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How do you make up Fantasy names?
- Thread starter Tinker Gnome
- Start date
DumbPaladin
First Post
I second using foreign languages. Some work quite well for certain types of names. I also tend to utilize literature and/or build meaning into a name that other people won't get.
-- I decided I wanted my paladin's initials to be P.A.L. -- for no reason than I thought it was cute. I also wanted very mild punnery, so I immediately found a good last name of Lawson, for a lawful good guy. I knew he'd have a sunny disposition, so the A became Albright ... and I just came up with his first name on my own; it could have been anything.
-- When looking for a name for a lantern archon familiar, I sought out the words for "light" and "sun" in various languages. Heol is a Breton word for sun, and Aurinko is ... either Finnish or Norwegian, I forget now. Both would work, but such words can even work for human-type characters.
-- Most older languages' surnames have meanings. When playing a family combining Spanish and Irish heritages, I decided I wanted a Gaelic surname that would be descriptive in some way. Both Donnovan and Maguire essentially mean "brown", but with different connotations -- get it? -- so I decided on Maguire because I liked their tartan colors, and decided to use the Gaelic spelling of Mag Uidhir, combining them into one word for Maguidhir. I found a good Spanish male name in Anselmo, which means "divine helm" -- so I'll be seeking out a good magic helm someday -- and I liked that I can go by Ansel as a nickname. Ansel Maguire, basically.
-- I decided I wanted my paladin's initials to be P.A.L. -- for no reason than I thought it was cute. I also wanted very mild punnery, so I immediately found a good last name of Lawson, for a lawful good guy. I knew he'd have a sunny disposition, so the A became Albright ... and I just came up with his first name on my own; it could have been anything.
-- When looking for a name for a lantern archon familiar, I sought out the words for "light" and "sun" in various languages. Heol is a Breton word for sun, and Aurinko is ... either Finnish or Norwegian, I forget now. Both would work, but such words can even work for human-type characters.
-- Most older languages' surnames have meanings. When playing a family combining Spanish and Irish heritages, I decided I wanted a Gaelic surname that would be descriptive in some way. Both Donnovan and Maguire essentially mean "brown", but with different connotations -- get it? -- so I decided on Maguire because I liked their tartan colors, and decided to use the Gaelic spelling of Mag Uidhir, combining them into one word for Maguidhir. I found a good Spanish male name in Anselmo, which means "divine helm" -- so I'll be seeking out a good magic helm someday -- and I liked that I can go by Ansel as a nickname. Ansel Maguire, basically.
RainOfSteel
Explorer
I play word games, starting with a person or place name, and work on transforming it one letter or syllable at a time to something else.
I string random syllables together that sound appropriate.
I built a Fantasy world where everyone and everything had names made-up this way. The players couldn't remember any of it.
Since then, I have struggled with the idea of using more commonplace names from English. Although it feels wrong from a standpoint of verisimilitude, they're much easier to remember, even for me.
I string random syllables together that sound appropriate.
I built a Fantasy world where everyone and everything had names made-up this way. The players couldn't remember any of it.
Since then, I have struggled with the idea of using more commonplace names from English. Although it feels wrong from a standpoint of verisimilitude, they're much easier to remember, even for me.
Generally, I look to various cultures for names, the naming patterns and name order conventions when designing cultures for my home settings.
Some examples
Surname Name, Given Name
Surname, Generational Name, Given Name
Given Name, Surname, Clan Name
Given Name, Parent 1 (usually father) Surname, particle (or hyphen), Parent 2 Surname
Given Name, Foundling (a name given to orphans raised by the church)
Given Name (the child's birth order determines whose side of the family and the relative (e..g, grandfather/grandmother, great-grandfather/great grandmother, etc.) the child is named after), Mother's Surname, Father's Surname with surname being derived from one of the following: Patronymic (father's surname), Occupation , Locality, or Nickname
Some examples
Surname Name, Given Name
Surname, Generational Name, Given Name
Given Name, Surname, Clan Name
Given Name, Parent 1 (usually father) Surname, particle (or hyphen), Parent 2 Surname
Given Name, Foundling (a name given to orphans raised by the church)
Given Name (the child's birth order determines whose side of the family and the relative (e..g, grandfather/grandmother, great-grandfather/great grandmother, etc.) the child is named after), Mother's Surname, Father's Surname with surname being derived from one of the following: Patronymic (father's surname), Occupation , Locality, or Nickname
Last edited:
Graybeard
Explorer
I use baby name lists for different nationalities, names from tv and films, names from fantasy and sci-fi books, and sometimes take different parts of names I come across and combine them. There was a name generator years ago called EBON. I'm not sure if it is still available online.
For characters I just mess around with sounds in my head until I have something that works for the particular character. Dwarves tend to have harder sounding names than elves and so on. I then say the name out loud for a while and try to twist the name (for humours sake) and then decide if I can deal with the inevitable fallout.
As a DM it depends on many things but usually some sort of online name generator. Or if I am desperate I will just look around for the first written word I see (or in some case object) reverse the letters inthe word and presto-chango a name is born. This usually happens when an NPC ends up playing a much bigger role than anticiapted. I once DMed a campaign where an unnamed stable boy ended up becoming the big bad. While still a stable boy he was asked his name by one of the players (as it turned out the player who played the biggest role in causing his fall to the dark side - and no they weren't an evil group - the results of certain actions were unanticiapted). His name was Tabmoc (I had a DM screen in front of me).
As a DM it depends on many things but usually some sort of online name generator. Or if I am desperate I will just look around for the first written word I see (or in some case object) reverse the letters inthe word and presto-chango a name is born. This usually happens when an NPC ends up playing a much bigger role than anticiapted. I once DMed a campaign where an unnamed stable boy ended up becoming the big bad. While still a stable boy he was asked his name by one of the players (as it turned out the player who played the biggest role in causing his fall to the dark side - and no they weren't an evil group - the results of certain actions were unanticiapted). His name was Tabmoc (I had a DM screen in front of me).
Spinachcat
First Post
I like using spam! Did you ever notice some the crazy names that show up in your inbox from spammers? Every few months I go through my spam folder and pick out a dozen cool names or name combos.
7th Sanctum is a particularly good site for names!
I have the first edition of that book on my gaming shelf and its the most used book in my gaming arsenal. I absolutely love this one.
7th Sanctum is a particularly good site for names!
I have the first edition of that book on my gaming shelf and its the most used book in my gaming arsenal. I absolutely love this one.
Desdichado
Hero
I'm jealous! The first edition was actually much more robust. I got this second because it was easily and cheaply available, but I was disappointed in all the stuff it didn't have that I remember from the older copy.
Still... highly useful book. Use it all the time.
To give a bit more granularity, I've made several spreadhseet tabs with names pulled--mostly from the 1st edition of the book, which I got from the library (which was some trick all its own, since it's usually filed in non-circulating Reference sections, if you can find it at all) and each tab contains a blend of closely related language names. But I added some other stuff too. For example, for my Terrasan language, standard dialect, I have some Portuguese, some Catalan (taken from various spots on the Internet) and some Medieval Spanish all mixed in and alphabetized. For the northern dialect, I have a bunch of Italian, Occitan and a few French names. For the far eastern dialect, it's mostly Romanian.
Farmiliar enough to be easy for most people to catch, yet just different enough that it doesn't sound too "real worldy." I didn't want to just use plain Spanish and make that part of my setting sound like southern California; I wanted to make it sound like a fantasy analogue of the post-Medieval Crown of Aragon, or something like that. Much more apporpriate for a high seas swashbuckling than L.A.
Still... highly useful book. Use it all the time.
To give a bit more granularity, I've made several spreadhseet tabs with names pulled--mostly from the 1st edition of the book, which I got from the library (which was some trick all its own, since it's usually filed in non-circulating Reference sections, if you can find it at all) and each tab contains a blend of closely related language names. But I added some other stuff too. For example, for my Terrasan language, standard dialect, I have some Portuguese, some Catalan (taken from various spots on the Internet) and some Medieval Spanish all mixed in and alphabetized. For the northern dialect, I have a bunch of Italian, Occitan and a few French names. For the far eastern dialect, it's mostly Romanian.
Farmiliar enough to be easy for most people to catch, yet just different enough that it doesn't sound too "real worldy." I didn't want to just use plain Spanish and make that part of my setting sound like southern California; I wanted to make it sound like a fantasy analogue of the post-Medieval Crown of Aragon, or something like that. Much more apporpriate for a high seas swashbuckling than L.A.
