How do you make up Fantasy names?

[Tinker Gnome]

When making up names for a Fantasy setting, how do you make up new names? I admit I mostly stare at my keyboard and string together letters until they make a convincing name. I will also use real world names if I can not come up with something that does not sound like a good name. I try and avoid making it look like I just smashed my head against my keyboard to make a name like "Laretkyioperjl".

I love sample names in setting sourcebooks because they let me see what names in a given region are like, even if I do not use those exact names I may take different syllables from different names and combine them together to make a new name.

 

[Dross]

I've used:

• Spell a name differently, Mikal to Michael sometimes also deliberately mispronouncing it and then spelling it phonetically (Mhykil). Works better with foreign names as they are not as recognizable
• Join two names together: Leanne + Anna = Leanna
• Adding "ara", "er", "are" or "al" to the end of names: Lynara, Jonal. I'm sure that there are others.
• Check names in phone books, bands, films/TV and pick something uncommon to unusual.
• Use names from books, film, TV etc. just not the main characters (names of people only mentioned 1 or 2 times work best).
• Find a dictionary related to a science field, geology, biology and go through looking for something interesting. You can even base your choices on race or environment: Geology = dwarf +/- gnomes, goliath. Flora for elves etc.
• Atlases, maps, etc. for map sheet names, town/city names, lakes/rivers/etc.
• If you have different groups, you can always recycle names.

Combine any points as well if needed.

Keep a page/note/electronic document and if something comes to you write it down. Then you can always come back to it.

 

[Kaodi]

When all else fails, anagram. Really. It worked for Voldemort.

 

[AeroDm]

I made a name generator years ago in a linguistics class and I've polished it off a few times to revamp it. Someday I plan to start over from scratch because it grew too complex to easily manipulate over time. The outputs have usually at a minimum a good starting place for my fantasy names and it is tweakable to customize it setting by setting or race by race.

 

[The Monster]

Pick a foreign language and find a baby-name list online for it (for place names, find an atlas/map of a foreign/obscure area). If you can't pronounce it readily, try either practicing before you spring it on the players, or swap some letters around until it rolls off your tongue. If you pick several names for a location or group of people, you can also work in some elements of real-world culture to enhance the flavor.

 

[Grydan]

The 4E Player's Handbook has a page consisting of three columns of playtester names in fine print.

I have, on occasion, browsed through the list until I come across a name that I can borrow that sounds appropriate.

Also, stealing names from books and games works. Sometimes I do it unintentionally. I once thought I had come up with a wonderful and original fantasy name for a character... only to realize partway through a session that I'd actually just stolen the name of a character from Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.

One person I play with likes to run thematically appropriate words ("cleric, healer, heal" etc.) through Google Translate into Greek, German, or Finnish, etc. to generate names. The problem is that the results are often multi-syllable monstrosities that the other players at the table mangle (not always untintentionally). His characters always wind up with nicknames, just so we can remember something pronounceable.

In a discussion around the table about ways to pick names that the other people at the table wouldn't poke fun at, I announced that I would name my next character after the DM. If they want to risk the DM's ire by making fun of his name, they're welcome to.

 

[GreyLord]

When you can't think of another way...roll a D20.

Take a D20, a D6, and a D4. Roll all three.

If the D4 shows a 1 add the D6 to the D20. If it shows something else, don't add anything.

Resulting #= Letter of the Alphabet. For example....1=A, 2=B, 3=C, and so forth.

Every other letter, if you end up with something unpronouncable due to the roll either roll 1d6 for a vowel (1=A, 2=E, 3=I, 4=O, 5=U, 6=Y) or it equals (1=C, 2=H, 3=L, 4=N, 5=R, 6=T), players choice, but Vowel is the precedence.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I don't have a system- I use many, including several of the ones above.

The best ones, though, almost always seem to come from within the character concept.

 

[Hand of Evil]

I use generator at Seventh Sanctum

 

[steeldragons]

Well, after decades of world-building and tweaking I guess I can say coming up with names is easy...now.

Generally speaking I went region to region, figuring out what "sound" I wanted for a given people/language branch. How many syllables is common. How are surnames developed (does everyone get their own or do families keep an honored name for generations?) Throw in a given convention or two and just stick to those guidelines.

Also, where possible (not necessarily everywhere/every language, but here and there) work in some kind of cultural reason for why things get named the way they do.

For example, the [human] kingdom of Mostrial was envisioned as a celtic-flavored warrior-based society for whom one's personal (and familial) "honor" is very important.

So naturally, names for those people have celtic/gaelic sounds (or my idea of them). Lots of "y"s, "eo"s, "ae"s and "-wyn"s, "L"s, "n"s and "th"s: Calidwyn, Kelethon, Eoril, Eothil, etc...

Surrnames are denoted, almost exclusively, by the prefix "Eth" (meaning "son of" or "from (native son) of"), i.e. Talador Eth Eoril. Being very "honor" oriented, a Mostralian's surname is a very serious thing to them. Noone wants to soil the reputation (honor) of their family name. Doing so generally means they are "cut off" and must make their own name.

This works well for the world consistency as Mostrial is basically a former elvin realm that became a joint elf-human realm (when humans came to the world) and eventually was sort of overrun with humans (so the elves left), so the fact that a Mostalian name might sound similar to an elf name makes sense.

For elves, I went fairly "generic fantasy elf names." Lots of vowels, almost always soft (I created a few accent marks to denote long or hard vowel sounds). Lilting or cascading consonants. Lots of "L"s and "th"s. Endings with "-in (or yn)", "-an", "-ir" and "-is" are all common endings. 3 or 4 syllables is most common. Some elf character names: Erilyn (AIR-ih-lin), Erevan (AIR-eh-van), Siniiris (sin-EER-is), Anthaleral (an-thahl-er-ahl), Drythantalir (dry-THAN-tahl-eer).

This also led to developing bits and pieces of an actual elf language (including some grammar) for common words/place names so that names can have some meaning in human Common [i.e. English]. So the elf realm of Evandrial (evand=silver, rial=song) might be referred to as "Silversong" in a human bard's tale. "D'" is the elvin prefix for a river, so practically all rivers on the continent begin with that: D'Alevia (River of Life), D'Evand (River of Silver/the Silver River), D'Drathas (the Healing River), etc.

This is also useful for those who like what I call the "Nature Name" game for elves and others to have a workable translation that supports the world's verisimilitude.

IOW, a character named Soalryvai ("Soh-ahl-RIV-ay", literally translates "One who is the Leaf of the Sun") may wish to have his companions in human lands simply call him "Sunleaf" or some such, since the human tongue/accent speaking the elvin language is generally an unpleasant, grating sound for elves.

Linguistically, across the world then, it becomes common that the elf in human lands would formally become known as both, humans believing his name to be "Soalryvai Sunleaf"...which is not technically true/would not be the case among elves.

I did a similar list of "important/common words" for dwarves, more for clan/surnames than anything else. Again, the sounds of names and words that sounded to me like the gruff harsh attitude I imagine many/most dwarves having. Lots of short (1 or 2 syllable) words. Hard sounding consonants. Lots of "-or"s, "-ar"s and "-on"s. The "oo" sound is common. "X"s and "D"s and "K"s. Sample names: Duor (DOO-or), Feoron (FEE-ohr-ahn), Kiar (KEE-ar).

Ok, well this got...um...way long. Point is, I come up with a few conventions or sounds I like for a given region/nation/people that culturally/historically make sense with what's going on in the world around-and before-them) and then just follow that.

Doesn't have to be an entire language. But words (including names) flow from various places and (if there are interactions between the realms) get borrowed or shaped by other languages. So take that into account.

Have fun and happy naming.
--Steel Dragons