naming thread

MrNobody13 wrote:

Hmn. I usually just sit and stare at a wall for a while, going through the alphabet, until I hit a letter that seems like a good start. Then I just let the sound roll along and grow until I've got something that sounds reasonably like a name. Sometimes I take a name I've heard somewhere else and fiddle with it a bit, but mostly I just make them off-hand.

Me too. Though sometimes, I take names at random.


Elsie was named that way, Marcel was... well, I have a crush on the Mar- syllable, I often abuse it, as Marissa, Marcel, Marlene, and marny others can attest to. I'm trying to tone down the Mar- names, though, lest they mar my writing. Stabs, for example, is another sound fixation thing- I meant to make it STar at first, then I combined Star with aBSent, and you get... Starabsent, or Starabs, or Stabs for short.


Another trick I have is making a name and then splitting it in two things.
So when you try to split it into two things, you get Sta- and -bs. That's how I named Stach Tobias [the obvious M. Sue in All Fun and Games]; Sokkiz was an inverse process- from Soto Mekkis (where Mekkis is the most ancient root in English: it's from the Hitite, and it names the word Might. Soto just seemed like a good name to combine Mekkis with).


Mundane names are best left for mundane people. That's how you get Herman, Daisy, and Wendy. Then again, foreign names are mundane too- Alicia, Brenda, Petra and Gabriel would know. Of course, sometimes I use them as combo breakers- Marlene, Samantha, Isa and Metzger were supposed to read like "Marlene" (hm, at least it sounds good), Samantha (hmm... not such a fairy name), Isa (Okay, that's better) and Metzger (LOLWUT!? ).

Meaningful names have their trick: they shouldn't be too obvious. Serafín, for instance, means Seraph- but note that I've seen more Seraph mecha than angels- it's meaningful when you consider he's a cyborg. Nicolás, that twitchy guy always asking the difficult questions, on the other hand... well, that's my name too! Frank V. Herb was named actually with Sean Okotami's help, we went for someone reminiscent of sci-fi or science, we settled for Frank Herbert, shortened to Herb. Then I added Victor- doesn't anyone know a certain Victor Franksomething?


Now I have a little problem with Marcel- I wonder if his surname should be Amündsen, Conradi, Geving... or Manger. All of them have their good points, and all sound like what a Swiss-Norwegian's surname would be, but they're in a tie: I'd make it Amündsen, but I'm sure said explorer left a good descendency and I'd rather not fish in their river. Manger brings the pun up too much, Conradi is a little silly, I'm considering Geving.

Stabs, your right in that names that say something about the person shouldn't be to obvious, honestly I think Soinee is about the most easy to figure out, but Neia or Tengie? GL

I know Hilary has a meaningful name, but I only realized it after giving her name. Like I said, I try not to think of a meaningful name because they're too predictable in my opinion.

I have no naming sense at all. Every times I need a name, I kinda choose whatever pops out in my mind first Xd

Original names (made up names) vs Meaningful names (names that suits the character's traits), I wonder what would be better.

tkh1304 wrote:

I have no naming sense at all. Every times I need a name, I kinda choose whatever pops out in my mind first Xd

Original names (made up names) vs Meaningful names (names that suits the character's traits), I wonder what would be better.

That's what I do to. I just use the name that "feels" right.

Stabs wrote:

Frank V. Herb was named actually with Sean Okotami's help, we went for someone reminiscent of sci-fi or science, we settled for Frank Herbert, shortened to Herb.

YEAH! Frank Herbert FTW.

Anyways, that reminds me that another character of mine also has a name that is slightly altered from an existing character's. Othem's name (with no affiliation to Oth, because the Jurdeans are mostly apathetic of outside religions) is from the Fremen Otheym. I wasn't so sure about making his name sound so much like a popular god, but then I figured that coincidences do happen, especially in a world as diverse as Felarya, and assuming that every person has an entirely unique name is rather silly.

Well I like to made up names, or at least very rare names; Zycra, Konta, Zoreng...
for meaningful names, I don't like to use them; the only one that can be considered meaningful is Atlas ... though it's very ... very hard to find out why considering the kind of character he is ^^ (hint: it's suposed to tell he is an archer, but as I said, i think it's really hard to see why xD)

I usually just roll sounds around in my head until I find a combination that sounds good. Other times I use names I've heard somewhere else I they feel right for my characters/locations, Altira is the name of a planet in the anime Birdy the Mighty Decode, and Seirra is from that military alphabet thing.

Several I've made myself are: Hirena (hi-ray-nah), Aitia (eye-sh-eye-ah), Meraena (mer-ray-nah)

I think mine are pretty obvious. I come up with an idea for a character then I turn to Greek mythology, and sometimes Roman mythology, to find a counterpart. For instance... I have an idea for an Angel that fights for her own sense of what's good and evil. The figure from mythology that I'd best compare her to is Nemesis, who I believe is the embodiment of retribution.

Copied directly from my "working notes" of my most developed story (but cleaned up a little).

For humans names, check this website, year 1880:
http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/

Naming conventions:
Humans - Similar to modern and medieval names, first name then last name.
Example: "William Savenhill"

Nagas (human sized) - Latin or pseudo Latin names that are "related to plants". Format is generally "First Name of X tribe", except in the rare case of a split family, when it would be something like "First Name Second Name of tribe X". Also, just because they all live in the same village does not mean they are all in the same tribe.
Example: "Iberis of the Hedera tribe"

Nekos - Their naming scheme is still underdeveloped, it's basically just the naga's naming scheme. ^^;
Example: "Alyssa of the Olidus tribe", though I think she will get a name change.

Demons - Again, usually Latin or pseudo Latin. First names are usually a "power name" like hate, or fight, last names are usually "chromatic", like gold, silver, green.
Example: "Messor Viridis"

wow oldman i like your post!

mhh me I'm trying to stick to some sort of pattern regarding naming

For example to the north west of the map you have names such as : Imoreith - Thayrn - Iracal - Tobol - Myrodia. Lot of "it and "t"

To the north east - east : Oloonde - Shillapo - Prayaga. More vowels and "a" or "o" and a little hawaian feel to it ^^

And bodies of water names tend to be derived from gem names or vocabulary refering to it ( Topazial, Shard / Jewel river, Jadong, shimmering sea ) etc

Well usually I just spin the legendary wheel of names to get my character names, though I did base Erisin's name of of the goddess Eris on the grounds of the chaos that she causes around melons and/or alcohol. And Raffle was named after the Rafflestein flower... cause they're both rather big

I usually just make them up out of random stuff. Most of the time, they come to me and I play around with the sounds. Strangly, these random names often have meaning in other languages that fit the character (IE Rai-thunder, lightning, trustworthy; Nagi-calm, blessed, and a girl's name in one language). Other names include, but are not limited to and don't always have a meaning, Kiya, Kata, Saki, Raimi, and my most reasent character who isn't for here, Verin Matosic Nikil, who goes by Pika for several reasons, one of which is that he is a Pikachu and another is that he finds his name embarassing.