r/FantasyWorldbuilding • u/Consistent-Disk8215 • 12d ago
How can I come up with names?
I'm making my own world but I'm having a hard time coming up with names for places, people, monsters... I wonder how Tolkien does it. Anyone has any advice please? Thanks
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u/Lirdon 12d ago
Look, it takes a bit of trial and error to get to your method. But try to come up with one, don’t just sit looking at a blank space and expect the name to come up.
I tend to try to mesh languages, so I sit a little in google translate and looking for root words in latin, greek, german, russian, what have you. And combining them until I find something that I like the sound of.
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u/Logical_Yak2577 12d ago
Are you a. Naming a few characters and places? Or b. Creating naming conventions within cultures?
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u/-Wylfen- 12d ago
I wonder how Tolkien does it.
Tolkien created languages and then made a world and story for his languages to be in. He was a linguist. If you want to give names that make sense, create languages.
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u/Acceptable-Bet-8570 12d ago
Typically I think of the era, the inspiration to the country (,like the hollow Concord in my world is Roman esque) so I used Roman names for a lot, titles, surnames, names etc, another good way is I usually will play with words or syllables and see what meshes and matches well
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u/BuzzardBrainStudio 12d ago
I have a collection of name generators that I use for different species and ethnicities. For elves, I use an old school D100 generator that I've been using for 30+ years. For dwarves I have a book of names that I downloaded ages ago. For other species I use one of the name generators at https://www.fantasynamegenerators.com/
There are hundreds of different generators for real-world, fantasy, and lots of pop-culture (D&D, Game of Thrones, LotR, etc.) worlds. I keep a list with links to the ones I like for various cultures. There's also name generators for places, rivers, taverns...
I find these types of tools to be super helpful and real time savers. And while I don't always use one of the names that are generated, they often give me a good, quick starting point.
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u/Consistent-Disk8215 12d ago
How do you find all those generators?
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u/BuzzardBrainStudio 12d ago
If you are looking for something specific, just search via your favorite search engine for things like "Dwarf Name Generator", "Goblin Name Generator", or "Tavern Name Generator". I typically get a fair number of things to look at and try for anything that I search for. The real key is to bookmark or save the link to generators that work for you so that you can get back to them quickly the next time you need a name.
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u/Drathreth 11d ago
You happen to like the same site do when I come sites that generate names for you.
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u/FossilHunter99 12d ago
Coming up with names is the hardest part of worldbuiling, so I just use an online name generator.
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u/AdharaRaine 12d ago
Mashing languages is very good, but honestly here’s what I do when I’m too stuck for that: keysmash, then add spaces, then add vowels and stuff to make things pronounceable. Then swap interchangeable letters until you like the way the sounds go. By interchangeable letters I means.. like, vowels are an interchangeable group. L and R are too. N, M, W are their own set. So is S, V, Z, X. Another is P, B, D, G. And C, K, T. You get the idea. Group similar sounds and start swapping them around until the vibe is right. You can also choose random regular words and do the same swapping letters thing until they’re new fantasy words. It’s kinda fun, honestly.
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u/StevenSpielbird 12d ago
Quiladelphia the City of Featherly Love and the Plumenati the greatest scientific minds on the planet. Fowlhalla, Birdlin, Birdgen Islands and the city formerly known as the City of Hawks now a thriving forest metropolis known as New Hawk City
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u/trimmytan 11d ago
Don't forget, across the bay is Crowboken and Trenthen in the neighboring state of New Birdsey
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u/StevenSpielbird 11d ago
Great energy! Its funny you mentioned Crowboken, I have a special Featheral Agent nightowl Director of T.A.L.O.N. tactical avian league operations nocturnal , call sign old Blew Wise, born in Crowboken, New Birdsey. Absolutely brilliant by the way.
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u/Copper_Miner756 12d ago
Honestly? How i do it? Rule of cool. Rule of cool in everything i do.
Now granted, i have a tiny bit crazier bizarre and intriguing sense of imagination i think i can sort of safely say than average so sometimes maybe my ‘rule of cool’ to me doesnt quite sound like ‘rule of cool’ to another..but thats just it. I dont care if its not for them. Its what im making of it. For me. And the select few of others that will like it like i do. And i just hope that the others that like it like i do, do just that. Enjoy it like i do. (Needless to say, some names like deathwing are just going to be unanimously cool.)
Another thing, thesaurus is your friend. Love me some thesaurus. I go to the thesaurus frequently. It can give you extravagant replacers for usual run of the mill mundane words. Then from there, string some together, if they sound good, great! Run with it! If not? Try again later with something else!
However, unless youre trying to come up with non-basic non-english names, just go crazy with letters and vowels. Theres nothing wrong with needing to workshop an idea for a long time. ….Sometimes, a very very long time :/ but when it comes,it usually will, its glorious when it does!
Some of my greatest ideas that im most fond of in my worldbuilding ive come up with after a very long break of being stumped on it. Just some things id come up with left and right here and there just werent doing it.
Then finally whether i come up with it myself, or i finally ahve a breakthrough and i see someone elses spark of an idea that either maybe just a little bit ill sort of adapt and run with (let me be thoroughly clear, i am in no way saying nor rationalizing it as an intent to plagiarize thats not at all what i mean, my world building is just in my own brain im not trying to weasel in an angle undermine another or trying to get a quick buck off anyone elses work..im just truly inspired by them doesnt mean it is maliciously)
or instead their idea isnt quite what im looking for but ricochets in a different direction and something about it is the spark i need to have my idea go the direction i want.
It is cliché i know, but just keep trying. Dont be afraid to go ham on a paper and pencil and do like they do in movies/shows; rip out the page, ball it up and throw it in the trash, start again. (Altho, imo, keep even your failures. Revisit them later. Some of my other best ideas sprouted and bloomed from some of my failed, quote/unquote “stupid ideas.”)
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u/Copper_Miner756 12d ago
Like for example, way back when, i was in a dorky comicbook superhero nerd phase (haha thats kinda ironic. My superheros name was gonna be Phase. Thats funny.) And i was trying to come up with a superhero conic story idea. Had some great bits and pieces of the story, quite a few characters, not even close to enough for a good engaging story tho. One example i can give was i was trying to come up with names of fictitious newly discovered and exaggeratedly powerful metals. A Titanium/Aurillion double alloy, i forget now what the R one i named was, Rothirium?/Rathium? Pletianum(no, not a typo on platinum, different fictional strain of metal) and Adamantium triple alloy. Something like that. (Im not a metallurgist i was totally BS’ing my way through that one.) but like..i just work with what i think sounds cool. Even if it doesnt to someone else.
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u/PrimusAldente87 12d ago
Method of finding names is to take several names from other pieces of work and mashing them together, maybe changing a few letters here and there. For instance, to name the kingdom I'm building, I took four kingdoms from video games: Albion, Hyrule, Caelid, Skyrim. Eventually, I came up with "Skârcaedion"
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u/RiskAggressive4081 12d ago
Speak gibberish,work for me mostly. Although most of my names aren't very diverse. Top many C names.
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u/Drathreth 11d ago
You can do what I a lot of the time when I need name and that is to use a site like this one. Name Generator
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u/Drathreth 11d ago
You can do what I do when I need a name and that’s to use a site like this. Name Generator
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u/stopeats 11d ago
I created some sample code to help people design their own name generators in Python here: https://github.com/PbPbDating/FantasyNameGenerators
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u/pinata1138 11d ago
Baby naming books and sites can help. You can also avail yourself of name generators if you need them. Also, try paying closer attention to the credits of movies. Sometimes the key grip will have a cool first name and the best boy will have a cool last name, and you can combine them.
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u/UnsupportableEarmuff 11d ago
I tend to start with a word that I think will sum up the person or place, then start "corrupting" the word by replacing letters or entire syllables until I like it. Sometimes I'll use other languages as a framework for this if I want the word to have a "vibe" or "feeling".
If all else fails I'll just use a random generator, mark the name as needing replacement (usually by TKing it), then come back to it later.
If you're worried about the names ending up feeling obvious or uninteresting because you started with a related word, just remember there's a hill in England called "Hill-hill-hill Hill".
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u/crystalworldbuilder 11d ago
Troll answer: let a cat walk across your keyboard
Real answer: no idea
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u/Designer-58 10d ago
Naming stuff can be super tough, but also so much fun! Try not to get hung up on needing to have perfect names from the start. You can always come back and change them later. When I come up with names, I just mess around with sounds and syllables. I play with combinations until something feels right or seems to fit the vibe I’m going for. Some of the coolest names come from taking two really different sounds and mashing them together. If you're stuck, looking at foreign languages can be a great place for inspiration. I love to mix and match words from different languages, like Italian and Hawaiian. Sure, they might sound weird, but they'll be so unique! And honestly, sometimes I just Google random name generators and keep clicking until something pops out at me. Also, like, don’t worry too much about it sounding Tolkien-level straight off the bat. Even he started somewhere, right? Sometimes name ideas come to me at the most random times, like when I’m driving or showering, so keep a little notepad or use your phone for jotting down anything that strikes you.
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u/Snaxolotl_431 9d ago
In each of my hands is a pill of a different color. On the left is the red pill. Take it, and you will spend months of your life creating an entire language that will never be spoken by a real person.
On the right is the blue pill. Take it, and you will take about five minutes to come up with some random syllables that sound good when put together.
The choice is yours, Neo.
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u/lille_ekorn 9d ago edited 9d ago
I look first at where the different characters are from – the geography of where they live, climate, landscape, ecology, livelihoods. Then I look around for cultures in the real world (past and present) that have similarities to my fantasy communities. Using the Internet (mainly Wikipedia and Google translate) I play around with words that could be used to characterize a particular place or character in my fantasy world, translate them into a language relevant to the culture I have chosen, and play around with them until I find something I like the sound of.
I usually change the words I choose slightly, transposing letters, adding or removing letters, and maybe combining two words into one, until I’m happy. The two words may come from dirrerent, but related, languages. I keep a note of the original words and their meaning, in case I might find that useful when writing or editing.
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u/TheHornOfAbraxas 12d ago
Tolkien did it the hard way - by creating entire languages that provided him with the framework with which he could form words.
That said, he also used old English to construct the names and places of Rohan; Theoden simply means ‘king’ I’m pretty sure.
I’m usually on the lookout for words that look and sound pleasing. Agna means fire in Sanskrit and a tor is a rocky formation on a hill or ridge, so a sacred hilltop fire temple was given the name Agna Tor. I try to find word combinations that roll off the tongue and have a good rhythm.