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- Rank: Eccentric Mentor
- Total Posts: 1379
Hey KeePers!
Curious, how do you come up with brilliant names for your fantasy kingdoms? Like, names for good kingdoms and names for evil ones?
Imma tag the ppl I know write fantasy, but anyone else feel free to answer!
@e-k-seaver @gracie-j @godlyfantasy12 @issawriter7 @jenwriter17 @relia @nova21 @kathleenramm @daisy-torres @mkfairygirl@joy-caroline
Google. How else? 😀But in all seriousness, I am sooo bad at naming things. Usually I’ll just look up Medieval sounding names and play around with those. It’s super annoying, but if a name doesn’t “feel” right when I say it, I won’t use it.
Be still and know that I am God. Psalm 46:10
@joy-caroline
Heeeyyy! Wait, are you writing a fantasy? Let’s go Joy! ;P
Well, let’s see… When I come up with place names, I like to use fantasy name generators. I don’t always use exactly what they generate, but it gives me a jumping off point to create and combine different styles according to each of the worlds’ traditions. Sometimes names just come to me, but other times I have to search for inspiration.
Hope this helps!
what we do in life echoes in eternity
-gladiator, 2000Uhm.
Tanaben, Anniotter, Rowhux, Berisan, Lunitia, I have no rhyme nor reason to my names.
The pen is mightier than the sword, but in a duel, I'm taking the sword.
ekseaver.wordpress.com@joy-caroline
I literally just take real place names and change a couple of vowelsI can't think of anything witty at the moment.
@joy-caroline
I look at words that kinda remind me or have to do with the town and mix them, change them, look at them in other languages and switch words around (and adding ‘ makes it sound more fantasy-ish 😂)
for instance, one of my kingdoms’ main things is it’s giant garden (kinda a representation of Eden in a way) so I called it A’Grend which is garden but with the letters mixed up
#IfMarcelDiesIRiot
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#ProtectSeb@joy-caroline
Hey there!
I usually just make up a random word on the spot, but it helps to know what letter combinations you like to use. For example, I like fj, ae, ai, ay, ey, ei, yn, & yl, and I use them frequently in country names.
Lately, I’ve also been having “easter egg” names, names that have a meaning that only some people will notice. For instance, a country centered around, say, fire might be called Erifland (Erif is fire backward). Also, I’d recommend popping a few words that describe your country into Google Translate and see if any of the translations would make a good country name. To reuse the fire country example, “fire” in Latin is “ignis”, which could totally work as a country name.
Last but not least, there’s always the quick way of a name generator. I use this one occasionally: https://thestoryshack.com/tools/
That’s pretty much it!
~In Christ Alone My Hope Is Found~
- Rank: Eccentric Mentor
- Total Posts: 1379
Thanks! Maybe old Latin words could work as well.
Never imagined I’d be saying this… but yes, I am. I got the idea for it a couple days ago and knew I just had to write it. It’s a Biblical fiction meets fantasy, actually!
Thanks! I’ll see if I can play around with some generators.
Maybe next time I travel to an unknown land in a dream, I’ll take note of the name. XD Those are really cool names!
Hmm, that could work for me!
Ooh, that sounds like a great method! I’ll have to try it, maybe using a word scrambling tool. A’Grend is SUCH a cool name, and I love how it’s inspired by Eden!
- Rank: Eccentric Mentor
- Total Posts: 1379
Thanks so much! That’s all super helpful. I think I should make a list of the things that define my kingdoms and see what names I can make out!
Also, I love your signature!
@joy-caroline
No problem! Glad I could help!
Ooh, that sounds like a great idea! World-building is probably one of my favorite aspects of writing; it’s so fun to go all out with it!
Aww, thanks! I love yours too!
~In Christ Alone My Hope Is Found~
@joy-caroline
I usually use Pinterest or Google unusual names, although I have used Google translate a few times like Madelyn. I think Russian is a good language to use for antagonists’ names.
I have a REALLY long list of names to use in the future, most of them have a medieval flare.@joy-caroline
My secret is…that I don’t. I literally don’t, if I can help it *hides in shame*. I’m still trying to think of a name for the city in the last book I drafted. The book I’m currently writing has absolutely no names. The fantasy novel before last has a world literally called the Dreamland (though this has a meaning and significance behind it. In Aboriginal culture, the time of creation is called the Dreamtime, or the Dreaming, and this book is heavily inspired by Australian Aboriginal culture, so that was my justification for calling it Dreamland, though I probably will change it eventually).
But there’s lots of good tips here! If there’s a culture or language you’ve been inspired by, talk to people from that culture or who speak the language and see if they can suggest a good name!
INFP Queen of the Kingdom commander of an army of origami cranes and a sabre from Babylon.
- Rank: Eccentric Mentor
- Total Posts: 1379
Thanks!
Oh, I love Russian names. I’ll have to check out some Pinterest boards on that!
Totally relate… I’m not so creative with place names. And I think if a literal name works for the symbolism in a novel, it’s a great choice!
Mostly I turn to old Latin or Spanish. I’ll keep that in mind, thanks for the advice!
Ooh could you maybe share a couple names? I’m looking for a good one for my villain. (Yup. I stink at naming things.)
Be still and know that I am God. Psalm 46:10
@joy-caroline
There’s not really any secret. I just put letters together until I’m satisfied with the name. Another thing you can do (which I learned from Jennifer A. Nielsen) is to take a name–let’s say Alabama–and then you just keep replacing the letters in that word until you’re satisfied with the result. So for Alabama, I might first change the “l” to “p”. That would be Apabama. Eh, this sounds pretty weird. I’m gonna change the first “a” to a “t”. Tpabama. Then I’m gonna change the third “a” to a “c”. Tpabcma. Still weird. Now I’m going to change the “b” to a “y” which makes it Tpaycma. And you can keep going until you’re satisfied. Hope that helps. But yeah, I really just put letters together and call it genius. (That’s how I got the names for pretty much most of the characters in Heir to His Crown: Jutrucil, Teptel, Multener, and other names I don’t remember how to spell. 😂)
And oooo Biblical fantasy sounds awesome!!!! That’s what Chuck Black’s Kingdom series’ genre was. He is SO AWESOME at his Biblical fiction stories. I’m currently reading his sci-fi novel which is a parallelism to the Bible and he is a GENIUS I tell you when it comes to this. So, y’know, maybe something you might wanna check out.
God gives His hardest battles to His strongest soldiers.
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