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

[Eternalknight]

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]

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]

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

 

[bob_the_bard]

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]

I do.

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

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

 

[Tonguez]

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

 

[Benben]

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]

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]

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

 

[NiTessine]

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.