Fantasy Naming Conventions

 

 

So, naming conventions are a big deal in a fantasy world, and I wanted to talk about where some of the names in the bestiary of 2nd Edition FAL came from. I mentioned before that the Ten Time Ten Men got their names from a Wu-Tang Clan song. The Demented Avengers also take their names from a song, Pink Floyd’s “Sheep" to be specific. 

And while the Giant Castor gets its name from the scientific genus for beaver, some names come from other languages. For example, the Winkapuss, that giant cosmic owl we saw around New Year’s, actually gets its name from an old English dialect word for owl. The Herensuge, one of the children of the Cosmic Wanderer in FAL lore, comes from the Basque word for dragon, while the Boohoohoo, another giant owl, gets its name from the sound an owl makes in Romanian. And the Purr Beast, of course, gets its name from the sound a cat makes in English: purrrrr.

But some names come from what I think a word feels like. For example, the two creatures in this picture. Yldeti looks sort of like a squishy starfish and the word Yldeti feels like something squishy and wet to me, something that sits on an ocean floor. Same thing with the Slurgoth. It just looks like it sounds to me. 

I really enjoy making names. It's a visual exercise for me because words make pictures and color. It’s also really fun to look at other languages and cultures and see their words for sounds and animals.