The two main continents in my story are called Helvont and Espion. I can't think of good names to describe the people who come from there though. I mean, Helvontians, Helvontiks, Helvontisks, Espionians - none of them sounds right! Can anyone give me suggestions?
Helvons could work, thanks. I need them to end with consonants though, so I'll need something else for the people of Espion.
Cretch, Tlatzen... The names of the people and of the country need not be closely related. Consider Holland and the Dutch. Using that difference may actually make the naming more credible.
I usualy like a vowel ending as a modifier. Helvoni, Espioni. There's just something plural about the sound that works for me. Just don't make the Star Trek mistake and slap a 'The' in front of every nationality every single time you say it. Edit~ Sorry 'bout that. I just noticed you mentioned that the names for the peoples must end in consenants. Obviously a requirement of a linguistic origin. But I have another question.... Just one unified poeple from each continent? A continent is an awefully large place to hold just one people. This would require some explaining in the narrative.
Also, (and I think this was mentioned in a different thread) are the names you are using the names used by the people themselves, or the names used by people of other nationalities? Using Cog's example, Holland and Dutch are names applied to the people who call themselves Nederlanders and come from Dem Nederlands. This happens all the time. We call people from Hungary, Hungarians, but they call themselves Magyar (which is also the name they give to the Fino-Ugeric language which they speak, Magyar.) Edit~ A bit of Wiki-research proves me wrong, but only insomuch as the naming of people and of areas within The Netherlands is even more complicated than I mentioned. From Wikipedia: The proper name of the area in both Dutch and English is "Holland". "Holland" is a part of the Netherlands. "Holland" is informally and quite incorrectly used in English and other languages, including sometimes the Dutch language itself, to mean the whole of the modern country of the Netherlands. (This example of pars pro toto or synecdoche is similar to the tendency to refer to the United Kingdom as "England".) The people of Holland are referred to as "Hollanders" in both Dutch and English. Today this refers specifically to people from the current provinces of North Holland and South Holland. Strictly speaking, the term "Hollanders" does not refer to people from the other provinces in the Netherlands, but colloquially "Hollanders" is sometimes mistakenly used in this wider sense. When referring to the Netherlands as a whole, the adjective is "Dutch". "Dutch" is not used as an adjective for "Holland" in a modern context because "Dutch" refers to all of the Netherlands, not just Holland. However, there is a good deal of confusion about this. In actual practice, the adjective "Dutch" is often (but somewhat inaccurately) used in the specific context of Holland. In Dutch, the Dutch word "Hollands" is the adjectival form for "Holland", but in English there is no commonly used adjective for "Holland". Good Lord! The naming of peoples and of countries and of nationalities and of ethnicities can be a complicated affair. The four concepts mentioned may not have anything to do one with the other.
Helvont and Espion Helvontites and Espionites? Helvontians/Helvontans and Espionans/Espionians? Helvonters and...Espioners? Urgh. Helvontanders and Espionanders? *LOL* --from a Michigander
The names Helvont and Espion are both used by the people of Helvont. The ones from Espion have their own names for everything but I've already thought of those.
Hmm, I didn't really think of that. Well, it's not a problem in the case of Helvont as that continent is only about the size of Sweden and Norway together, but the land mass of Espion is bigger. Originally, the north of Espion was uninhabited but over centuries the people have gradually been spreading out northwards, filling up the uninhabited land. Do you think that is an ok explanation?
Yes, and no. Yes, because it explains that the newly inhabited lands are being populated by the people of southern Espion. No, because people don't usually move away from established population centers without good reason: no space where they live, better land elswhere, differing beliefs/religions, social/political subjugation, just to name a few. Need for more space and better land in the newly opened areas might not cause a wish for a new identity as a people, but the other reasons mentioned most surely will. The United States of America is a prime example. The U.S.A. exists because of all the reasons mentioned, and there was most certainly a wish for a new identity. A war was fought over it.
Well I think it's going to have to be a need for more space, unless anyone has any better suggestions. At this point in time I think I need them all to be one people.
This is just an idea, but it has worked for me. Google ancient Greek names.(Greek names+ male, or + female.) This works for places too. (Kyranos, Hadrean, Jakeris) These are variations of Greek words and names that I have used in stories. Just use your imagination and change around letters until it sounds right. If you still have not found that perfect name Google (unusual names + world.) Keep in mind that readers do not like long unpronounceable names. Keep them exotic, but understandable. Hope this helped.
