Nathan Bransford - The Forums

This is mostly for the fantasy/sci-fi writers out there, but any input would be appreciated.

Where do you get inspiration for character/place names? I'm a hardcore fantasy writer and I usually have a list on my story boards (4x4 foot dry erase boards mounted on the walls of my office) of names I've come up with. I'm starting to brainstorm a new book but I'm fresh out of names and can't seem to dig any out of my brain. Is there any place you've discovered that inspires exotic fantasy names?

I have an astrological baby name book that has proved helpful.

A friend of mine was creating names for a rock creature, and was looking up geological terms to help him. I liked the idea and wanted a surname for someone rock-solid and down-to-earth, and I tried the same thing and found the name Moraine which is a sort of rock feature. You could try the same thing? Think of some characteristic you want the character to have and look up related word lists.

I mostly take regular names and twist them in and out and blend them and add some spice until they are perfect... :) Plenty turn out weird but I make sure that I like them.

The baby book is a good idea. I like Shadow's idea too. You can use a phone book too. There's some pretty strang name's in there ;-) Your library probably had a slew of phone books, not only from your town, but the ones around you.

~JD

I use online baby name pages. I tend to pick a nationality for my people that fit my world and go with that for all characters of that nationality. If two countries have a long shared history, they might share a nationality of a similar one (for example, the site I use has Indian and Sanskrit and so country A might be Indian, country B sanskrit).

I usually try to play on words. Loads of old English names, especially, are essentially compound words (ie. Blackwood, Greystone, Sentlow, Warwell) and if you can find one that defines a character (but not too overtly), I think it probably helps that character stick in the mind of the reader. For these I look up lists of old British surnames. Since my fantasy is historical I pick first names in the language of wherever it's taking place (right now, Italy) and scour Behind the Name.