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<blockquote data-quote="shadow" data-source="post: 587573" data-attributes="member: 2182">How do you create names for your characters and cities?&nbsp; Over the years, I've noticed a number of different styles of fantasy names (some better than others) ranging from the realistic sounding to the completely outlandish.&nbsp; However, it recently struck me that most fantasy names, no matter how exotic they appear, follow English phonotactic rules.&nbsp; That is to say that they all use sounds that appear in English, and combinations of consonants that appear in English words.&nbsp; Anyone who has studied a foriegn language or speaks a second language knows that other languages make use of sounds not found in English.&nbsp; (For example the trilled r found in the Spanish word &quot;perro&quot;, or the &quot;ch&quot; in the German word &quot;Bach&quot;)&nbsp; Also many language use consonant clusters not found in English. (For example, in Greek the initial &quot;p&quot; is pronounced in words like psyche, not silent like it is in English.)&nbsp;I suppose that most fantasy names follow English rules for ease of pronounciation.&nbsp; (However the Kingdoms of Kalamar deviates a little with names such as Svimohzia). Being a linguistics major and a language geek, I thought it would be interesting to add a little variety to my fantasy names.&nbsp; In my home brew world, I've been working out some rudimentary language rules for the various racial langauges.&nbsp; My goal is to make more consistant names for characters and places, and to add flavor and &quot;realism&quot; to my world.&nbsp; How do you handle fantasy names?&nbsp; Do you take the simple route for ease of pronounciation, or do you try to add some spice and make names a little more exotic?</blockquote>

[QUOTE="shadow, post: 587573, member: 2182"] How do you create names for your characters and cities? Over the years, I've noticed a number of different styles of fantasy names (some better than others) ranging from the realistic sounding to the completely outlandish. However, it recently struck me that most fantasy names, no matter how exotic they appear, follow English phonotactic rules. That is to say that they all use sounds that appear in English, and combinations of consonants that appear in English words. Anyone who has studied a foriegn language or speaks a second language knows that other languages make use of sounds not found in English. (For example the trilled r found in the Spanish word "perro", or the "ch" in the German word "Bach") Also many language use consonant clusters not found in English. (For example, in Greek the initial "p" is pronounced in words like psyche, not silent like it is in English.) I suppose that most fantasy names follow English rules for ease of pronounciation. (However the Kingdoms of Kalamar deviates a little with names such as Svimohzia). Being a linguistics major and a language geek, I thought it would be interesting to add a little variety to my fantasy names. In my home brew world, I've been working out some rudimentary language rules for the various racial langauges. My goal is to make more consistant names for characters and places, and to add flavor and "realism" to my world. How do you handle fantasy names? Do you take the simple route for ease of pronounciation, or do you try to add some spice and make names a little more exotic? [/QUOTE]

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