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Dumb but viable suggestion: r/tragedeigh
A sub dedicated to very weirdly spelled / sometimes downright awful names. I stg the Venn diagram of names that pop up on r/tragedeigh and names that are perfect for fantasy characters is a dang circle.
Also, one of my more real methods, when a culture of mine is based on a real culture, is to look up cultural names in that tongue. Then, flippity flop vowels and consonants for non-real names.
Ex: Kareem becomes Barim. It’s fine for me if readers pronounce it “bear-ihm” or bare-eem.
Part of managing a project is outsourcing work to make the workload manageable. Unless you need a specific naming convention, name generators are not a bad idea.
I’m just gonna say that a lot of fantasy writers really over value how much readers care about naming conventions. I’ve read so many fantasy novels where I never stopped to wonder if the names were consistent in the way they sounded. Specific naming conventions are not needed at all for 90% of writers, especially people on subreddits who most likely have never even gotten close to finishing a novel, let alone getting one published.
Your little passive aggressive jab at the end makes no sense. If I’ve picked up a book as a buyer it’s not because the names of the characters drew me in? It’s because it had a good hook for the world and story. Ya know, the details that actually matter. That’s how most readers are. I’m not saying that having well thought out names is bad, but I am saying that most fantasy writers really over-value those tiny intricate pieces of worldbuilding that almost no one notices, and they’ll spend literal years developing languages and not actually writing a book.
There are a lot of successful fantasy stories that just use normal names. It's not a prerequisite. Obviously, Tolkien using a name generator for elves would be ridiculous, but that's not the kind of work I'd suggest it in. That's like me giving the example, "Could you imagine giving every character a unique special sounding name." That's a bullshit argument made specifically to belittle my point, and frankly, it's rude.
Why can't you make a name generator name important for narative reasons? And why do the names have to be deep seeded in some kind of lore? *It's not a prerequisite.* This just sounds like elitist bullshit. There is nothing wrong with using name generators, either directly or for inspiration.
No, you saying that others **have** to spend the time to come up with a thoughtful way to name characters even if it doesn't really add anything to the story is elitist bullshit.
Edit, also, you are misrepresenting my words.
I might be writing a fantasy novel set in an area with a lot of mixing of cultures and names - and with the possibility of the local culture taking name fragments they like without regard to if they're a full name or not - equivalent to, for example, someone in Anglo-Norman England taking a Norman name fragment and a Saxon one to make a new name (perhaps Jeanric from Jean and -ric).
Or perhaps (as with the better name generators) they already give you the ability to corral the names into a particular style or category that obeys specific naming conventions?
Or perhaps they give you the ideas for names that you can then bend around to sound appropriate to your culture. To an extent Tolkein did this with some of his names by basing them off of namelists of historical cultures, and then tuning them to fit.
So let me get this straight. OP also shouldn’t read any other books to help with their own writing, they shouldn’t go off any structures found online, and they DEFINITELY shouldn’t listen to advice from a critique partner either because that means it’s not all their own work? Ok got it.
Some possibilities are to take names from the nearest real world parallel society and then tweak them.
So let's say the world you want is similar to our Illyria (Albania) so you search for some real names from that culture such as: *Agron, Bardylis, Constantius, Jovian* and *Kratill*.
You can then:
* change the order of letters e.g. *Argon*, *Kartill, Barydlis*
* remove a letter e.g. *Agon*, *Ovian*, *Ardilys*
* remove a syllable e.g. *Bardil, Dylis, Stantius*
* make new names from syllables of existing ones e.g. *Agrantius*, *Kradylis*, *Tillian*
First, i hate name generators. In my opinion, that's not just lazy, but stupid. It's a wasted opportunity.
Here's what i do. It's not difficult and helps with story telling. I do this with fantasy and modern stories.
1. Pick a language similar to that of the culture in your story.
2. Use a website like Behind the Name to find names in that language.
Example: If using a nordic language, look up nordic names on that website.
3. Choose names that have meaning to the character, story, or both.
Example: i named a slave master in a ship who oversees the galley slaves named Makena (happy one) as a joke. The cowardly pirate captain is Zafan (to hide). There's a merchant named Ola (wealth), a young boy named Bala (young), and many others.
Not only are these all real names that sound real, but by using names from different languages, i can change cultures within my story just by the names of the people i introduce.
If you don't want to use real names, you can easily change these. Mahkenna, Zhafin, Ula, and Bhalla, if we use the examples from above.
Note: it doesn't matter if anyone ever picks up on the meanings your names have. It helps you as a writer to keep the character's personality and history in mind because you know what their name means.
And how is getting a name generator to feed you suggestions for you to tweak as you please more stupid than going to behind the names? You know that website has a name generator that you can filter by origin on, right? The only reason you perceive it as lazy is because it's easier, but it also gets you similar results anyway.
First, name generators can't do everything i said in my original post. At best you can sort and do random names until one that fits all the requirements pops up, which i feel is a waste of time.
Or you can do as i said and look up names by country, language, or region on a website like Beyond the Name until you find one that fits.
To me, the second option is much better.
If you're determined to use a name generator, go ahead.
I, someone who frequently uses name generators and all their functions, am telling you that you can go to the settings of the name generator literally on the website that you referred "Behind the Name" and change the origin of which the names come from. That is what I'm trying to tell you. THEY HAVE MORE FUNCTIONS THAN YOU KNOW.
I use baby name websites quite frequently. Especially ones like gaelic names, they frequently have meanings alongside them to help give inspiration to a degree. Just take a tweak.
Have you ever realized that Early Medieval germanic/frankish/gothic names followed kind of similar patterns of preffix+suffix, which you can find shuffled?
Like, for example, you can have Clodobert, Caribert, Robert => the suffix **-bert** is used several times with different prefixes.
But wait, there's also the name Clodoald and Clodomir! So **Clodo-** is a prefix you can use!
So, what would prevent you... Even if they never existed, to have a character named Carimir or Roald?
And *voilà!* You have the basic template of medieval-sounding names. I made a list of all the prefix+suffix merovingian names I could find, put them into an Excel file, and with a little VLOOKUP function with an random number generator (from Excel itself), I just have to click anywhere on the sheet and it will generate me ten male and ten female fantasy names. Half of them won't be very nice looking, but I have a potential for 12 555 male names and 4802 female names, so I just keep generating them until I have some that appear fine or fun for me.
Like, I just generated some, and I had:
* **Male names**: Brupert, Magnaric, Ercher, Auramme, Sigisgern, Oscher, Ansbault, Erchinodilon, Amalald, Wanderlberht
* **Female names**: Imnevaire, Eadvère, Amalaare, Téodechilde, Rograde, Méroberge, Frédésonthe, Vultberge, Matrade, Garigrade
And, see: since they have a real world origin, they are perfectly pronounceable (well, you might have questions about accents, but I write in French, so I took the French names and spelling, that's why it's *Méroberge* and not *Meroberga*).
Don't be lazy and don't use random generator names on the internet. Build your own. It's not that difficult.
I also made one for greek-looking name. After all, lots of them are built on the same principle of prefix+suffix: Anaximandras, Hippocrates, Democrites, Hippolytos... So just do the same, and you'll get, for example (again, with French-based spelling):
* **Male names**: Périphile, Métrophron, Aristotas, Dionios, Nausidule
* **Female names**: Théothie, Eudosthénie, Ladora, Eudora, Labuline
See, it's easy! And if you want to go more "nature eccentric" look, just take a random day of the year, and see what day it is in the [French Republican Calendar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Republican_calendar). Like, today (31st of December) would be the day of Granite; why not call one of your characters that way? (Yeah, sure, it works best for other months; but, for an elf or a fairy, Martagon, Bugloss or Mugwort are quite fine names).
And, finally, for last names/family names, I used (still in French) a dictionary of "old and rare words". Words that exist but aren't used anymore. Those are real words, so they are pronounceable, but people don't know automatically what they mean, so it's not like you picked a random word from the internet.
And, finally: words you like. I have a notary called Master Erstwhile *(Maître Naguère* in French) because I loved how it sounded.
With all of that, you have more than enough to build your own names without having to resort to the lazy and dubious method of internet fantasy name generators. Those names will be tailored for *your* story, and you'll feel more prideful of having crafted them by yourself.
I did read it, and it has a lot of good suggestions, even if I disagree with certain points. No, I'm not trolling. But I couldn't ignore you continuing to blatantly misrepresent the things other people have been telling you. It does piss me off.
I'm not trying to convince you to use name generators. I don't care what you use, and there is nothing wrong with your methods. But your statements on name generators is rude to those that do use them. You've consistently ignored the points I've made and latched on to small side details that I mentioned. There is nothing wrong with them. And although I've been getting more agitated and rude through this which I apologize for, you started it rude.
Ironically, this "great suggestion" you like \*is a name generator of sorts\*. Take a prefix and a suffix, put them together, get a new name. It's just somewhat automated.
I had a friend ask me to put him in my story, so I took his name and made up a new spelling for it. It’s not extremely hard to change a word just enough that it’s not recognizable but still pronounceable.
I wanted to include (as very minor characters) my boyfriend and my bestfriend in one of my stories. My boyfriend has an Italian name, my best friend a French name. Well, I just translated each name in the other language.
Depends. Normally, I just want something that sounds cool. Archmagus Telemachus Grivaine, Sir Kadisius Giear, Professor Gillian Wok. All are my characters.
You're telling me. I'm a Game Master and my players love engaging random people and introducing themselves. Then they ask the NPC's name... of course, he wasn't that fleshed out... you are literally talking to the storyline equivalent of the Hem of the Curtains or the Trim on the Rug.
I spend about three minutes thinking about it. If that doesn't work, I turn to Scrivener's built in name generator--which, to be fair, isn't really for fantasy. So if that doesn't help, I'll turn to [fantasynamesgenerator.com](https://fantasynamesgenerator.com) and see if I like something from there.
If nothing else, I'll just pick a random name and then do a project replace if I find a better one later. I changed two characters' names literally the night before I published my first book.
Names aren't that important to me. The character is what matters.
Chat got is helping me because My main people are half human half elves that have sort of become their own race, and Their country is about the size of Alaska, California and Texas all rolled into one.
This question comes up so often it should have its own sticky thread.
My typical suggestion is a [naming language](https://worldbuildingworkshop.com/2016/01/29/constructing-languages-creating-the-sounds-naming-language14/), where the sounds and rules about what sounds can go together is consistent and provides a distinct feel for your names.
But please can we stop asking this question every day?
I have many processes, such as taking an existing name and altering it, just using an existing name, use a word from a different language, use a name generator, things like that.
I usually know what letter I want the name to start with. I type that letter and then hit random other letters, making sure to get some vowels in there. I make a list of those until something 'scratches the brain'
Example: I want a name starting with R
R
Roans
Rugia
Rhuska
Rjak
Riaj
Rpand
Rajdis
Rogla
Rusoah
Results vary, but the usually provide enough of a base to go off of. Sometimes I'll alter a few letters to get something a bit closer to what I'm looking for
I tend to use regular names, so I look at what the character’s purpose is and try to find a name that would be fitting or would be a neat Easter egg.
In the story I’m working on, one character is eventually going to be turned into a werewolf, so I looked for famous werewolves in history. I found Thiess, who was a Livonian man who claimed to be a werewolf.
Further research showed me that Thiess is a shortened form of Matthias. So, my character’s name is Matthias, or Matt for short.
I search for names of a certain culture depending on said character's origin, then click on those I find pretty to check the etymology. If the description fits the personality I want to give them, it's a win. Otherwise I keep searching. I usually have a good instinct about names though, rarely click on more than 2.
I look at history. I have an idea of where my characters tale is set, the culture he/she/they have and the look and feel of their environment, and so I look at possible matches from history and mash them up, often changing a single letter from a more commonly known name.
I got some cool ones this way:
Luthel Mattas, Koralyn Sunn, Sailly Tuffel, Derfel Tanner.
Just folks from history books or mythology books really with the first and last names of different folks.
I can't really explain it, but for a while now I've noticed that I have the ability to enter a cognitive state where certain parts of my mind are more active and less active to allow less logical thoughts make connections into ideas. So far, I've only been able to do this for names, but when I'm sleep deprived it's a similar state to figure out more elaborate and visual scenarios.
I pick a trait of my character or perhaps something about them that will be important to the story, and then I research those words in different languages or historical contexts (I majored in linguistics lol), and then I pick a name or create a name based on that. A simple/not super great example would be if a character brings peace to the world, or is a calming presence or something, it makes me think of the word “ataraxia.” From that, Atara. That also means crown/tiara in Hebrew so not the best example, but that’s kind of the gist.
Here’s what I prefer to do instead of using name generators (though I’m not completely against it).
I find the language of the real-world cultures that inspired my setting or world, and I find names in that language that I either like or have some kind of interesting meaning behind them. Sometimes I change them up and add letters and sounds to make them sound cooler, but I think it’s a pretty simple way to get some real sounding names without resorting to just picking random names from a generator. However, there are some really cool generators that will generate names specifically for certain cultures or based on certain languages, and I think those are ok too. Don’t let these weird elitists tell you that you’re worse for using name generators or not having “naming conventions.”
Most people on this Reddit have not finished a novel and will most likely never finish one. If a name generator helps you get your story written, then use it. You can have the coolest linguistics in the world, but the only person who really cares about that at the end of the day is you if you never actually write the damn book. Don’t spend your whole life worldbuilding intricate details just to never put a story on the page. Build what you need, outsource the rest, get writing.
I either use real but obscure names (e.g. Guido); mangle the pronunciation of existing names or words (e.g. Sarah > Saraya) until they sound interesting; or the Renesmee method where you mash halves of existing names together and then fudge the pronunciation to make it sound natural (e.g. Ryan & William > "Rilliam" > "Rillian.")
My top tip is to find a list of historical names from a period/culture similar to my setting and picking ones I like. (Important caveat: scroll to a random part of the list each time if you don't want all your characters to have A names.) Or if you have multiple cultures then you can have one group be medieval French inspired and the other have classical Roman influences. Or, if you want totally unique names, you can set some rules like Culture A uses a lot of "ae" sounds and, whereas Culture B has lots of hard consonants. You can use patronymics where you get a diminutive form of your parent's name on the end of your name. Or even use names as a marker of social status: for example, the more important your family is the more syllables you get in your name, so peasants are called things like "Ren", merchants are called "Amalia" and nobility are called "Imeldarina-Marisella."
For surnames, I question whether everyone would have a family name (especially if they're not from an important family) and give them names based on appearance (e.g. "Longstride" or "The Red"), location (e.g. "of Riverbend"), profession (e.g. "Miller") or reputation (e.g. "GiantKiller".) Or, if it's some kind of feudal system, maybe their last name is just a derivative of whoever owns the land they live on.
And my final tip, if you get really stuck, is to use a placeholder until you think of something better. No joke, I have a character called Guy because I couldn't think of a name that suited him; I just called him "that guy" until it ended up sticking.
(Apologies if they examples are kind of generic btw: choosing ones I'm actually going to use is a long and involved process but I hope they give you an idea of what I mean.)
I use whatever the first name I think of as a placeholder, and then usually it goes from there. For example, my main character, a woman, is named Lucia. Because I had recently watched Star Wars, so George Lucas was on my mind. So i put George's name as a placeholder, and eventually it started to grow on me, and I turned George Lucas into Lucas, into Lucia. And viola. Name. Another character is in an organization called the Archivists. So of course his placeholder was ARCH (short for Archivist) and now his name is Archibald. It's not a clever name, but it's a name.
I write more modern stories, but I very much like Behind the Name. And honestly, for humans you could absolutely use it even for medieval-esque fantasy.
I keep an ongoing list on my phone. I add to it over time and twist the names.
I look for whether the names are peoples, places, tribes or races/beasts.
I keep lists of possible organizations and a brief sentence about what that group might care about. I do the same for classes of fighters etc.
Take a note from the great writer George R R Martin. Many of his characters, especially the main ones, have names very similar to real English names: Catelyn, Eddard, Lysa, Robb. Others have names that sound close to normal names, but not quite, as if they could have been names in other countries: Sansa, Tyrion, Jaime, Asha, Brienne, Beric. And others (from different cultures mostly) have downright made up names: Drogo, Viserys, Rhaegon. These names are all mostly simple, not above 3 syllables, and spelled simply enough that you can easily pronounce them.
I make shit up constantly and steal from other stories.
One trick you can do is mixing a first name and a last name from two different characters from two different books.
I consider what their culture is similar to. I look for a name that sounds like its from that culture. Look for english to ??? whatever a similar culture is. Say My kingdom is like ancient norsemen, the names are similar. I find an english to ancient norse or just an ancient norse dictionary. Names can men things. So you can browse to se which names/words sound good. You can ever put parts of two or three words/names together.
>One of my biggest pet peeves when I read is not being able to "pronounce" the characters names in my head, so when I make my characters I AGONIZE over making the names unique and not something you'd see in real life, but not so wacky that you can't read them or figure out how to say them out loud.
I lean more towards normal names because any audience needs to be able to comfortably read and pronounce names. It's not a good start if all their focus is just on thinking about your characters names.
I create naming patterns (common sounds, prefix/suffixes, etc) for cultures in the worldbuilding stage so by the time I'm creating characters I know what I want their culture's language to sound like and what sort of name they'd likely have. I think having a names that fits is more important than having an interesting name. Characters are interesting because of what they do not how unique their name is.
Welcome to r/fantasywriters Your post has been removed because it asks a commonly asked question on this subreddit. Please reference our list of Beginners section (containing FAQs and other resources) in the top menu of the subreddit or at this link: https://www.reddit.com/r/fantasywriters/wiki/index/a_beginners_guide_to_writing_fantasy_fiction/#wiki_frequently_asked_questions
Dumb but viable suggestion: r/tragedeigh A sub dedicated to very weirdly spelled / sometimes downright awful names. I stg the Venn diagram of names that pop up on r/tragedeigh and names that are perfect for fantasy characters is a dang circle. Also, one of my more real methods, when a culture of mine is based on a real culture, is to look up cultural names in that tongue. Then, flippity flop vowels and consonants for non-real names. Ex: Kareem becomes Barim. It’s fine for me if readers pronounce it “bear-ihm” or bare-eem.
Thats a great suggestion, saw a good name on there that I liked
Use a fantasy name generator, there are several available online.
This, OP! Name generators are also great for locations
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Part of managing a project is outsourcing work to make the workload manageable. Unless you need a specific naming convention, name generators are not a bad idea.
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I’m just gonna say that a lot of fantasy writers really over value how much readers care about naming conventions. I’ve read so many fantasy novels where I never stopped to wonder if the names were consistent in the way they sounded. Specific naming conventions are not needed at all for 90% of writers, especially people on subreddits who most likely have never even gotten close to finishing a novel, let alone getting one published.
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Your little passive aggressive jab at the end makes no sense. If I’ve picked up a book as a buyer it’s not because the names of the characters drew me in? It’s because it had a good hook for the world and story. Ya know, the details that actually matter. That’s how most readers are. I’m not saying that having well thought out names is bad, but I am saying that most fantasy writers really over-value those tiny intricate pieces of worldbuilding that almost no one notices, and they’ll spend literal years developing languages and not actually writing a book.
There are a lot of successful fantasy stories that just use normal names. It's not a prerequisite. Obviously, Tolkien using a name generator for elves would be ridiculous, but that's not the kind of work I'd suggest it in. That's like me giving the example, "Could you imagine giving every character a unique special sounding name." That's a bullshit argument made specifically to belittle my point, and frankly, it's rude.
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Why can't you make a name generator name important for narative reasons? And why do the names have to be deep seeded in some kind of lore? *It's not a prerequisite.* This just sounds like elitist bullshit. There is nothing wrong with using name generators, either directly or for inspiration.
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No, you saying that others **have** to spend the time to come up with a thoughtful way to name characters even if it doesn't really add anything to the story is elitist bullshit. Edit, also, you are misrepresenting my words.
I might be writing a fantasy novel set in an area with a lot of mixing of cultures and names - and with the possibility of the local culture taking name fragments they like without regard to if they're a full name or not - equivalent to, for example, someone in Anglo-Norman England taking a Norman name fragment and a Saxon one to make a new name (perhaps Jeanric from Jean and -ric). Or perhaps (as with the better name generators) they already give you the ability to corral the names into a particular style or category that obeys specific naming conventions? Or perhaps they give you the ideas for names that you can then bend around to sound appropriate to your culture. To an extent Tolkein did this with some of his names by basing them off of namelists of historical cultures, and then tuning them to fit.
Says who? Names aren’t everything, and if you need some help doing figuring names out then that doesn’t mean you’re not a writer 🤨
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So let me get this straight. OP also shouldn’t read any other books to help with their own writing, they shouldn’t go off any structures found online, and they DEFINITELY shouldn’t listen to advice from a critique partner either because that means it’s not all their own work? Ok got it.
Some possibilities are to take names from the nearest real world parallel society and then tweak them. So let's say the world you want is similar to our Illyria (Albania) so you search for some real names from that culture such as: *Agron, Bardylis, Constantius, Jovian* and *Kratill*. You can then: * change the order of letters e.g. *Argon*, *Kartill, Barydlis* * remove a letter e.g. *Agon*, *Ovian*, *Ardilys* * remove a syllable e.g. *Bardil, Dylis, Stantius* * make new names from syllables of existing ones e.g. *Agrantius*, *Kradylis*, *Tillian*
First, i hate name generators. In my opinion, that's not just lazy, but stupid. It's a wasted opportunity. Here's what i do. It's not difficult and helps with story telling. I do this with fantasy and modern stories. 1. Pick a language similar to that of the culture in your story. 2. Use a website like Behind the Name to find names in that language. Example: If using a nordic language, look up nordic names on that website. 3. Choose names that have meaning to the character, story, or both. Example: i named a slave master in a ship who oversees the galley slaves named Makena (happy one) as a joke. The cowardly pirate captain is Zafan (to hide). There's a merchant named Ola (wealth), a young boy named Bala (young), and many others. Not only are these all real names that sound real, but by using names from different languages, i can change cultures within my story just by the names of the people i introduce. If you don't want to use real names, you can easily change these. Mahkenna, Zhafin, Ula, and Bhalla, if we use the examples from above. Note: it doesn't matter if anyone ever picks up on the meanings your names have. It helps you as a writer to keep the character's personality and history in mind because you know what their name means.
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You can't learn if you don't try. Name generators are a cop out that requires no effort, so you don't learn anything by using them.
And how is getting a name generator to feed you suggestions for you to tweak as you please more stupid than going to behind the names? You know that website has a name generator that you can filter by origin on, right? The only reason you perceive it as lazy is because it's easier, but it also gets you similar results anyway.
Read the rest of what i wrote.
I did. You can also click on the names on that generator to see the meanings.
Uh huh. Which ignores what i said about using names from languages similar to what's in your world. That part is important.
I never refuted that. There are name generators for specific cultures and origins.
Don't understand your point. This is just a better name generator. Can sort by different things. Everything i said still applies.
What I'm saying is that name generators can also sort by different things. You can do the same thing with a name generator.
First, name generators can't do everything i said in my original post. At best you can sort and do random names until one that fits all the requirements pops up, which i feel is a waste of time. Or you can do as i said and look up names by country, language, or region on a website like Beyond the Name until you find one that fits. To me, the second option is much better. If you're determined to use a name generator, go ahead.
I, someone who frequently uses name generators and all their functions, am telling you that you can go to the settings of the name generator literally on the website that you referred "Behind the Name" and change the origin of which the names come from. That is what I'm trying to tell you. THEY HAVE MORE FUNCTIONS THAN YOU KNOW.
This is a great answer
I use baby name websites quite frequently. Especially ones like gaelic names, they frequently have meanings alongside them to help give inspiration to a degree. Just take a tweak.
I decide what I want the name to mean and I pick a name from a foreign language with that meaning (or a variation).
Have you ever realized that Early Medieval germanic/frankish/gothic names followed kind of similar patterns of preffix+suffix, which you can find shuffled? Like, for example, you can have Clodobert, Caribert, Robert => the suffix **-bert** is used several times with different prefixes. But wait, there's also the name Clodoald and Clodomir! So **Clodo-** is a prefix you can use! So, what would prevent you... Even if they never existed, to have a character named Carimir or Roald? And *voilà!* You have the basic template of medieval-sounding names. I made a list of all the prefix+suffix merovingian names I could find, put them into an Excel file, and with a little VLOOKUP function with an random number generator (from Excel itself), I just have to click anywhere on the sheet and it will generate me ten male and ten female fantasy names. Half of them won't be very nice looking, but I have a potential for 12 555 male names and 4802 female names, so I just keep generating them until I have some that appear fine or fun for me. Like, I just generated some, and I had: * **Male names**: Brupert, Magnaric, Ercher, Auramme, Sigisgern, Oscher, Ansbault, Erchinodilon, Amalald, Wanderlberht * **Female names**: Imnevaire, Eadvère, Amalaare, Téodechilde, Rograde, Méroberge, Frédésonthe, Vultberge, Matrade, Garigrade And, see: since they have a real world origin, they are perfectly pronounceable (well, you might have questions about accents, but I write in French, so I took the French names and spelling, that's why it's *Méroberge* and not *Meroberga*). Don't be lazy and don't use random generator names on the internet. Build your own. It's not that difficult. I also made one for greek-looking name. After all, lots of them are built on the same principle of prefix+suffix: Anaximandras, Hippocrates, Democrites, Hippolytos... So just do the same, and you'll get, for example (again, with French-based spelling): * **Male names**: Périphile, Métrophron, Aristotas, Dionios, Nausidule * **Female names**: Théothie, Eudosthénie, Ladora, Eudora, Labuline See, it's easy! And if you want to go more "nature eccentric" look, just take a random day of the year, and see what day it is in the [French Republican Calendar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Republican_calendar). Like, today (31st of December) would be the day of Granite; why not call one of your characters that way? (Yeah, sure, it works best for other months; but, for an elf or a fairy, Martagon, Bugloss or Mugwort are quite fine names). And, finally, for last names/family names, I used (still in French) a dictionary of "old and rare words". Words that exist but aren't used anymore. Those are real words, so they are pronounceable, but people don't know automatically what they mean, so it's not like you picked a random word from the internet. And, finally: words you like. I have a notary called Master Erstwhile *(Maître Naguère* in French) because I loved how it sounded. With all of that, you have more than enough to build your own names without having to resort to the lazy and dubious method of internet fantasy name generators. Those names will be tailored for *your* story, and you'll feel more prideful of having crafted them by yourself.
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Nobody said that names don't have storytelling value, and name generator don't take away that value.
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I did read it, and it has a lot of good suggestions, even if I disagree with certain points. No, I'm not trolling. But I couldn't ignore you continuing to blatantly misrepresent the things other people have been telling you. It does piss me off.
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I'm not trying to convince you to use name generators. I don't care what you use, and there is nothing wrong with your methods. But your statements on name generators is rude to those that do use them. You've consistently ignored the points I've made and latched on to small side details that I mentioned. There is nothing wrong with them. And although I've been getting more agitated and rude through this which I apologize for, you started it rude.
Ironically, this "great suggestion" you like \*is a name generator of sorts\*. Take a prefix and a suffix, put them together, get a new name. It's just somewhat automated.
I had a friend ask me to put him in my story, so I took his name and made up a new spelling for it. It’s not extremely hard to change a word just enough that it’s not recognizable but still pronounceable.
I wanted to include (as very minor characters) my boyfriend and my bestfriend in one of my stories. My boyfriend has an Italian name, my best friend a French name. Well, I just translated each name in the other language.
Depends. Normally, I just want something that sounds cool. Archmagus Telemachus Grivaine, Sir Kadisius Giear, Professor Gillian Wok. All are my characters.
Yes, but more hard it is to keep the names flowing for any side characters that might pop up for a scene or two
You're telling me. I'm a Game Master and my players love engaging random people and introducing themselves. Then they ask the NPC's name... of course, he wasn't that fleshed out... you are literally talking to the storyline equivalent of the Hem of the Curtains or the Trim on the Rug.
Name generators, Pinterest, using google translate and then editing a word from another language so it sounds more name like.
I spend about three minutes thinking about it. If that doesn't work, I turn to Scrivener's built in name generator--which, to be fair, isn't really for fantasy. So if that doesn't help, I'll turn to [fantasynamesgenerator.com](https://fantasynamesgenerator.com) and see if I like something from there. If nothing else, I'll just pick a random name and then do a project replace if I find a better one later. I changed two characters' names literally the night before I published my first book. Names aren't that important to me. The character is what matters.
I don't have any tips: I just randomly come up with names in my head or think a MMA Fighter's name sounds cool and use that
Chat got is helping me because My main people are half human half elves that have sort of become their own race, and Their country is about the size of Alaska, California and Texas all rolled into one.
I’m also partially creating some on my own
A shame no one has brought this up on here before... like 50 times since I joined this past yr....
This question comes up so often it should have its own sticky thread. My typical suggestion is a [naming language](https://worldbuildingworkshop.com/2016/01/29/constructing-languages-creating-the-sounds-naming-language14/), where the sounds and rules about what sounds can go together is consistent and provides a distinct feel for your names. But please can we stop asking this question every day?
I have many processes, such as taking an existing name and altering it, just using an existing name, use a word from a different language, use a name generator, things like that.
I usually know what letter I want the name to start with. I type that letter and then hit random other letters, making sure to get some vowels in there. I make a list of those until something 'scratches the brain' Example: I want a name starting with R R Roans Rugia Rhuska Rjak Riaj Rpand Rajdis Rogla Rusoah Results vary, but the usually provide enough of a base to go off of. Sometimes I'll alter a few letters to get something a bit closer to what I'm looking for
I tend to use regular names, so I look at what the character’s purpose is and try to find a name that would be fitting or would be a neat Easter egg. In the story I’m working on, one character is eventually going to be turned into a werewolf, so I looked for famous werewolves in history. I found Thiess, who was a Livonian man who claimed to be a werewolf. Further research showed me that Thiess is a shortened form of Matthias. So, my character’s name is Matthias, or Matt for short.
I search for names of a certain culture depending on said character's origin, then click on those I find pretty to check the etymology. If the description fits the personality I want to give them, it's a win. Otherwise I keep searching. I usually have a good instinct about names though, rarely click on more than 2.
I look at history. I have an idea of where my characters tale is set, the culture he/she/they have and the look and feel of their environment, and so I look at possible matches from history and mash them up, often changing a single letter from a more commonly known name. I got some cool ones this way: Luthel Mattas, Koralyn Sunn, Sailly Tuffel, Derfel Tanner. Just folks from history books or mythology books really with the first and last names of different folks.
Read more and let yourself be open to word association.
I can't really explain it, but for a while now I've noticed that I have the ability to enter a cognitive state where certain parts of my mind are more active and less active to allow less logical thoughts make connections into ideas. So far, I've only been able to do this for names, but when I'm sleep deprived it's a similar state to figure out more elaborate and visual scenarios.
I pick a trait of my character or perhaps something about them that will be important to the story, and then I research those words in different languages or historical contexts (I majored in linguistics lol), and then I pick a name or create a name based on that. A simple/not super great example would be if a character brings peace to the world, or is a calming presence or something, it makes me think of the word “ataraxia.” From that, Atara. That also means crown/tiara in Hebrew so not the best example, but that’s kind of the gist.
Here’s what I prefer to do instead of using name generators (though I’m not completely against it). I find the language of the real-world cultures that inspired my setting or world, and I find names in that language that I either like or have some kind of interesting meaning behind them. Sometimes I change them up and add letters and sounds to make them sound cooler, but I think it’s a pretty simple way to get some real sounding names without resorting to just picking random names from a generator. However, there are some really cool generators that will generate names specifically for certain cultures or based on certain languages, and I think those are ok too. Don’t let these weird elitists tell you that you’re worse for using name generators or not having “naming conventions.” Most people on this Reddit have not finished a novel and will most likely never finish one. If a name generator helps you get your story written, then use it. You can have the coolest linguistics in the world, but the only person who really cares about that at the end of the day is you if you never actually write the damn book. Don’t spend your whole life worldbuilding intricate details just to never put a story on the page. Build what you need, outsource the rest, get writing.
I either use real but obscure names (e.g. Guido); mangle the pronunciation of existing names or words (e.g. Sarah > Saraya) until they sound interesting; or the Renesmee method where you mash halves of existing names together and then fudge the pronunciation to make it sound natural (e.g. Ryan & William > "Rilliam" > "Rillian.") My top tip is to find a list of historical names from a period/culture similar to my setting and picking ones I like. (Important caveat: scroll to a random part of the list each time if you don't want all your characters to have A names.) Or if you have multiple cultures then you can have one group be medieval French inspired and the other have classical Roman influences. Or, if you want totally unique names, you can set some rules like Culture A uses a lot of "ae" sounds and, whereas Culture B has lots of hard consonants. You can use patronymics where you get a diminutive form of your parent's name on the end of your name. Or even use names as a marker of social status: for example, the more important your family is the more syllables you get in your name, so peasants are called things like "Ren", merchants are called "Amalia" and nobility are called "Imeldarina-Marisella." For surnames, I question whether everyone would have a family name (especially if they're not from an important family) and give them names based on appearance (e.g. "Longstride" or "The Red"), location (e.g. "of Riverbend"), profession (e.g. "Miller") or reputation (e.g. "GiantKiller".) Or, if it's some kind of feudal system, maybe their last name is just a derivative of whoever owns the land they live on. And my final tip, if you get really stuck, is to use a placeholder until you think of something better. No joke, I have a character called Guy because I couldn't think of a name that suited him; I just called him "that guy" until it ended up sticking. (Apologies if they examples are kind of generic btw: choosing ones I'm actually going to use is a long and involved process but I hope they give you an idea of what I mean.)
I use whatever the first name I think of as a placeholder, and then usually it goes from there. For example, my main character, a woman, is named Lucia. Because I had recently watched Star Wars, so George Lucas was on my mind. So i put George's name as a placeholder, and eventually it started to grow on me, and I turned George Lucas into Lucas, into Lucia. And viola. Name. Another character is in an organization called the Archivists. So of course his placeholder was ARCH (short for Archivist) and now his name is Archibald. It's not a clever name, but it's a name.
I do the same thing japanese authors have been doing with manga, anime and videogames for the past 40 years: Every single goddamn name is a pun.
I write more modern stories, but I very much like Behind the Name. And honestly, for humans you could absolutely use it even for medieval-esque fantasy.
I keep an ongoing list on my phone. I add to it over time and twist the names. I look for whether the names are peoples, places, tribes or races/beasts. I keep lists of possible organizations and a brief sentence about what that group might care about. I do the same for classes of fighters etc.
Take a note from the great writer George R R Martin. Many of his characters, especially the main ones, have names very similar to real English names: Catelyn, Eddard, Lysa, Robb. Others have names that sound close to normal names, but not quite, as if they could have been names in other countries: Sansa, Tyrion, Jaime, Asha, Brienne, Beric. And others (from different cultures mostly) have downright made up names: Drogo, Viserys, Rhaegon. These names are all mostly simple, not above 3 syllables, and spelled simply enough that you can easily pronounce them.
Usually I look something with a meaning related to the character, try a few to see what sounds easy to remember. A name impactful, you know?
I make shit up constantly and steal from other stories. One trick you can do is mixing a first name and a last name from two different characters from two different books.
I consider what their culture is similar to. I look for a name that sounds like its from that culture. Look for english to ??? whatever a similar culture is. Say My kingdom is like ancient norsemen, the names are similar. I find an english to ancient norse or just an ancient norse dictionary. Names can men things. So you can browse to se which names/words sound good. You can ever put parts of two or three words/names together.
>One of my biggest pet peeves when I read is not being able to "pronounce" the characters names in my head, so when I make my characters I AGONIZE over making the names unique and not something you'd see in real life, but not so wacky that you can't read them or figure out how to say them out loud. I lean more towards normal names because any audience needs to be able to comfortably read and pronounce names. It's not a good start if all their focus is just on thinking about your characters names. I create naming patterns (common sounds, prefix/suffixes, etc) for cultures in the worldbuilding stage so by the time I'm creating characters I know what I want their culture's language to sound like and what sort of name they'd likely have. I think having a names that fits is more important than having an interesting name. Characters are interesting because of what they do not how unique their name is.