Fun With Names
Creating names in a fantasy world is both fun and frustrating. The name needs to sound both foreign and yet familiar enough to resonate. Add that to my dislike of fantasy names formed from random collections of vowels and consonants, it can be challenging to find the "right" name.
My tactic for character names is pretty straight forward: I use real if old and obscure names, lining up real ancient cultures with my own.
For a cities, countries, rivers, mountain ranges, etc, I use a different method. I rob the Old English dictionary. :) Plugging in adjectives or nouns that describe a place I want to name, I can find an Old English word to use as a root in my new name. I also do this with Gaelic a bit, since some of my areas are ancient Celt influenced.
Sometimes, this creates an odd convergence of name and sound that creates a very cool character for a place. For example, a Gaelic word for "port" is "acarsaid." It had a nice ring to it, so I named a port city that. Later, I decided that this city would be a dark and gothic place, full of rumors of dark things going bump in the night. Acarsaid kind of sounds like "accursed", when said with an American accent (trying to sound like a pirate...). So the word has two reasons to be this city's name, for it is certainly cursed.
Now, why anyone would want to live in an "accursed" city is beyond me (the hotels and B&Bs in Scotland with this name non-withstanding...), but hey, it's fantasy. :)
