A Name for a World Created - The Worlds We Build Forum

The thing about naming your world is that your throw a wrech into a lot language usage. ie. for a while my world was named Erde, but it got too confusing with sayings like "what on Erde" etc. Earth is just too much a part of our language. I think it unwise to call your world a different name unless you havesome device for integrating or segragating it from messing up your writing flow.

In other words, I call my world "Earth" just because that's easier...and then I get creative with the names of locations and countries etc.

#2 Dec 13th 2006, 12:57pm

Lord-of-Fools

Remember the mechanics of language and make sure that the name for Earth means something like 'land' or 'earth' or 'great living platform created by Ud' in the language of the main group of people your story concerns itself with.

#3 Dec 20th 2006, 11:36pm

i've tried to keep the name of my world a mystery. since the people within the world don't know that they live on a planet, they just say the world. Us real people on real earth didn't start to capitalize Earth until we thought our planet ought to have a name, 'earth' had always previously been synonomous with 'dirt'. However, i do give landmasses names.

#4 Dec 24th 2006, 2:42pm

I have named lands various things. The main world I have is called Aelain, virtually meaning 'It is.' Thats the best I've come up with, but I have used Earth for some things. I find it fairly easy for me to put words in my character's mouths that fit with their culture, such as, "What under Aelain's sun is that?" etc.

#5 Jan 01st 2007, 5:08am

Thanks to A. M. D'Aklemade. Because of your post, I'm changing my world back to Erde and allowing my characters to say earth without any shame.

Thanks

\\// Atheneon

#6 Jan 04th 2007, 11:14pm

hmmm. yer welcome.

#7 Jan 08th 2007, 10:40pm

where did the name Aelain originate? How do you say that?

#8 Jan 11th 2007, 11:14am

Aelain came from my sister, who thought it should be Alin. I wanted more to it, so I changed it to Aelain. It's pronounced like Elaine, the girl's name.

#9 Jan 12th 2007, 3:15am

Miriam Doyle

Altomia is the name of a world I created; it's my second favourite one out of the ones I've made so far, becuase of some of the characters I put in it. I'm hoping to write some stories set in it soon ;)

#10 Jan 13th 2007, 6:30am

How many have you made?...I don't know if I could ever leave my world. I just do stories from different places on my globe. I have spent a long time developing this world and there are a lot of places with a lot of history for each place.

#11 Jan 13th 2007, 12:29pm

I have made up four lands, each successively better than each other. This might very likely be my last one. With seven continents and too much history for me to ever write about, I don't need another world. Nor do I think I could come up with a better one quite yet.

#12 Jan 14th 2007, 2:00am

Yeah, it's kind of like being an architect. You get a general idea of a building and sketch it out. No, you think, that's not quite right. You take out a new paper and sketch it again and repeat the process until you have a fairly awesome looking outline. Then you dive in and start doing the functional blueprint and find that not everything fits as it ought. So you crumple up your blueprint and sketch and do it again. Each successive sketch bears elements from the previous, but it just keep getting better and better. Sometime you can just erase mistakes, sometimes you need to throw away the entire sheet and start again. But, in the end (if that end is ever reached), you end up with an awesome, and equally functional, structure that's just right for you to live in the rest of your life.

Some people build multiple houses. Some just move on from one to the next. And some live in each of them during different seasons. Heck, you could even build one for someone else! But I think that the goal is to build a public structure where everyone can enjoy your masterful work and you just live in the museum or forum or whatever it is, basking in their joy and amazement.

#13 Jan 14th 2007, 10:13am

Miriam Doyle

That was a pretty cool analogy! I've lost count of how many worlds I've made- and most of them weren't very good either :( But the world I like better than Altomia is Reitchtler. I've considered changing the name, seeing as how impronouncable is seems...Reitchtler is the world my story Oculus Exanimus is set in, and the thing about the world that I'm proud of is that I managed to avoid loads of cliches ^_^ Well, in my opinion anyway.

#14 Jan 14th 2007, 10:56am

Prentiice

I have to agree with A. M. D'Aklemade. I don't think that you're world should even have a name unless you're people are aware that/if other planet's exist in your universe. It's like, if you were the only living thing in the entire world and had been for all time, you wouldn't even have a language, let alone something as specific as a name, for the simple reason that you wouldn't need one. Names are given to distinguish one person, one animal, one plant, one city, one country, from another.

#15 Jan 15th 2007, 9:42pm

Justokre

I agree too.

My people aren't aware they live on a "planet". This planet is odd too, having so much water and spread out continents. They haven't even discovered any other land than the one huge continent they live on right now.

#16 Jan 16th 2007, 3:01pm

Like a limitless world? That could be interesting. Always new lands to explore and places to see. That could be an interesting premise.

#17 Jan 16th 2007, 3:50pm

Justokre

Exactly. Gives me some major room for creativity. I've been toying with the thought of making the other continents filled with creatures and societies you'd never find anywhere else.

#18 Jan 16th 2007, 4:03pm

I have thought before of having a limitless world, but always discarded it as having more than enough trouble coming up with enough different cultures and races for my own few continents. For some people, however, it's probably a major creativity spark.

#19 Jan 16th 2007, 4:23pm

Lord-of-Fools

I have a lot of fun creating new cultures, especially based on cultures that other fantasy stories don't seem to touch on. Most fantasy has been very Eurocentric, particularly Western Europe. I like the ideas of using Ancient Turkish and Meditterenean cultures like the Minoans and Near-Eastern cultures. The story I'm writing now has a lot of basis on the Sumerian and Assyrian cultures. This does of course limit the scope of technology and so on, as well as the sorts of characters I can use, but I guess that's part of the fun.

#20 Jan 16th 2007, 5:00pm

Justokre

Definitely. If you guys want to discuss cultures further, we should start a new thread :-D

#21 Jan 16th 2007, 5:24pm

Thread started over there. *ushers people in to brand, spanking new thread- or not so new*

#22 Jan 19th 2007, 4:36am

I love creating worlds! Some advice from is to stick to one world and develope your realm until you know EVERYTHING about it. When I creat a new world, I draw a map of it over and over again until I know it like the back of my hand. Know its history, past heros, kings, monarchy, food, culture, religion...EVERY THING!

If you really want to go in depth, history,study archetecture, geography, and world cultures. Study langueges too. All this will help you build a more detailed, realistic environment. In the world of fantasy YOU are the ultimate creator. Your charecters and your lands all sit at the mercy of your will.

And...it's just plain fun!

I once spent six years developing a realm called Orian. I got an entire series out of it...until the movers threw away my collection!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

#23 Feb 23rd 2007, 12:28pm

*pats Niham on back* That sounds like torture to me... *shudders*

#24 Feb 25th 2007, 4:28am

If you mean the research, it's really not all that bad, especially if you get into your story. I like to pour my heart and soul into my work, and for me to do that I have to know what I'm talking about.

I'm not saying you need to go out and get random degrees in geography, architecture, and world cultures. Just do a little reasearch on the internet.

God I need a life!

#25 Feb 27th 2007, 8:32am

Almah

I wrote a story called "The City of Lyre." I thought 'Lyre' looked very pretty on the page, because it's the name of a musical instrument, and it sort of fit the city's culture. However, it took me a long time to realize that it is completely indistinguishable from the word "liar" when you pronounce it out loud! Oops.

#26 Apr 06th 2007, 11:17pm

Yeah, but that's okay. You could also spell it lire, thought that is pronounced differently in real life. It doesn't really matter how you pronounce it if you really love the name... they'll know what you took it from, but hey! We all take names from things sometime or other. I think.

Niham- No, the movers throwing everything away. I would have killed them.

#27 Apr 07th 2007, 4:18am

You can also Llyr or lir. There was a Celtic God named Mannan mac Lir.

#28 Apr 07th 2007, 1:34pm

However, Llyr looks very Welsh, which might or might not be what you're going for. Mannan mac Lir. Never heard of him, but I'm going to have to change that. *grins*

Anyway, ll's are very Welsh (which is related to Celtic). Lyre, however, is fairly definitely from a Greek/Latin root. Don't have dictionary, can't look it up, but yes. My world is Aelain, and I'm probably going to be checking most thoroughly sometime soon that it doesn't sound much like any earthly language. It's supposed to mean 'It is' in Nyl, the language it originates from. I appreciate any and all nit-picking.

#29 Apr 09th 2007, 5:15pm

It was just a suggestion. Mannanan Mac Lir is a Welsh Irish deity. I've obbessed over Celtic mythology for years. Llyr is another version of his name.

#30 Apr 09th 2007, 6:35pm

white winged

Wow. I know a little about mythology, but not so much. I created a world called "Orbis" a few years back (which is just Latin and is supposed to be the Latins supplement for Earth/World) but in writing the story I didn't really use the name of the world so much; only when referring to past events or history. So in the end I just decided to keep the world unknown--because that then gives it more mystery and considering it's fantasy they don't have to make their world a planet like we do. It could be a dimension, or realm ... so currently I'm experimenting with that idea.

I didn't like the name Orbis that much anyway.

#31 Apr 13th 2007, 7:34pm

I would watch out being too vague. I think you should always have a few options in mind on how your world is related to the real world. If it is either another planet in our own universe, or another time period, or deminsion or whatever. If you want the reader not to care you have to make them not wonder

#32 Apr 13th 2007, 7:57pm

white winged

Thanks for the advice =)

#33 Apr 13th 2007, 10:49pm

It is a good idea to at least always have a good name for your world (often just the name for dirt/ground/earth in your oldest language is good). And mythology. *loves mythology*

#34 Apr 14th 2007, 3:07pm

Dyin2Live-John3.7

I'm trying to write a fantasy with a setting as a futuristic past. However...when I think of my 'world', I don't think of it as a whole planet, but more like a huge country, kinda like what they did in Eragon. I'm just totally pulling a huge writters bloc (get it?) when it comes to names...any good suggestions?

~Mizu~No~Akashi~

#35 Apr 26th 2007, 5:21pm

haha thats a pretty lame pun. as a starting point I would suggest wikipedia's entry on toponymy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toponym

I knopw wikipedia is lame and cant be trusted, but we're writers, we're not concerned with what is true. ;)

#36 Apr 28th 2007, 7:30pm

nightfallen

You could play around with words or if there's a world that has insipired you, you can change it up a bit to make the name Look and sound different. Lots of times, I get online and look up words in other langauges that have meanings relating to my world. Then I change it up a bit to make it look and sound original.

And if you can't figure it out right away, don't stress. It'll come to you. Custom realities and worlds don't develope entirely overnight. You might get a flood of ideas all at once, but making it whole is just like creating a charecter. You want it nice and fat, not flat. And that takes time.

#37 Apr 30th 2007, 9:08am

Xela Tokrub

I was thinking of starting a new world once, but I never got around to it. It was gonna be called Exandraal.

I got Exandraal from my name, Alexandra, and I just moved the first syllable to the end, and voila!

I eventually nixed the idea because I grew to think that the name was stupid. ^^;

#38 May 01st 2007, 5:56pm

I don't think that "Exandraal" sounds stupid, it's just not a world name. It sounds more like a palace-city.

That's one thing that a lot of world builders do that is usually a mistake: they give their world a name that is more suited for a city or a country. Keep it short but powerful or at least catchy.

There are a lot of problems with starwars, but Lucas could name planets...Naboo, Hoth, Endor, Yavin (all exotic and short and catchy).

#39 May 01st 2007, 8:29pm

Hehe.... yes, Lucas could name planets. Pretty well, too.

As for Exandraal- to me, it does sound more like a city-palace... you know. "Exandraal, where Arthur was crowned king and ruled for nigh to a century."

#40 May 02nd 2007, 4:41am

I looked at it and immediately saw alexandra with the first syllable and the end...that could be because my name is alexander. I once named a city Rednaxela (which is of course Alexander spelled backwards) I had to think of an etomology for it later and came up with Redno- from regnis (genitive form of "king" in Latin) and xela from Xelias (a fictional historical person who founded the city). So in my rewrite I changed it to Regnurbium (urbium from urbs, meaning city). ta-da!

#41 May 02nd 2007, 8:16am

sincerely disregard

Since I build world around stories instead of starting with a set world and writing a story that occurs there (I use to do that but I felt the plot was too constricted and the stories suffered), I have an elaborate note taking system to keep everything straight. Name building has its own section, whether it is character names or cities or kingdoms or whatever. I write the story as is, leaving ------ whenever I need a name I don't have already and then I go back and work on the details as things go along. This way I know exactly what a place looks like, feels like, is like before I can properly put a name to it. If a place just doesn’t want to find a name for itself, I sometimes will debate the necessity of the place or will re-write until I can find a name for it.

When it comes to the names themselves I mess with a lot of different sources to get the desired results. Sometimes I find something out of a mythology I like, usually obscure since I don't want the connections to bee too obvious, while other times I combine a few names I like both the look and meaning of (ex. Dom Feoras became my temple city built out of a mountain: Dom meaning Lord and Feoras meaning stone). I play with the meaning of names a lot in my stories so each one is carefully planed out, from the smallest bit character to the world they live in, each one their own little inside joke. I also started spelling random word backwards as a starting point to see what comes up thanks to a game my sisters and I had were we called each other by the reverse of our names (olivia-aivilo). So basically it is just a lot of trail and error.

#42 May 10th 2007, 2:53am

Miriam Doyle

I too mainly create worlds around stories, but I actually created about half of my world Altomia and I formed a story in it while I was creating it, and the story itself created the rest. And in my story Oculus Examinus, it used to be set entirely on an island but changes in storyline meant that I created entire new countries, realms and characters. Basically, once you have the plotline and an outline of the world, the rest will sort of fall into place and build itself.

#43 Jun 15th 2007, 11:26am

I started a story and had to create a world for it. Originally it was just a desert place, nice and simple. Then I got involved and added lots more in. So now the world is really big (as in several continents big) and whenever I work on it's history I find new story ideas. So now I have told myself I can't start another story, just profile it and save it on the computer for later.

#44 Jun 18th 2007, 7:50am

Be sure to back up your files on fictionpress!

#45 Jun 28th 2007, 6:49am

awilla the hun

I just thought of a cool word. And then thought of other country names.

The people's republic of Rakarskia. (USSR style human regime- but belevolent, with a proper industry and such...)

The Barbarian Confederacy. (Vast military alliance of comparitively backward peoples from various races.)

The kingdom of Saxe-Hessia. (A neutral monarchy.)

And so on...

#46 Oct 15th 2007, 11:51am

you've been playing that "jennifer government" game - haven't you?

#47 Oct 15th 2007, 7:34pm

awilla the hun

What is the Jennifer Government game? I'm quite new to this fantasy writing game. Is it an insult?

#48 Oct 16th 2007, 8:27am