What’s in a name?

I am someone who obsesses over detail, and when it comes to writing a fantasy novel, that can often mean hitting some serious roadblocks.

I think I’ve mentioned before how I worry about fantastical things like my magic system not being ‘realistic’ (the absurdity of such an issue being both at the front of my mind and also swept aside by the thought that I’m simply not trying hard enough if I don’t fuss over it). There are a number of other things that slow me down though and naming things is certainly one of them!

I can be in a good writing flow, but the moment I need to come up with a name, be it a character, a town, or even a plant, it brings me to a grinding halt. I’ll roll consonants off my tongue, throwing in a vowel here and there until I get a sound I like, then try to build on it, but boy oh boy do I have a hard time.

With place names, I try to come up with meanings behind the names, to give at least some of them a logical, descriptive slant. I like names that sound like they have history to them, that you can imagine the first settlers finding the place, looking at the landscape around them and naming their town in honour of it. At the same time, the mind boggles at how these people would do such a thing without coming up with something you’d expect from a six year old.

‘Let us found our town in the crook of this river, rich as it is in clean water and fish to feed us.’

‘Yes, we should lay down our roots here, but what shall we name our new town?’

‘Why “Crooktown” of course!’

‘Are you sure about that?’

‘You don’t like it?’

‘Well… it’s a bit… y’know. I’d avoid the word “Crook” I think’

‘Hmm, well what about Waterbend?’

‘Waterbend?!’

‘Fishington?’

‘Wow.’

‘Well why don’t you come up with something then?!’

‘Easy. Rivertown’

‘Perfect.’

With people’s names I struggle as well. I know there can be a tendency to avoid common western names in fantasy, at least for the most part, but because they’re so ‘normal’ sounding to us, it’s difficult to come up with something with familiar sounds but isn’t either dull, or looks like someone was named after a coughing fit. I don’t want a hero named ‘Colin’ (no offence to the Colins out there), nor do I want people discussing the villain in such terms as ‘Oh I really liked A’kaqitchothferan, he was such an interesting character.’

Of course as a reader I never even bother about these things, I just accept them. I can think of perhaps two occasions where a name has bothered me and most likely by the time I’m a few chapters in I’ve just accepted it and forgotten I ever disliked it.

Such is the eternal struggle of the writer, obsessing over things the reader will either not care about, or will immediately forgive. Readers can be good that way.

I’d be interested to hear any tips for not letting naming bog you down. I try to at least come up with a ‘placeholder’ name which I’m happy enough with to keep on writing, but might change later. Even coming up with those sometimes is enough to cause me to stumble and struggle to get back into a good flow.

Anyway, back to writing about my hero Chax’oqzim, in the magical fantasy realm of Landworld!