ok so i'm not naming a specific character im trying to come up with a name for this species of creature that i've come up with. basically this species is kind of a tree except in human form. They are the wise men and women of all other species. in many of the folk tales of my made up fantasy world these are the creatures that all other creatures (including humans) would go to in order to get advise or help on a quest. The reason these creatures are so wise is because they have a direct link to the mother goddess of that world. They are in fact her direct children. born of her and her alone where as everyone else is born from her/chaos beings ( which i also have yet to name). So everyone else do not hear the mother goddess as clearly. ok so i've tried looking up the word tree in different languages and i've tried to translate a whole bunch of other words that are commonly associated with this race but all the words i get back just don't seem to fit. if i translate a word in french it sounds too french and out of place if i translate in greek then i have the same problem. My world in its old mythological days was more of a medival type place but the actual story takes place 1000's of years later and humanity has evolved into a more victorian england/ steampunk sort of feel. which the main language is english and i don't just want to call them the wise tree people. So ya. if you don't have any suggestions of actual names then i complete welcome any techniques for creating my own. o and i've tried the whole baby name thing and i haven't found anything that works
Well how about Arbiens? It's using the Latin language, arbor=tree and sapiens=wise. Hope it helps at least somewhat.
You beat me to it, I was going to suggest a latin origin since science uses it to classify the species of the world.
First, decide whose name for the people it is. Is it what they call themselves, translated into a human language? Or is it what the humans call them? Or some other race entirely that goes around naming things? Humans woulf probably call them something like "treefolk", or "woodies", or "splinters", depending on how respectful or scornful the humans who named them are. The tree people themselves may have a name for themselves that translates phonetically to something like Fwss'thl, recalling the sound of a breeze through foliage. What the heck do the Romans have to do with it? Did they ever even meet a treefolk? So why use Latin to name them? Names come from somewhere. Think how the name comes about, and you'll have a better notion of how to come up with it.
What type of trees are they going to be? If they were going to be Oak trees you could do a play on words and call them Oaklens. Or even go by the genus name of Quercus.
Ah, Cog beat me to it. You'd have to consider the cultural conditions surrounding the name obviously. I personally like somewhat unfittingly simple, demure names for the 'chosen' race in any given work, but that's just me. Chlorophyllians? lol Gaia is the Greek goddess of the earth, but also finds popular use frequently enough to be generally recognizable as refering to mother earth. Might be worth considering. Gaians? Gaiites? Gaiakin?
I agree completely with this, things such as Werewolf have some partially Latin roots, so using Latin is quite useful for naming things seeing as it is the basis for all languages. (This is of course depending on your world should you have one differing from earth, but I still find it a good basis to stick with.) This is also a good idea! The fact that us as humans rarely use the "official" name for things can help you with your naming. I mean, we don't use Canis Lupus Familiaris, we instead just say dog. This may or may not be a good example, but the point is, an official name differs from what we humans call them. Therefore, the name of these things could very well be Arbiens, yet, humans or other creatures just call them the Treefolk, or something of the like. Personally, I like The Tree Speakers XD
As I brought up in my post, scientist often use latin words to classify a species. It's true that we may not use the same words as scientist do, but when we want to discuss a spieces with someone that doesn't speak english and use its latin name, the other person will know what species we're talking about. This is a good reason to use latin names. However, I will not deny that as humans we'll find a name to call them ourselves. Were as we who speak english may call them "Tree folk" someone from Spain may call them something else completely (cant think of the spanish word for tree at the moment). Either way though, by using latin its a universal language that everyone recognizes for species. Which is why it may have been suggested by Dodgepen.
WOW! these are all really great names and great advice!!!! thanx!! i haven't come up with a name but the task feels a lot less impossible now! again thanx!
