Need help in creating elf names?

Question

Hi. I have read a couple of books on elves and I'm interested in writing short stories of elves as a hobby. My problem is creating different names for my elf characters, whatever is a wood, high or dark elf. If anyone know any websites that provide names with its meaning or any ideas in creating elf names, that would be helpful? Thanks.

Answer 1

There are a lot of good ideas above (I like Marvinator's Scrabble idea). I also yhink it's good you try to find names that reflect the character you are creating.

A few ideas...

Use "Physical" words - Unusual nouns are often good to imply physical appearance. Example - Nobbles

WORD PLAY

* Create anagrams of words/phrases that typify the character:
* Try adding "er", "ing", "y", "s" to verbs and other appropriate words
* Try switching the random words around
* Think of using single word or single syllable names
* Try thinking of synonyms for a character type, then take two consecutive letters from each word

ex: You have a loyal, though put upon elf character:
You could use: Staunch, Trusty, Used, Patriotic and Constant as word bases then take two letters from each word:
1) TA RU ED IO AN - Tarue Dioan
... or (mixing the words up a bit...)
2) IC TA TY SE CH - Icta Tysech

You could even reverse the letter combinations & mix them up:
1) AT UR DE OI NA - Urtao Idena
2) CI AT YT ES HC - Ciesh Catyt

Also - think about putting an accent on some of the vowels:
example Urtao Idêna or Ciêsh Catyt

This is also a great way to "create a language vocabulary" & place names

A Mountainous, Beautiful, Cold, Clear environment could be called:

Ustildar (Simplified Elfic Spelling - Ustîlda)

GOOD LUCK & hope this helps...

PS the sites below are Name Generators - good for sparking ideas!

Answer 2

Forgotten Realms Elf Names

Answer 3

Creating an elf name is a difficult task. You must first think of what time of elf it is. Is it a forest elf, a dark (or drow) elf or a mountain elf. Then you must fit the name to the type. I played AD&D back in the day and my main character was a male elf fighter, his name was Gromek. He was a from the mountains. His wife was a forest elf and her name was Flit. My advice is to read more books especially Tolkien.

Answer 4

you can get a lot of ideas from Tolkien, names of elves appear in the index at the back of the book that were only mentioned once, or not even at all. It's just up to your own imagination, I have some, but am not really prepared to share them as they are names I used in a story.
How I came up with them was taking a traditional shortening of a real name and expanding with a twist, or taking the name of an alcohol and twisting it round (Peregrin - from LOTR - sounds a lot like Pellegrini).
good luck finding names for your book, I know it can really do your head in trying to work it all out.

Answer 5

The Ever Changing Book of Names has a lot of seeds for name generators from Forgotten Realms languages to Tolkein and offers a lot of customization.

Answer 6

If it's your story, you get to create the names AND the reasons for those names. Do you think JK Rowling had to look up the names for the characters in her books?

Some suggestions, TAke a scrabble set and lay the letters out on a table face down. Reach out with one hand and grab up a handful. lay them out in a line and attempt to pronounce them. Now, attempt to spel out what you just pronounced.

Next, we used to make up a silly game by giving eachother a nickname by pronouncing our REAL names backward.

Hope this helps.

Answer 7

someone else wrote something about JK Rowling not having to look up her name for her books. . .but, ACTUALLY, she kinda did. all the names in her books have meanings behing them. like Harry means Lion or something like that. none of her names were random, they all fit the character for who that character was. so, maybe fnid a baby name book that tell the meaning behing the names and try to find things like that, and maybe, try to fit two different names together, therefore having two meanings. . . i hope this was any help to you, even though i didnt give any specific names. ..

Answer 8

Download a language translator program and type in words that relate to elves. My friend needed to name a polar bear and downloaded a language program and typed in words like.. cold, arctic, icecap, igloo.. and looked up them words in the Inuette (old Alaskan) language and it gave her a bunch of neat words.

Answer 9

Sometimes, the best thing is to create your own orginal names, create a languge which you can interpet to meen the needs of your names. I am writing a book myself, ans use a created lang. called Callain which I can bend to my own needs.

Answer 10

Read some of Tolkien's books. That might give you some ideas. Good luck!