> Phaentel + imagination = Phaenteril, Phaenteros...
Message --> Maseges + Imag = Masegen, Masegil, Maseltharos...
Memberlist --> Meltisterb .. = Meltistereb, Meltisteros, Myltistaron...



~~Don't shoot the n00b
-Jidor

Myself, I'm inclined to make up the language for the names and words I need. Or at least part of it, but this all depends on the world too.

For example, I have a future Earth setting where pretty much all the characters speak English, so except for a couple odd spellings, names are relatively normal.

On the other hand, I have a fantasy setting which has its own language and names come from that language. Because of this, if I found the name meant something weird I'd probably keep it regardless...but then I can pretty much guarantee it won't sound the same.

If nothing else, it gives the names an internal consistancy. So two people from the same countries have similar names and people from different countries have different sounding names. Like how, for example, English names and Chinese names are obviously different.

But then, I'm a language nut.

---Etak