Character Naming in Fantasy stories

[Marky Lazer]

I normally have no problems with naming my characters, but now I'm writing a short fantasy story, and find it hard to make up charatcer names that sound fantasy-y. How do you do it?

[Culhwch]

I usually go for names that are more traditional in our own world, and give them a slight spin. Margrethe for Margaret, Willum for William, that kind of thing. Or else raid history books. I tend to stay away from outlandish names, 'cause I hate to read them - that's one thing that will turn me off a book, if the names are ridiculous.

[jenna]

i definitely try to stay away from names that are too weird, if i have to waste time trying to work out how to pronounce them i think that's bad!
i'm at a stage now where i can pretty much just pull names out of my head,
but probably your best bet is a fantasy name generator site like this one:

http://www.squid.org/tools/names/

you can use their names as they are or modify them a bit to make them your own.

[sendar_farm_boy]

I have a nack of pulling names out of the noggin', though sometimes I too give a twist to old fahioned names. I've also used names that mean animal names in other languages.

[Elmo]

As my fantasy book is set in quasi-modern times I have done and will continue to use 'regular' names such as 'Ryan' or 'Vikki' (two of my main characters). I guess it depends on the feel of your story though and where you go with it.

Edit: Now I think about it, that post wasn't that helpful at all...

[Brys]

I'm completely incompetent at coming up with names for fantasy, so I usually just come up with something really simple, write the novel, and if it doesn't fit, change it. One thing I occasionally do is take a certain trait of a character, or think of an animal that suits them, translate it into another language, and then change it a little so it works as a name. I think that the random fantasy name generators are great for coming up with names of races etc, but for character names they always tend to be too stereotypical and generally wouldn't fit.

[cornelius]

when using characters that are based on people IRL, I ask them what they want for name. My friends chose Elegia, Balian, Fionnghall and Aerandir.

[jenna]

Originally Posted by Brys

I think that the random fantasy name generators are great for coming up with names of races etc, but for character names they always tend to be too stereotypical and generally wouldn't fit.

i agree they can be quite generic, that's why when i started out i would take one of their names for the structure, and then just modify it to suit what i wanted. then after a while i didn't need a base anymore and now i can just make them up in my head.

[Auer]

I've always wanted to have "realistic" names in my texts. For my first novel I had to make very much groundwork to collect real names used in viking-age and early medieval scandinavia, iceland and Finland and if possible their meaning also. At the same time I collected names from other countries from the same period to be used as "foreign" names in the novels. That has worked for me very well and it made me quite interested in names in general.

[I, Brian]

I take note of the sort of civilisation influencing the world I'm writing - the cultures and social aspects - and write accordingly, often employing a mixture of corruption of real names (not famous ones) with a smattering of plain made-up.

2c.

[Marky Lazer]

My idea, and I always come back to this, is the way Tolkien did it with his Elves. Every Elf name (at least I know about) has a meaning.

Legolas – Green Leaf
Elrond- Elf of the Cave
Elros – Elf of the Spray
Eärendil – Sea Lover
Idril – Sprakling Brilliance
Finwë – Skilled One
Fëanor – Spirit of Fire
Etc.

That gives a hell of a authenticity to your story, in my opinion.

[edott]

Also you can always find real names but from some obscure, from a western point of view, culture. I had a friend who gave all his characters Yaruba names which also meant they had a meaning as well.
of course one of my all time favorites was a character who i wrote about a daring fantasy mercenary. whose named was pronouced phar-the-ad, think about it.

[cornelius]

some of the namesin my writings will have such explenations attached to them. I can't do this with the main characters, aI did not make the names up myself. It does add a lot to the story.
I try to make the names not alike. I once read a book with seven characters who had an almoust identical name, despite a difference in race, gender, region/land from origin etc... it was very confusing.

I think I see where Edott is getting at...

[the_faery_queen]

fantasy name generator, for minor characters. for short stories i use the same few, with a bit of varation. in my novel, god knows! i just scramble desperately for anything that sounds ok. i find names really hard.

[kyektulu]

I also get a peice of papper and just write down words and rearrange and adapt them to stuff that sounds good to me.
I also get names by just listening to words on tv and radio and changing round the first letter, it is easier than it sounds.