How do you pick or choose the names of your characters and cities in your book

[klaizee]

Sometimes I get confused on what to name my cities, characters and sometimes even the MC. How do I get around with it

 

[VertisGuguChalimoth]

Possible Methods:

You could give your character/Town a theme/meaning then name theme after such theme/meaning, either in a different language like Latin.
Think of a cool sounding name or a name that would fit that region/culture the character was born/raised in.
Combine two names you like into one.
Reuse a historical/famous name but change/add a letter or two.

 

[klaizee]

Possible Methods:

You could give your character/Town a theme/meaning then name theme after such theme/meaning, either in a different language like Latin.
Think of a cool sounding name or a name that would fit that region/culture the character was born/raised in.
Combine two names you like into one.
Reuse a historical/famous name but change/add a letter or two.

example please

 

[StoneInky]

example please

The Aurum family works in witchcraft and alchemy, so their last name comes from Latin for 'gold'.
Haejin's name is a Korean name that just fit, lmao.
Leonard Astersin's last name came from combining 'Aster' and 'sin'.
Mekia's name came from the famous witch Medea. I just tweaked a couple letters.

 

[Ai-chan]

Ai-chan introduces you to... Syllable-based Name Generator !

Using this program, you can create any combination of syllables from Japanese hiragana up to 5 syllables. Ai-chan can make it up to 10 if Ai-chan wants to, but who wants to use such a long name? Please take note that the names created from SNG have absolutely no meaning whatsoever. It's only for you to create a completely random and unique name with the odds of getting the exact same name being 1 in 205,962,976 for 5-syllable names. After all, Aira, Anya, Jackson, and Maria are getting old. Experiment with the randomly generated name to see which one sounds good to you. There's a 'back' button in case you're not satisfied with the generated name.

The license is Public Domain, which means you can use it however way you want in whichever capacity without crediting Ai-chan or mentioning the name of the program. Though it would be nice if you thank Ai-chan for it. You only need to press download but instead of pressing 'save file', choose 'open with browser' if you don't want to save it.

For getting something meaningful it's completely useless, though. Sure Ai-chan can update it, but Ai-chan doesn't feel the need to do so.

 

[Golden_Hyde]

character names? Go online or use whatever that's exist out there. But for place, sometimes I just asked ChatGPT

 

[klaizee]

The Aurum family works in witchcraft and alchemy, so their last name comes from Latin for 'gold'.
Haejin's name is a Korean name that just fit, lmao.
Leonard Astersin's last name came from combining 'Aster' and 'sin'.
Mekia's name came from the famous witch Medea. I just tweaked a couple letters.

Thanks for the clarification

 

[Tyranomaster]

Long ass post incoming.

So, first I'll throw this out there that most names have meaning. Frequently, people feel like names are arbitrary in real life, which leads some authors to have difficulty picking a name (since the possible choice space is practically infinite). Most names are religious or family names that have been in the family for a long time. Whether it's Muhammad, John, or Jesus in Western cultures as first names, with things like Smith as a last name, they have meaning in culture, even if their parent didn't consciously pick it, though they often did. Japanese names are usually written in a particular way to symbolize meanings as well.

So, what does this mean for names in your story? It can go many ways. For cities, I have three types examples from my own story that I've used as conventions.

The elves in my world have named settlements as descriptors of the place that they are in their own tongue, with one name translating to "River's End"

The dwarves name mountains, then everyone who is born near that mountain takes that mountain name as a surname. Their mountain names are relatively arbitrary, but fit their language themes I've laid out in the story.

The demon faction with the MC, who aren't bad guys, have purposefully chosen to name their settlement/country/island in ways that are meant to convey that they are peaceful.

Three different options, all laid out because of cultural norms or conscious choice. This did require that I consider a culture for each race, along with linguistic norms for them, which can sound daunting, but it wasn't actually too bad. For example, the demon language uses a lot of hard consonants and growling noises, frequently end words in an a sound, and takes some inspiration from Latin in addition to that. The dwarves have more slurred sounds like Sh, and are generally more terse. The elves are secretive, old, and in tune with nature.

Naming cities has 2 main choices to consider as an author, and it depends on the type of story you are telling. Option 1: If you want the story's world to feel real, then you should consider coming up with a culture and naming conventions for it. This is the way Tolkien wrote. Option 2: If the story is more ephemeral, and meant to be a pathway along which the reader follows along, then location names should also simply convey what will happen there subtly. If you want the MC to meet the main villain in a city for the first time, take inspiration for the name from existing bad cities. Make it sound similar to something like Sodom or Gomorrah, as an example.

Character names follow similarly. Culture can tell you how to name things, then you just make them sound similar. Elves in my story have Matriarchs, and all the elves who are in that family have the Matriarch's name as their last name. When one ascends to become a matriarch, they give up their own name, and take on the family name as their name. Dwarven names I take inspiration from volcano names from earth for their given names. Demon names are short and made of mishmashes of common syllables in their tongue. They are less independent thinkers, so their names are meant to convey similarity between them (and, in fact, they reproduce by summoning, which is akin to budding, so...).

Similar to cities though, character names should either fit the world itself, or fit the story to the reader. Be wary of using too many arbitrary names. I don't think people often think it is a problem, but personally, I always find it off-putting when names are *super unique* without reason, or seem completely arbitrary, especially if they're going on some important journey. For example, mixing name origins in a single party when the characters are from the same place. Do NOT give one character a German origin name, and another a Russian origin name in a fantasy setting when the characters are from the same town, UNLESS you plan on making it a plot point that one family immigrated at some point.

Names are about cohesion and conveyance. Doing both is fantastic, but in most cases, you need only do one. Doing neither is a red flag. Cohesion of the cultures and languages within the narrative world, or conveyance of meaning to the reader.

 

[Fairemont]

I benefit from writing an east Asian fantasy story set in "China" and Chinese names are "easy".

Getting to the point where I understood how they come up with names took a bit of research, but after I got that sorted out I just whip open Pleco (Chinese dictionary app) and make my names the traditional way.

Sometimes I look them up to see if someone has them, because if they do, I know I did well.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

It varies. Sometimes the character name kind of shapes the story, sometimes it comes with the story idea, sometimes I agonize over the name for a day or two before settling on something.
For characters...
David West I had right off the bat. Some of the other characters kind of named themselves, and some, to be honest, were designed to drive AI readers crazy (oddly enough, it does not stumble on ones I kind of expected it to, like Thellissandra, Rhyvven or Mikkledarmius, but it does get what I thought were EASY ones like Pyrroth or Elgarin wrong - and it was pretty creative with Parkidden ... though that one ... phonetically it would be "par-kith-ahn" and I like the way Parkidden looks better; I do have some fun with it when one character keeps mispronouncing it later though).
Kelly Morgan Pierce as well (though that one at least took a LITTLE effort as I needed a name that would work for a man or a woman).
Dane Coleman took some time.
Came up with some of the other ones so long ago I don't remember - believe Nathan Daniels had two or three other names before I settled on that one, but he was created back in the 90s.

For places... well, you may notice some of my cities are never named; when they are, it's either a real place (like Boston, Chicago, New York, New Orleans ... and as close to accurate as, say, the New York City of the Marvel Universe) or it is just something I liked the sound of and went with (Sulbrod - which should have an umlaut over the o but I'm too lazy to get the ASCII up - or Tol Andyv, or Pyrroth itself).

 

[DJ_Rhaposdy]

It depends on how much I plan my stories. For my current one, I go with a general German theme, which I look up unless I have a clear idea for the name, like my protagonist Anno. For locations, I tend to choose a theme. For the world, I based it on the takes of Reynard the Fox, and for my latest kingdom, I based names off the 1976 album Starcastle by the band of the same name.

 

[Zodiac36Gold]

Well, heh, my process for creating names for places and people goes a little like this:

1) Are they important?

If no, then just use some random fucking name I come up with or a combination of letters that seems fitting for a name in a fantasy setting.

2) If the answer to the above was yes, then: What is their purpose for the story?

I consider the character's archetype in my setting or a specific characteristic that identifies them. Like 'Two people in one body' or 'Insane' or 'Storyteller' and so and so forth, and then I start translating it in random languages I like the sound of and from that translation I create a fitting translitteration that would still feel natural for the story.

It is a fucking lengthy process, but it does add some interesting depth to the tale.

 

[Macha]

Carefully.

 

[GlassRose]

Pluck something that sounds good and vibes right out of the ether, mash arbitrary syllables together until something sounds and vibes right, or on occasion I'm taking inspiration from mythology or something for that character so I take the name and apply mutations to get something similar but different, or otherwise make a name that relates.

For example, I have a character who's Ares but a trans woman, who's name is Areiglatoria, with components that resemble the epithet of Aphrodite Areia, or, 'the Warlike', and gladiator.

Though honestly that name was more of a happy accident made via the 'mash syllables' strategy, I'm also working on a goddess of magic based on Hecate, Morrigan, the Maiden Mother Crone, and maybe Diana, her name is undecided but I'm thinking something like Moira Hehket? Lucky coincidence, I just checked and apparently the name Moira has connections to the concepts of Fate and Destiny, which Morrigan does as well, and both could fit into the category of Time, which fits tidily with the Maiden Mother Crone and general triplicate goddess stuff, representing different Times in one's life. Bit lucky with the draw there again.

The advantage with choosing a name before I start writing is that I can also use the name to inspire the character a bit, rather than trying to find a perfect name to match my character I can mold my character to match the name. Given the way Moira's name fit together, I'm definitely going to be placing a higher emphasis of Time magic and Fate, and since that's the case I should find a way to highlight the triplicate goddess part in a way that's interesting and fun and unique.

 

[Garolymar]

I like when each race has a naming convention. My lizard race in my story derives their names from nicknames people give certain breeds in their countries, my one friend, from the Philippines she suggested Tuko for these house lizards that terrify her so I really liked that whole theme.

For my imperial race they're named after precious metals and jewels. Men tend to have more metal based names while the women more jewel based names though it's not a strict rule, EX: Ferrasius Aurelio (Iron Gold) or Marcurio Saphirius (Mercury Sapphire)

The uh conventions get a little weaker for some than others, I still don't have one for my bug race called the Yth and I don't want to reuse what I did for the lizards, but I think coming up with conventions makes it a lot easier at the end to come up with names for even super minor characters that fit within the world.

Oh I forgot about places, I kinda did a similar thing but not always, for the lizards they name their cities where their greatest warriors fell, their country being called Great Gila's Fall since he was the strongest. But others are named after their god or what their places kinda look or feel like.

 

[RepresentingCaution]

Stop writing and take a shower or a walk

 

[Gallahart]

Divide characters and cities with different cultures. Think of prefix or suffix that could be placed in said cultures. Like the suffix -el -ur and -us for culture 1 or Val- Mir- and Sol- for culture 2. Maybe some of them won’t even use suffix and prefixes, you can just see common names and do something that sounds similar to them.

Use existing cultures to plan for the names. Or just name the characters like ShadowReaver or Coldfire. Idk. Go crazy.

 

[Garolymar]

Stop writing and take a shower or a walk

lol this is how I figure out chapters. Way easier to visualize something when your brain has hot water running on it.

 

[Danja]

My MC is from the Middle East. I needed something that was relatively easy for the typical reader to pronounce, so I went with Aaliyah (most people know the name from the late singer Aaliyah).

You first have to define your characters. Where did they grow up? What were their families like? ("John Smith" says something completely different from "Luis Rodriguez" or "Peter Chang").

 

[CarburetorThompson]

Some names have meaning and thought put into them. My current mc has the name Aubrey, which is derived from the German name Albericht, Oberon in English, and is depicted as the king of fairies in folklore.

Most names however I either use a random generator, or if I’ll just look at an irl object, and then add or remove letters until sounds like name. Had a character with sur name Lampert, named as such because I was looking at my desk lamp when thinking of ideas.