World Building- Fantasy Character Names

Vastile:
Redbubble- www.redbubble.com/people/vastile
Email- [e-mail]
Ingredients:
• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• 3 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 ¼ cups milk
• 1 egg
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted (optional)
Directions:
1. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar.
2. Make a well in the middle and pour in the milk, egg and melted butter; mix with a fork or
whisk until smooth.
3. Heat a griddle or large pan over medium high heat (I set my griddle at 375°F). Pour or
scoop ¼ cup of batter for each pancake. Wait until bubbles form to flip. Brown on the
other side and serve with butter and blueberry syrup.
Notes:
100% whole wheat - add an additional teaspoon of baking powder + 1 Tablespoon milk.
50% whole wheat - add ½ teaspoon baking powder.
1/4 cup ground flax - remove ¼ cup flour + ½ teaspoon baking powder.
Add 1 mashed banana - no changes.

[@writingwithspears9015]

This video really suffers from not having examples in the name creation parts

[@TheYannir]

I was about to comment on that.

[@themadpyro8560]

Riff Raff here we have a case study of ‘constructive criticism vs being a knob’

[@gabrieleberle4422]

@Riff Raff I would have said Sufficient not Efficient.

[@sonoradw1662]

Yes! Examples would have helped.

[@AtaMarKat]

“Names should be easily pronounceable” * looks at list of Polish names I’ve assembled * O h n O !

[@kovi567]

... like what? They look weird on paper with their letters in it, but can be easily pronounced.

[@ohno465]

This is me when I make NPCs for a D&D campaign I'm planning in a region inspired by Poland

[@piotrwisniewski70]

@@kovi567 like Grzegorz Brzęczyszczykiewicz

[@kovi567]

@@piotrwisniewski70 *inhales* "Hans, write it down the typewriter."

[@YataTheFifteenth]

@@kovi567 Hans then proceeds to write a couple of numbers.

[@Packless1]

"...I'm the mighty and famous wizard, called...Tim...!" ;-)

[@jeremymott6785]

Monty Python for ya

[@timothymclean]

I love finding an excuse to reference that line. It's slightly easier for me than it is for most people, though...

[@silvertheelf]

I play terraria.

[@jascrandom9855]

Tim, meet the Bob The Dark Lord.

[@KevinWarburton-tv2iy]

..that's what my friends call me, but my mother named me Timaethar :)

[@FrogEnjoyer17]

When you need a German character name: * HANS *

[@Aethuviel]

I'm Swedish and it's my uncle's name. Germany and Sweden also have Johann/Johan. Sooo many Johan in Sweden...

[@FrogEnjoyer17]

Frida is your sirname Joestar by any chance?

[@rndss1]

Hans, Johann, Heinrich,Wilhelm, etc.

[@TiaTam]

@@rndss1 Not that I know what the person is looking for, but these days people aren't really being called Heinrich or Wilhelm anymore, only middle-aged to old men have those names :')

[@CubicApocalypse128]

Hans Olo

[@gekkenhuisje]

Here's my idea: Scrabble letters. No, seriously. Take scrabble letters and mess around with them until you find a name you like. This can easily be incorporated into the video as well, helping you switch out the letters until you have your name.

[@Stoneworks]

great idea, really.

[@micahclark3606]

That’s what I do in my fantasy series.

[@mysticwolfdog9553]

I do that all the time. You can really get a huge diversity of names that actually sound reasonable, with just the First things that come to your head. It's really amazing.

[@nonametherabbit8593]

That’s literally how I came up with the name Iredelhe for one of my old characters 😅

[@chaoton]

When I think of cool unique name that actually exist in our world's history the first thing to pop up is "Vercingetorix". How cool is that name.

[@Stoneworks]

apparently that's just Gaulish for "Great Warrior King"

[@beatthegreat7020]

Poor Vercingetorix... The only thing he’s famous for is losing to Caesar.

[@eddie-roo]

It sounds like a stomach illness

[@CroatInAKilt]

Also when naming your main villain, try not to make it something long winded and overly grandiose like... Galbatorix. Yes I get it Christopher Paolini, you were 16 when you wrote the book and needed an evil sounding name.

[@dashiellgillingham4579]

“Asterion” is mine. “Child of the Stars” in Greek, the original Minotaur.

[@ilitardo160]

This channel is a Goldmine

[@Dell-ol6hb]

Ironic name. I agree

[@torbjornlekberg7756]

You should know, tho, that the name Gandalf is taken directly from the poetic Edda, so it is not invented by Tolkien.

[@agihammerthief8953]

And so were the names of all twelve dwarves from The Hobbit, by the way.

[@torbjornlekberg7756]

Exactly. They are all listed in Valuspá.

[@TheNowerianRaven]

And I think Moria was in the bible.

[@torbjornlekberg7756]

+TheNowerianRaven That is true. It is, in fact, the mountain of the cliff mosque, where the old jewish main temple once stood.

[@yakubduncan9019]

Actually, that's a great easy way to do names, just find an old historical/mythological text with long lists of names (E.g. Poetic Edda, Theogeny, 1 Chronicles, Genesis, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, Skene's Chronicles, or even just Wikipedia) and pick what you think sounds good.

[@schwarzerritter5724]

Just walk through the supermarked with a notebook. That is how Dragon Ball did it.

[@user-ft3jq5vi2l]

Even better: go to Ikea

[@schwarzerritter5724]

@@user-ft3jq5vi2l Our hero is the mighty knight Fjällbo.

[@kylethomas9130]

In the book Daenerys gets a nickname, that points the reader to how her name sounds. Nicknames and pet names make a character's relationships more organic.

[@EvilParagon4]

I had an alien character I named Korella. She has a much longer harder to pronounce name, but the human researchers gave her that simple name, and of course they fawn over Greek and Latin. The humans had only encountered males before her, so when they found her, they named her Koritsi-Puella, which shortened to Korella. Koritsi is Greek for Girl, and Puella is Latin for Girl. Her name is literally the Greco-Roman translation for Girl. Simple.

[@FactoryofRedstone]

The idea itself is really interesting, but to use the word girl two times, is kind of strange. Like the scientists could make there minds up if they wanted to use greek or latin. What do you think about the name of Alilla. Borrowed from your good idea, but I used another latin word. Alienus, with means alien (stranger/ not extraterrestrial in particular). And then use aliena puellla, to get to alilla.

[@EvilParagon4]

I like to mix-mash my languages generally so it's more obscure to anyone if I were to ever release them. Like, if someone by chance knows Latin, they wouldn't be able to guess the name. Same with if they knew Greek. If they know both? Hey, good on them if they could guess, because I doubt many people who knew both languages would ever think to combine them to decipher one name. I do this for many characters in that story. I try to make better names for main characters, but for brief mentions we have Likti - Coast in Latin (Litore) and Greek (Akti) - He was found on a beach when he was abducted. Pravvy - First in Hindi (Pratham) and Russian (Pervyy) (Also plays off Savvy). - He was taken from a planet further out in their solar system while he was researching. Correasi - Runner in Greek (Droméas) and Portuguese (Corredor) (Also plays off Crazy) - He escaped confinement twice. You might also notice each name ends in a vowel, that's special too. The native names they use all end in a suffix designating profession, so to convert it to our terms, their shortform full names (like how we shorten Picasso to Pablo Picasso) are Chosen Name, and Chosen Grandparent's Surname. The Chosen name has the suffix on it. Now this is culturally relevant do to an ancient religion. Every god's name ended in -zora, for instance (placeholder names until I can do a conlang) we have Calidizora and Crepuzora. To have a name ending in a vowel is to honour those gods, even though the race of aliens in the story have all moved past that and no longer have spiritual beliefs (it was easier to overcome since the whole religion was founded on the idea that nothing was strong enough to survive the heat of space (due to hot meteors) so whatever creatures must be moving the bright lights faster than the others (planets) must all be really strong, so when the Sun (named Zora) was discovered to be the one doing it all, people felt kind of jarred that a 3000 year old belief structure was wrong), however, people still culturally hold the gods with them, like we do for Thor in Marvel. It is considered taboo to name your child with an OR sound or an A sound PROVIDED they don't do anything to deserve it. Children would rarely get both unless they were from a more economically advantageous class. And as you probably notice, Korella has both an OR and an A (She's not upper class at all). Now when I was a kid, I used to dream of this world called "Plantzora", and it's based entirely off that. After I came up with the name for Korella, I linked the two together as best I could and had that build the world for me. There are lots of layers to her name now, and a whole culture. But it all started with just naming an alien female character "Girl". So what do I think about Alilla? It sounds pretty, L's will do that, but it also seems too understandable. If I were to read a sci-fi story and the Alien protagonist was named "Alilla" I'd be pretty bothered wondering if it was basically just saying "Alien + Pretty "La" sound". And remember what I said about Korella. She was named both Greek and Latin. On human documents, Koritsi-Puella is still her name. In my world, every country that discovers an alien being had to name sentient lifeforms in either their preferred tongue if it's easy to pronounce or give them a name in at least two languages the researchers choose. In this fiction, we have Australia, America, Brazil, Russia, India, Europe, Africa, the United Arabic Nations, and Asia (We are 700 years in the future). Australia often chooses English and Maori. America often chooses English and Latin. Brazil chooses English and Portuguese. Russia and India often work together, and of course, both go for Russian and Hindi. Europe chooses Latin and Greek. Africa chooses English and French. The UAN chooses Arabic and French. Asia chooses Japanese and Mandarin, but when ethnic Koreans are on the team, many opt for Korean to be included in place of Mandarin even though it's a dead language. It became commonplace for those names to squish down as result. It became sort of a scientific convention after the UN government in the 25th century tried to prevent the collapse of other languages to the dominance of English by forcing at least two languages to be used where possible in scientific areas. They're weren't going to force anyone to talk in the language but as long as they got people to talk in more than just English, it was fine. Didn't really work out, and the law was repealed, but it just became a standard part of "science-culture". Korella could have been named "Girl" but researchers named her Koritsi-Puella anyway. And again, I say it all started with naming her that name. If you find a good idea, you can let go of the leash to your mind and see where it ends up. Just ask why at every corner and boom. Why named Girl? She was the first girl found. Why Greek and Latin? Scientists like those languages. Why that naming scheme? Old UN ruling that didn't work but created a new cultural element. Why didn't it work? English was still spreading through developing areas after China collapsed. Wait what, China collapsed? Yeah there was a whole thing with 2045 and nukes and 2059 and EMPs and Vladivostok and Pakistan and so many things. And it just keeps going and going.

[@notarein]

This is so beautiful, thanks for writing this down.

[@CharChar2121]

So cool!

[@Tresquall]

Korella De'Vil... 🎶🎶🎶

[@mushroomsoup2866]

Once had the guard that was giving my player's quests name pronounced like "bee-oh-KNEE-cleese". Took like 5 sessions before the players figured out his name was spelt "bionicles"

[@concept5631]

Based

[@Overlord99762]

My character is a dwarf named Ulfrun, the base of the name, Ulf, is derived from old Norse, in which Úlfr meant gray wolf, I chose that name since it'd be ironic that his sole mission is to hunt down werewolves specifically, since werewolves killed both of his parents

[@Ezekiel_Allium]

I wanted a wizard that came from earth named Joe. The natives of my Fantasy universe said and pronounced this as "Chyo" because their language diverged from their earthly root in the early bronze age, and evolved along its own path. Joe took this in stride and accepted his new name Meanwhile, my main female protagonist I haven't actually used in anything is name Cirra, because it's a one letter difference from Cirri, which is what barnacle legs are called. I like barnacles.

[@yelsavidaravskaja905]

I just use finnic and volga-finnic names with slight modifications, since my story is mostly staged in a very similar culture. I've never seen either types of used in any fiction EVER, so I feel it's appropriate.

[@agihammerthief8953]

Well, there's Mordenkainen from D&D, whose name is Lemminkainen from Kalevala mixed with Mordecai from the Bible. So, there's at least half a name.

[@Stoneworks]

One reason I think people neglect finnic names in particular is that the connotation has been somewhat bastardized. Tolkien based Quenya on finnish, old english, latin, and greek, and I think in fantasy, Quenya is seen as the equivalent of a finnish connotation. It's a shame because Quenya and finnish are so different, to the point where people take actual finnish as more of a slavic, norse, and goofy-Scandinavian connotation. If you can change that with your stories, please do.

[@villeheinonen8802]

I'm intrested that what kind of names you use? Im finnish. As someone said Mordenkainen. See my name -nen ending. Thats very common here. I think Mielikki is a nature god in d&d but also in finnish mytology. My personal view is that I would use Mordennen over Mordenkainen. I dont know how to explain but i sort of feel that this person 'Mordenkainen' is from a place of death. Mort, and the finnish endin -kainen or -nen. Or is the son of death. I dont know if im making any sense here.

[@Akranejames]

My names tend to be puns, jokes, and references that you can easily miss because, as much as I like to make the world work realistically, I also like naming a fool Sophia or someone that hates water Baptiste. Heck, the name of my character in the first D&D campaign I ever played (cliché homebrew world without well-defined cultures and politics) was more or less named Boatpun McSea (Rowan Seawind - Rowan coming from Rowin') and was pretty much the water-themed pseudo-greek warrior character of the team. Also, they tend to be a cue (albeit quite deformed) of the original inspiration of the character, or of their purpose when it's not just a temporary "until I get a better idea" that I grew fond of.

[@learncat8771]

"I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times" - Bruce Lee Well I fear the person they practiced the kicks on.

[@NekoMouser]

My character's name includes 7 apostrophes and all vowels. So glad you didn't tell me not to use more than 4 apostrophes per name!

[@markmayonnaise1163]

Hey man, I just found your channel a few days ago and I just wanted to say that I've found this series extremely useful and I love what you're doing. Subbed!

[@celinaastbury4619]

How the hell are you so underrated

[@IvanSN]

I think I'm madly in love with you

[@golgarisoul]

Ever since playing Ravniva I have become a fan of using Polish as my go-to medieval fantasy language.

[@nonametherabbit8593]

🥺🥺🥺

[@daltonfilho835]

Or just do it like Hirohiko Araki and reference the shit out of everything on character names, especially music

[@tweetugwe1270]

He straight up have a DnD sheets everytime he create a character.

[@grizzlyowlbear3538]

Remember the Egyptian dude whose name was Steely Dan?

[@MasonGreenWeed]

@@grizzlyowlbear3538 Most of DIO's henchmen is westerners, plus Steely Dan encountered at Karachi, Pakistan

[@intelligenceparadigm4931]

I hadn't seen this before, but the 3 main characters in the game I am making have names starting with M, K, and V, with them all having different amounts of syllables, and no sound in any of them is similar to any other. This is really interesting, and I'm glad to see a study like this, but it also reaffirms my choices in names despite lacking clear conventions from my intent.

[@fartestry5522]

I really love your videos I binged them like three times now thank you so much for your awesome content

[@willieearles3151]

Am I the only one who can do this easily in my head in about 10 seconds?

[@Aethuviel]

I mostly look at names or words (make sure you don't mess up that one) from other cultures, with a meaning that fits my character, and change the letters until it fits my culture's established sounds, and the origin is not too obvious.

[@EllePhoenixMC]

My main villain's name is Brian for three reasons. 1. I thought it would be funny to give the big bad a common name. 2. In world he's royalty. He starts out as prince and eventually becomes succeeds his father to become Emperor. The name Brian means noble or of noblebirth. 3. The name has both a literal and ironic meaning. He's noble in blood and status, but he's not noble in his behavior.

[@Nosirrbro]

Screw that, I'll just actually make my own entire language and make names with that. (As I've already done... twice. I like languages, hush.)

[@Stoneworks]

That's what I do, if you've got a lot of time on your hands, conlanging is the way to go

[@gabriel300010]

I tried that once, but I started geting too excited with exceptions and irregular verbs and ended up not knowing how to speak my own language

[@Nosirrbro]

Indeed

[@Stoneworks]

Many conlangers don't know their languages. I don't. I know simple phrases and a little vocabulary but that's it.

[@benrex7775]

My friend studies Linguistics (after he failed at architecture). He's at his language since high school. Or to be more precise he just started with his language recently. What he is doing since highschool is developing a writing system. I think by now he is at version 30 or so. Latin, greek, korean, georgian, he blends everything together. Since he started studying linguistics it got way worse and I didn't even get the first version of his language. As a more technical thinker I prefer your geographical stuff. I feel like coherent language and names are important, but at some point you just have to drop topics because you can't be master of everything. _Perhaps maybe... sometime far in the future..._

[@tjduck85]

I think that it is also important to consider, much like with place names, where given names come from and the values these names reflects. Many European names originate from biblical figures or religious concepts, stressing the importance of religious values held by the culture. These religious origins may be forgotten, especially given the multi-step separation of languages (Jakob -> James) and cultural shifts in religious attitudes, but these origins nevertheless remain. For example, the name 'Michael' now sounds fairly rote and ordinary for us, and variations exist in multiple languages. The name 'Michael' follows Semitic (i.e. Hebrew) theophoric naming conventions: Miy Ca'El? "Who is like God?" And many biblical names will embed either El /"God" (e.g., Gabriel, Eli, Daniel, Joel, Elizabeth, etc.) and/or YHWH (e.g., Isaiah, Jeremiah, Jonathan, etc.), and sometimes both (e.g., Elijah). And this was an incredibly common practice in the Afro-Semitic world, whether Egypt (e.g., Rameses : R'-ms-sw, "Ra is the one who gave birth to him") or Mesopotamia (e.g., Ashurbanipal : Ashur-bani-apli, "Ashur is the creator of an heir"). So it is also worth considering when coming up with names how people in a world may use names to signify important religious values or concepts important to the peoples. So if gods are important for a culture, how might a given people choose to reflect that piety in their names or naming conventions?

[@Tvhurdghit4fhi6rr]

You have the best fantasy name

[@nateblack8669]

This is why I love naming my deities more, because I take the Lovecraft approach. Gods and cosmic entities can all pretty much have absurd names that don't need to be tied to any mortal language origin because the way I see it, their names aren't meant to be spoken by the human tongue, so when I name a deity, it's basically from a motral's perspective from reading texts/scriptures about that deity. Take Cthulhu for example: there's no actual proper way to say it. Humans just pronounce it the best they can and that's how it's passed down. But aside from that, when I'm naming mortals I usually alter Irish, Latin, Nordic and Greek names.

[@arte0021]

I use the "take a real world name and slightly alter it" a lot In my fantasy story (which i doubt i will ever write) the main character's name is Kay, which is short for Kaylon. And the other protagonist is named Gil, which is short for Gilber. So my characters have somewhat real world names but theyre actually short for fictional names( though the last one is just the name Gilbert with the t removed) There is also a knight/Robin Hood figure named Fianne Rael( i heard of an irish mythological hero called Fionn, and i liked how his name sounded so i altered it slightly for my character, and Rael is just a cool sounding name) There is also a character named Rollan Unas, a general who later becomes an emperor. Rollan comes from Roland and Unas sounds Roman.

[@horseenthusiast1250]

The way I’ve always created names is coming up with a few sounds and then creating a pattern (so like, single-cellular conlanging). Either that or I take names/words I like and break them. Also, the feel of this fantasy country these following names come from is supposed to be a weirdly familiar yet alien wombo combo of medieval European-based fantasy, medieval Mongolia, and a pinch of Renaissance Venice, but like, nomadic with a monsoon climate. Keep in mind I literally started worldbuilding this when I was six, so this is old and a little scattered (much like the real world lol). Anyway. Here are the etymologies of some of the names of my main characters! Mulne (pronounced MOOL-ney). Comes from the phrase I described with when I was six, “Moon pony.” Wuku’onia, Wuku for short (pro. WOO-koo [glottal stop] OWN-eeyuh). Wuku and from me reading some story when I was six about two birds, one named Wu and the other named Ku. I then added on to it when I developed the naming ceremony for this culture and the rules/etymologies that go with it, so in-world it’s Wuku (meaning gentle and passive) and the female name ending ‘onia (which is funny bc Wuku is Anything but gentle and passive). Ekchumolee’, Ekchu for short (pro. EK-choo-moh-LEE[glottal stop]. Ekchumo means “brave and strong”, while lee’ is a male name ending (another joke bc he’s very gentle and physically weak). Telemem (pro. TEH-leh-mem) doesn’t mean anything yet, but men is a female ending. Likewise for the male name Durshalmen (Der[rolled r]-SHALL-men), which doesn’t mean anything yet but has the male ending of men (which was one of the first endings I thought of, super original for men to be called men I know lol). Finally, the surname Tersheemee (pro. Ter-SHEE-mee) doesn’t mean anything on its own, but is actually the etymology of the name of a horse breed (tersht) that only their family is legally allowed to breed (which is why Tersheemee family leaders almost always have the epithet Horselord). Anyway, since the languages I know some stuff about are English (native), Welsh (learning), Yurok (learning), Old English (dad speaks it around me a lot and I can recognise some words), and some v e r y passing Esperanto, Japanese, and various Elvish languages, I tend to draw a lot from those phonetic databases (mostly English and Yurok, since those are the two I can actually reliably speak). I also LOVE rolled r’s and whatever the Welsh ll/Yurok hl is called, and glottal stops, so I put them in as much as I reasonably can without making stuff incomprehensible.

[@thebardbardelli6515]

Stormwind...glorious. Quality video with useful techniques

[@nucleargandhi3759]

2 years late, but your channel has helped me decide that I want to make a world/story now

[@duke9534]

If you see this keep uploading. I'm just getting into fantasy writing and your videos are legendary

[@Stoneworks]

thank you, more videos are on the way

[@reginasaveholmolsson8057]

Creating names is probably the toughest part in my world building, especially as several species have languages that are impossible for other species to pronounce (one of them for instance sound like birds) but i worked around that by having them adopt names they use when dealing with other species based on a common language in their world that almost everyone speak to some degree. But some of the names are still intentionally freaky, which my characters complain about, and sometimes give characters their own nicknames. I also have characters that are given odd nicknames due to there being several characters with similar names (for instance a Dan who is often called Danny, a person referred to by their last name Daniels, and a Daniel joins the group so ends up being called something totally different)

[@alexiariver478]

Something posh like Cassandra or Percival? Why you coming for the De Rolos like that??!?

[@viperblitz11]

So long as it's easy to remember, like *Percival Fredrickstein Von Musel Klossowski de Rolo III*

[@yiyi3926]

How to create names for most characters in fantasy: google translate into cool language How to create names for character from the country you world built the most: spend hours creating a functioning language with figures of speech and connotations and then design a name in that language.

[@chronorebel_greatgryffon1312]

In my created world, the main nation featured is an analogue to medieval France. So most characters have French-sounding names. It can be as simple as that.

[@ironclad9769]

Hey, your world building is awesome, and one idea for a video is mountain regions

[@el_saltamontes]

The Thumbnail is from "El Quijote de la Mancha" -Miguel de Cervantes, he is the most famous author in Spain, like Shakespeare for english speaking countries

[@zachc8190]

Yess. Keep these comin bro

[@jlinus7251]

Paladins... wow 😂 Haha sorry just the way it was said was hilarious. Anyway great video. It was very helpful

[@jascrandom9855]

Give the the Big Bad or the most Badass/Ominous character of your story the most mundane and least intimidating name ever, like Bob or Karen. Imagine a fantasy epic, where all the Characters have these elaborate and unique fantasy names, and then there is some Guy named Tom that keeps appearing.

[@haydenaliralria2003]

I'd wanted a prophet character named in Latin "Dolore," which means grief. So I wanted a name Dolore because this character is sad all the time and is able to predict other's sadnesses, but I decided Dolore is bit the same as the other character but isn't afraid to be persecuted while the other prophet is only a child care.

[@NoobFish23]

From Stormlight... -Dalinar -Jasnah -Kaladin (Kal) -Shallan Some damn good names!

[@johnterpack3940]

They really like the letter "a", don't they?

[@yousuck785why]

Thanks for the informative video! You help me write and read ^_^

[@danielfake8269]

I usually come up with the character first. Then I look up words that describe their personality or story arc (like redemption) and put them in google translate. I also go to fantasy name generator. I then put both of them together.

[@keiilluminato5056]

"you don't want the influence to be obvious" Akira toriyama: ca-carrot

[@wyattwahlgren8883]

I am not much of a Harry Potter fan, but I find it interesting that Voldemort is actually vol de mort, which is french. I know that J.K. Rowling knows french and she was very clever with that name. It means either 'flight of death' or 'theft of death.' She probably didn't need to change up the spelling because not very many English speakers know french, and the actual way to pronounce those words differs from the English version. And it looks cool.

[@pixxie643]

Oh no...this is making it all seem so much more daunting.

[@xenolegend2767]

I only use /a e i o u/ for my vowels. So mine sounds very Latin. But i'm basing it more on an Amazon/Indonesian mixed culture. But what i find interesting is taking a normal English word that sounds completely different from these vowels and replacing them with /a e i o u/. Example: Bookcase --> Bokase ( pronounced /bokase/ in IPA). Sounds super exotic and nothing like "bookcase" :D

[@xenolegend2767]

Another example: House --> Hose (pronounced /hose/ in IPA) Sounds like Spanish Jose, but completly independent. :D

[@brandonchapman4532]

I have a concept story about humanity dealing with a dying, desert word due to a natural disasters and that each kingdom is fighting over resources and trees and flowers are priceless values. There are also legends of a hidden Oasis containing all the greenary called the Lost Paradise. My main character is named Elyia (E-lie-a), a princess who lost her kingdom to a rival nation and travels with bandits who seeks the Lost Paradise. I call it Elyia: The Lost Paradise

[@Stoneworks]

I love it. As long as you're okay with the connotation being very European while at the same time being mostly a vague Non-English, that's great. The "El" gives it a bit of spanish vibe, the -ly- would have... some sort of slavic or hungarian connotation? And the -ia is greco-roman which is powerful and somewhat elegant. Although Greco-Roman is kind of seen as the... modern "default" connotation in fantasy. If that's good to you, definitely an awesome name.

[@brandonchapman4532]

@@Stoneworks thank you. Although I didn't originally had connotation in mind, I was thinking about since this is a arid, dessert-like world I had more of Arabic & European culture with some steampunk elements. You hot right about the roman & Slavic tho.

[@johannageisel5390]

I was thinking of "Ely... sium"

[@jaydenslaptop6548]

Brandon Chapman Seems Interesting

[@serkif1]

Thanks for all of these great videos, Stoneworks! These have been super helpful for me! The one critique I have is that the audio you have now creates very harsh 'S' sounds. I don't know enough about audio to recommend a way to fix it, but if you are able to it would greatly increase the quality of your videos.

[@comrade1158]

I fucking love you, Perceval, Tiberius(rip his soul.)

[@zachc8190]

I either use really cool ones i see on farms or what words and names i see wrong than how it actually is like on other peoples gamertags

[@anonymousdolan4862]

If anyone is interested on the art in the thumbnail it’s most likely Don Quixote

[@NicoNoFace]

I just discovered your channel and i fucking love everything about ist

[@baronvonjerch]

3:47 As a Bavarian, with family from Hamburg (that's in the north of Germany which has a strong sailor and Nordic-style culture, in case you were curious), I see this all the time. People seem to forget that not all of Germany is alpine country and that the Germanic peoples have a complex and individualistic history. It's all because of Americans and their spreading of stereotypes (mainly through Hollywood).

[@baronvonjerch]

@@Wolfmasterpixel You do know I'm talking about modern stereotypes, not antiquity. P.S. I'm going to assume you're American, yes?

[@Wolfmasterpixel]

ChannelFoenix I am American, yes - not as though that means anything other than I subscribe to a set of ideals. My grandfather and grandmother on my mother's side were from Germany. Two of my great grandparents on my father's side were Swedes. My honorary uncle is a second generation American whose grandparents were from Portugal. As far as germanic peoples are concerned, our stereotypes are derived from antiquity. Same goes for the Greeks, Chinese, Japanese, and Africans. What movies does Hollywood make about germanic peoples? I cant think of any modern film portraying germanic peoples that isnt a WWII film. As far as generalizations are concerned - so what? Its easier to represent groups on the big screen if they share characteristics. People portray Americans as one thing in every film (we even do it to ourselves) and yet Americans have a complex and individualistic history. The Hatfields and McCoys are a prime example. Or the nature of good and evil in the Wild West. Oil barons. And for those of us who know history, we know of Germanic peoples. We even know of the Kievan Rus'. And Germanic peoples have had great involvement in American history. Good and bad (Britain used Hessians against us during our revolution, for example).

[@gal749]

Example: An old design of my character has only one eye, so I named her Ocula. In her current design she has two, but I decided to keep the name.

[@thundergozon6439]

How I build my DnD character names Step 1: Choose a phrase Step 2: Remove the spaces and split between first and last name as you see fit Step 3: Change a bunch of letters Step 4: Pronounce it as you would if it was actually written like this (shift stress around if you want) Yes, they're all puns and yes, they all still look like fantasy names.

[@g-rexsaurus794]

Video is more fluid, joke density seems just about right. Good job! Joke quality also increased.

[@andrewleonard54]

Time to go make some pancakes

[@celinaastbury4619]

Ha ha... I literally have two characters who just have English words as their names :3... Cavalcade and Lone :")

[@Stoneworks]

those are actually sick names

[@celinaastbury4619]

Stoneworks ha ha, thanks

[@Ggdivhjkjl]

Been working on a potential name list that's literally just words taken from a dictionary.

[@thatguybob6088]

Keep making videos man!

[@DakarrtheTerminator]

I usually take normal names and mess them up real bad until they come out with something that fits. Then I end up with four characters from 2 regions, Menou and Miravel from one, Sekadi and Tacua from the other. Turns out strangely well by sheer coincidence. I think beating the crap out of a boring name or word until it becomes good is much easier than just trying to think of something fitting from the get go. Can you believe that Menou started out as venominous? looks easy like that but hard to know when you don't know the backstory, and that's the simplest one.

[@crossbones5428]

Here I am naming a knight ‘Kieth’

[@TriLool78]

another way to make a relatable name in a fantasy setting is by the use of nickname: for exemple in "Tara Duncan" the main character's name is Tara'thylanem so everyone just call her Tara for short.

[@skadihuntress]

hmm so i got these guys noma - assassin, name means fate in norse. She gave herself this name, bringer of fate.. when she moved to the north karii - elven girl, short for faarkarii hunito, completly made up, torunn - daughter of thor, norse (skyrim dovahkiin). Evander - evan for short, thief character, cant remember what it means, but he is an imperial from elder scrolls Freydis - Lady, married into nobles, originally a townsgirl, (theres a story to that), she is a skyrim nord, named after both rl freydis (norse name, feminine) and queen freydis in the elder scrolls

[@meatiest1989]

Good names, especially Noma, that's a really cool name

[@jzaar7483]

Gandalf is the name of a dwarf in Norse mythology fyi. He's mentioned in, I think, Voluspa but I'm not certain.

[@theenergetichopecat7006]

HMMM, I love the name Gandolf! It is very Germanic in sound, short and simple, earthy and vibrant, strong and bold, easy to spell and pronounce, and memorable! I’ve had this name in my head for several days now, ever since reading the hobbit, this name can’t leave my head! When I first heard it I thought it was kind of cool! But then when the video described the sound of it, it just would not stop bugging my brain all day! I think it is a unique name and one of the more extra cool names that I’ve heard in my life actually. I don’t know if I’m brave enough to do this, but I am kind of considering using this name for a future son of mine. But I don’t know if I’m brave enough to do it. But I’m still kind of wanting to use this name because it is extremely underused I think, and it blows my mind that, this name is not used enough considering how popular the Lord of the rings and the hobbit have become over the years, you would think this name would rise in popularity but it hasn’t. It still blows my mind and I might use it one day but who knows? If you’re gonna use it for anybody let me know in the comments below cause I’d love to hear your responses! I just think this is one of the more special and strong names that I’ve come across as of recent. And I love it. A lot!

[@andrewbailey2337]

Good vid,

[@elijahgarland5237]

Almost a million subs in a year. Not bad

[@riswanda2620]

Searching for a fisherman name never could be this *EASY*

[@BKPrice]

So I should change my character Xthalsyivss's name?

[@thetherrannative]

No, man, Parselmouths need more fiction written just for them.

[@Chris_M_Romero]

*tsss~* esta wea ya se prendio! That was an in-depth analysis on the craft of naming characters, how about combining prefixes from one language and then adding them to names that come from a different language? For example: I've got a friend that calls me "McMoya"; the Mc comes from Ireland and the Moya from Spain, but both places share some historical commonalities: The roman presence. So, this is how I think a last name like that could be possible: Some roman military man, which last name is Moya, that originally comes from Hispania, the roman province, ends up in campaign in Ireland a little time after the indigenous were incorporated to the empire. This military stays in Ireland and he's respected by the indigenous. He marries an irish woman, and has a son. But the people of the village doesn't refer to the child as "Moya" but as "McMoya", because Mc means son of. It's kind of a funny story, but it might pass

[@PirhanaBrother]

"Gandalf" IS Germanic. It was a popular name in olden Norse times. Gandalf Alfgeirsson was the legendary Norse king that inspired Tolkien to borrow the name, himself, says Wikipedia (yes it is cited). Etymologically, it means "Wand Elf."

[@Merecir]

From the Völuspá "Catalogue of Dwarves". 10. There was Motsognir | the mightiest made Of all the dwarfs, | and Durin next; Many a likeness | of men they made, The dwarfs in the earth, | as Durin said. 11. Nyi and Nithi, | Northri and Suthri, Austri and Vestri, | Althjof, Dvalin, Nar and Nain, | Niping, Dain, Bifur, Bofur, | Bombur, Nori, An and Onar, | Ai, Mjothvitnir. 12. Vigg and Gandalf | Vindalf, Thrain, Thekk and Thorin, | Thror, Vit and Lit, Nyr and Nyrath,-- | now have I told-- Regin and Rathsvith-- | the list aright. 13. Fili, Kili, | Fundin, Nali, Hepti, Vili, | Hannar, Sviur, (Billing, Bruni, | Bildr and Buri,) Frar, Hornbori, | Fræg and Loni, Aurvang, Jari, | Eikinskjaldi. 14. The race of the dwarfs | in Dvalin's throng Down to Lofar | the list must I tell; The rocks they left, | and through wet lands They sought a home | in the fields of sand. 15. There were Draupnir | and Dolgthrasir, Hor, Haugspori, | Hlevang, Gloin, Dori, Ori, | Duf, Andvari, Skirfir, Virfir, | Skafith, Ai. 16. Alf and Yngvi, | Eikinskjaldi, Fjalar and Frosti, | Finn and Ginnar; So for all time | shall the tale be known, The list of all | the forbears of Lofar.

[@kinglouiev9530]

I have an idea for a Main Character name: Zakar Kyros. Zack is a familiar name that is Corrupted & Kyros sounds powerful, noble, heroic.

[@sophiejones7727]

"kyros" means "lord" in ancient Greek, borrowed from ancient Farsi "kurush" (probably). It became "Cyrus" when Latinized. Thought you should be aware of that, before you make a final decision. Seems like a good name if your character is royal or something. "Zakar" is pretty genius too. A corruption of a nickname (Zack is short for Zachariah). nicely done!

[@sikuku5957]

Me:"hey this is a very good video and I like it very much" Video:"There is no such thing as Bavaria" ( 3:48 ) Me:"dislike"

[@CoverCode]

As a Dane i like the name Æsir, (think that would be 'Aesir' for non Danish/Norwegian speakers), but I like the name since it sounds powerful and is an easy and clear to both read and speak, sadly it does relay how the letter Æ and how you pronounce it, and IMO Æsir looks a lot better then Aesir.

[@richardbug3094]

Nice vid, what editing software do you use?

[@Stoneworks]

trial version of Camtasia studio

[@pyromaniac6084]

Stoneworks that's a thick mood

[@g-rexsaurus794]

Also having original names in your story makes your normal names stand out, for example I wouldn't say "Robert" or "Jon" in GoT or ASOIAF are cliche or weird or that they give any sort of particular connatations as they don't happen any more often or look any weirder in the sea of original or less common names.

[@zulthyr1852]

What connotations does Slavic and Japanese names have?

[@ryanratchford2530]

Nice to see some Critical Role love. It’s a great show.

[@angelicafernandezcastro1882]

I created two princes for my story: One is supposed to be a co-protagonist to my currently-Mary-Sue-still-WIP Protagonist™, and the other is a throw-away character I killed off on the first draft for the plot to kick in. I thought to myself "hey, royal families have fortune and wealth! The heir should be fortunane, so let's call him Fortune!" Thus, co-protagonist Fortuen was born. I still don't like that name, so it's mostly a placeholder rn, but the other? Well, I couldn't make "Wealth" into something decent, so since everyone wants health too, and it is also something Royals have more access to than commoners, the throw-away was named "Haleth", which is similar to Caleb, and I have NO IDEA why such an intencionally shitty character that I have no intention of giving a redemption arc to gets to have such a cool name right off the bat. it is unfair, but I can't just take it and give it to someone else ;-;

[@greenmario3011]

For gods I find one of the lesser known old ones and just change some letters and maybe the spelling (Byatis The Serpent Bearded -> Gyantis The Great Observer) or use the "fallen london" style of names and have 1 or 2 gods be named "The [Adjective] [Noun]" (something like "The Implacable Composer")

[@Miksha]

I read that as "Creating Fantasy Character Memes"

[@jsbcomp]

Fun fact: I think the relation between Din and holly knights (Paladin). Comes from the Arabic words "Din" which means religion.

[@johnterpack3940]

Never expected an SPG reference when I clicked the vid.

[@ChiefderWahrheit]

7:33 look around, look around how lucky we are to be alive right now~

[@fritzorino]

Why did it turn so dark in the end?

[@grobanlover292]

Could you make videos about creating tribal culture, desert life and civilizations, and towns that emerge due to some commercial convenience, like at a crossroads, or at a natural rest along a trade route (ie, oasis, caves, etc)?

[@Stoneworks]

I'm actually working on a video about deserts specifically right now

[@MiloTheCrotonian]

Lol my characters will always be named Azrael Denakir and Hugh of the Hand

[@jonathanho5879]

Confusing names: Fëanor, Fingolfin, Finarfin, Finwë, Nowë, Ingwë…

[@sophiejones7727]

yeah, actually "Fëanor", "Fingolfin" and "Finarfin" are the less confusing versions. Their real names were Finwë Curufinwë, Finwë Ngolofinwë and Finwë Arafinwë. Fëanor named his son after himself, producing yet more confusion since now there is also a Curufin. And after Fëanor, thankfully, elves stopped naming their children after themselves forever. Though we still have Elrond and Elros, as well as Elladan and Elrohir. Also "Aragorn son of Arathorn" and "Gimli son of Gloin", gah. And then we have Gilgalad which is not confusing, but it is really hard to say.

[@hardboild282]

I think the ë must be pronounced like "e". Literally "Fianor". "Feianor" sounds cool but wierd.

[@Marcotonio]

You could replace all those memes with examples. No need to add anything to the script (although that wouldn't be bad), people can just pause and read the extra stuff if they want.

[@aureliannatuiscaesar421]

I got two names to run by. Riakie, and Kai-ben.

[@Bronze_Age_Sea_Person]

I used a trick in the names of my main heroines:Use Japanese names whose meaning deeply describes the person,then make their Grammar and phonology Catalan,French,Occitan or Provençal because the novel is inspired on Southern France. That's how I came with gloomy girls,daughters of silk weavers,crow-ish Fousseau Rhonoccas. Social butterflies like Choucca and maid-like,daughters of celtiberic-ish women,spring-loving,"following the sun" type girls like Rima Uaire uí Raul(The pronounce won't make any sense if you read like an american,get off with those filthy approximants for Rs,use uvular fricatives like a true Portuguese) and girls with names completely european like Irènne Vitòri who hide their true names by using totally japanese pseudonyms like Midori Renge(watch Non Non Biyori,you will figure out Irènne's personality a little bit).Only one is has a fully european,noble-ish name,Maria Isabella Sistine de Stramoine,buy hey...Maria is a japanese name too. I spoiled the secret,but it will be cool when someone reads my novel,see the weird,"european but not" names,and goes all the way to translate into Japanese and find the hidden meanings,like an easter egg right under the reader's noses.

[@hardhoagie3809]

Oh like percival and cassandra derolo? you think you're slick ;)

[@jgunner280]

I really do like the act of just taking real names and screwing with them. Helga? Hylka. Brandon? Brahd-nim. Joseph? Husef. Or let's look at Paul & Mark? Maraul. Sometimes even really screw with things, and make some names sound like common words but from a society that wouldn't really be using those words, or... honestly just a society that doesn't care if it uses words for names, as we do with names like Destiny & Hope. Only mix it up to get something like... Dhor. Thurtyn. Naurth. (Door, 13, north). Or take names that sound gendered, and give it to the opposite foreign culture. Like Tymia-Jon being a girl's name, throwing you off just enough with that "john" sound, but still looking like it could work. Honestly, its pretty fun, and occasionally even interesting to come up with a different system like an alien race that uses suffixes in place of last-names. I only struggle with names when I do have to be really weird, and come up with the "This isn't meant for the human tongue, but I somehow have to make it for the human english alphabet's eyes" kinda name for dragons or eldritch horrors, etc. That said, I get salty when I find out a "really cool fictional name" already exists as something I just never heard in real life. Like I once named a male captain named Daris, before seeing an order at my job several days later come through for a woman named Daris. No idea that was a real name. Or finding out that Thomas was once really spelled Tomas. ... and names like Aaron already look like something that came out of fantasy.