Am I lacking imagination?

[FuryDr00d]

For the life of me, I can't think of names for towns! Or anything,as a matter of fact. Monsters, People, Castles, Worlds, Spells. Nada. I don't know how to have a "system" for naming things. Is anything else having this trouble? Does anyone mind sharing their "system"? I'd greatly appreciate it.

 

[imascribble]

I'm terrible at naming things myself, to be honest. Most of the time, my towns or monsters are named from places or creatures in mythology (cause I'm a mythos nerd like that ). For character's names I just go to a random name generator and write down any I might like to use later. Not sure if it's much of a system, but it works for me

 

[bgillisp]

Search for fantasy random name generator. Most of them take common English fantasy names and garble them up for you to use.

 

[Makio-Kuta]

Yeah, all through life keep a written or mental database of names/sounds that you think are neat and you'd like to use someday. Also, don't be shocked if you can't name things right after creating them, sometimes you need some time to think.

There's lots of random name generators on the internet. I like using http://www.behindthename.com/ when I want a bit of meaning behind a name I'm picking. Sometimes I just toss things at other people and say "Name this!!"

Having trouble naming things doesn't mean you're lacking imagination. Naming things is bloody hard sometimes.

 

[FuryDr00d]

Thank you all for answering! Especially Makio-Kuta. Gives me reassurance. 

 

[DouxHC]

As a personal experience I dont like random generators, but it can work wonders and cut production time a lot, normally I know what culture inspired the people in my game, if they are germans, or celtic, or mayans, or egiptian, or a combination of two cultures, then I look for traditional names of those cultures and their meaning, and then take those names or make a combination of two names so they give birth to a all new name. Still I suck at naming.

 

[Centipede]

It's a bit much to expect yourself to keep everything in your head. Do some research (like on actual cryptids/people) and make a list of names and things you like. no shame in keeping it simple.

 

[Wavelength]

I often come up with a word that describes a place or monster (or, less often, a person), find a neat-sounding word (either in another language or an uncommon word in English) with the same meaning, and then change a few letters to make it sound unique and subtle.

For spells, I just like to think of cool effects and describe those effects as succinctly as possible using the spell's name.  Clarity over aesthetics in name choice for game mechanics.

 

[Makio-Kuta]

Clarity over aesthetics in name choice for game mechanics.

Yes. Nothing worse then having to guess what the heck everything means and actually does. (Phantasy Star 4...... *glowers*)

 

[JaiCrimson]

Naming processes depend on your personal style. Some people feel like it's part of the poetry of story creation to take time to perfect names. Some people believe names are, ultimately, meaningless when intersected with human intent. With this is mind, does not being a wiz at naming stuff make you bland? Noncreative? Nope, not at all. Your creative power probably just falls into another specification. I could see you being good at coming up with special attacks, for example!