Worldbuilding: How to Make Names That Don't Suck

⏲️ TIMESTAMPS:

00:00 - Introduction
00:33 - 1: Use Placeholders
02:28 - 2: Define Traits
04:32 - 3: Differentiate Characters
05:40 - 4: Develop Linguistic Rules
07:16 - 5: Random Generators & AI
11:08 - 6: Avoid These Rookie Mistakes
13:28 - 7: Don't Obsess

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Hi! My name's Jed. I'm a fantasy author with four published novels and a bestselling video game. On this channel, I draw from my 12+ years of writing experience to help you become a better writer.

[Jed_Herne]

My next fantasy novel, Kingdom of Dragons, is out now!

[boota]

Dude, there's a secret trick to coming up with names in just a few steps:

1) Use a crappy placeholder name until inspiration strikes.

2) Become attached to the placeholder.

3) You are now attached to the crappy placeholder, congrats, that's literally how 90% of places are historically named.

[anneahlert]

I wish the pharma industry would quit using up all the really cool alien names.

[MawoDuffer]

Go to the cemetery and collect all the cool old names on the headstones

[VivaLaDnDLogs]

As a former scriptreader, almost every sci-fi or fantasy story I read included a name that boiled down to "Varik Darkul", so that's what apparently everyone thinks is the "coolest name".

[BionicDance]

There are two ways I come up with names in my sci-fi writing:
1 - Mishearing lyrics in songs sung in foreign languages.
For example, "Som ger sommartider" (Swedish) became "Sonya Summer", cuz _boy_ does it sound like that!
"Tullaan viisaammiksi näin" (Finnish) helped me name a musical band "Mixy 9".

2 - "Random Word Generator" program.
That app doesn't just generate random words; it has an editor which allows you to enter a ton of phonemes and how frequently--and in which order--they should be employed in the words it generates.
The language of a major alien race is backward from most languages, where vowel sounds tend to come _before_ consonants, so I entered all of the possible letters (cuz not every sound in English is represented), told the generator in which order they should appear in a word, and set it loose.
The aliens are known as the Ikakurog-- 'ik', 'ah', ur', and 'og'--and sentences like "Anyumal yunyeg adyae" (which I decided means "Knowledge is powerful") came out as well, one word at a time. Random Word Generator is a very useful tool.

[mikevoss]

It won't work for every story, but if you simply must use an unpronouncable or tonguetwister name for your alien race or its members, have a human or human-influenced character provide a nickname, or if they are familiar enough with human speech let the aliens provide a human nickname themselves. Larry Niven is very good at this.

[sebastiansilverfox]

Rather than relying on generated names, one potential filter you could use is to do a quick study on naming conventions. Apply these in any combination of your choosing or let them inspire you to create your own. Then when you look up some names you like, apply your chosen naming convention(s) to it and see if you like the results.
Scandinavian "surnames" are the father's name with "son" or "dottr" tacked on to the end (for sons and daughters respectively).
Ancient Egyptian names tended to end in "et" for women and "es" or "ep" for men.
Many Eastern Asian names have the family name (surname) come first followed by the name of the individual.
Many English surnames are based on location or profession. (Fisher, Chandler, and others basically told you what they did for a living).
Many ancient societies had no surname and a description was added. This trend continued and is still used in some places you might not expect. Geralt of Rivia, John the Baptist, or Kang the Conqueror for instance. (Bet you never expected to see those three names together on a list) This practice evolved to having surnames based on a location. Point being that a rudimentary knowledge of naming conventions can greatly enrich your character names. Just... don't go so far down the rabbit hole that you never get to work on your story.. but if names are a perpetual issue, it can certainly help.

[eugenemurphy]

Well, guess it's time to scrap my manuscript: "Harry, Henry, Hubert, Humphrey: The Happenings of the Four H's"

[rubymasta]

12:05 I loved the Kingkiller Cronicle as much as I hated the Name Kvothe. Never had that Problem before 😅

[ManOfSesame]

After carefully watching this video, i have decided that one of my characters will now be called "Yogurt Frostwood"

[leahalfonso]

I think using names with hidden meanings are fun in that they can add meaning to the story, or making those connections later on makes the story interesting enough to come back to. But for sure, it’s good to use names readers can appreciate even if they don’t make those connections.

[heartsy]

When you came up with a story when you were five and gave your main characters stupid names that don't have any meaning but now youre so attached to those names that you cant change them:

[mikevoss]

One thing I don't think came up in this lesson: while you *should* use placeholders if you haven't figured out a character's name, finding that right name may well be beneficial to writing the character and inspire you when you discover it. While worldbuilding for a story with few details and no name for the mc and antagonist, I stumbled upon the perfect name while reading another story. It clicked immediately, and spurred me to sit down and write a ragged but very helpful story treatment that I sent to a writer friend because I was now so excited I had to tell somebody about my story idea. He'd already seen an opening snippet for it and wanted me to hurry up and write it, but the longer treatment fired up his enthusiasm for the project as well as mine. If you are actually writing the story and discover the mc's "right and proper" name, it can do wonders to inspire your efforts further, and a lot of things may suddenly fall into place that were up in the air before, because now that you know who the character is, you'll find it easier to discover what he is, what he does, and other things as well. Just as a good idea can jumpstart a story, a good name can jumpstart a character.

[dakotaraptorr]

2:35 To be fair, a lot of Native American cultures used names that were literally just a defining trait, maybe like "Short Foot" or "Looks like Bear"

[nathanunruh]

I don't actually write or do much world building, but as someone who has always wondered how it's done, thanks for explaining all that. 14 minutes well spent.

[tophatteddd]

I quite literally named my protagonist "Parasol", simply because she wields an umbrella 😭

[MrDracoSpirit]

Baby name websites are my first point of call normaly, and as a rule I tend to use consistent naming conventions for people who are part of the same group.

[wearenotdoinggethelp]

In my WIP, the names of people born in the nation the novel is centred in are determined by the saint tied to the day/month they are born in, which leads to some really cool meanings (One of the MCs is named after a saint associated with death in his area of the society, but in his love interest's society it is associated with being a leader and talented warrior)

[anakinskyguy]

I enjoy using the method that C. S. Lewis used when he made the name for Narnia!
As a kid he was looking at an atlas, and found a town in Italy called Narni, changed it up a little, and called it Narnia! I’ve actually been to Narni before too.
You can also take this further by finding countries that speak a language you like the sound of, that can help you come up with names that have a specific sound too!