I don't know if anyone else out there sometimes has issues coming up with fantasy-sounding names, but I thought it might be mutually beneficial to all of us fantasy writers if we had a thread where people posted fantasy names (with the understanding that they are up for use in other's writing). Sometimes I brainstorm a bunch of names, but they just don't seem to fit my characters. I bet you guys do that too. What if we started a list of names we've thought up, in the event that someone else can use them? Here's some of mine... Female names: Jendala Kali/Cally Rhoswen Alaine Rosetta Lodie Breena Alina Aria Carita Deva Emoni Gelena Ione Lunette Linnieu Mirielde Merewyn Ruenna Vanora Yvaine Cait Desmonda Katri Rhynna Riiaya Rishana Laerin Meleia Male names: Deric Felix Kalix Florian Edson Travion Jaymes Niall Radley Aymery Jasper Timas Roydin Aeryn Shae Neth D'Kor Brank Jax Karvin Tierran Jerik Karal
I've tried using fantasy names, but they never seem to fit my characters. My characters have pretty simple names. I've tried to make them sound more fantasy like, but they don't seem to like when I do that.
I used to have that problem. Then I just gave up and used Babynames.com and found plenty of fantasy names there.
I use FantasyNameGenerators.com. It has hundreds of real-world name gens; some of my cultures are based on real ones, and some just borrow names from them, but I can always find something either way.
As much as I like your idea, and agree with the difficulty, it poses a problem, a copyright problem. Name generators usually cater to gaming and may be a priority to them. Sharing names can be bad as well, because sometimes we see something we like so much we latch onto it, and it doesn't always fit. Sometimes people post naming systems based on character names already copyrighted. (Real life names aren't copyrighted but names like Cloud or Rayne usually are. FF& or BloodRayne) I think it's best to come up with names on our own. Even if it is my weak point especially when people don't know the flow of what you already have, cities, town names, and using similarity. Our own systems tend to be the best but focusing on character names is wasted effort early on in writing, it's best to write the book or series as much as possible then use the story to speak the characters name. Worrying about naming last before publishing probably is for the better, because the focus can be applied where needed. I've asked these same questions before, and this is the conclusion I have come to. It's write and get nowhere or get stuck on naming.
I've always tied each fantasy culture to a real world language, just about always the one of the real world culture it has the most in common with, as a sort of translation convention. So places in the Seven Marches have German-based place names and the Marchers themselves have German names, Corhiel has English, Ciria has French, the Dynion have Celtic, the Tarig have Arab and Berber, Mklaria has Ethiopian, Tyria has a Roman/Punic fusion, etc. Baby name sites and name generators for real world languages help a ton on that front. Coming up with internally consistent place and personal naming schemes from scratch, that also happen to sound like real names, interferes with more important parts of writing.
Hmm maybe i should do something similar like that, tying the names that i created to a certain city/place/kingdom. I always like to create my own fantasy names without having to resort much to name generators. However when i googled them it turns out that some of them already have an origin, like one is arabic and another from welsh. I think I'll google all of them and classify them based on origin.
My storys are based in a country that is based off of Anglo-Saxon time. My MC's names reflect that and medieval times. Jaasson, Skye, Axton, Raynold and so on. I find that knowing what your wor world is based on helps a lot.
Apologies if this has already been discussed, I didn't read all the posts. I used to have fun coming up with "naming schemes" for stories like this. It's a lot of work and requires a lot of extra thought, but it's worth it to remember that every country, region, continent, religious group, or other faction might put their own spin on certain names, like how biblical names are very popular. In a fantasy world, I found it fun to think about what a country or groups reasons for naming things. Do they have a religious text to draw from? Do they give names based on deeds or history (family with the surname of Battleborn for example, took that name for their prowess in battle) do they have an ancient language they're inspired by? Writing your own language might be a bit much but perhaps draw from our own history and ancient languages for inspiration. Sorry I didn't provide many actual names... but just wanted to throw my thoughts out there. The fantasy is yours, so there's really no limit.
