You don’t need to be a philologist to create great fantasy names

One of my first posts on this blog ventured into a problem many fiction authors encounter – naming characters.  I focused on the Misaligned series.  It’s a contemporary fantasy story, albeit one with a connection to Welsh mythology, but nevertheless a story where most characters needed contemporary names. In that setting, my struggle was to select names that fit historical and cultural norms, e.g., Mr. Myrdin or were familiar enough not to distract readers, e.g., Penny Preston.

For those interested in that process, but not enough to dig through the archives, here’s the link: https://armenpogharian.wordpress.com/2013/04/22/whats-in-a-fictional-name/.

I faced a different problem writing The Warders books, a high-fantasy adventure series that features multiple human cultures as well as elves, dwarves, demons and even a troglodyte. There are over 100 named characters in the first two books. Add dozens more for cities, land features, magical herbs, etc., and it’s close to 200 names.

Frequent readers of this blog know that I’m a huge Tolkien fan and rarely miss an opportunity to heap praise on his work. I truly appreciate the effort he put into names, languages and maps, but one set of names has always bothered me – the trolls Tom, Bert, and William. Perhaps Tolkien had an axe to grind with some old chums from school or something similar, but in a book with such great names as Gandalf, Thorin, Balin, Dwalin, Azog, et al, the trolls’ names just don’t work for me.

Tom, Bert & William from RankinBass adaptation (courtesy tolkiengeek.blogspot.com)

Admittedly, The Hobbit sells more copies in an hour than I could hope to sell in a month (or likely longer), but I suspect the disparity would be even worse if my evil sorceress was named Mary or Emily. Given that I’m no philologist (some might convincingly argue I’m scarcely fluent in English) how did I go about creating 200 names across several races and multiple cultures? The short answer is – I cheated. Okay that’s a bit harsh, but I didn’t create my names out of whole cloth.

For characters I leaned heavily on Abulafia random generator ( http://www.random-generator.com/index.php?title=Name_Generators ). It contains hundreds of different random generators. I don’t use any of the names directly, but I find the generator a great place to get my creative juices flowing. Once I find something I like I build around it. All dwarf names include a ‘dr’ or ‘gr’ letter combination. The names of sailors include double consonants, while those of demons include ‘sh’ and a hard consonant, and many male names in Creuse end in ‘ic.’ Most barbarian names are monosyllabic (I like the irony of that word) and contain a hard consonant sound.

Place names came from a variety of sources. I borrowed some from astronomy (Eridan comes from Epsilon Eridani), the Opequon Confederacy is named after a stream I drove past in Virginia, and the cities in the Confederacy are inspired by locations in the French part of Switzerland.

Map from The Warders (created using GIMP – there’s an earlier blog post on that process)

Does it work? Judging from the feedback I’ve gotten from the admittedly few readers of the series, I’d have to say yes. If you’re interested in forming your own opinion, I’ve copied the complete list of character names below.  If you want a closer look at the series, here’s a link to the first book via my Amazon affiliate:

Thanks for reading,

Armen

List of Characters from The Warders

Adara: Princess Erelle’s lady-in-waiting and guardian

Alenka: Escaped girl slave, younger sister of Dorric

Allia: Member of the Elven Council and ally of Eldan

Angrim: Dwarf, son of Ingred

Aren: Eridani boy, son of the sergeant of the royal Eridani guard

Arlin: Daughter of Stans & Majen

Ashmedrin: A Demon Steed or Nightmare

Balith: A juggling jester, one of Draham’s disguises

Baroness Hagersel: Leading noblewoman of Eridan

Bazul: One of Grival’s slave hunters

Belarok: Smuggler and Brigand Leader

Bendan: Proprietor of the Knife & Cat Tavern, Leader of the Warders, Husband to Kelda

Berx: Red Lion Clan Barbarian

Brig: Red Lion Clan Barbarian

Calahn: Chief Elven Healer

Calla: Servant in King Etan’s Castle

Coltin: Royal Eridani Page Master

Cyr: Emperor of Veloria

Denby: King Etan’s Chief of Staff

Dergh: Red Lion Clan Barbarian

Dharmesh: Ancient Ramiahan Mage

Digran: Eridani cloth merchant

Dimar: Belarok’s second in Command

Dorric: Escaped boy slave, older brother of Alenka

Draham: Dwarf, senior member of the Warders

Drelyn: Server in the Stone Rose, Lookout for Belarok

Duke Farus: Uncle of King Etan of Eridan, royal sponsor of the Warders

Egon: Warder Mage

Eldan: Twin brother of Toran’s mother

Elsani: Warder Agent

Entril: Illusionist entertainer in Charente

Erelle: Princess of Veloria

Eriah: Traveling companion of Toran’s mother

Etan: King of Eridan

Finek: Young elven Mage and friend of Toran

Gar: Chieftain of the barbarian Red Lion Clan, Toran’s father

Gavan: Elven friend of Toran

Geren: Agent and primary trainer for the Warders

Girone: Viceroy of Creuse

Glarus: Carriage Driver for the Count of Creuse

Greko: Barbarian of the Red Lion Clan

Grival: Master Slave Hunter

Gwynn: Crewman on the Misty Dawn

Ingred: Draham’s cousin, Chief Clan trader in Creuse

Isak: Member of the Eridani thieves’ guild

Jacca: Crewman on the Misty Dawn

Jarric: Former Count of Creuse, Leoric’s Father

Jax: Steward for a minor Eridani noble

Kaley: Elven friend of Toran

Karrs: First Mate on the Misty Dawn

Kelda: Head cook at the Knife & Cat Tavern, Warder Chief of Security, Wife of Bendan

Kell: Crewman on the Misty Dawn

Kennery: Captain of the Misty Dawn

Kensen: Merman hero and Kennery’s grandfather

Kenslo: Merman lord and Kennery’s uncle

Keram: Kennery’s mother

Kizesh: Name of the Doppelganger Demon

Kori: Traveling companion of Toran’s mother

Korsak: Leader of the Eridani thieves’ guild

Lady Aldays: Eridani noblewoman who likes betting on horses

Lady Lucretia: Eridani noblewoman

Lady Maran: Tira’s cover in Eridani court

Lady Umbral: Eridani noblewoman

Leoric: Count of Creuse

Leucas: Member of Eridani carpenters’ guild

LiPing: Shualan Assassin

Lonner: Crewman on the Misty Dawn

Lowden: Velorian Steward and Chief Trade Negotiator

Majen: Wife of Stans

Mandrishka: Demon Lord

Marrad: Apprentice Mage in Creuse

Martak the Merchant: Successful merchant, one of Draham’s disguises

Melos: Chief Eridani Envoy in Creuse

Merak son of Martel, Lord of Norcote: Toran’s cover in Eridani court

Mern: Squad leader for the Merman

Nagin: Nalton border guard

Nemus: Current First Mage of Creuse

Olly: Harbormaster pilot in Sitric

Parvil: Nalton border guard

Perrn: Crewman on the Misty Dawn

Perran: Servant of Lady Umbral

Raimbuet: Popular Eridani Bard

Revers: Silversmith in Eridan

Rigel: Duke Farus’s Steward

Rista: Elven friend of Toran

Rojeth: Member of Eridani thieves’ guild

Rokan: Rogue Creusean Mage

Samoch: Servant of Skade, One-time leader of Red Lion Clan & Dauphin of Bas-Rhin

Skade: Sorceress attempting to kill Princess Erelle

Ssarel: Egon’s Troglodyte assistant

Stans: Bodyguard for Count Leoric

Steaves: Head server in King Etan’s castle

Tamar Faen: Ficticious Trader who owns the Warder safe house in Charente

Temel: Young elf and rival to Toran

Tira: Warder Agent

Tircel: Warder Agent

Tomas: Servant in King Etan’s castle

Toran: Half-elven, half-barbarian, son of Gar, Warder Agent

Truit: Creusean Brigand

Utran: Guard in Eridan castle

Veltin: Former First Mage of Creuse

Vens: Master thief in the Eridani thieves’ guild

Virena: Apothecary and Warder station chief in Sitric

Waltan: Chandler in Eridan

Yanal: Servant for Baroness Hagersel

Yuden: Shaulan Assassin