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Off-beat Inspiration for Fantasy Names?
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<blockquote data-quote="Doug McCrae" data-source="post: 4863469" data-attributes="member: 21169"><p>Gary Gygax's Extraordinary Book of Names, by Malcolm Bowers, is an excellent naming resource, one of the best rpg books I own.</p><p></p><p>It's got a lot of good advice about the structure of historical names. Including a place name - Anne of Cleves, or an epithet - Ethelred the Unready, makes the name feel a lot more archaic.</p><p></p><p><a href="http://www.gaminggeeks.org/Resources/KateMonk/" target="_blank">Kate Monk's Onomastikon</a> is also excellent, contains historical names from a wide variety of cultures.</p><p></p><p><a href="http://www.geocities.com/poeminister/dictionary" target="_blank">Poeminster's Archaic and Poetical Dictionary</a> has some good stuff. Abada, thrang and tintamar, for example.</p><p></p><p>One suggestion I've seen is to take a normal English name and change one letter. This fantasy-s it, while retaining the shape and feel of a real name.</p><p></p><p>Examples:</p><p>Steve -> Sreve</p><p>Gordon -> Yordon</p><p>Jerry -> Jerdy</p><p></p><p>For place names, just use an atlas. English villages are a good choice for a generic fantasy world.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Doug McCrae, post: 4863469, member: 21169"] Gary Gygax's Extraordinary Book of Names, by Malcolm Bowers, is an excellent naming resource, one of the best rpg books I own. It's got a lot of good advice about the structure of historical names. Including a place name - Anne of Cleves, or an epithet - Ethelred the Unready, makes the name feel a lot more archaic. [URL="http://www.gaminggeeks.org/Resources/KateMonk/"]Kate Monk's Onomastikon[/URL] is also excellent, contains historical names from a wide variety of cultures. [URL="http://www.geocities.com/poeminister/dictionary"]Poeminster's Archaic and Poetical Dictionary[/URL] has some good stuff. Abada, thrang and tintamar, for example. One suggestion I've seen is to take a normal English name and change one letter. This fantasy-s it, while retaining the shape and feel of a real name. Examples: Steve -> Sreve Gordon -> Yordon Jerry -> Jerdy For place names, just use an atlas. English villages are a good choice for a generic fantasy world. [/QUOTE]
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