The "What's a good name for this?" thread

How about Sarah, meaning "princess" in Hebrew?

This makes the name "Princess Sarah" rather redundant

Yeah, the idea have set off some red flags, I'd recommend cutting the "becomes an angel along with her parents" bit or at least the angel bit

As for the surname, how about Goodman?

edited 4th Aug '15 8:54:20 AM by MorningStar1337

I think I have name for her: Astrid Eldrun.

As for her backstory, I changed it a bit: Long ago, in the city of Sangrund, the goddess of family was honored by Astrid's ancestors, and served as their high priests. The goddess was pleased by their service, and planned on rewarding the current priest, who was Astrid's father, with entrance to Heaven along with his wife. But as it turned out, her father was secretly having an affair with someone else and they were doing it in her temple. The goddess was so enraged that she nearly tried to kill them both, but restrained herself, when she learned that the other woman was pregnant. She revealed herself before them with the high priest's wife, and declared that she would take away the child as soon as she was born, with the intention of making her a Celestial. (Gods could not break their promises, so she redirected the reward to one who beared the blood of the High Priest). Astrid became a Celestial when she was a child, and was adopted into a new family. And the rest was history.

As you can see, this was extremely rushed.

You could try having a Lovecraftian name. Which means that you need something that is unpronounceable and that, when you do try to pronounce it, sounds guttural and ugly.

For example, Nehyg'rhyexakx.

Sure, it may not be the best name out there but you can try throwing random vowels and consonants (especially the latter!) into the name and then say it out loud.

Contrary opinion: none of the Lovecraftian names are inherently scary. In fact, they're downright silly without context.

Charlie Stross's cheerful, optimistic predictions for 2017, part one of three.

Fair enough.

Though this gets me thinking, is it possible for names to be scary? At all? I mean, what makes names scary is what the person (or thing) behind the name does. Or what do you think?

That's why I stick with epithets for the Gods in my fantasy novel (the ones that are supposed to have eldritch names). "The Forger of Souls", "The Silent Mother", "The Devourer of Stars", "The Burning Wanderer", etc.

edited 4th Aug '15 5:32:31 PM by Cid

I don;t think Names are inherently scary, they need context and meaning. The ones on the Names to Run Away from Really Fast have definitions for contexts, take for example my Handle on this (and other) site(s). A compund word of "Morning" and "Star", both of these two words can refer to light and space, and when combined not only retain these connotations, but get more meanign to enhance (like the planet Venus for exmaple) dosn;t sound too scary right? Excpet the name has been attached to certain scary entities:

• Venus: As mentioned before Venus dosn;t seem too scary right? Well the planet is not called Earth's Evil Twin for nothing. And the name "Venus" itself is the Roman Name for Classical Mythology's resident Bitch in Sheep's Clothing Aphrodite. With "Morningstar" as an epithet and a nickname that means it can be associated with either a Death World or a Love Goddess
• The Sun: A Literal take on the term. But note that Stars are giant hot balls of gases hot enough to reduce anything that is close to ashes. As well as the radiation. The Sun is rather two-faced like that in its depictions
• Lucifer: The most infamous attachment to the name (what with it being a translation and all) A Fallen Angel and in Christianity, part of a Composite Character everyone knows as Satan. This brings a context of rebellion, evil, and Hell into the potential meanings of the term.

If the only context one has of the word "Morningstar" is a belief that All Light Is Good, then it wouldn't be that scary but if one takes the above meanings into account the term becomes a rather scary name (especially the German translation Morgenstern)

As helpful as definitions are, the actions of the individual bearing the name also is a factor. Just because a Character has "Morningstar" in his name/nickname doesn't mean they're gonna be a Love Goddess, The Devil, or someone who incenerates things to death but if they are, then it amkes the name a shorthand.

Names can become tainted or redeemed by actions, hence why epithets and nicknames and Meaningful Rename are more prone to Names to Run Away from Really Fast in RL and why Meaningful Name is a thing in fiction. After all Who Names Their KidMornignstar (besides God of course)?

edited 4th Aug '15 7:23:27 PM by MorningStar1337

Can someone help me name my mutant-like species from my fantasy story I'm setting up?

They are divide into four different types which all have their own name, but I have yet to come up with a general/collective term for all that have these abilities.

I need a name for a character who's a Nuckelavee and I'm looking for something true to the area origin of the myth. Technically speaking, the Nuckelavee myth originates in Nordic mythology, but they're basically a Orcadian/Scottish myth and I'm looking for something in that vein. A Gaelic name also works, but it's not required. I'm not really looking for something to represent the character, as much as I'm looking for a straight up name.

Note to self: Pick less edgy username next time.

So in my urban fantasy setting, magic is a very recent thing, having come into existence wholesale in 2011 (an alternate 2011 where smart phones were invented, but tablets do not exist yet). As such, the most widely accepted names for these concepts were coined by consensus in an online messaging board not unlike this one, before knowledge of magic became widespread.

In this world, humans are divided into three groups. The first one is muggles (in-universe, explicitly taken from Harry Potter as a compromise), who likely have knowledge of magic, but no actual power. The second is mancers, who develop spells based on an affinity, which is a short phrase that the spells are based on, but rarely identifiable in-universe. The third is mages, who cannot develop their own spells, but can learn spells from mancers. There are billions of muggles, hundreds of thousands of mancers, and between ten and two dozen mages.

So what I need help with is finding a different name for the second group. Mancers works as a colloquial name, but I'm not sure it would fly in an academic context (then again, we do have a gene named sonic hedgehog).

Seers maybe, or Magus/Magi?

Magus is too close to mage. Seer is better, but it implies a sensory thing, which is far from common (it is also the proper title of an in-universe famed person, but that's just a lesser reason).

How about Wizards then?

Or arcanist?

There are 10 types of people in this world: those who understand binary, and those who don't.

Thaumaturgists?

Or sorcerers for the pun they're the source of mages' magic.

EDIT: Sorry Darkblood Carnagefang, don't have any advice, bar generic look a Behind the Name.

edited 6th Aug '15 6:41:43 AM by Luthen

You must agree, my plan is sheer elegance in its simplicity! My Tumblr

I sort of like arcanist, as far as the feel of the word goes, but the root "arcane" would quickly be squashed, because it implies they work mysteries, instead of reveal them.

Given that they seem to be the ones that produce new spells, perhaps something like "spellwright" or "spell-crafter"?

My Games & Writing

I did consider wright before getting to mancer, but I do not remember why I discarded it right now.

Things that do not work for other reasons: wizard, witch, warlock, magician, any term that suggests involvement from other entities.

Evoker, perhaps? I don't believe it's technically a word, but hey, it's fantasy.

There are 10 types of people in this world: those who understand binary, and those who don't.

Dictionary.com seems to recognise it as a valid word, at least. (The entry is for the word "evoke", but "evoker" is listed a little further down as a noun form, I believe.)

My Games & Writing

There being entities behind forces beyond human comprehension has been such a common assumption I'm not sure you'll be able to avoid it. For some that link is obvious in the current consciousness. Like wizards I don't see a supernatural-patron as necessary, whereas warlock I kind of expect it (thanks DnD).

You could use the Greek "turge" suffix (meaning work) instead of mancer I guess. And the overall group are oligoturges (some workers or can manipulate something not everything).

Thinking in a Watsonian mindset: While the implications of the words' etymology would be debated on the internet. I would think that the need to choose a word (since time has paused for them to agree) would make them settle on the least-annoying word. Plus a lot of those not involved would probably just go "I'm going to say wizard since that's the word the Harry Potter taught me".

You must agree, my plan is sheer elegance in its simplicity! My Tumblr

I need a name for the 'substance of magic' in my setting. It's inherently immaterial and closest thing to it was the ones that have 'crystalized' on people (in form of tattoo-like inscriptions on their body), enabling them to use magic. The magic itself works with very close relation with the planet itself. I'm trying to stay away from the typical terms (Mana, Prana, Ki, Chakra) since they have more to do with life-force itself and not something you'd borrow from a planet.

Nefes, meaning breath?

It's quite good (incidentally, breath is Nafas in Indonesian), but doesn't quite fit for what I'm aiming for. The word should give the impression of a living soil, like Humus (this is a really good candidate, but I rejected it because it's a legit term for soil) or something that's muddy and definitely earthy.