I am trying to think of names for characters in a story where the main character is reborn in a new world. I am trying to figure out how to name characters. At first I was trying to avoid using common names, and using another cultures names suggests that the people are of that ethnicity.
Even If I claim that the world is in another Dimension. How do I explain other species having European names?
The main character is reborn into a new world, right? Well then, whats not to say this has happened before? Maybe Europeans brought the names into this new world when they were reborn there. That would explain why some people would have European names. Other than that, you can just make new names up. People on earth do it all the time.
Given names are not quite random; they reflect in some way the cultural heritage of a society.
Many names reflect things we hold dear or that evoke characteristics that we want to convey to our children. Many are inherited from the names of famous or historically important people.
Many Germanic names hold meanings related with war, power, wealth, fame and nobility. Traditional Christian names come from the names of saints, apostles, prophets and other Judaeo-Christian religious figures. Chinese names vary greatly in theme, but most convey auspicious concepts, positive personal qualities and wonders of nature.
There are also some naming systems that are more systematic in nature. For example, some of the most common names for Japanese boys merely mean "nth son". There are also the often cyclic generation names of some traditional Chinese and Korean families.
You may either take inspiration from real world naming systems or even design your own. Whatever system you devise, consider how it makes sense in that new world you're building. Some names may be very popular locally for a short while, while others may have a more universal appeal, other names may be considered old-fashioned, stigmatized or even ridiculous.
I just was not sure if reader would immediately think of the culture as Maori, if they figured out that was the language I was Basing names off of.
@Locoluis
– Kyle Shallow Jan 07 '16 at 04:59So, In this new world, are they humans? And do these humans speak... what? English? expalin that first, and you will have no problem with the names.
Otherwise, figure out what language do the speak, and that should give you the basis for the names. Different language have differnet story, different common sounds, etc... The names of the places are probably in the native language or some older variant.
It is not rare that people base the names in combinations of words, names of places or objects. The etymology of names doens't have to be strict, but it makes sense that common names have some meaning the culture where they are from.
You will probably solve this if you solve the story of the new world. How is it that there are humans there? From where and at what point of the history thay got there? That should give you the basic language to work with.
If there are not humans, you proably should start looking into creating a new language "from scratch". For that you should - again - consider the culture of the new world, but also consider their morphology, maybe some sounds are esier for them - and some that are possible for us, are imposible for them.
