| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| David E |
Posted - 19 Feb 2007 : 08:53:41
Hello Sages of Candlekeep -
I'm not sure if many of you have heard of the Everchanging Book of Names (EBON), but it is a neat little program that can generate a variety of Forgotten Realms-specific names (in addition to names from other sources, such as Greyhawk and the Lord of the Rings). The program uses an algorithm to break down pre-generated names and then creates new names, following the same formula as the originals.
Currently, EBON only has names for beholders, drow, dwarves, elves, halflings, orcs/goblinoids, mind flayers, kuo-toa, and generic human names. I was thinking that many of the human cultures in the Realms have very specific naming patterns (Impiltur springs to mind). If we could compile lists of names for different cultures or nations around the Realms, we use them to create new "name lists" for EBON.
I guess a good place to start would be pointing to sources in which I can find names specific to certain cultures. Thanks in advance for any help you guys can give me. |
| 12 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Asgetrion |
Posted - 21 Feb 2007 : 19:20:18
quote:
Originally posted by MaxKaladin
quote:
Originally posted by David E
That poses a problem. And you're right, Max, EBoN does need a fairly large list of pre-existing names (about 50) for it to effectively create new names. I was hoping that perhaps cultural-specific names could be found scattered throughout a number of sources, such as George Krashos' Impiltur article, but if previous editions of FR didn't distinguish between cultures in their naming conventions, that will make things much more difficult.
I imagine it varies. I'd bet Ed and some of the authors took care to make names that fit the area they came from while others just came up with something off the cuff. If I were going to try to build a list, I'd look at stuff Ed did to start with. Perhaps there are lists of characters from various novels he wrote that could be adapted. It wouldn't be impossible, but it would be time and labor intensive.
It does make me wonder how names for official products are created. Does WotC have a set of rules they use to check names or is it all "by feel".
I agree - for example, some of the names in the Moonsea area certainly have a different feel than NPCs from other parts of the Realms (Fzoul, for example). Even if they generally sound more or less similar everywehere, I guess this may be due to Common and Chondathan being so widespread languages, and also because magic has ensured that there is much more "cultural contacts" than there ever was in the "Real World".
I doubt there are any official "guidelines" at WoTC for naming FR NPCs, or otherwise there would be no 'Marco Volo' or 'Marcus Wands' (for example)  
I personally prefer to NEVER use "Real World" names in the Realms, and change all such NPC names in my sourcebooks.
I guess the best names for EBON would be from any sourcebooks or articles written by Ed. There is also a great website http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/castle/2566/ (by AJA) where there is a big list of NPCs with very "Ed-like" Waterdhavian names   |
| MaxKaladin |
Posted - 21 Feb 2007 : 18:30:40
quote:
Originally posted by David E
That poses a problem. And you're right, Max, EBoN does need a fairly large list of pre-existing names (about 50) for it to effectively create new names. I was hoping that perhaps cultural-specific names could be found scattered throughout a number of sources, such as George Krashos' Impiltur article, but if previous editions of FR didn't distinguish between cultures in their naming conventions, that will make things much more difficult.
I imagine it varies. I'd bet Ed and some of the authors took care to make names that fit the area they came from while others just came up with something off the cuff. If I were going to try to build a list, I'd look at stuff Ed did to start with. Perhaps there are lists of characters from various novels he wrote that could be adapted. It wouldn't be impossible, but it would be time and labor intensive.
It does make me wonder how names for official products are created. Does WotC have a set of rules they use to check names or is it all "by feel".
|
| David E |
Posted - 21 Feb 2007 : 01:42:02
quote:
Originally posted by MaxKaladin
Unfortunately, I think the current division of names by culture is a relatively recent thing that came with 3e. I suspect that names dating back to before 3e will sometimes be hard or impossible to classify.
That poses a problem. And you're right, Max, EBoN does need a fairly large list of pre-existing names (about 50) for it to effectively create new names. I was hoping that perhaps cultural-specific names could be found scattered throughout a number of sources, such as George Krashos' Impiltur article, but if previous editions of FR didn't distinguish between cultures in their naming conventions, that will make things much more difficult.
I also appreciate everyone's suggestions about other online name generators or using real cultural naming conventions for the various races of FR, but one of the appealing things about EBoN is that it is very good at creating names that sound like they really "belong" in the Realms. |
| Grehnar |
Posted - 19 Feb 2007 : 21:33:32
I always like to include my old 'Book of Babies Names' among my regular hardbacks when helping with character generation (I got a few raised eyebrows first time but my players now ask for it). Not everybody wants a name from a fairly short list but some lesser used but easily recognisable names can be useful. |
| Rinonalyrna Fathomlin |
Posted - 19 Feb 2007 : 19:24:20
quote:
Originally posted by Dargoth
The Forgotten realms campaign setting has a list of male, female and surnames by racial group (including human sub groups)
Yeah, but each list is fairly short. After a while people want more names to work with.
I've actually found some nice "regular" name generators online. If you use your discretion (not to mention your own imagination), you can find a lot to work with that way, and come up with your own "FR-ish" names. And unlike the EBoN, you won't have to shell out money to get the full version. |
| Faraer |
Posted - 19 Feb 2007 : 17:58:21
The human EBoN chapters generate what are now called 'Chondathan' names, i.e. the dominant human culture of the Heartlands. |
| MaxKaladin |
Posted - 19 Feb 2007 : 16:28:11
I'm familiar with it. I ended up making a couple of custom name files for various (non-FR) things a few years ago. The thing about the program is that it breaks down existing names and looks for patterns and then creates new names based on those patterns. Unfortunately, this means it needs a lot of names to work with to give good results and the handfull of names for each culture in the FRCS won't really be enough.
EBoN needs dozens or hundreds of names for each culture to get proper, culture-specific names. If you just throw a list of hundreds of NPCs in without seperating them by culture, you'll get names that are an amagamation of all the different cultures the names in your list come from. I vaguely recall seeing a file for "Forgotten Realms Names" that did just that.
Unfortunately, I think the current division of names by culture is a relatively recent thing that came with 3e. I suspect that names dating back to before 3e will sometimes be hard or impossible to classify.
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| Kuje |
Posted - 19 Feb 2007 : 15:24:46
My canon NPC lists could help you as well now that most of the current 3/3.5e sourcebooks list the human subraces. |
| Mazrim_Taim |
Posted - 19 Feb 2007 : 14:34:45
I'd say follow Dargoth's advice and use the FRCS as a guideline. |
| Sian |
Posted - 19 Feb 2007 : 12:04:30
well ... part of the reason that dwarven names sounds like scandinativan names is prehaps that most (if not all) of the dwarven from earthly texts is from the northic myths ... though it fails when we start talking about elves who also come from northic (and celtic) myths :) |
| boddynock |
Posted - 19 Feb 2007 : 11:09:44
For dwarves I prefer names like: Mazrim, Mazram, Guormundr, Guortempr, Turikborsjt , etc... Scandinavian names are also a good source, a few examples are : Thorfinn, Thorstein, Heimdall, Aðalvaldr, Ögmundr, Agnar, Gísmundr, Grímmundr, Guðbrandr, Guðleifr, Oddgeirr and Úlfgeirr....
For elves you can use names like Evaryan, Iskar, Allwynn, enellion. You can use a lot of names you create that sounds elvish. A few celtics names are also a good choise: Aodh, Breanainn, Cathaoir, Eoghann ... |
| Dargoth |
Posted - 19 Feb 2007 : 09:57:36
The Forgotten realms campaign setting has a list of male, female and surnames by racial group (including human sub groups) |
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