The Wordsmith&#39;s Forge

Hmmm...
I'll probably google if the need arises,
but are then region-specific RNGs?
Period-specific?
Ethnic-specific?

Previously, I got names of Jewish characters
from Remarque's novel about Jewish refugees in the US,
and for the novel set in the 1850s,
I got names from slave narratives
and Uncle Tom's Cabin,
since those could be assumed accurate for time and place.
Japanese-American character names I got from
the published collection of diaries of the 100th Battalion and 442nd regiment.
(Those diaries had been confiscated by the War Department, which is how they were all preserved.)
But I'm wandering.

Another thing that's occurred to me,
and maybe you've thought of it already.
Smith is a common name because it was a common profession,
and Ferrar, Ferrari, and Kovacs, are all just Smith in another language.
Also, most surnames ending in -er are of occupational origin.
Anyway, if you've got a world you've created and a language to go with it,
whatever that word for "smith" is will probably be a common surname in the world.
Same with farmer, miller, booker, and so on...

And another thing-
Anyone named Goldsmith is probably Jewish
because Jews in Europe for centuries
were not allowed to own land,
so they tended to become money lenders,
which led to them becoming pawn brokers
which led to them becoming jewelers,
which led to so many of them being named Goldsmith.
This same thing could happen in a created world.

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ayoub.livejournal.com

That's awesome!

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That's so neat! You can notice that traveling around New York State:

Buffalo, where my husband grew up, has a very strong Polish community (the cemetary where his family is buried is Irish/Italian/Polish in about equal numbers).

Rochester, where I grew up, has a giant Sch- section of the phone book (I used to work in the library and did research in the Local History department)

Where we live now, the Finger Lakes, is very Dutch. So's Albany.

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That reminds me: if an author plans to make a lot of characters for a given city/area, as in a novel or a series of stories, then a great trick is to obtain a phonebook from there. Some places give them away free, while others charge a small fee. You can also ask friends to give you last year's phonebook. Pick both last and first names out of there, just try to use combinations that aren't already in print together.

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That's a cool idea! (I tend to need random name generators of some sort, or I either have way-out-there names or a lot of Janes and Jacks. I like out-there names so much I made it a setting feature in my webserial!)

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Anyway, if you've got a world you've created and a language to go with it,
whatever that word for "smith" is will probably be a common surname in the world.
Same with farmer, miller, booker, and so on...

Hunh, that's a very good thought. Thank you!

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Always glad to be of help.

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>>I'll probably google if the need arises,
but are then region-specific RNGs?
Period-specific?
Ethnic-specific?<<

I have seen some. I usually go out hunting resources when I'm going to need a batch of names in a particular flavor. If you look around, you can find ones that suit your personal needs.

>>Previously, I got names of Jewish characters
from Remarque's novel about Jewish refugees in the US,
and for the novel set in the 1850s,
I got names from slave narratives
and Uncle Tom's Cabin,
since those could be assumed accurate for time and place.<<

Yeah, I've used slave narratives too, along with African name books. (I have one character who doesn't hold with renaming unless the original is hopelessly unpronounceable.) Some of my desert characters are named out of the 100 Magnificent Names of God, or the lists based on "If you have 100 sons, name them all Mohammed."

>>Smith is a common name because it was a common profession,
and Ferrar, Ferrari, and Kovacs, are all just Smith in another language.
Also, most surnames ending in -er are of occupational origin.
Anyway, if you've got a world you've created and a language to go with it,
whatever that word for "smith" is will probably be a common surname in the world.
Same with farmer, miller, booker, and so on...<<

Now THAT is brilliant. I've done it inadvertently, I think. But I shall suggest this purposely for Torn World. Characters there don't use surnames, but the Empire does use titles. So effectively we could have Smith So-and-so instead of the other way 'round, and the trick still works.

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Thank you.

I really like it when someone says an idea of mine is brilliant.
:)

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From what I've seen, your levels of discernment and extrapolation far exceed the usual. That contributes to excellent writing, because it means you get the subtle details right. If your plot is going to do flips, you want it to start out standing on a very solid foundation.

*chuckle* One of the more interesting tidbits I worked up for Torn World was a Northern "bird clock." It lists a number of surviving bird species and the time when they would be calling. That was after I had to rip out a whole string of time cues from "Fala the Leader" because I'd forgotten to account for the extreme latitude and its effect on day/night proportions, so I had all the wrong birds in gear. *facepalm* *researchresearchresearch*

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I like to jot down spammer names for the far-out stuff. Very good inspiration there.

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*giggle* that's awesome.

Most of Addergoole was done via Random Baby Namer or "name meaning xx" Google searches, except the few random ones that are really obvious that I made up (whoops; another argument for consistent worldbuilding BEFORE you post your serial!)

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Oops...
:)

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Oh, another sort of related thing-
in the 1892 preface to The Hoosier School-Master,
Edward Eggleston mentioned that a specific dialect could be heard
anywhere Scots-Irish immigrants settled in the US;
even two or three generations later,
there were enclaves in South Carolina, Indiana, and Pennsylvania
where people spoke with the same accent as one another,
but unlike the accents other people around them.

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Now I'm having another Homer Simpson moment.
Mmmm...
Post cereal.
:)

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/chuckle/

...Crap! ... now I want raisin bran...!

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At least raisin bran is better for you than donuts.

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Yup!

Raisin Bran + Shredded wheat has been my lunch for most of the last 13 months of weight loss! :-D

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Also, Raisin Bran makes awesome muffins. I think it used to come with a recipe on the box, but that was years ago.

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Yes, very useful trick. I also have a "backwards" name dictionary for writers, which is indispensable. *chuckle* Actually I have half a shelf of baby name books, which I've been collecting since junior high. People used to give me very disapproving looks for standing in that aisle, until I got out of college or thereabouts. I learned to say, "I'm not pregnant. I'm a writer shopping for character names." It was my version of "I'm not planning to murder anyone, I'm looking up poisons/guns/etc. for a mystery novel."

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We keep meaning to make bran muffins... I'll have to look it up.

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That's very neat!

I used to collect names when I was in high school, didn't really get into name-meanings until later.

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http://www.cooks.com/rec/search/0,1-0,kellogg_raisin_bran_muffins,FF.html

This one looks very similar to what I recall, except for the buttermilk. I think grandma usually used plain milk or half-and-half instead.
http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,194,144167-248205,00.html

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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.

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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

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