Do you base your fantasy names on real-world language?

Eternalknight · Mar 8, 2002

I'd be interested to know how many people besides myself do this. I use Latin for elves, norse for Dwarves, and anglo-saxon for my humans, but am stuck for something for gnomes, orcs and halflings. Any suggestions?

LostSoul · Mar 8, 2002

I do. I use different languages for different cultures. It helps the players get an instant understanding of the culture they are dealing with.

If I was to redesign my world, I'd slightly change everything so it wasn't so "earthy".

DMaple · Mar 8, 2002

I don't mind as long as I can pronounce them without having to spend half an hour thinking about it.

bob_the_bard · Mar 8, 2002

I'd suggest Finnish. That's the language Tolkein based elvish upon, and it sounds great. Most words are pronounced phonetically, so you shouldn't have any problem.

Common finnish names (male): Mikko, Toumas, Markku, Veikko, Sami, Valdas, Juha, Jukka, Esko

female: Marikka, Sirkka, Aino, Kirsi, Riikka, Souma

http://www.sci.fi/~kajun/finns/

Maerdwyn · Mar 8, 2002

I do.

A great source for historical names from different cultures is at:

http://www.flick.com/onomastikon/

Tonguez · Mar 8, 2002

Gnome - Finnish, Gaelic
Orc - Mongol/Kazakh - Nubulat, Chingiz, Erlik
Halfling - asian - Chien, Mei, Emi, Hiroki

Benben · Mar 8, 2002

Oh boy do I do this.

Elves: Greek but sometimes fully translated to English.
Dwarves: Slavic/Finnish
Humans: European, Arabic
Halflings: Chinese (My halflings are heavily modified).
Gnomes: Hebrew, Yiddish
Kobolds: Arabic, Egyptian
Orcs: Mongol
Yuan-ti: Hindi

Agamon · Mar 8, 2002

Yep, me too, though I don't use all the standard races.

Krayish (Human): English
Danarian (Human): French
Hin (Halfling): Japanese
Centaur: Finnish
Aqulian (Human): Spanish
Andru (Human): African
Rahudi (Human): Arabic

Cultures are somewhat similar, too, though there are many differences, as well.

Orcs, ogres, giants, and goblins have more fantastic-type names.

DWARF · Mar 8, 2002

Nope, the Kalamar campaign book has well defined naming elements based on their languages!

NiTessine · Mar 8, 2002

I generally leave the real-world languages alone, except when I want to create an in-joke.

I have a knack for pulling fantasy names from my sleeve (or so my gaming group says), generally based on the names of Middle-Earth, Forgotten Realms, and the Warhammer World.
Examples:
Elves: Illanthiel, Aeduian, Thelantias
Dwarves: Grimnar, Drong, Thrummir
Gnomes: Schleppeck, Zoftich, Dalzau
Halflings: Olpar, Sando, Thom

For humans, the names depend entirely on the culture. In my current, Warhammer-based campaign, the names are either German (for people of the Empire) or French (for Bretonnians). In Forgotten Realms, I generally just string some syllables together into a pronounceable whole.