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vitklim · 5 years ago
Do the names have to contain any sort of meaning, or is anything that sounds in style of fantasy fine?
guest_ · 5 years ago
What works for the writer best is best. Sometimes there’s nothing wrong with just choosing a name you like the sound of, of that you saw on a commercial, pie plate, whatever that said my conventional advice is to follow a theme. Certain languages tend to invoke certain feelings. A good name am be as simple as taking the simple like: earth goat in Latin or great earth goat, wise, whatever. Greek, sumarian, whatever language has the tone you like and maybe even from a culture that inspires your work or pantheon. A cassis (and the Japanese/Chinese are big on this) is grabbing religious or spiritual figures from existing sources they feel are somewhat obscure but at least known to their audience. It builds in significance but risks cultural appropriation or offense. Another of course is for you to have the “true names” not known or unsayable etc. and have the humans that worship those gods have their own names. Then the names can reflect the cultures of groups in your setting that worship
dr_richard_ew · 5 years ago
I'd personally prefer it to have some type of meaning, but I guess I'm ok with no meaning for some
guest_ · 5 years ago
That god. Different groups can even call them by different names- for instance one worshipping opposing gods- their god they may call something like “Artarius- the judge of men” and the other group may call their god “Selesmek- bringer of seasons” but to the opposing side they may call them “the fallen” “the false” “the chaos” or so on.
guest_ · 5 years ago
Your best best for ease and coherence is to pick a convention that suits you and your setting. You may or may not choose to have their name say anything about them- or maybe just pick names you think “sound good” or “sound evil” or “sound misheavious, sexy, tough, etc.” none sense names even work so long as they sound cool and give the impression you want.
guest_ · 5 years ago
If you prefer meaning go with meaning. Do a little research- doesn’t have to be crazy if you don’t want. Find a name that sounds cool to you or you like the meaning from history, other stories, etc. then work off of it until you have something that works for you. Obscure or ancient religions especially with effectively no practitioners work well for sources of inspiration as do non canical mystics texts like Ethiopian orthodoxy or the Kabbalah or the necronomicon or other books of demons. Or play with a translation program until you find an English several word summary of each god that sounds good in a chosen language.
vitklim · 5 years ago
I have an array of names without defined meaning, so I'll toss those here, would love to help out more, but gtg
List: Tzegon, Rikux, Famor, Vangorn, Deon, Remlin, Santor, Avelon
shadowlord · 5 years ago
I'm pretty good with fantasy names. Usually when it comes to names I like to either pick words from different languages and mix them about until I have something good. Or I just say fuck it and misspell a common name, or just string together some letters and see what sounds good. It's how I got names like Aranaa So'Laara, Alena Sa'Kânnos, Niiarah Chaalnih, Ordek Tarmogyf, Corvuun Sangta, Ayârâ Lo'Gääthos, Âh'Ląhdan the Abyssal Lord, Itzly T'Ryven, and more. I can go on all day like that honestly.
deleted · 5 years ago
What I usually do is take a normal name and twist it around into something new, but I've found that even plain names you might here in the real world work just as well for some fantasies. I'm more prone to make a name based on how it sounds rather than any meaning, but if you can hit both with one shot, then I say it's perfect! Here are a few names I never got around to using: Adora, Alliaura, Carina, Diya, Lunei, Rhyonne, Viriana, Elfir, Icarys, Yuric. I like to use simpler names so it isn't a huge inhibitor for the reader to stumble over long, complicated words, but I recommend that if you use such long names, find a way to slip in a pronunciation (or let them imagine if you don't care how they pronounce it)
dr_richard_ew · 5 years ago
Usually in in my stories I give gods titles for names to make it easier, such as "Plaguebringer", "The Conductor", "The lady of dreams", with names being given to the ones that I can actually come up with. For this story though I want to break out of my comfort zone and try using original names
shadowlord · 5 years ago
I like giving certain characters titles (As seen above) but yeah with gods typically they are referred to by a name for me. Honestly, I mostly just string together random nonsense in a way that kinda makes sense to me. Typically I try and keep it easier to pronounce, not always though.
guest_ · 5 years ago
@shadowlord’s method as discussed above is valid. You can start with real words (English or otherwise) that have a meaning attached to how you feel that god is best described, and then change it around to have a sound you like. You can also create a sort of “language” not quite as in depth s Tolkien, but so long as it’s used just for your gods names or sparsely it should be workable- through simple substitution or using some template of vowel/consonant order unfamiliar to the reader. Or simply sit there combining sounds that you like. The simplest way is to crib from another pantheon or find inspiration in a set or convention of names which are meaningful to you or sound good to you. As a simplified example naming all your gods afternoon members of the wutang clan or after Swedish politicians.
shadowlord · 5 years ago
"What god do you worship?" "Ghostface U-Löfven"
guest_ · 5 years ago
Lmao. Killed me. But it works.
menelmacar · 5 years ago
My go-to places are babynames.com and google translate. I like give my characters names that have meaning (although sometimes the I'll take names or words and rearrange letters or splice them together to make something new). Names are the hardest part of writing, in my opinion. My first drafts are filled with things like Lord #@$#@ and @#$# River. I get a feel for the person or place, and then go back and name them.
rosalinas · 5 years ago
how about Ross, the most adorable :D
shadowlord · 5 years ago
I'll often have similar placeholder names when I write things. Like, some characters there's a title rather than a name untill I can think of a good one. Or sometimes you'll have bitchface malone XLVII for 90% of the story.
creativedragonbaby · 5 years ago
One of my friends recommended the most amazing thing. Take a word, write it backwards. Usually the word is in a different language. (Japanese is nice because they have lots of vowels)
timebender25 · 5 years ago
Erised.
dr_richard_ew · 5 years ago
(I probably should put this in the other chat, but fuck it)
Ok, yo, I have 2 different ideas for gods of life, and I need help choosing one.
The first one was a merchant, the only God here who likes to interact with humans (in secret of course). He sells people wares that they treat so specially, stuff that they absolutely want to have no matter the cost, until they spend every penny they have, being a reference to commercialism taking over a lot of people's lives and how that could end in one's downfall.
The other idea was a farmer, who not only tends to his crops (going off of life), but uses his Scythe like the grim reaper to take souls to their final resting place (representing death).
Which one do you guys like?