Need Help Naming Deities

Writers' Corner
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Genre: [name_f]Fantasy[/name_f]

Time Period/Location: I picture it as sort of steampunk/medieval-ish? It’s not supposed to be fullblown oldie, but it’s definitely got characteristics that make it so. I think it’s more of a [name_u]Les[/name_u] Mis time period.

Character Description: There are two deities/gods. They’re both legends, and I took some inspiration from Zoroastrianism with the two gods being light and dark, respectively. I think the light god is going to be a male god (possibly knightly), and the dark god is going to be female (lustful).

Brief Plot: Basically, the kingdom [also unnamed] is losing a war in the north, and citizens turn to religion for comfort. The two main religious sects, which follow the respective aforementioned deities, desperately try to rally people. The kingdom splits over religious and political tensions, and the government is also corrupt.

Already Considered (if relevant): I’ve got nothing for the male god, but for the female god, I considered [name_f]Annora[/name_f] and [name_f]Caia[/name_f], but I don’t think they fit.

[name_m]Don[/name_m]’t Suggest These Names: I wouldn’t like any established deity names (Greek/[name_m]Roman[/name_m] gods, etc). It’s also a western fantasy, so I would like some more exotic but distinctly western names.

Anything else? It would be great if the names fit the personalities (light and dark). Thank you so much!!

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For your goddess, I like [name_f]Caia[/name_f]. It’s short, sounds very much like a goddesses name, and due to various personal reasons, seems like a ‘dark’ name to me. But, her name means ‘to rejoice’ according to nameberry, so not very dark, and is part of the name of a roman goddess [name_f]Caia[/name_f] [name_f]Caecilia[/name_f], who was the goddess of fire and women.

[name_m]Even[/name_m] after finding this out, I want to suggest [name_f]Caecilia[/name_f]. It’s a form of [name_f]Cecelia[/name_f], so it means blind, which is a much ‘darker’ meaning that [name_f]Caia[/name_f]'s. And that spelling seems darker to me too. When I googled [name_f]Caecilia[/name_f] nothing about the goddess came up, so though she still is one, its a lot less linked to her than [name_f]Caia[/name_f] is.

My other suggestion would be [name_f]Selene[/name_f]. She is a greek moon goddess, but its a familiar name and still has that dark feel to me. I think [name_f]Caecilia[/name_f] is a better option though.

For your god, I’m tempted to go with something to do with light or fire. [name_m]Helios[/name_m] is the greek sun god, and [name_f]Selene[/name_f]'s brother, so if you used [name_f]Selene[/name_f] that’s the one I’d use. It feels very much part of the light and dark theme.

I think if you use [name_f]Caia[/name_f], [name_m]Sol[/name_m] might be a good choice. It means sun, and as a male name its the roman god of the sun (the roman equivilant to helios), but [name_m]Sol[/name_m] is also the sun personified in norse mythology (as a female) and again according to nameberry, its a spanish feminine name.

My last suggestion for your god is [name_m]Lucius[/name_m]. It means light, and has never been used as a god’s name, though it is roman. It also, for me, has a dark connotation due to [name_m]Lucius[/name_m] Malfoy from [name_m]Harry[/name_m] [name_m]Potter[/name_m] but I actually think that might work in your favour.

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For your female deity, I think Lilu would work. It’s the name of a male demon in Sumerian and Akkadian mythology but I think it works well for a goddess. Lilitu and Lilin also work, both coming from the same root word meaning “night” or “demon”.

Lamina or Lamiana- I based this off [name_f]Lamia[/name_f], the name of a figure in Greek mythology who was turned into a monster and devoured her children.

Daeva- since you mentioned that you based your gods around Zoroastrianism, I looked it up. Daeva refers to the false gods which promote chaos and destruction.

Senua- the name of a recently discovered Celtic goddess in 2002

For the male deity, I like Shamash. It’s the name of a Sumerian sun god and his name, fittingly, means “sun”.

Mazada- an elaborate form of Mazda (such as Ahura Mazda)

[name_f]Mitra[/name_f]- a variant form of Mithra

Govannon- the name of an ancient Celtic god

I don’t know if any of the above is what you’re looking for but I hope they help or at least give you an idea of what you want.

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[name_u]Luce[/name_u] and [name_f]Cala[/name_f]: deriving from the Latin words “lux” and “caliga”, meaning “light” and “darkness”, respectively. “[name_u]Luce[/name_u]” is actually the Italian word for “light”, and “caliga” might derive from the Sanskrit word “kala” meaning “dark”.

[name_u]Val[/name_u] and [name_f]Ama[/name_f]: short forms of the Latin words “valens”, meaning “strong”, and “amare”, meaning “love”. [name_f]Ama[/name_f] is also Esperanto for “loving” or used to describe something related to love. Not quite [name_m]Knight[/name_m] and Lust, but I hope it works.

[name_m]Miles[/name_m] and [name_u]Ira[/name_u]: Latin words for “soldier” and “passion / wrath”, respectively. “[name_f]Iris[/name_f]” is a plural form of “ira”, but I thought it’s too commonly associated with the flower or the Greek goddess for the “passion” meaning to come through. You could also use [name_m]Milo[/name_m], which derives from [name_m]Miles[/name_m]. I don’t really like these names for Gods, but I didn’t want to exclude them either.

Personally, I like [name_u]Luce[/name_u] and [name_f]Cala[/name_f]. They’re familiar, have meaning, but aren’t significant to any one culture (so avoids overlap with other established gods).

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I did something like this a while ago, I had a similar concept but it was more medieval and I had more gods (and there was a reincarnation thing going on). The names of the original gods (who are ancient and very much established) were actually very difficult because you need something that isn’t so much recognizable in the real world and definitely not something too reminiscent of real world mythology and religion (this was made worse because I mostly referred to the gods by their awesome titles)

Think about how real life mythology gets their names. The [name_m]Roman[/name_m] gods aren’t a direct rehash of the Greek gods they have the same root (Indo-European) and going back through the various languages that span the European and [name_f]Indian[/name_f] continents we formed a probably name for their head deity [name_u]Sky[/name_u]-Father, Deyeus Pater (it’s hard to spell, we’ve only worked out the pronunciation) and you can see how this [name_u]Sky[/name_u]-Father figure returns in many different ancient religions, Deyeus Pater become Ju (deyeu) Piter (pater), [name_u]Sky[/name_u] Father. Deyeus becomes [name_m]Zeus[/name_m]. The [name_u]Sky[/name_u] Father pops up in Norse Mythology as well as [name_m]Tyr[/name_m] and Illyrian as [name_m]Dei[/name_m]-Pátrous. (This can also be seen with the figure of the [name_f]Earth[/name_f] Mother and the [name_f]Divine[/name_f] Twins) my advice is research how real life mythologies developed their pantheons and you can see how they got their names (as well as gain a deeper understanding of how mythologies are developed)

The easiest is nature, almost every mythological god starts off as a nature deity (there’s good evidence that [name_u]Artemis[/name_u] was developed from the Mycenaean Maiden of Animals, Potnia [name_m]Theron[/name_m].) One of my own gods is a [name_u]Sky[/name_u]-Father themselves, their name comes from an old root word for thunder, Stonos. Look for the etymology for light/dark, day/night, fire and shadows, honour and lust. Many things can fit, it depends on how you see these two.

I’m sorry I couldn’t give any potential names but I hope I helped in developing their names and nature in comparison to how real mythologies came about :slight_smile: