Comments on THE GALAXY EXPRESS: What's In A Name?

Something you might consider... I like to use fore...

2009-07-21T20:12:41.647-04:00

Something you might consider...
I like to use foreign names. For one story, I use Russian names. I wanted something unusual but still have the names have meaning. So I scoured Wikipedia for foreign names of stars, historical figures, and folklore.

Loved Close Encounters. Can't wait for Close Contact & the dragons are definitely intriguing me. Names from folklore might work well for that!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_dragons_in_mythology_and_folklore

I almost named my youngest Willow. But it doesn...

2009-07-15T16:48:25.970-04:00

I almost named my youngest Willow. But it doesn't go well with Sparrow.

I use dice. Okay, I used to be a gamer geek.
1d4+2 is the number of letters in the name.
Odd/even determines whether it starts with a vowel or consonant.
d6 for vowels (a, e, i, o, u, y)
d20 for consonants

This doesn't always yield something useful, but it can be a starting point.

Other starting points include established names and their variations.

When I wrote "For Love of Etarin" I used Reuban as starting point and got Ruvane. Delacroix (the surname of someone I worked with) became Delkroy.

In the current piece, I have basic earth names, some slight variations here and there: Ferdinco a cross between Ferdinand and Fredrico.

In the fantasy piece, I used a fantasy name generator, which yielded hundreds of unusuable ones before giving me Korunir Kabix (commonly called Cabbage), the hedge wizard.

Hey, my maiden name is Xander! I always hated it, ...

2009-07-15T15:59:44.952-04:00

Hey, my maiden name is Xander! I always hated it, because no one could figure out how to pronouce it or spell it. That was years before Buffy, of course.

I agree that it's hard naming alien characters. In the story I'm working on, I took names from Writer's Digest's, Character Naming Sourcebook. I took names from ancient cultures and some I twisted around to come up with different combinations that sound alien, but are perfectly pronouncable from an English standpoint.

Heather, Get more pets. Their easier than childre...

2009-07-15T14:00:59.822-04:00

Heather,

Get more pets. Their easier than children and won't bitch about their names when they grow up. And thanks bunches for having me today.

Hi Anitra! Glad you found time to drop by.

Is it wrong to want another child just so I can us...

2009-07-15T13:37:24.124-04:00

Is it wrong to want another child just so I can use that baby book to pick a name for him/her? Zardoz is a serious contender no matter the gender because that is one seriously wacked-out film.

Great post and now I have new ways to name my othe...

2009-07-15T11:02:03.935-04:00

Great post and now I have new ways to name my other-worldly characters! :)

Anna, are the Inuit's the ones with 32 names f...

2009-07-15T10:48:18.566-04:00

Anna, are the Inuit's the ones with 32 names for snow? Good idea, I'll have to see if I can find some of them on the web.

Lisa, I'm addicted to it, too! LOL.

I am now addicted to Behind The Name. Thanks! Gre...

2009-07-15T10:40:58.472-04:00

I am now addicted to Behind The Name. Thanks! Great post.

For the white one you could always look up some In...

2009-07-15T10:40:45.114-04:00

For the white one you could always look up some Inuit words for snow.

Hi Tez! I had hoped to get some suggestions. But m...

2009-07-15T10:08:16.816-04:00

Hi Tez! I had hoped to get some suggestions. But my dragons have feathers, so Scales wouldn't work. If anyone else wants to take a shot at a name their colors are white, black and amber.

Heehee - the Herald Sun is my city's ta...

2009-07-15T09:55:24.549-04:00

Heehee - the Herald Sun is my city's tabloid, and I read it every day :-) Mind you, that article was two years old. Nowadays there seems to be a trend of using normal names, but spelling them atrociously. This is not a good thing...

Dragon, eh? Come on, one of them has to be nicknamed Scales ;-)