OK, I got tired of posting all these "how to name PUTSOMETHINGHERE" :) I need to learn the theory.

How do I invent names (people, countries, locations, planets, game titles, whatever)? To simplify let's say we talk about fantasy (since it's not related to anything and has the lowest restrictions).

Do the same as in real life. Most name come from a profession, a place, a character's trait. Which is then deformed over the centuries.

That's why when I try to find names for a character I just pick what describe the character or a family traits and deform it a little with the sonority of the language in which this character is. For exemple, let's say we have a noble family which is rumored to have only red hair. So their name started as "The family with red feather", and then :

The family with red feathers -> the red feathers -> Redfasser

And we have one member of this family who works in a stone quarry. His full name is Stone Redfasser. (...well, maybe not best name ever)

Or you can try to modify the name with a different pronouncation (or with a different language) In the previous case, if the country language is similar to french, you'll have :

Red Feathers -> Redézer (...this one neither)

In the Farseer Trology by Robin Hobb, many character are name from their character's trait (Chivalry, Patience, Regal, Shrewd, Chade, etc...). In their tradition, the name can influence the character of the new born. I find this way of naming a lot better than just sticking random sound together (mordack, kardak, etc...)

Using song or band name to name some place can sometimes fit, especially if you really like the song/band you are using. And this also give to the place a special feelings

For exemple using Ghost Trail (

Actually what you want is to choose some restrictions for yourself.

1. Decide what language is the base, and are you using real words in that language or people names in that language. Yes English is an option. So is a created-language.

2. Describe to yourself the personality of the person, place, or thing you want to name. Do you want the name to fit the personality or be opposite to it? (Generally it should be one or the other.) If you want the name to project a particular impression or feeling, what is that?

3. Find several words in your base language that fit what you wrote for #2. If you are making them up, instead pick several sounds that you feel fit. For example, "ka" is a strong sound, while "la" is a mild sound, so if you want a character to have a mild personality use mild sounds for the name.

4. Does your culture have a standard structure they use for naming? "Adjective Noun" is common for Native American names and fantasy equivalents. "Someone the Adjective" has more of a viking or Russian flavor. "The Noun Noun" or would likely be a superhero or supervillain. "Someone of Place" or "Someone Profession" were common in cultures that were post-agricultural-revolution but pre-renaissance. "Someone PrefixClan" or "Someone Clan-Role" could be used in a setting where the character's rank within a clan or pack was of great social importance. Are genders or moieties marked by a different type of name, e.g. one being named after animals and one being named after types of stone and metal?

Also, keep in mind that with things like names of people or places, you're thinking in terms of lineange and legacy, not today. It seems obvious, I suppose, but at least in modern times, the actual people in question are removed from where their name might have come from -- A character might be Sam Baker because his great-great grandfather was a baker, not because he is. If everyone in your world carried the name of their profession that's going to start seeming lame very quickly.

Lots of places are named after important people or religious figures -- for example, Columbus Ohio, or San Francisco. Places are also sometimes given names to make their importance clear -- King's Landing in a Song of Ice and Fire, or historically to confuse in some cases -- Greenland is icy and inhospitable, Iceland is nicer, because the Vikings were trying to trick their enemies.

Most important though, is being consistent. In A Song of Ice and Fire, Bravos has a sort of Spanish flair, The Dolthraki (Spelling) are sort of Mongols.

We got an interesting response when sharing this topic (and a couple of others) on our Facebook page, so I thought I would share it here for anyone viewing the topic in the forum -- full credit for the post to Neil Roy! :)

An interesting note about coming up with names. In researching my own family genealogy, I discovered that prior to around 1100, there were no real surnames like we have them now. What people did was have their "last name" as the name of their father. So my own father's first name is Gilles, so I would be Neil Son of Gilles in English. My ancestors were Scott's who used "Mac" which means "Son Of" so I would be known as "Neil MacGilles" back then. Sometimes they were given a last name based on their profession as well. The Irish actually added "Son" to the end of a name, so I would be "Neil Gillesson" or something like that. Some surnames came from locations, like Macs Well (a well belonging to a man named Mac, or Maccus) gradually became the surname "Maxwell" over time. History like this can really help generate names for games, perhaps even develop lore for the game and use that lore to generate names. Games to me are more interesting with decent lore.

Actually what you want is to choose some restrictions for yourself.

Naming is peculiar because restrictions are, more importantly than starting points for creativity as usual, systems that provide important information directly. Spelling and family names tell the ethnic and geographical origin of people, while first names hint at the age of persons and the culture of their parents. For example, the lists of names in film credits are usually sufficient to guess where every special effects firm is located.

Names reflect important social, historical and cultural structures: invent them, and appropriate names will be easy to deduce. For example, using more or less reference languages for the names in a fantasy world depends on the presence of different nations or merely different lords and tribes sharing a common culture, while religious references correspond to the diffusion of different religions (and are absent, or too common to be significant, if nobody cares to make a religious statement).

A distinction should be made between choosing consistent but often arbitrary naming rules (e.g. kingdom A has French names, kingdom B has Dutch names, kingdom C has Swedish names; religion X has personal names from animals and plants and objects, religion Y has a small set of peculiar personal names in a very exotic language) and modulating them according to standard realistic patterns (e.g. in the contested regions around kingdom borders there are substantial numbers of personal names from both languages, while places have one name in each language and the official one is switched according to current ownership).

The fundamental function of naming is to identify.

Naming is a taxonomic scheme that tries to uniquely identify each entity while also indicating any important group that the entity belongs.

Fundamental considerations:

1. Is the naming systematic or is it based on someone's preference?

Typically a name is given according to a something distinguish about the entity itself, or in the eye of the naming entity. In a systematic naming scheme, the outcome is the same regardless of the naming entity. Examples include assigning a new memory address in a program, assigning the ID of an inmate, or naming each child by the order they were born, or by the month the child is born. In a fantasy world with something like astrology, names might be given according to a detailed astrological birth signature, and names of places might be given by its magical ley line signature. For systematic naming to exist, the entity doing the naming must have access to or know the system. If the signature is not something that a normal person could see, the culture might reserve naming for someone who can see it, such as the high priest. In that case, newborns, and newly discovered lands were brought to the high priest to be given a name, that either shows the astrological signature of the entity, or be enchanted with a name different from the natural signature that is meant to counter the curses from the astrological signature. Priests of different levels vary in their skills to see the astrological signature and to counter the curses. As a result, while there is a system, different priest might end up given different names for the same entity.

2. Does the culture group its entities by important groups?

In programming, this type of grouping includes namespaces. Namespaces emerge because of naming conflict. The fact that the surname is inherited can be considered part of the systematic naming scheme. For this section, the focus is on why a certain name is chosen to be that inherited part. For human, the most typical grouping is by tribal identity. The tribal identity was important because people could not survive alone, it took a tribe to provide the necessary robustness to handle the harshness of nature and from other hostile tribes. For a strong tribe, the tribal name served as a tool to deter attacks or to suppress resistance. In a fantasy world, this type of naming is a result of the dynamics among the people. If tribal identity or lineage is not important or relevant in the fantasy world, to identify what is important, one could first consider who is doing the name and what is important to that person. In a fantasy world where entities have very long lives across eras, that group name might take the name of the era. A variation of this is to name entities that belong to the same group by objects that belong to the same group, such as naming all children by names of animals or flowers.

3. Does the name change throughout the life of the entity?

Sometimes a new name is not needed until there is a naming conflict. At that point, the typical resolution is to append by an observable characteristic, in a way that would not offend either entity. At first, the additional part might be the family name. As human become more populous and naming conflict occurs more often, those who want to avoid naming conflict, would name by what they like, or hope the child would grow into. In this section, the focus in on a culture that updates a person's name as they grow or achieve (in addition to any title they get). A newborn might be given a child name, then when they become an adult, or when they reach a certain significant moment, they are given, or give themselves another name. Other than becoming an adult, some other events that would cause name change include conquering new land, getting married, and dying. In a fantasy world where individuals try to fill vacant celestial position to maintain the balance of the world, an individual may get a new name when they attain the role.

Consideration examples:

A: Naming a person

Is there an existing system? Yes, the surname is inherited. For the given name, since the child is born from a noble family, it is expected to have a unique and poetic name that is different from the generic ones given by commoners.

Is there an important group? No, this is the first only child the family would have. There is no particular naming pattern for this child, but the name should use words that the commoners could understand and resonate with.

Is the name expected to change? No, the name is not meant to be changed. It carries the wishes of the parents.

B: Naming a country

Is there an existing system? Yes, the country name has two parts. One part identifies the form of government. The other part is based on the traditional name of that land. Having these

Is there an important group? Yes. The part that identifies the form of government follows one of these: Republic, Federation, or Kingdom.

Is the name expected to change? Yes, if the form of government changes.

C: Naming a location

Is there an existing system? Yes, we name a location first by something significant that the location has. If there are more than one location that has it, they we distinguish them by the direction from our the nearest settlement.

Is there an important group? Yes, if the location has an ancient ruins, we add a suffix that means "ruins" to the location. Ruins are powerful locations that could wreak havoc to humanity if not properly guarded by priests. We also have different prefix for ruins of different mana affinity, demon types, and power level.

Is the name expected to change? Yes, the location name would change when we discover that it has a ruins, and when a ruins becomes contained. When it is contained, we change the suffix to "shrine" to let travelers know which locations are safe.

D: Naming a planet

Is there an existing system? Yes, each planet has an ID based on the system it belongs and the planet type. But a planet could also have a name. That name is given by the entity that controls it. In general, we keep the name that the native sentient beings would call it.

Is there an important group? No, in terms of naming, only planets with some cultural significance have names. There is no special grouping about them.

Is the name expected to change? Yes, when the planet becomes inhabited or culturally significant.

E: Naming a game title

Is there an existing system? No, there is no system, but it should not conflict with that of any well-known games.

Is there an important group? No, it is a new game by a new group. No one knows the group. However, having certain keyword would help make the game more searchable and identifiable.

Is the name expected to change? No, but it might have a sequel and a prequel. So the game title should be applicable to all three instead of being too specific that it only applies to this one.

F: Naming whatever

Is there an existing system? Yes, each new identified thing, concept, or phenomenon is given a sequential unique ID, and a name in English in addition to that. Some objects might have multiple names. If an object has a non-English name, then phonetic translation in English alphabet is given. If the cultural reference to the object reaches a threshold but remain unnamed, the system will give it an English name based on its characteristic in that context that it is referenced the most. Every time a new word not generated by the system comes into usage, the system analyzes the method of generating the new word and ranks the method according to the subculture that the word is used. The system uses the most popular naming method of that subculture when it needs to name an object.

Is there an important group? Yes, the naming follows some suffix rules in English to distinguish between types of nouns, verbs, adjectives. Names that belong to the same activity or process would be giving names of similar style.

Is the name expected to change? Yes, different names to the same object are kept, but each name has a different ranking in its usage in each context. With the system generates a message, the system picks the most popular name of the object.