Video summary

The Easy Way to Name Your Fantasy Characters

Main summary

Key takeaways

Educational

Main ideas and lessons (what the video teaches)

  • The speaker presents a practical, reusable system for naming fantasy characters called the “Naming Diamond.”
  • The system has four components, and you can start at any component. If you get stuck, you can move to another.
  • The key goal is to make names:
    • emotionally resonant,
    • fast to generate (by avoiding the blank-page problem),
    • consistent within a culture or world,
    • and distinct enough that readers don’t confuse characters.

The “Naming Diamond” (detailed structure)

1) Emotional Valence (sound-to-emotion matching)

Core concept: A character’s name carries emotional meaning through raw sound (often subconsciously), influencing how readers feel about the character immediately.

How to apply: Ask:

  • What emotion should readers feel when they first hear/read this character’s name? Then choose phonetic/sound patterns that generally produce that emotion.

Sound design principles (with emotional impressions):

Hard consonants / plosives

  • Examples: K, T, P, G, D, B, hard C
  • Notes:
    • K and T are described as the sharpest.
    • Produces impressions of bluntness, violence, directness, aggression.
  • Examples mentioned:
    • Conan, Kratos, Khal Drogo, Dracula, Gregor Clegane

Soft consonants / sonorants

  • Examples: L, R, W, Y
  • Notes:
    • Feels flowy, gentle, warm, sometimes elegant.
  • Examples mentioned:
    • Lyra, Eowyn, Lorien, Luna Lovegood, Legolas

Sibilants (hissing sounds)

  • Examples: S, Z, soft C
  • Notes:
    • Quick s sounds can feel dangerous, cunning.
    • Softer/longer s can feel more central, sometimes seductive.
  • Examples mentioned:
    • Silas, Zereth, Isolda, Seraphine, Salazar Slytherin, Cersei, Sauron, Melisandre

Fricatives

  • Examples: F, V, “th”
  • Notes:
    • Made by forcing air through a narrow channel.
    • V often feels elegant or mysterious.
    • F often feels airy or fay-like.
    • Overall emotional valence: ethereal, fragile, otherworldly, breathy (generally).
  • Examples mentioned:
    • Vayleth, Ivara, Théoden, Freya, Ophirya

Nasals

  • Examples: M, N, “ng”
  • Notes:
    • Made with mouth closed and air passing through nose.
    • Produces grounding, resonance, weight, often ancient/impressive.
    • Fun experiment mentioned: it’s “impossible” to say m with mouth completely open.
  • Examples mentioned:
    • Mordor, Narnia, Morgana, Gandalf, Moiraine

Front vs. back vowels

  • Front vowels (high/forward): I, E (as in bit/bet)
    • Impressions: small, quick, sharp; timidness, delicacy, nimbleness
    • Examples mentioned: Kip, Wit, Ellie, Pippin, Bilbo, Ginny Weasley, Tinkerbell, Peeves
  • Back vowels (low/back): A, U (as in father/boot)
    • Impressions: bigger, deeper, more resonant; grand, deep, powerful, mythical
    • Examples mentioned: Aldor, Ronan, Ulva, Aragorn, Odin, Boromir, Beowulf, Goliath, Ragnar

Open vs. closed word endings

  • Open endings (A/O/E) → warmth, softness, inviting, gentle trailing off
    • Examples: Boba, Isabella, Calypso, Cinderella, Penelope, Calo
  • Closed endings (ending on hard consonant like K/T/G/D) → finality, sharpness, decisiveness, hard stop
    • Examples: Thorak, Grath, Ned Stark, Smaug, Rand al’ Thor
    • Note: emphasis on the ending Rand + hard D

Advanced tip: You can intentionally misdirect readers using subconscious sound-emotion associations. Example pattern:

  • Give a harsh/violent-sounding name to a character who looks like an enemy early on, then later reveal them as an ally.

2) Reality Extrapolation (start from real names/concepts, then mutate)

Core concept: Start with a real-world name (or concept/word), then adjust letters/sounds to make it more fantasy-like. This creates momentum and avoids the blank-page problem.

How to apply:

  • Choose an anchor word/name (e.g., Susan).
  • Generate many variants by:
    • adjusting letters,
    • adding letters,
    • deleting letters,
    • testing different spellings/sound outcomes.
  • Expect many to be “wrong” or silly—this is part of the process.
  • Keep the ones that “click.”

Example given (Susan → variants):

  • Susan
  • Suzanne (adds E)
  • Sushawn (adds H)
  • Solshan (sounds more “Middle Eastern”)
  • Suyan (adds Y in the middle)
  • Usan (different starting form)
  • Seon
  • Solyan
  • Suzan

  • Suvan Speaker’s personal favorites from these:

  • Solshan, Solyan, Suvan (but preferences vary)

Starting from concepts (not just names):

  • Example concept-to-name:
    • severe (strict teacher)
    • snake (trickster/manipulative; true allegiances unknown)
    • Combined inspiration leads to Severus Snape
  • Example from connotation/history:
    • paladin (holy knight ideal)
    • Tweaked by changing sound/connotation (e.g., P → K) to yield Kaladin (Stormlight Archive)

Historical/author note mentioned:

  • Brandon Sanderson anecdote: Kaladin was previously called Merin in early drafts, but it changed because it sounded too similar to Perrin (Wheel of Time).

Placeholder practicality (workflow instruction): If a name won’t come quickly:

  • Use placeholders in curly brackets, e.g. {Name}
  • Later, search for curly brackets in the document and replace them.

Example from the speaker’s experience:

  • In Kingdom of Dragons, the speaker reported ~340 placeholders in the first draft (for character names, place names, and some other items).

3) Cultural Patterns (internal consistency across a world/culture)

Core concept: Names should work not only individually, but as a system. If multiple cultures feel the same—or if a culture has no internal naming logic—immersion can break.

How to apply: Define how names behave within:

  • a country,
  • a family,
  • a religion,
  • or other group. Then ensure cultures have distinguishable naming patterns and/or sound palettes.

Avenue A: Use real-world inspiration

Example culture groups and corresponding naming inspirations:

  • In Across the Broken Stars:
    • Pions → loosely Spanish-based names
      • Examples: Leon de Velasco, Alina de Muriel
    • Varians → more English-inspired names
      • Example: Walter Drayton

Three “starting ideas” from real-world naming conventions (not exhaustive):

1) Day-based names (Akan people, West Africa) - Name depends on the day of week and differs for boys vs girls. - Examples mentioned: - Wednesday: Kwaku (men), Akua (women) - Thursday: Yaw (men), Yaa (women)

2) Patronymic / matronymic surnames (Iceland example) - Surnames come from a father’s (or sometimes mother’s) name plus a suffix meaning son/daughter. - Examples: - Gunnar’s son Jon → “Jon Gunnar’s son” - Gunnar’s daughter Bjork → “Bjork Gunnar’s daughter” - Notes: - This can cause every person in a family to have different last names.

3) Birth order names (Bali, Indonesia) - Name depends on birth order (regardless of gender), with some gender prefixes. - Examples mentioned: - Firstborn: Wayan, Ketut, Kadek - Second: Made, Kadek, Nengah - Third: Nyoman, Komang - Fourth: Ketut - Fifth: loops back and adds balik (e.g., wayan balik)

Key reasoning instruction: Don’t add a naming pattern “randomly.” Build a logical reason tied to worldbuilding (why the pattern exists).

Avenue B: Invent your own rules (sound palettes + structural logic)

Example rule approach (sound palette separation):

  • Seafaring trader culture
    • lots of soft consonants and open vowel endings
    • Examples: Malea, Noria, Wylia
  • Mountain clan
    • more harsh consonants and closed endings
    • Examples: Brogac, Kelnod, Austrig

Emotional effect described:

  • Soft/open sounds → light/breezy
  • Harsh/closed sounds → stoniness/hardness

Stormlight Archive example (cultural rule via symmetry):

  • In Alethi culture, symmetry is sacred.
  • Many names are near-palindromes (spelled same forwards/backwards or close).
  • Examples mentioned:
    • Shallan (near palindrome)
    • Navani (closer)
    • Toral Sedai’s Toral (described as a perfect palindrome if one ending letter is adjusted)
  • Extra worldbuilding explanation:
    • Perfect symmetry is seen as too arrogant—like claiming divinity—so names tend to be “near” rather than perfect palindromes.

4) Differentiation (ensure names are distinguishable)

Core concept: Names exist so readers can tell characters apart. Too many similar-sounding names can confuse readers.

How to apply:

  • Avoid repeating overly similar naming patterns among major characters.
  • Differentiation rule of thumb:
    • Once you’ve used a starting letter for a main character, don’t reuse that starting letter for another major character.

Creative benefit: This constraint pushes you toward more varied choices when generating names.

Example given:

  • Dorian, Darian, Doric, Doran might be hard for readers to distinguish.

Alternative workflow using starting-letter constraints:

  • If one main character starts with A and another with S, don’t start the next major character name with A or S—choose something else (e.g., B).

Overall closing message

The speaker frames naming as part of craft rules:

  • emotional valence,
  • reality-based extrapolation,
  • cultural pattern systems,
  • and differentiation constraints.

They then pivot briefly to the idea that character arcs (transformation over the story) are what deeply invest readers emotionally.

Speakers / sources featured (as named in the subtitles)

Speaker / creator

  • Jed Erne(h?) / Jed (spoken as “Jed” throughout)

Sources (books, series, authors, works, and papers)

  • “Synesthesia: A Window Into Perception, Thought, and Language” (2001 scientific paper)
  • The Wheel of Time (characters mentioned: Eowyn, Moiraine, Perrin, Rand al’ Thor)
  • The Stormlight Archive (mentions Kaladin; Brandon Sanderson)
  • Kingdom of Dragons (speaker’s work)
  • Across the Broken Stars (speaker’s work)
  • Dungeons & Dragons (paladin class reference)
  • Charlemagne (historical figure used in the “paladin” explanation)
  • Akan people (real-world culture for day-based naming)
  • Iceland (patronymic/matronymic example)
  • Bali (Indonesia) (birth order naming example)
  • Australia (speaker’s personal-location reference)
  • The video also references “watch this video here” about writing fantasy character arcs (specific title/link not provided)

Original video