Surname Maps

[ysabetwordsmith]

janetmiles and my partner Doug tipped me to this cool resource showing surname maps.  So, if you're a writer and you want to name an ordinary character from one of these places, you can pick a surname from the relevant place and it will fit.  This is a very discreet and effective trick with local color.

Comments

Re: Neat!

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

Name etymology has been a hobby of mine as far back as I can remember. My quick-and-dirty knowledge of Greek and Latin began with hacking dinosaur names to get the meanings.

Re: Neat!

[aldersprig.livejournal.com]

Etymology in general has always interested me, but name etymology came later.

I have a couple name nerds who started reading Addergoole just for the names :-D