Fantasy Names

[Maerdwyn]

For those who use real world cultures as the basis for their D&D cultures, Kate Monk's Onomastikon is an absolutely fantastic resource. Names from many many many cultures and several historical periods of each.

 

[A2Z]

EBoN, for all your naming needs.

 

[Sir Edgar]

I read a lot of history books, especially about the Middle Ages, and adjust them to my own liking. Simply changing a letter here or there can help create a unique name.

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

A quick note that I've found works is that if you take a real-world name and use the long version of it, you get a decent name.

Eg: Bob doesn't work, but Robert does. Dave isn't a Paladin, but David can pass for one.

And for naming ordinary sounding places, simply take two easy elements and combine them. I ended up with the village of Fourfields, containing an Inn called the Green Hill using that idea.

But those websites look very interesting...

 

[Mean DM]

Speaking of fantasy names...What is the word (term) for names like Quickbeam, Silverleaf, etc. where you combine a two nouns and or an adjective? I forgot and have been racking my brain for days. I even called my mother to ask if she knew.

Regards,
Mean DM

 

[Kichwas]

Kalamar is one of the few published RPG settings with languages and thus namng conventions that do not follow English phonetics.

It's taken a lot of heat for this, with people claiming it has silly names for things.

I enjoy adding this level of complexity to my names, but I don't think most gamers go in for it.

Most of the time, even when the names are spelled in a Germanic or Latin like manner, they are pronounced and meant to be pronounced using English phonemes...

 

[shadow]

Kalamar is one of the few published RPG settings with languages and thus namng conventions that do not follow English phonetics.

How exactly are the names in Kalamar pronounced. I can tell by looking at the names that they don't always follow English phonetics, but I'm not sure how most of them are pronounced. Did Kenzer ever publish a pronounciation guide?

 

[Dragongirl]

Used to be a really nice site to get names by nation. Had it divided into historical and modern for some areas, also had a lot of old gods listed. Sadly it was taken down a while ago.

I found names from Ethiopia and Armenia really interesting.

 

[Maerdwyn]

Used to be a really nice site to get names by nation. Had it divided into historical and modern for some areas, also had a lot of old gods listed. Sadly it was taken down a while ago.

I found names from Ethiopia and Armenia really interesting.

Dragongirl, check out the link in my post above. The Onomastikon was reposted there - sounds like the site you are takling about (or at least has Ethiopian and Armenian names, and was taken down from it original site a while back)

 

[CCamfield]

For those who use real world cultures as the basis for their D&D cultures, Kate Monk's Onomastikon is an absolutely fantastic resource. Names from many many many cultures and several historical periods of each.

I use the Onomastikon too, even though I'm not using real world cultures as an exact basis for my campaign. Desert campaign... I try to look to ancient Near Eastern cultures for that "name feel".