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Post by Vulash on Sept 21, 2015 3:16:02 GMT
I'm terrible with names. If it's not that important I can pop something out, but for my main country and world I'm struggling majorly to come up with something I'm happy with. I've tentatively named the country Kiltheris at the moment (named after an old D&D character of mine, Kiltheranos), but it just doens't quite sit right. I've been toying with "Altea" but I'm still not sure. I thought I'd run it by you guys. I've been through countless name generators and the results are just so odd.
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Samuel Wise
Demigod
Ready to Help...
Posts: 989
Favorite D&D Class: Warlock
Favorite D&D Race: Mousefolk
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Post by Samuel Wise on Sept 21, 2015 4:20:27 GMT
So the only way I can help you is to show you some tips I used to decide whether I should keep the name Älmara for my world. I actually made this name when I was 8 or 9 years old and had this world stowed away until I got into D&D. In my (very short) revision of my 10-or-so year old's work, I was debating on changing the name Älmara (which I pronounce Ahl-Marr-ah), because it didn't sound or flow off the tongue. However, I used a text-to-speech program to hear the name and the new names pronounced by the system (set to the British accent, of course). I was more then delighted when Älmara was pronounced (All-muh-ruh), which sounded much better.
All that to say: listen to the actual pronunciation of the words it really helps.
Also, use other languages. Cheesy? Perhaps. But mix a couple of Latin/Greek/Anglo-Saxon words together and you can come up with some really cool sounds. For example, Acwellan is the Anglo-Saxon word, "to kill". That by itself sounds pretty cool, but if you Change it just slightly you can get things such as Arcwelon (one of the gods on this forum).
Keep the words completely different, while sounding like a regular word.
Just a few tips, definitely not rules. But perhaps you will find one or two helpful.
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Post by Vulash on Sept 21, 2015 13:27:52 GMT
I like the idea of having the voice software read them back. Sometimes I get an idea I like until I say it out loud. I've been bouncing them off my girlfriend.
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Post by joatmoniac on Sept 21, 2015 18:04:19 GMT
Using text to speech in different languages and accents would definitely be a cool way to get the sound that you want, or at least hear different ways that it could be said to find the one that you like the most. I agree with Almarian's approach in using different languages to build out words that could have specific meanings. Digging backwards to find older languages that people are less familiar with helps to set the names apart some. Check out omniglot.com if you want to get crazy about looking into other languages!
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Post by Vulash on Sept 21, 2015 18:06:23 GMT
I've tried googling and Latin and Greek for various words that portray the meaning I want, but no success there yet. I'll check out omniglot, thanks!
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Post by frohtastic on Sept 22, 2015 1:51:50 GMT
I've tried googling and Latin and Greek for various words that portray the meaning I want, but no success there yet. I'll check out omniglot, thanks! I used other languages to work in my world. Like my world is called Liro, which is one of the latins for earth. Aquila, something something Hawk. Suur was afrikaans for warmth, with Maji being swahili for water  other languages and using mythology as well |
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Post by lasersniper on Sept 22, 2015 23:06:59 GMT
You guys put quite a bit of work into this. When I create a nation or kingdom I create the meat of it first. Then I assign a letter to it depending on what the place is like. G, especially guh sounding version, reminds me of strength, stubbornness, and earthly in nature. So I gave letter to a nation of half breed dwarves. M reminds me of magic and grace. Flowing with natural green tones. So I gave that to a nation of high elves. My next step is to start throwing letters at it. Gad, Guven, Gavar, Galt.....hmmmm I Galt sounds right. Maveras, Matron, Mivdar, Mivani....I like that one. Yeah, I am kinda lazy  |
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Post by frohtastic on Sept 22, 2015 23:48:30 GMT
You guys put quite a bit of work into this. When I create a nation or kingdom I create the meat of it first. Then I assign a letter to it depending on what the place is like. G, especially guh sounding version, reminds me of strength, stubbornness, and earthly in nature. So I gave letter to a nation of half breed dwarves. M reminds me of magic and grace. Flowing with natural green tones. So I gave that to a nation of high elves. My next step is to start throwing letters at it. Gad, Guven, Gavar, Galt.....hmmmm I Galt sounds right. Maveras, Matron, Mivdar, Mivani....I like that one. Yeah, I am kinda lazy Someones laziness is other peoples quite a bit of work Cause imo I considered mine to be lazy as well |
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Post by kirklas164 on Sept 23, 2015 20:32:18 GMT
I use other languages like Frohtastic. My elves call themselves the Sognatore from Aberos, which are dreamers from the treelands in Italian. My giants the Azaghim draw from Bedouin, My halflings the Deelmensen from Dutch (literally half-men in dutch), and my Drow draw from Turkish and call themselves the Ibadet, or faithful. I especially like picking real world languages because then you can do different accents, and if you don't allow google searches during play the puzzles can give your players little hints for those who pay attention to the way words sound. I also like using little used English words. My world is named Lustrandus because it undergoes regular total apocalypses, and lustration is another way to say cleansing.
I also suggest not worrying about naming everything or worrying about assigning meaningful names to everything, that's a sand trap I fall down a lot.
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Post by Tesla Ranger on Oct 7, 2015 15:40:14 GMT
I use lots of different methods to come up with names. If it's something that probably won't be pivotal or central to the plot but still needs to be remembered I usually make an anagram of something similar to help me remember. For instance, if I want a city that's similar to Atlantis I might call it Natalis or Saltanis or some such. Just taking the letters and swishing them around. I don't work for everyone, but it's pretty helpful for me to remember what's what.
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