How to Create EPIC Fantasy Names (and Sign-Up for the Faithless Blog Tour)
I've written and read my fair share of fantasy. It's my favorite genre for dozens of different reasons, and part of its appeal is the amount of imagination and creativity you get to pour into every aspect of your world-building, character creation, and more! One of my favorite things about new stories, particularly fantasy stories, is getting to name characters, and after 10 years of working on my fantasy epic, a few more spent on my debut The Sorceress and the Squid, and over 800,000 words later, I have just a few tricks for finding and crafting EPIC fantasy names. So today on the blog, I'm here to share those tips with you!
*Also, please stick around till the end to sign-up for the Faithless blog tour! I would love to have you on board. :DD
This is a pretty obvious option for helping aid you in creating cool fantasy names. There are some pretty great generators floating around online, and they can be immensely helpful. A quick Google search will give you dozens of great site options, and you can try as many or as few as you like to find that perfect name! There are lots of sites that help you to specify the type and style of name you're looking for, and some that will even generate names of cities or countries for you. If you're stuck and need ideas, this can be a really helpful resource.
One of my favorite name generator sites is the HOBBIT NAME GENERATOR and the ELF NAME GENERATOR, for those of you who are LotR fans like me. ;)
Another classic and simple method is just spelling an already common name a little differently to suit the flavor of your fantasy world. Take the name "Mary" for instance. It's pretty plain and not super fantasy-esque, BUT, with a little tweaking, you can change that to "Mari, Meri, Merry (like LotR), or Merey." The options are only limited to your imagination.
I find that this method works best when you use a bit of a bigger name though. Something like "Alexandra" can make "Alyxandraa, Alixaandra," etc.
I personally favor Celtic, Greek, Arabic and other such names for this method. They are some of the best languages to retrieve fantasy names, or names inspired from them. This is also really helpful if you want to include some symbolism. For instance, if you have a character with an affinity for, say, nature and woods, you can look up "tree" in Arabic and get the result (according to Google anyway), "Shajara." Which isn't a bad name in my opinion. But make sure you're careful and double-check your sources! You wouldn't want to mess up and make your character's name a joke in someone else's language.
In my fantasy series, I have a few made-up languages of my own, and this can be another great way to incorporate some symbolism into your character's lives and stories. For example, one of the MC's of my fantasy, The War of the Three Crowns, is named Falaroy Rogoth. He is a lord's son born of prophecy and his name, roughly translated in the Ancient Speech, means "favored king". This name is both symbolic and foreshadows the story's plot/his arc and works very well for him. Making up a whole language is obviously pretty hard, but nobody said it had to be whole. Making up just parts, so long as they are consistent and well thought out, is perfectly acceptable as well. I have definitely not made up enough language to actually be spoken like Elvish, Klingon, or Dothraki, but I've made up enough to add color and flavor to my world, and it totally pays off!
Spelling things backwards is my ULTIMATE SECRET WEAPON for fantasy naming! Okay, it's not much of a secret but it has surprised people in the past with its simplicity and applicability. You can take lots of things and spell them backwards and get something pretty interesting, in most cases. Obviously this doesn't work for every single word, but it works for more than you might expect!
Ocean, for instance, is Neaco spelled backwards. Sea is Aes. Naomi is Imoan. Anything is possible here really. And no one says what you spell backwards can't be tweaked and changed a little to be more presentable. That's very allowed. It's all about playing with different things to see what really works!
Creating a Diverse Fantasy World
How to Make a Comprehensive Fantasy Character Sheet
What It's Like to Write an Epic Fantasy
Before you leave, you likely already know about my upcoming novel, Faithless, and it's release THIS MARCH 30th (craziness)! If you're here as a blogger, and would be interested in helping me promote the book upon release by participating in the blog tour, that would be AH-MAY-ZING. Please follow THIS LINK to fill out a form and become part of the promotion! Due to this COVID-19 virus and the complications its presenting, my book release is going to take a bit of a hit, and any help I can get in spreading the word would be so hugely appreciated. Hope you all are staying safe out there!
How do you come up with character names? Is it something you look forward to or loathe? Are you going to go look up your hobbit name right now?? Let me know in the comments below!
*Also, please stick around till the end to sign-up for the Faithless blog tour! I would love to have you on board. :DD
1. ONLINE NAME GENERATORS
This is a pretty obvious option for helping aid you in creating cool fantasy names. There are some pretty great generators floating around online, and they can be immensely helpful. A quick Google search will give you dozens of great site options, and you can try as many or as few as you like to find that perfect name! There are lots of sites that help you to specify the type and style of name you're looking for, and some that will even generate names of cities or countries for you. If you're stuck and need ideas, this can be a really helpful resource.
One of my favorite name generator sites is the HOBBIT NAME GENERATOR and the ELF NAME GENERATOR, for those of you who are LotR fans like me. ;)
2. SPELLING NAMES DIFFERENTLY
Another classic and simple method is just spelling an already common name a little differently to suit the flavor of your fantasy world. Take the name "Mary" for instance. It's pretty plain and not super fantasy-esque, BUT, with a little tweaking, you can change that to "Mari, Meri, Merry (like LotR), or Merey." The options are only limited to your imagination.
I find that this method works best when you use a bit of a bigger name though. Something like "Alexandra" can make "Alyxandraa, Alixaandra," etc.
3. USE NAMES/WORDS FROM OTHER LANGUAGES
I personally favor Celtic, Greek, Arabic and other such names for this method. They are some of the best languages to retrieve fantasy names, or names inspired from them. This is also really helpful if you want to include some symbolism. For instance, if you have a character with an affinity for, say, nature and woods, you can look up "tree" in Arabic and get the result (according to Google anyway), "Shajara." Which isn't a bad name in my opinion. But make sure you're careful and double-check your sources! You wouldn't want to mess up and make your character's name a joke in someone else's language.
4. USE NAMES CREATED FROM YOUR OWN FANTASY LANGUAGE
In my fantasy series, I have a few made-up languages of my own, and this can be another great way to incorporate some symbolism into your character's lives and stories. For example, one of the MC's of my fantasy, The War of the Three Crowns, is named Falaroy Rogoth. He is a lord's son born of prophecy and his name, roughly translated in the Ancient Speech, means "favored king". This name is both symbolic and foreshadows the story's plot/his arc and works very well for him. Making up a whole language is obviously pretty hard, but nobody said it had to be whole. Making up just parts, so long as they are consistent and well thought out, is perfectly acceptable as well. I have definitely not made up enough language to actually be spoken like Elvish, Klingon, or Dothraki, but I've made up enough to add color and flavor to my world, and it totally pays off!
5. SPELLING NAMES/THINGS BACKWARDS
Spelling things backwards is my ULTIMATE SECRET WEAPON for fantasy naming! Okay, it's not much of a secret but it has surprised people in the past with its simplicity and applicability. You can take lots of things and spell them backwards and get something pretty interesting, in most cases. Obviously this doesn't work for every single word, but it works for more than you might expect!
Ocean, for instance, is Neaco spelled backwards. Sea is Aes. Naomi is Imoan. Anything is possible here really. And no one says what you spell backwards can't be tweaked and changed a little to be more presentable. That's very allowed. It's all about playing with different things to see what really works!
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE:
Creating a Diverse Fantasy World
How to Make a Comprehensive Fantasy Character Sheet
What It's Like to Write an Epic Fantasy
Before you leave, you likely already know about my upcoming novel, Faithless, and it's release THIS MARCH 30th (craziness)! If you're here as a blogger, and would be interested in helping me promote the book upon release by participating in the blog tour, that would be AH-MAY-ZING. Please follow THIS LINK to fill out a form and become part of the promotion! Due to this COVID-19 virus and the complications its presenting, my book release is going to take a bit of a hit, and any help I can get in spreading the word would be so hugely appreciated. Hope you all are staying safe out there!
LET'S TALK.
How do you come up with character names? Is it something you look forward to or loathe? Are you going to go look up your hobbit name right now?? Let me know in the comments below!
This is an awesome post!
ReplyDeleteI know I've done the change-a-few-letters and the spell-it-backwards tricks, as well as choosing names from other languages. I haven't really messed around with my own language or used generators, though. Might have to give that a try.
Thank you! I really enjoy using my own bit of language, it just adds another layer of depth to your story.
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