Has anyone mentioned The Namican?

http://www.lulu.com/shop/donald-jordan/the-namican-a-book-of-names-and-words-for-your-imaginary-settings/paperback/product-16366241.html

My thoughts on the book:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sjwcl6zmBE

Hmm. I don't see the problem. Just shift things around or steal wholesale from other sources. Sometimes a name that reminds of something else can actually be useful (in Kushiel's Dart, the name for a place similar to Venice is La Serinissima, and Spain is Aragonia) Here's another idea. Take Latin names, maybe use the way they were actually pronounced (not an expert but roughly Cesar = Kaisar, Cicero = Kikero), and maybe swap some letters and shift emphasis : Kasair the Corsair, Kokeri the Bushman hunter. Sometimes it ends up funny but who cares

How can you run out of names?   How?

I have a variety of naming sources. My favorite these days is Gary Gygax's Extraordinary Book of Names, which fits because I generally prefer real world names rather than made up names (at least for humans). That doesn't mean I don't make up the occasional name, and I used an old elvish name generator based on Tolkien from Different Worlds magazine to generate some elf names.

And re-use of names should actually happen. There's a lot of John Smiths in the real world (or pick your favorite super common name from any other culture). Yea, maybe try and keep names unique for important characters. On the other hand, imagine the fun confusion that could arise from some random NPC sharing the name of a significant villain...

Same goes for place names.

Quote from: The Butcher;863403Use real languages. Google Translate is your friend.

This. I use base languages for different cultures, translate from English, then shuffle things around 'til it makes a sound I like, for example:

Dwarves=Bulgarian

Live in the Iron Hills, which is "Zhelezni khulmove" (very close to Russian).

I go with Zhelkhumovay (which I butcher up as "zhel-khoo-MOH-vay"). I figure there's a lot of "Zhel-" this that and the other, this being dwarves, so now I have a pattern to follow...sort of...

Of course, the Elves call the iron hills "Burdmuin" [boord-mwin] (butchered Basque words meaning the same thing, in game terms).

Go to Donjon, enter your favorite names in their Markov Name Generator, and um... Profit?

Seriously, if the world hasn't run out of names, how could your world?!