forum how do you come up with names for your worlds?

Started January 31, 2018 by Mecanical Pencils

tune

if this is an already started thread…please excuse me.

I'm just as lost as you are.

Sometimes I close my eyes, jam random keys on the keyboard, try to read it out loud, and whatever sounds good I'll use and re-spell. shrug

i've looked at name generators but they have left me flat.

I sometimes use this trick for names of characters as well. But I think of the culture of my world. Is my culture similar to Ancient Rome or, is it more like Medieval Germany? Once I've decided the culture I then decided the "vibe" of my world. Is it a fisherman's town? Has my world been divided by war since it's conception? Once I've decided I use some sort of internet translating website and type in words like: seaside, territory, green, divided, Etc. then I translate different words into my chosen language or languages. Then I pick whatever inspires my and work off that.
I hope this helps. Good luck with your creative process!
P.S. If you use this method for a world that is used in a published book, please credit the culture that inspired your world.

Often just random words walk into my head that just seem to be the perfect name. Other times I take random words from other languages that work with the place's attitude and sometimes it's a spin on real words or real/mythical places

I take a feature of the world and turn it into a name. For example, Vail is a combonation of a couple words from several languages that mean structure and equality. Sometimes, I stumble across really cool words that click with the story. Egregor is a word that ties in with occultism, or magic, so it is the name of my universe consisting of magic people.

I Usually use these two generators!

http://www.fantasynamegenerators.com/realm-names.php#.WnjrZUuGPrc

http://www.fantasynamegenerators.com/planet_names.php#.WnjrZUuGPrc

I take the traits of the world and translate those traits into Latin. I take the roots and mash them together until it sounds moderately alright.

I just think of two words that describe the world and combine them into one word in any way I can

I try not to worry too much over the names of things when I world-build. One of the worlds I made a couple years ago is simply called Kaimund: a corruption of the Japanese word for world, sekai, and the Spanish word, mundo. The world I'm currently working on hasn't even been properly named yet; it's just "World that has a strange moon."

1. Wait for an idea to pop in your head at 3 a.m. and hope you remember it
2. Say something random out loud and see how it sounds
3. Use Google Translate to do a word that means something in a different language
4. Press random keys and try to say it