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Any ideas on naming systems for fictional characters?
I'm an aspiring novelist and currently planning out a series I wish to publish. So far everything is turning out good but I'm having a little trouble deciding on what to name them. The characters are all wolves and I'd like to have some sort of naming system going on in the book. Or at the very least have a special way of naming them.
I grew up reading Erin Hunter's Warriors series, and now having animal characters that don't follow a naming system doesn't seem right to me. Especially since they are in a pack you'd expect some sort of specific naming going on.
The trouble is I can't think of any good ideas that don't directly copy how Warriors do it. So far I have characters named Wind, Hazard, Maple, and Dark Shadow. And these don't seem like 'proper pack names'.
Does anyone have some good ideas for naming systems? Creative ones will work the best.
Re-reading this question a bit later I realized I didn't actually ask what I wanted to ask. Allow me to be more specific. As for names I already have there are one that come from nature like: Wind, Dark Shadow, and Maple; and some, for lack of a better word, "human names" like Drake and Conner; as well as weirder names like Mokkan, Juno, and Angelus. To me all these different type of names are too random.
The reason I used Warriors as an example is because they had a sort of theme going with the names: things found in nature.
I guess what I'm really looking for, as well as ideas for naming systems, are themes for the names. A bit of organization if you will.
For example, the theme of nature: Rain. And then adding some flare to it, to make the name something to remember: Raining Mist, or Falling Rain.
Something to that extent...
2 Answers
- 8 years agoFavorite Answer
Pedigree is important for race horses, so they're sometimes named after an especially successful sire or dam. Most often, it will be one element from the sire's name (or dam's) coupled with something unique.
That could be adapted for your series, with different packs having different themes, perhaps in reference to a respected ancestor, a geographic feature of their territory, etc.
But only use a system if it feels authentic to the culture you're creating. How organized are their societies? How much does ancestry or group identity matter? How important is individuality? You can subtly convey all of those sorts of things through the ways they refer to themselves and each other.
My guess is that the randomness bothers you because the names you're using are taken from many different cultures. Connor is Irish, Drake is usually English, Mokkan is Japanese, Angelus and Juno are Latin. You're not likely to find those names together without immigration and I'm guessing your wolves aren't involved in trans-oceanic travel. :-)
You don't have to go to a 'system' to avoid that. Just look for more consistency to give the sense of a single culture. Or a couple if that makes sense for your series; JRR Tolkien excelled at that.
- ?Lv 45 years ago
First off, let me say that by using what I've read, I as an alternative like the notion. So, cheers to that. Boy:Alexius, Jarret, Fray, Tyr, Trenton, Gage, Roi, girl: Daren, Calvin, Vin, Farran, Phoenix, Noé (No-AY), Gene, Basil, Devyn, last names: Amen, Denton, Mars, Lothaire, Agni, Dieudonné (dyuu-do-NAY) that's all I've obtained.
