LostSoul
Adventurer
Name Generators. Some place names but I'm sure character names will help.
Naming places
- Thread starter Nivek
- Start date
Another source I do is I shamelessly steal from RPG sources. Open up a campaign world book, and steal. Look at their town names, their city names, maybe even Gods or NPCs. If your players aren't very well versed in that world, then they won't notice.
I for instance was running a "New World" game, so I looked through ever Jungle adventure or "natives in the wilderness" adventure I could find and stole names of tribes, npcs, places, made a list, then just started tossing them down. The Mwangi Expanse became "Mt. Mwangi" and the Shaoti became an NPC name.
Also, I take any word and plug it into an online translator, then keep plugging away until I find an interpretation I like.
5) Native word. Chattanooga and Chicago are two examples of the settlers taking a word from the natives of the region and saying "That's good enough". Usually it's a misinterpretation (Chicago for instance is "stinking bog" or thereabouts).
6) Common endings depending on language. Places that end in -Ville (Nashville, Knoxville) are French. -burgh (Gettysburg, Pittsburgh) are German. -town (Jamestown) are English.
So just come up with a suffix and boom.
I for instance was running a "New World" game, so I looked through ever Jungle adventure or "natives in the wilderness" adventure I could find and stole names of tribes, npcs, places, made a list, then just started tossing them down. The Mwangi Expanse became "Mt. Mwangi" and the Shaoti became an NPC name.
Also, I take any word and plug it into an online translator, then keep plugging away until I find an interpretation I like.
A few others:
5) Native word. Chattanooga and Chicago are two examples of the settlers taking a word from the natives of the region and saying "That's good enough". Usually it's a misinterpretation (Chicago for instance is "stinking bog" or thereabouts).
6) Common endings depending on language. Places that end in -Ville (Nashville, Knoxville) are French. -burgh (Gettysburg, Pittsburgh) are German. -town (Jamestown) are English.
So just come up with a suffix and boom.
Mark
CreativeMountainGames.com
Wik
First Post
Easy way to do it - take a place name you're already familiar with, and either add or change a consonant or vowel.
For example, David can turn into Dawid. Or, taking it a bit further, you can get Dawit, or Doved. Add a vowel on the end of a male name, and you can make it female - Dovedda, for example. It may look silly in print, but phonetically, your players will probably not notice what you've done - and when it gets to be time to actually write the word down, "Dawid" can turn into "Dahwidh" or something. And if you start changing the emphasis and pronunciation of vowel sounds, "Peter" can turn into "Ketter", and "Jack" can turn into "Jaisque".
For place names, pick a place that might not be instantly recognizable, and do the same thing. Or, a personal favourite of mine (and, apparently, wotc) is to take random words and put them together. For example, my campaign world has a few place names along those lines - The Bronze Shore, Tasker's Island, Slave's Landing, the Black Hills, Devil's Kiss, the Iron Cliffs... and so on, and so forth.
Also, if you develop naming conventions beforehand, you get away pretty easily. For example, if every Tiefling city starts with the same noun ("Kael Turath", or "Kael Baerin", in my campaign), or every Goliath clan begins with one of three specific honorifics (you could have the "Tor Godfathers" tribe existing alongside the "Tor Rockfallers", and neither likes those nasty Dur Bloodwalkers or the Dur Sincallers), you're already halfway there.
In my campaign, there are definitely a few naming honorifics. Halflings all use names taken from the natural world, and they make it a point to translate that meaning into the language they're speaking (So "Sparrow" could be pronounced as "Spelvuri" in Elven, "Kunnik" in Orcish, and "Iasta" in halfling Wavespeak - her name will change depending on the language that addresses her). Tieflings use random words to define themselves (as per the PHB) if they are low-born, or their ancient family names if they are highborn. Humans in the shattered isles either adopt simple names (I secretly take the names of Hockey Players, and change their pronunciation), or very long and complex names (usually a good way to tell if someone is descended from slave stock).
Oh, and it's a great idea to just take names from the real world. Imagine if, at the start of your game, you said "okay, every human has an English style name". Then, holy crap - you would never have to invent a name again. You could just instead name your NPC "Michael", "Frank", or "Adam". And, if you're really stuck, you can just go with the standby, "John" - who cares if there are ten NPCs named John already?
For example, David can turn into Dawid. Or, taking it a bit further, you can get Dawit, or Doved. Add a vowel on the end of a male name, and you can make it female - Dovedda, for example. It may look silly in print, but phonetically, your players will probably not notice what you've done - and when it gets to be time to actually write the word down, "Dawid" can turn into "Dahwidh" or something. And if you start changing the emphasis and pronunciation of vowel sounds, "Peter" can turn into "Ketter", and "Jack" can turn into "Jaisque".
For place names, pick a place that might not be instantly recognizable, and do the same thing. Or, a personal favourite of mine (and, apparently, wotc) is to take random words and put them together. For example, my campaign world has a few place names along those lines - The Bronze Shore, Tasker's Island, Slave's Landing, the Black Hills, Devil's Kiss, the Iron Cliffs... and so on, and so forth.
Also, if you develop naming conventions beforehand, you get away pretty easily. For example, if every Tiefling city starts with the same noun ("Kael Turath", or "Kael Baerin", in my campaign), or every Goliath clan begins with one of three specific honorifics (you could have the "Tor Godfathers" tribe existing alongside the "Tor Rockfallers", and neither likes those nasty Dur Bloodwalkers or the Dur Sincallers), you're already halfway there.
In my campaign, there are definitely a few naming honorifics. Halflings all use names taken from the natural world, and they make it a point to translate that meaning into the language they're speaking (So "Sparrow" could be pronounced as "Spelvuri" in Elven, "Kunnik" in Orcish, and "Iasta" in halfling Wavespeak - her name will change depending on the language that addresses her). Tieflings use random words to define themselves (as per the PHB) if they are low-born, or their ancient family names if they are highborn. Humans in the shattered isles either adopt simple names (I secretly take the names of Hockey Players, and change their pronunciation), or very long and complex names (usually a good way to tell if someone is descended from slave stock).
Oh, and it's a great idea to just take names from the real world. Imagine if, at the start of your game, you said "okay, every human has an English style name". Then, holy crap - you would never have to invent a name again. You could just instead name your NPC "Michael", "Frank", or "Adam". And, if you're really stuck, you can just go with the standby, "John" - who cares if there are ten NPCs named John already?
Celebrim
Legend
Names are hard.
I tend to use a program that generates random words based on linguistic patterns you feed it. Then I come up with a generic english place name like 'Forestville' (or 'Forest Village') or 'New Brockton' ('New Brook Town'). Then I find words in my random collection that feel like they may suit, and transcribe into my random language something like 'Gallerbrom' or 'New Mandoheth'. Voila, instant place name which comes with built in textual heritage, "In Old Tumesian, 'Gallerbrom' simply means 'forest village'."
I tend to use a program that generates random words based on linguistic patterns you feed it. Then I come up with a generic english place name like 'Forestville' (or 'Forest Village') or 'New Brockton' ('New Brook Town'). Then I find words in my random collection that feel like they may suit, and transcribe into my random language something like 'Gallerbrom' or 'New Mandoheth'. Voila, instant place name which comes with built in textual heritage, "In Old Tumesian, 'Gallerbrom' simply means 'forest village'."
Nod, this is my method too. I often just do it in English, or slightly archaic or mispronounced English. I grew up in New England, and lived in England, so I picked up how names work from there.
But from New England, I need to add two additional naming conventions:
4. Settlers naming things after unrelated places in their homelands.
5. Conquerers keeping (or mispronouncing) native names.
I lived in a town with roads like Trinity Pass (where three roads meet), Upper Shad and Lower Shad Road, High Ridge Road, Long Ridge Road, etc. I think names like that work fine, assuming "English" is the language of your area.
I'm sure you could also do this but translate into other languages to make it less clear. For example, High Ridge into:
- Hoge Rand (Dutch)
- Haut Ridge (French)
- Alto Ridge (Spanish)
- Hoher Hugel (German)
One of the best examples of mispronunciation by conquerors that I've seen is the body of salt water between the Bronx (a peninsula) and Manhattan (the island at the center of New York City). The Dutch called it Spuyten Duyvil. The British conquered New Amsterdam, and a century later during the American Revolution, the British military map showed it as "Spiking Devil Creek". Apparently, "Spuyten Duvyil" means Devil's Whirlpool, but the English just turned the sound of the Dutch words into whatever sounded closest in English.
There are many examples like that with misunderstood French in England . . .
Last edited:
TGryph
Explorer
For places, the Thesaurus is your friend. Find a descriptive word about the place, find another word to use instead of it, and presto!
I also use real-life languages for different areas of my game worlds...these people here speak a language that sounds like German, these speak a Spanish sounding language, etc. I then find English to X dictionaries (used bookstores are great for this), and make up a short descriptive name for the place. I then translate using the dictionary and viola! the Ghostwoods become Geistvald and the Painted Hills become The Pintacolinas.
And unless your characters are bi-lingual, you can fudge and bit and massage the names into something cooler sounding, if you like. Plus, it adds a sense of consistancy to your names.
TGryph
I also use real-life languages for different areas of my game worlds...these people here speak a language that sounds like German, these speak a Spanish sounding language, etc. I then find English to X dictionaries (used bookstores are great for this), and make up a short descriptive name for the place. I then translate using the dictionary and viola! the Ghostwoods become Geistvald and the Painted Hills become The Pintacolinas.
And unless your characters are bi-lingual, you can fudge and bit and massage the names into something cooler sounding, if you like. Plus, it adds a sense of consistancy to your names.
TGryph
AFGNCAAP
First Post
One option that I've used is using names of (now) defunct/ghost towns or ancient towns/settlements. I use Wikipedia to generally look up articles, and go from there. There's some pretty interesting town names provided, and it may help you kick-start name ideas for areas of your own.
Having a map to refer to helps as well. I've been using the Map of Mystery by Christopher West that was published in Dungeon magazine (though the published version had settlements and roads). If I know what the area's like, that can help with naming it (general orientation, terrain, etc.). It helps me determine why it's named that.
In some cases, I'll use names in "languages of the realm," but for the most part, I stick with what the name means in English (or "Common," if you will): Greenbough, Blackhill, Yardmarch, etc.
Having a map to refer to helps as well. I've been using the Map of Mystery by Christopher West that was published in Dungeon magazine (though the published version had settlements and roads). If I know what the area's like, that can help with naming it (general orientation, terrain, etc.). It helps me determine why it's named that.
In some cases, I'll use names in "languages of the realm," but for the most part, I stick with what the name means in English (or "Common," if you will): Greenbough, Blackhill, Yardmarch, etc.
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