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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/36422
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/36422
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Let me start with a disclaimer: some languages are naturally more tolerant of long names (and long words) than others. In Finnish, you've got names like Väinämöinen. In Hebrew, if something has more than two syllables, you can be sure it's a loanword. So your definition of "long" would have to be language-specific.

And now to an actual answer. As you've noted yourself, and @Amadeus reiterated, **the biggest disadvantage** of a long name of the kind you show is an unpronounceable tongue-twister. What's worse, normally we don't read a word letter by letter, unless we're unfamiliar with it. We sort of recognise the whole word at a glance. With your monstrosities, I can't do that. @Amadeus is right - people aren't going to read that - they're going to mentally think of the name as 'E-something', which is rather distracting to enjoying the story.

## Can longer names have advantages?

The first fantasy novel I started writing, I deliberately picked for my main characters two-three syllable names. This was done with a purpose: I wanted to convey their closeness by the fact they use shortened nicknames for each other (like using 'Dick' instead of 'Richard'). Using full names or nicknames also allowed me to convey different levels of formality in different situations. Obviously, you cannot further shorten a one-syllable name.

A long place-name might have some cultural significance, even if you assume (and you'd better assume) the characters would actually use a shorter version of the name most of the time, for their convenience's sake, as much as the readers'. Tolkien makes interesting use of this trope:

> _Laurelindórenan!_ That is what Elves used to call it, but now they make the name shorter: _Lothlórien_ they call it. Perhaps they are right: maybe it is fading, not growing. Land of the Valley of Singing Gold, that was it, once upon a time. Now it is the Dreamflower. (_Lord of the Rings III 4 - Treebeard_)

Terry Pratchett, of course, uses long names as a way to hide a joke. For example, the mountain of the gods is called 'Dunmanifestin'.

There might well be other creative uses for long names that you can find. The trick is to use them sparingly - like a rare spice. A bit of cinnamon on your baked apple is great, but you wouldn't want a spoonful of cinnamon, right? Same with long names.

Original score: 55