Beyond the Basics of Naming

Alright, I think I've got it sorted this time.  The last post was necessary to lay the groundwork for naming.  It's important to have a basic skeleton so that when you put on the flesh it doesn't become one massive pile of... well that took a nasty turn.  Anyway, once you have decided on a naming structure to use (given and surname; given and nickname; given and place-name, etc) there is still plenty of work to do.  'Bob the Mighty' just won't cut it with most readers for some reason.  So, the following are some of the considerations I've made (am making) while determining names for my characters.

1) Language of Origin - Quite naturally, names used by a culture follow the rhythms and pronunciation of their parent tongue.  When building a world, many times an author models their cultures on their real world climatic equivalents.  For example, countries comprised primarily of deserts will often have Arabic sounding names and lands that spend most of the year covered in ice may have names based on a Scandinavian tongue.  Doing this has its inherent dangers (related to a reader's real world connection to these peoples), but allows us to group characters of the same nationality or region simply, using established rules.  If you want to avoid these connections, you need to create your own rules for the sounds of this new language (which is a whole different post).  Additionally, sticking with established patterns may be the best option, as it will be easier for your readers to pronounce and remember your characters' names. 

2) Position in Society - In the history of the genre, we have seen protagonists of all classes, bearing all kinds of names.  Pug (from Raymond E. Feist's "Riftwar Saga") was an orphan who rose to great power.  Can you think of a less auspicious name?  In The Farseer Trilogy, Robin Hobb's royalty are given names to aspire to (Verity, Patience, Chivalry).  George Martin's lordly characters born out of wedlock in "A Song of Ice and Fire" all have the same regionally assigned surname (Snow, Rivers, Sand, etc.), whose shame follows them wherever they go (much like the unfortunately named Tanis Half-Elven from the Dragonlance Series).  If I can believe Shogun, the peasants or servants of feudal Japan might not have even had names (I'm not sure how to research a lack of a name).  Conversely, Sir Launcelot du Lac, of Arthurian fame, is clearly a renowned knight from a foreign land before we ever meet him in the story.  To give a learned person distinction, or an old world an even older world touch, many authors use names from ancient Rome, using Latin.

3) Non-Human Names - This is an important category for the aspiring fantasist.  Many times this is accomplished by including lots of apostrophes and doubled letters (for example, Mr. Salvatore's much loved Drizzt Do'urden).   Mr. Martin's shifty Jaqen H'gar, uses the apostrophe and a 'q' without a 'u'.  I'm still not sure of its derivation or how to pronounce it, but the name doesn't sound human to me (he may be human in actuality, but I'd argue that it depends on your definition).  Using these kinds of tricks can help to make these other races/species seem otherworldly or at least strange.  Also remember that words have a visual impact created before it can be sounded out, like Douglas Adams' character drinking "jynnan tonnyx," which adds a touch of strangeness without the alienation.

If you choose to use the same methods as recommended in Item 1, you can make it easier to relate to non-human characters, like Tolkien's dwarfs (Thorin Oakenshield).  To achieve lighthearted names for his Hobbits, Tolkien's often used alliteration in combination with familiar earthy visuals (Bilbo Baggins, Otho Proudfoot).  Likewise, using simple names for a folk (his trolls: Tom, Bert, and William) will generally imply simplicity or baseness (of station or character).  Tom Bombadil is a simple soul filled with humor and light who is obviously something we have never seen before with a touch of menace (you don't pronounce it Bomb-a-dil, but I still see the word (I may be reading into this a bit much)).  As you might expect from his background, Mr. Tolkien was a master namer.

4) Fame - As discussed in the previous post, not all names are given at birth, some are earned.  These are the names that inform more about personality than about his/her forebears.  Blackbeard has an obvious trademark and Eric the Red doesn't sound like a very congenial fellow (sorry, William of Orange refers to a place, not necessarily the gent's fashion preferences), likewise Vlad the Impaler and Ivan the Terrible.  Not all of these earned names have to instill instill fear: Richard the Lionhearted and Charles the Bald (son of Louis the Pious) were obviously named with other thoughts in mind.  I must say that I've always felt sorry for Pepin the Short. Having a moniker of this sort not only informs the character of the individual, but implies a certain degree of fame.

5) The Rule of Cool - I've brought this up before and stand firmly by it.  If something sounds cool, go with it.  As a Fantasy writer, you should be able to explain away everything (though you are welcome to secrets), just be prepared for it.  If you've got the perfect name for your lead character and it has no vowels, he might be Czech.  If your character has six surnames, then maybe his culture is really into genealogy, or he's Brazilian.  Obviously, the creators of "Guardians of the Galaxy" followed this rule when naming Star Lord, yeah.

In this post, I'm just pulling examples from cultures I'm familiar with.  If you pick a language group to follow, do a little research and you can find thing like: in Czech today there is a specific list of names you can give children (though you can ask for an exemption); they celebrate Name-Days; and that the diminutive forms can be really funky (Josef to Pepa, for instance).  To my mind, if you work with names from another language, doing research and being consistent  is simply being respectful.  Who knows?  It may add to the flavor of your world.  One final note: be careful of using too weirdly specific a name (like Fortinbras), unless you want to use this reference to reinforce some aspect of your character (remember, taking a whole character without permission is bad and lazy).  Hmmm it seems I have much work to do yet in my own world.  Time to get back to it.


 

Czech names - http://www.myczechrepublic.com/czech_culture/czech_name_days/dimm.html#P