Hello everyone! I’m writing a story set in another world, so the time period and geography won’t be super helpful, but technology is quite limited and it’s set near a forest. My main character learns to accept that she will never fit in with society as she was born part of a group of people who are looked upon as being inherently wrong somehow. They have an ability passed down through generations to read and twist the thoughts and emotions of others (there’s a lot more to it than that, but it won’t be very helpful here) though my character has never been taught how to do this. But I need a name for this people group based on their particular abilities. Any ideas? I am okay with an invented word, but I’d prefer something with at least a basis in an established word from any language. (If you choose a language other than English, please list the meaning and language of origin.)
Thanks in advance for all suggestions!
Yay for worldbuilding through names!
Here are a few A to Z suggestions. They are all made up, though I scattered in some root words and some spliced meanings to create names that sound interesting. You can create any meaning you want, so what jumps out at you should be where you start. I believe these could be names that the people with special abilities call themselves, names the leading, controling society places on them, or names given to them by people who mean to demean them. Hopefully these suggestions can give you a few ideas of your own or serve as a jumping off point for other developments in your story!
Before I start I also think its interesting to add clarifiing titles to many of these names. These eleborated titles include …
The Chosen of the ______
The Fellows of the ______
The Few of the _____
The People of the ______
The Selected of the _____
The Wills of the ____
These titles could be given by the governing society or bestowed upon group members who demonstrate certain specialities or demonstrate leadership within the group. If you want to use titles have just as much fun with them as you have with names!
Anyway, here are the A to Z people names …
The Ascendants
The Bintali
The Cereesian
The Devousi
The Euterpics
The Euterpine
The Fiers
The Galkaisers
The Gosprits
The Gusprits
The Humbreggs
The Illisern
The Illiseren
The Jabbernooks
The Kurnevers
The Kurnivers
The Lilumfiers
The Lilumquiks
The Lilumwicks
The Liluwisps
The Mordovim
The Mirayben
The Norwinders
The Orfieren
The Ofriquiks
The Ophayras
The Orphiren
The Oserai
The Osinds
The Osierns
The Perciel
The Porciel
The Porciends
The Porciendents
The Porcient
The Porssents
The Quotiphs
The Raysires
The Risaoiren
The Sires
The Spephirs
The Spires
The Trayvers
The Ulpicurvbo
The Ulpinders
The Ulpinsers
The Vaselfiers
The Vittorvals
The Waiiseren
The Wileecbin
The Wills
The Willwisps
The Wisps
The Yaevern
The Zardantien
While I like fun, high fantasy names that play with spelling and pronunciation, my favorite is probably The Spires. Not only does it sound like “spies” but it conjures images of church spires or communication towers and suggests a network of immense power that may be capable of greatly divine or man-made power that knows no foreseeable limits. It also suggests that their power could be tied to lost or forgotten arts. I also like The Sires and The Fiers because of their easily grasped connotations and because they may help define how your character and others of the group of people use their powers. I find The Sires to be especially ominous and fear-inducing while the Fiers suggests both sparks of untapped, contained power and ravenous power. As far as creative names, “O” names are always fun in fantasy. However, like I said before, the cool thing is that your group can have multiple names as given by multiple people and groups! Or they could be the name of certain powers and abilities (i.e. “Use the fier, Luke!” or “May the fier be with you.”)!
Worldbuilding is cool, so enjoy this first beginning stage while you can!
Good luck writing!
Thank you so much for your suggestions! I really like the idea of there being a few different names for them. (I’m thinking I’ll have one that they mainly call themselves, a common term for them, and a derogatory term, as you suggested)
My favorites of your names are The Fier, The Spires, and The Ascendants. I think Fier would be a good common term because it would also be a bit symbolic (her people are useful when under control)
Thanks again! Worldbuilding is super fun, I will definitely be having fun with it.
(More suggestions are always welcome!)