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Can’t find a name?

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msd

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I’m trying to come up with a cool yet professional name for a non-denominational religious society for my Sci-Fi novel. I thought it would magically come to me but two years later I still can’t think of one.

How do you find such names? Do you have any tricks for people like me? Are there any internet resources we can consult?
 

jaus tail

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Maybe God's Guardians, or The Holy Protectors.

Google could help you.
 

that redhead

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I needed to name an evangelical protest group in my most recent novel, so I researched existing groups and wrote down their names. Then I took bits and pieces and stitched together my own.

It reminds me of when our boss decides we need a new vision statement at work: we take all the current buzzwords in our field, stir liberally, then pull out a few and arrange. :)
 
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msd

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Shunter

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For naming a place, I finds maps of the general location and try to spot commonalities between the names. For example, where I'm from a lot of places have Biblical or Classical names, i.e. Rome or Canon. Others are named after people, and many reflect natural features, i.e. Ironton, Riverport. Plenty of places have old Native Indian names, though not as many in the hills as in central Ohio. With that in mind, I came up with a small-town name.

But now the big city is a problem. I want it to be thoroughly midwestern American, so I came up with Cattleton. It sounds like somewhere flat, and it has that obnoxious nasal 'ah' sound which is so thoroughly American. The trouble is, it's ugly and doesn't sound like a big city. The name I came up with that I loved, Ansington, turns out to be a city in a computer game already, so it's right out. Right now I'm using Cattleton as a placeholder, but trying to come up with something better. I sympathize with your difficulties entirely, I really do.
 

Orianna2000

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I have a major religious group in my second (sci-fi) novel. I looked at Biblical names to choose a name for them. There's lots of peculiar-sounding names and cities in the Old Testament, which can be found in lists online, if you don't have a Bible to flip through. Pick one and add -ites to the end. For example: Phlegon (means zealous or burning) = Phlegonites, a group known for their religious zeal and fervor.
 

Loverofwords

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What about "Servers of Light" or "Knights of Light" or "Light Guardians" or "Holy Swords"
 
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