The Worldbuilder Diaries: Naming Conventions
This is sort of a continuation of my last post of this series, Organization of Characters. Most characters have names, and oftentimes, those names will follow some sort of rule.
Now, what those rules are can be entirely up to the author, especially with sci-fi or fantasy. They can based on real-world names and how they’re given, spelled, used, etc—or they can be completely fictional, a product of the author’s creation.
Personally, I do a bit of both in my stories. I like variety. But the one rule I try to stick to is consistency. People from a given area will have similar naming patterns, and likewise, those from a given species will have their own. I’m not a linguist by any means, but I do my best to create recognizable patterns, even with my entirely fictional names. And the naming conventions I employ don’t always follow the standard first name-middle name-last name format most Westerners are accustomed to.
Maybe a few examples are in order…
The Murkor Names
The Murkor are a race I created for my Relics of War series. They’re humanoid, but distinctly different than their human counterparts. I chose to use a surname’first name pattern, further differentiating them.
For example, Aran’daj is one of the main characters in the series. His family name (surname) is Aran, and his personal identifier is daj. Later in the series, the reader encounters Aran’jandah—his maternal grandfather. Among the Murkor, family names are passed down through the maternal side. When two Murkor marry, it’s the man who takes his wife’s family name.
Additionally, I used a grouping of similar sounds for Murkor names: the soft J being most prominent, along with Z. Most Murkor names are fairly simplistic (Sal’zar, Jal’den, etc.) I chose simplicity for ease of reading, since the names are already unusual enough to begin with.
The Corodan Names
The Corodan are an insectile race from The Caein Legacy series. With their names, I opted to spell out the sounds insects can make, which was an adventure in creative spelling. As challenging as that was at times, it definitely made it obvious when a Corodan character was featured. Their names stand out from the rest of the cast significantly.
Characters like Kash-kah and Rizzt-tok make an appearance in the series.
Regional Names (for human characters)
I played with this sort of designation more in my Relics of War series than other pieces I’ve written, so I’ll go back to that series as an example. There are five human kingdoms, and each one has its own basic rules for names. While every character has a unique name (both first and last), there are some patterns I followed that were dictated by the region/kingdom they came from.
For example, Baloticans tend to have more traditional-style English names (or slight variations of them), while their surnames are usually two words mashed together. Owen Greenwaters and Emra Castledowns are both Baloticans.
Then for characters hailing from Kamshat, I had fun with ending their names with vowels. Names like Janasu or Badolo are Kamshati in nature.
For those born in Santine Kingdom, they tend to have simpler first names and distinct surnames. Ravin De’vor, Mari El’vero, etc.
The Takeaway
Other than trying to keep some consistency with how characters are named based on their species or the region they’re from, I say have fun with your names. As a sci-fi or fantasy author, your creativity—even with something as mundane as character names—can be limitless.