Ifinx
Journeyman
Hey everyone! Does anyone know of a good fantasy name generator? I need a few names for my book. A female elf-type-race, and a genderless fairy kind of race. Any suggestions?
-
Welcome to the Fantasy Writing Forums. Register Now to join us!
Fantasy Name Generator
- Thread starter Ifinx
- Start date
Queshire
Dark Lord
Blech, I don't like random name generators, there's no sole, er, soul in it! You should come up with names that mean something!
Jess A
Shadow Lord
I would also avoid name generators.
I tend to look at authors' names in bookshops, or movie titles/credits for strange names. Another good place to check is a baby name list, found in books and online. You can pick foreign ones if you wish. I don't just pick any old random name - I am very picky indeed, but generally people know if they like a name just by looking at it on paper, or hearing it sounded out, or comparing it to a character.
Old historical figures (not famous ones; common people are more obscure and interesting) mentioned in records - that is another good place to check. Or public records. Both surnames and first/middle names can make cool names. Or place names!
I also invent names. I place all found or invented names onto a list. Sometimes, if you want names to be similar for a particular race or culture, you could try to use names from a specific language here in our world. Turkish baby names, for example. Or ancient Chinese names. After a bit, you begin to see the similarities between those names and you can make up your own if you need more. For example, Raymond Feist has a world where the people have very Japanese-sounding names. Not all of them are Japanese, but most of them seem to be. Sometimes it can be predictable and should be approached with caution (you probably don't want your race/culture to be a direct mirror image of a real, obvious culture from our world...but then again, you might!). Katherine Kerr used Welsh names and Welsh mythology in her novels, and it worked quite beautifully. Celtic names are also lovely, especially for elves.
A few of my characters just have plain old names from our world (one of my characters is named 'Logan' without any fancy spellings). I like a bit of familiarity in there.
I tend to look at authors' names in bookshops, or movie titles/credits for strange names. Another good place to check is a baby name list, found in books and online. You can pick foreign ones if you wish. I don't just pick any old random name - I am very picky indeed, but generally people know if they like a name just by looking at it on paper, or hearing it sounded out, or comparing it to a character.
Old historical figures (not famous ones; common people are more obscure and interesting) mentioned in records - that is another good place to check. Or public records. Both surnames and first/middle names can make cool names. Or place names!
I also invent names. I place all found or invented names onto a list. Sometimes, if you want names to be similar for a particular race or culture, you could try to use names from a specific language here in our world. Turkish baby names, for example. Or ancient Chinese names. After a bit, you begin to see the similarities between those names and you can make up your own if you need more. For example, Raymond Feist has a world where the people have very Japanese-sounding names. Not all of them are Japanese, but most of them seem to be. Sometimes it can be predictable and should be approached with caution (you probably don't want your race/culture to be a direct mirror image of a real, obvious culture from our world...but then again, you might!). Katherine Kerr used Welsh names and Welsh mythology in her novels, and it worked quite beautifully. Celtic names are also lovely, especially for elves.
A few of my characters just have plain old names from our world (one of my characters is named 'Logan' without any fancy spellings). I like a bit of familiarity in there.
Last edited:
Ice Spider
Journeyman
Well, I wouldn't turn to one too soon...as the above poster said, the fun of fantasy is getting to use your imagination. 
If you're really stuck and you don't mind doing something more stereotypical, "ai" "y" "w" "l" "r" "a" "u" "th" "ar" "e (with the accent that makes it say "ay")" are all common sounds for something ethereal, elvish, and feminine. Avoid using the vowel o, though sometimes this can work (I know someone is going to give me a counterexample if I don't say this...maybe they will anyway)
If you're really stuck and you don't mind doing something more stereotypical, "ai" "y" "w" "l" "r" "a" "u" "th" "ar" "e (with the accent that makes it say "ay")" are all common sounds for something ethereal, elvish, and feminine. Avoid using the vowel o, though sometimes this can work (I know someone is going to give me a counterexample if I don't say this...maybe they will anyway
)
Jabrosky
Banned
I generally use names from real cultures, which is helpful if you're going for the Fantasy Counterpart Cultures trope as I often do.
Saigonnus
Dark Lord
I remember having a pink baby name book with thousands of names from most of the cultures of the world. That was how I used to name my characters.
Xanados
Scribal Lord
I abhor the idea of a name generator. Creating names should be something fun.
JCFarnham
Dark Lord
Shock horror I'm going to say something completely different.
Name generators don't have to be the most abhorent things in existance, one quick google search away and you'll find countless generators built by proper linguists and conlangers. An example of this would be the Everchanging Book of Names (EBoN). These often require some input in the way of the sounds you'd like to use, but once you've set up some lists in the right format you can generate as many names as you need and NOT BE CONSTRAINED BY PREDECIDED NAMING CONVENTIONS.
There are other more traditional generators (also built by conlangers and linguists of course) but I'm not going to mention them all here.
Using a generator to help along your creative process doesn't mean you have to use exactly what it gives you. I thought that much should have been obvious...
Something I like to use when I want more traditional fantasy names is Inspiration Pad Pro 2.0. Its a group of generators aimed at GMs mostly, but it has two very valueable generators in the package. US female and male names based on 1990 census data. (along with stuff supposedly based on hungarian, icelandic, etc as well as elvish, dwarvish... those rat things from D&D...)
It's probably wildly inaccurate when it comes to real language based names, and it comes up with some real rubbish, but it's decent enough if you use your head.
There.
Oh and I do partially agree with what everyone's said so far, I just wanted to mention that you can be clever about it as well
Name generators don't have to be the most abhorent things in existance, one quick google search away and you'll find countless generators built by proper linguists and conlangers. An example of this would be the Everchanging Book of Names (EBoN). These often require some input in the way of the sounds you'd like to use, but once you've set up some lists in the right format you can generate as many names as you need and NOT BE CONSTRAINED BY PREDECIDED NAMING CONVENTIONS.
There are other more traditional generators (also built by conlangers and linguists of course) but I'm not going to mention them all here.
Using a generator to help along your creative process doesn't mean you have to use exactly what it gives you. I thought that much should have been obvious...
Something I like to use when I want more traditional fantasy names is Inspiration Pad Pro 2.0. Its a group of generators aimed at GMs mostly, but it has two very valueable generators in the package. US female and male names based on 1990 census data. (along with stuff supposedly based on hungarian, icelandic, etc as well as elvish, dwarvish... those rat things from D&D...)
It's probably wildly inaccurate when it comes to real language based names, and it comes up with some real rubbish, but it's decent enough if you use your head.
There.
Oh and I do partially agree with what everyone's said so far, I just wanted to mention that you can be clever about it as well
I agree, JC. Any tool can be helpful when used correctly, and this is an example of one such tool. Further, you actually addressed the OP's question rather than simply assuming he hadn't given any thought to the issue. +Rep.
BWFoster78
Mythic Scribe
I agree with JC as well.
I love coming up with characters and plots, but I hate naming people and places, especially secondary characters. Better to generate names using one of the online generators until I find one I like and then continue writing than to stress about it.
I love coming up with characters and plots, but I hate naming people and places, especially secondary characters. Better to generate names using one of the online generators until I find one I like and then continue writing than to stress about it.
Sir Tristram
Journeyman
As do I.
Also, I'm having a serious problem naming a fairly important evil henchman. I just can't come up with an evil-enough sounding name. I am also in serious need of a name for a thief, as everything I try just sounds... wrong. Help!
Also, I'm having a serious problem naming a fairly important evil henchman. I just can't come up with an evil-enough sounding name. I am also in serious need of a name for a thief, as everything I try just sounds... wrong. Help!
Ireth
Mythic Scribe
One of the first things that came to mind for a thief name was "Klepp", from kleptomania or compulsive stealing. Though Klepp sounds more like a surname than anything. Maybe your thief comes from a family of bandits or pirates?
- Thread starter
- #13
Ifinx
Journeyman
Thanks. I just get to the point sometimes where I'm just completely out of names or just hit a blank spot. So all the suggestions are awesome. Sometimes, just like BWFoster78 said, it's easier to use a generator rather than sitting here wrecking your brain trying to come up with a single name. Anyway thank you all for the help.
Ifinx
Ifinx
BWFoster78
Mythic Scribe
Ifinx,
I use this one: Seventh Sanctum - Names
I generate 50 first and last names and then choose a first name and last name that sound good. I wouldn't consider telling it to pick one name and just going with that one.
Hope that helps.
I use this one: Seventh Sanctum - Names
I generate 50 first and last names and then choose a first name and last name that sound good. I wouldn't consider telling it to pick one name and just going with that one.
Hope that helps.
Kristina.Fugate
Acolyte
I use Seventh Sanctum too from time to time. It's pretty legit. Should solve your problem in no time. I usually find a few I like and mix them together until I have something I like.
Shockley
Scribal Lord
I'll admit that I use a name generator from time-to-time, but with one caveat: I don't use fantasy name generators. Behind the Name has a pretty good generator that lets you select nationalities, and you can get as many as four names at a time. It's pretty fantastic if you want to 'blend' several real world cultures together for naming conventions. Personally, I use a mix of Irish, Scottish, Welsh, English, German, Ancient German, Norse Myth, Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Finnish, Polish, Norwegian, Danish, Swedish and Icelandic to get the names for my people.
That said, a lot of names I do pull from thin air. However, since I do so much working generating names (I have several Word documents full of names) they have a consistency to them I might not have developed otherwise.
That said, a lot of names I do pull from thin air. However, since I do so much working generating names (I have several Word documents full of names) they have a consistency to them I might not have developed otherwise.
MystagogueI was involved in porting a name generator to linux.
Lyreword | Free software downloads at SourceForge.net
Of course that's the one I recommend ;-). Very configurable and written with the help of linguists, so it is a big help in creating a consistent sounding language.
Lyreword | Free software downloads at SourceForge.net
Of course that's the one I recommend ;-). Very configurable and written with the help of linguists, so it is a big help in creating a consistent sounding language.
Last edited:
Sorry, I am not the main author. And it is not up to me to upload anything to sourceforge.The Linux folder is empty!
You can have my version if you want. (Legally. The license allows that.)