MatthewSteele
Registered
- Joined
- Jun 19, 2018
- Messages
- 32
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- 3
I'm not very creative in this respect. If we're being honest I stare at a blank wall until something pops into my head that sounds good.
I'm from Ireland and I had a look at the "Irish names" page on Nameberry. There are quite a few names that I've never seen before (Bedelia, Aralt), I've only seen as surnames (Callahan, Fitzgerald) or place names (Cavan, Dublin), or are existing names spelled weirdly (Aydan, P'Adraic). The "Native American names" seem to be mostly tribes rather than personal names, while the "African names" page shoves a lot of varied cultures and languages together with little effort to distinguish between them. So if you are trying to get accurate names that reflect a culture or place, use Nameberry with care. If you're writing Fantasy where you just want to get a particular "cultural feel", this may be less relevant.
Can't believe no one has mentioned Behind The Name and Behind The Surname yet. Sometimes I'll have a nationality in mind, and start reading there; sometimes I have a first letter or a sound, and go at it that way. Either way, I can spend ages browsing name lists, and usually note a dozen for future use as well as whatever I went there for.