Naming Things
The idea struck me after reading a topic about naming problems. Or being stuck by giving names to things in your story. So, I decided to make a quick post about how I tackle the naming question, and maybe some of you will find it useful.
Those who can't be bothered, don't be afraid to use a site like
Fantasy Name Generator. It has multiple options you can choose from, and you can generate names for your heart's content; it's up to you. Those who want to be a bit more 'original,' do continue reading!
Characters:
- Creating new names
- This is my most used method. How do I do it? I simply create a word that comes to mind, is easy to say out in my head, and has maybe two to three syllables with no meaning. I try to keep it simple and short. When doing so, I most of the time start with the first letter and repeat it over and over until the name I come up with sounds fine.
- Example: I have a character named Kawu. I first knew I wanted him to have a name that starts with K. Then I started spitballing. Koon, Kima, Khashur, Kawan, etc. I was just putting letters together until I thought about Kawu. I liked it; it fit his personality in my head, and that was it.
- Transforming names
- This is my second most used method. When I can't be asked. I take a real name and change up letters, syllables, or vowels. I changed it in a way that it can be pronounced and seems legible.
- Example: Kyaranin. It is a name I transformed from Kyaradain, which is an artist's name I know of that is also already a transformation of the name Carradine. See? It just works.
- Using real names
- This is a method that I usually use when I have a name that I like the sound of and that I think can fit the story. I also tend to play little games that go above the head of most readers, at least until they are familiar with other languages... which includes using foreign words as names.
- Example: In one of my books, there was a demonic faction led by a tiger. I named him Harimau, which simply means "The tiger" in Malaysian. Case closed. I had many more like this, naming my demonic characters by looking up their animal names in other languages like Mongolian. Of course, if it just didn't fit, I transformed it using my second method, but still. It was fun doing so.
Those are my three main methods when it comes to naming characters. So far, never failed me.
Items, locations, etc:
Same. If you want something unique, just do it the same way. Maybe your city is at the cross of two rivers? Look up a word for river, bridge, valley, or something in another language and use it as its name. Give landmarks a name that describes them. For example, I had a place named "Swordscar Pass," which was a deep canyon that looked like a scar left behind on the earth. Simple.
What to avoid:
Overcomplicating. That is stupid. You may think it's cool, it's unique, it's smart. No. It is pretentious and stupid. You will only make it so your readers roll their eyes and move on. Giving something/someone a long, convoluted, or absurd name is a bad choice. Also, try not to mimic Chinese and Japanese naming, okay? Especially if you don't know what you are doing but copying from Google. You are just becoming your own enemy with that. It's like wearing a tattoo of "chicken soup."
Using unique or extra-long names is only valid if it reinforces some kind of joke or gets acknowledged in the story for how stupid it sounds. Most readers, and I mean 95%, want a name they can read on the first try and can remember easily. If not, they would skip it, forget it, or simply move on with the story, and now you managed to alienate a possible reader base. Not good...
Extra:
The same is true of using other languages in your work. Let me explain with an example: In my story, there was an ancient, long-gone empire with a different language. I used my own native one for that. It was presented as a little nudge, a joke, writing one or two sentences only, which made the MC and her group dizzy and annoyed for not figuring out what was going on and what it could mean.
It is fun to use things like this now and then, but don't go overboard. Constantly doing it is bad, mmmkay?
See ya all later!