I was just wondering where writers come up with individual alien and species names. I know some use foreign words (Ferengi) and patterns established by others (particularly Vulcan names S__K and T'___).
How do you name alien characters/species?
- Thread starter Laura Cynthia Chambers
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John Ordover once told me he liked to use only the letters on the keyboard's home row because the aliens' names would be faster to type. I don't know him well enough to know if he was joking or not!
One way I thought of would be to make names based on the pronunciation of strings of letters.
So, you might have Arrwyex (R-Y-X) or Luremsee (LER-M-C).
So, you might have Arrwyex (R-Y-X) or Luremsee (LER-M-C).
I don't write a lot of fiction right now (alas), but I have sometimes made up names by spelling things backward. Chevrolet gave me (phonetically) Telor Vek, which I've mentally filed away for use on the proverbial someday. Vomisa seems like a promising character name and tribute to Isaac Asimov. (Although maybe too much like "Vomit" - so I'd probably tweak it before using it by substituting a new vowel at the beginning. Y is my default for "alienness," your mileage may vary <g>)
I generally just try to create names that sound suitably exotic and have a general phonetic similarity to each other, though not too much. If it's an existing species, I try to come up with names that sound like part of the same linguistic background as known character names. Sometimes I base names on private in-jokes, for instance if I'm basing a character on the mental image of a certain actor, I might start with the name of that actor or one of their characters and mess around with the sounds until I come up with something that nobody but I could possibly recognize the origin of (since, in-universe, there's no reason alien names would actually be based on anything Earthbound, so I avoid making any in-jokes too obvious).
Sometimes, if I need an alien name and I'm drawing a blank, I'll just look around, find some word written somewhere, and anagram it. For instance, I must've written part of The Buried Age while sitting on my couch next to my bicycle, because I took the name of the ancient B'nurlac race from the Blackburn-brand pannier rack on the back of my bike. I get a lot of alien names from anagramming.
For my Hub stories in Analog, I tend to come up with alien names by randomly mashing the keys, then finding some reasonably interesting pattern in the resulting string of letters and tweaking it into a semi-pronounceable name.
Sometimes, if I need an alien name and I'm drawing a blank, I'll just look around, find some word written somewhere, and anagram it. For instance, I must've written part of The Buried Age while sitting on my couch next to my bicycle, because I took the name of the ancient B'nurlac race from the Blackburn-brand pannier rack on the back of my bike. I get a lot of alien names from anagramming.
For my Hub stories in Analog, I tend to come up with alien names by randomly mashing the keys, then finding some reasonably interesting pattern in the resulting string of letters and tweaking it into a semi-pronounceable name.
Thanks, this is the kind of thing I was hoping to see here (and why I posted it in lit instead of fanfiction).
Do you Google the names before you use them to make sure they don't have unintentional similarities to something you didn't want?
What are some alternatives to apostrophes in naming?
Do you Google the names before you use them to make sure they don't have unintentional similarities to something you didn't want?
What are some alternatives to apostrophes in naming?
Mash face on keyboard. At least, it felt that way sometimes especially in novels from the 80's.
I think the resistance to apostrophes is silly. I mean, there are plenty of real names like O'Brien and D'Amato and L'Engle and the like. Not to mention that some languages like Arabic (and Klingon) use them with phonetic value, e.g. as glottal stops. Of course they shouldn't be relied on too heavily, but it's just as bad to overreact and say they should never be used.
There are some Earth languages that are romanized using various punctuation marks, for instance the !Kung language, where the ! represents a tongue click off the roof of the mouth (alveolar-palatal click). !Kung also uses several other tongue clicks -- a dental one (off the back of the upper teeth) is /, a lateral click (against the side teeth on both sides) is //, and an alveolar click (off the ridge just behind the front teeth) is a "not equal to" sign (a = with a / through it).
It's not really resistance, it's just keeping from being boring.
Some names sounds funny, while others have to be ethereal. If you use a joke that's too obvious (such as backwards words), you may spoil the plot.
The worst example of this was the novelization of Doctor Who: "Time and the Rani," one of the franchise's worst stories, adapted by its original authors, Pip and Jane Baker. Not only do they give the aliens a "language" that's just English spelled backwards, but they actually explain in the narration that the aliens' language is just English spelled backwards.
Actually, I was more referring to if a villain's name is Yugdab ("bad guy" backwards). Or a planet was named Dilithium Source VI.
Some made-up names have a certain dignified sound, while others are choppy or silly. Depends on the species' characteristics.
Some made-up names have a certain dignified sound, while others are choppy or silly. Depends on the species' characteristics.
Possibly. If you can give me the gist/conclusion.
In one of my "First Contact Corps" short stories, written during the period when I was taking a short story workshop at a local junior college, I introduced a species called the Lozadians. They rather resemble the Sulamids and the native form of the Kelvans, in that they're tentacled beings that make great typists. I named the species after one of my classmates, a Mr. Lozada.
I also at one point named a character Borph Fergo. I named his wife either Sulda, Sulva, or Sulba Fergo; I can't recall which.
I've found that a lot of science fiction writers tend to come up with names that are impossible to wrap human vocal apparatus around. I've also found that ADF's character and species names are generally fairly reader-friendly. As are those of most of the better ST novelists.
I also at one point named a character Borph Fergo. I named his wife either Sulda, Sulva, or Sulba Fergo; I can't recall which.
I've found that a lot of science fiction writers tend to come up with names that are impossible to wrap human vocal apparatus around. I've also found that ADF's character and species names are generally fairly reader-friendly. As are those of most of the better ST novelists.
Recently, I wrote a fic chapter about KT McCoy having to put up with an insufferable alien doctor. I gave him the annoying name of Beegus. In the same fic, (earlier chapter) I mentioned a female Vulcan, T'Vadii (following pattern but still interesting.)
Which is as it should be, really, since aliens wouldn't have human vocal apparatus. It'd be more akin to rendering animal sounds like "meow" or "woof" -- more onomatopoiea than transliteration.
(What drives me crazy are fictional aliens that are given phonetic names even though they're incapable of producing human-style phonetics. Like, how the hell can the Horta call themselves the Horta when the sounds they make resemble grinding rock?)
I suppose it's the Anglicized version, or the way these characters think of themselves.
I like the way individual Hortas were given names that have meanings in Devil's Bargain. (Missile-in-Rock, etc) http://memory-beta.wikia.com/wiki/Devil's_Bargain
I like the way individual Hortas were given names that have meanings in Devil's Bargain. (Missile-in-Rock, etc) http://memory-beta.wikia.com/wiki/Devil's_Bargain
