How Do I Come up with Names—Brandon Sanderson

Here is the nex video where I answer the questions I get asked most frequently. Today I tackle: How do you come up with the names in your books?

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[milospollonia]

If you need inspiration for starting points: The credits of movies are gold mines

[fernandocozar]

Here is Kaladin, his friends call him Kal
There is also Kelsier, also known as Kel
🤔
I hope there is also a Kil, Kol and Kul around the Cosmere and they meet at some point, it would be hilarous.

[Zisteau]

Eyyy so I had this character that was sort of a crazy paladin...Craladin? Kaladin!

[AscendantStoic]

Brandon: Here is how I come up with names.
Me: Side-glances at internet fantasy name generator page ... *hand slowly moves to top right corner*

[milkman]

So, Vin in french means "Wine" and Elend in German means "Misery". Kind of interesting that Misery and Wine go together so well :)

[MrAstrojensen]

And then there's the Tolkien method: Invent half a dozen languages, complete with vocabulary, syntax and grammar and even their history, then let said languages determine the names. Gondolin. Minas Tirith. Thangorodrim. Erebor. Beren and Luthien. Thranduil. Dain. Thorin Oakenshield. Smaug. Morgoth. Sauron. You can go on and on. All the names sound cool and natural, because they follow the flow of a real language, even if it's an artificial one.

[Protologos]

"Cephandrius" is an incredibly badass name made only more badass by being only one of a character's many names.

[Larabanth]

I swear I read "How do I come up with memes"

[captainsirk]

I was wondering how I ended up assigning Rock a Russian accent in my head.

[emilyrln]

I often take a name and change or add a few sounds (or even just spelling). David > Davin > Daviniro. Callie > Kali > Markali. Erin + Seth > Erinseth > Eranaseth. Terry + Garth > Terrygarth > Tarréägarth. One neat thing about names formed this way is that have a shortened form that is easy for a lay reader to pronounce (Davin, Kali, Seth, Garth). Consequently, they may be more Earth-centric than you want (in which case, stick to the full form). I use the short form in narration, and most characters use it in dialogue.
The nicknames also serve as a pronunciation hint. I introduce one character as *Shonna* so that when her full name comes up later, readers have a clue as to how in the heck they're supposed to say *Ashonnarrë* (in theory). If *Shonna* is the nickname form, they're more likely (again, in theory) to come up with Uh-SHAWN-uh-ray (as opposed to ASH-uh-nar or Ash-uh-NAR-ray or something else). I used to put an accent mark on the stressed syllable (Ashónnarrë), but I ended up ditching that as being too distracting. (I make an exception for pairs of vowels pronounced independently: Tarréägarth keeps its accented E to distinguish it from the A right beside it.)

[adunsavior]

Now that you mentioned it, I finally understand why I always picture Rock as a huge Polynesian looking guy.

[singingsanja]

When I found out about Elend's name in the original, it made me laugh: It means "misery" in German. They changed it to Eland in the translation, and that's a nice name. ^_^

[Soul]

In German, Elend means "misery" and in the books he's named Elant which I think sounds way less cool but oh well.

[XerxesWorldweaver]

I devised a trick which I'll probably use lots more in the future: basically, I obfuscated the words "Lancelot the Paladin" and got "Liancion Palanu" which is an epic name. I refer to it in my head as "name echoing". You take the phrase that describes your character and then hammer it out until it sounds how you want it to. I use the trick for very few names, though. Most of the time I just make a Latin/Greek sounding name or else some sort of pun/foreshadowing/allegorical name.

[DragonsDungeon]

In the book I’m currently writing about Werewolves, I gave them a tradition with names, they all have the same to letter phrase somewhere in it and then I built the name of what sounded right for that character. It makes the fantasy names feel more real and stem from a past like in the real world.
Then for a poor human character I took inspiration from real life naming in history. The names Johnson for example likely came from John’s Son. The characters father was a mason, his was the mason’s son, so his name became Mason.
Or I just pick a letter and do a google such for names beginning with that fits the setting, time period or has meaning related to the character.

[Mitch-nxic]

Know your culture. Know your environment. Know the language - As your characters name will most likely be a product of these elements. (and probably should) Know the cliches to avoid. Know there is no specific method of finding the right name. Tell yourself its ok to change that name as you go. Understand that your character may have several names in the world you've created. No! Your name doesn't need to be rooted in allegory or "deep meaning" No, it doesnt matter where you found or came up with the name as long as it works. Allow yourself to like the name! Tell yourself its ok to watch these vids.

[neixom]

With my names I tend to think about the characters personality and role in the story, then I search for names in “dying”/ancient languages so they sound cool, sometimes I change some letters to make them sound cooler also.

[TomorrowWeLive]

I absolutely love names--have probably spent far too long compiling multiple lists both in word docs and online at behindthename. Choosing a name for a character is normally a pleasure I defer until I've after I've done the hard work of writing the story. Till then they're designated by their role in the story (protag, antag, antag's mother's hamster) or a _ or x. A major difficulty for me with fantasy names in particular is coming up with a unified linguistic aesthetic for each culture without actually coming up with languages, cause I ain't got the time or skill for that. I need the names from each culture to feel related and recognisable (just like how we immediately know a French or Japanese name when we see it), but also to be:
1. distinct from each other, like real-world names
2. Not blatant rip-offs of real-world languages
3. Æsthetically pleasing and easy to say
4. Sound right for the character
5. Not have already been taken by someone's homebrew roleplay wiki or WoW character. This one's harder than you think.

I feel like a lot of fantasy names fall into the traps of either feeling like the belong to the same Generic Fantasy Language--Arandor Trueheart, etc. or being ugly, unpronounceable nonsense, like T'Shizarr-Ek R'Avikzq'okzlltrp.
Obviously the absolute master of this was Tolkien.

Also, I would never use a name that was an actual word in another real language, because if someone from that culture reads my book they're gonna laugh at me.

[andrewsanderson]

Rock is the one of the coolest names, I loved this video. You explained the Horn-eaters (From the high peeks) and combine Russian and Hawaiian lore/accents. You truly are gifted at writing and creating worlds and names and everything that makes a book nearly impossible to put down. Thanks Brandon.

[llbot]

This explains why all these names are similar to my language (Scandinavian). In Elantris many of the names and fantasy words were natural to pronounce in my mother tongue. Like "Fjordell" or "Arelon".

I was also surprised when in Mistborn era 2, the words "Hermann" and "Frue" popped up. Which means Man and Wife in my language.