Aerith and Bob naming for science-fiction and fantasy???

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AerithAndBob

For Project Succession, most of the character names I have are place holders for a new name. Because I like to see Alagossia as a very separate entity from Earth entirely, but was the early original idea of the planet, is that a fantastical alternate version of Earth if it was given magic and advanced tech, even after the large amounts of changes and more. Yet the naming system for Alagossia is so bizarre. I still need to figure out the cultures and races of the planet, but there are characters who have names that you will find on Earth and names that don’t exist on Earth.

For example, I have a few characters with very Earth names. Demetrius, Nicholas, Krieg, Jericho, Catalina, Millicent, Justine, Kristina, Stephanie, Lazarus, Dietrich, Lisselotte, Romario, and so many more.

Now, I can argue to myself, that it would be better to use half Aerith names and half Bob names. Although I can use Earth names that were popular decades to centuries ago along with Alagossian names.

I am learning so much about Alagossia in terms of changing this around, it is amusing.

Thoughts and feelings?

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What is your naming system like for your characters? If you have a system.

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I think it really depends on what feel you want for your book. If you want it to feel more fantastical, making up names is better. If you want it to have a historic feel, using older names is better. If you want a modern, earth feel, bob names work. If you want to mix and match, like, say, a fantasy world set in a medieval-esque setting, made up names and old names work. Or even mixing old names with made up, unique spellings.

Personally, I find names I like that I just pick up wherever I may find them, then I make spelling and enunciation changes to make them more unique (I prefer unique names). Occasionally I’ll use old names or biblical names too, or even just normal names that aren’t as common/ used as often. Britney is a common name, but Brynlee, despite being a normal name, isn’t as common. So I like it a bit more. But that’s just personal preference.

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Alagossia is a bizarro-magical and technologically advanced planet slightly modeled after Earth.

Sounds like you could get away with any kind of name for that then. Because it has elements of past, future, present, fantasy, normal earth, and science fiction. You’ve got a lot of wiggle room for names.

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Sorta. I have magical human beings and other fantastical races that are my versions of fantasy creatures.

Culture wise, for Alagossian standards, I do need to think about the naming, along with other things.

I swear to God, I will worldbuild Alagossia as it is meant to be! I am going to do it!
I swear to myself that I will! It will happen one day soon enough! LOL!

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Lol, it would help to have a naming system put in place that makes sense. But I believe in you, you can do it!

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Thank you!

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bump.

Personally, I think the Star Trek method for naming characters is best for this kind of genre: take a real life ordinary name and then change a few of the letters to make it unusual, yet somewhat familiar. ( ˆ◡ˆ)۶ ٩(˘◡˘ )

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This is THE topic for me! I will return.

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See you then. LOL!

Think of the names that you have made up already… For each race that is. Then if you need newer names or extra names feed into those you have…

For myself I was looking for more Dragon names. I already had Essingvaux which seemed quite at ease for such a creature. I began the long quest of feeding my mind with mixing up short names to combine… it did not work…
Then I thought of making smaller parts of words and putting them together… That had some good results for the time… Including Carinthus… Car-in-thus… It did not work for all, but it did create something a bit more different, and some I liked…

It did not end there… I began to think about the people I worked with, their names, and how I could add them to my world… Then it made sense… I only needed to either add, or change an occasional letter…

A lady called Amanda became a passage through the mountains The Imandur Pass. Only three letters changed, an A for the I, omiting the last A for ur… Another lady called Carys, she became a dragon by changing the C for a K and adding H after it created a sound of “Kh”, which in it’s own sounds dulled. Which added to the rising of the sound of “Ary” then I added a few letters to the end of her name “Stor” which seemed to lower the tone a bit more with a definitive ending… So Carys became Kharystor (Kh-ary-stor)… It was then that I realised that a three part name was good to use, and as such I named others after that method including the Grandfather and Father of Riona, whose names are Brofandis and Bofandis… I’ll let you break then down for fun into the three parts…

Its about trying a few differing things, changing C’s for K’s, and adding a few letters which still sound the same in their context. Some of my locations also have extra letters where they seem of no need, but are often silent to the unaware… Like Mundhlor… It sounds the same without the letter H… Mundhlor or Mundlor… It sounds the same really… But the Dwarves would not have it said so trivially…

Sometimes dropping a letter can also become a wonderous thing… Once I was doing dome edits when I noticed that I spelt Across without the C… Well, this gave me a bit of a smile as I read it… Because Acoss seemed so natural in it’s unfortunate misspelling…

I did indeed correct the spelling, but Acoss remained in my mind… After a while I could not shake the misspelling and thought more on it. As I did, it became more apparent that I would do nothing as a name for a person, but seemed nice for a location… A Farmstead, maybe… A Township, possibly… A City… Definitely!

And that was put aside for a while within my many pages of notes. Until one day I stumbled upon a new character by chance. A chance meeting of Geldrid and Hal-en as they tried to outrun the Dugaalion of Astiol. They chanced upon a derelict garrison upon the southern edge of The Leith. Within, a chap called Ossel and his most loyal men had taken housing and spoke of the fall of Acoss… The name was a placeholder of sorts. But the more I recalled it, the more it felt just right… And out of that early chapter Acoss was devised and crafted fully. Even a history of the City’s creation was born of that simple misspelling…

I guess what I’m trying to say is just this…

Never throw out ideas, even those that seem small like a misspelling, or changing a letter or two… Sometimes looking into history will bring insignificant names of people or places that can be adapted to suit your needs… Even Tolkien did this, as has George R R Martin and Steven King… It seems to be a staple of all genre’s to adapt to what you need. Just be creative, and make it grounded within your world…

SD

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Use that method when naming characters or fictional people?

Always. And for places also.

SD

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Interesting. I say that because I never thought of it that way.