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Q&A Choosing character names is a constant difficulty

I wish there was a single reference book for given names from around the world, but I haven't been able to find one. I have a couple of books on my shelves that have been quite helpful: Concise Di...

posted 14y ago by micapam‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2020-01-22T13:31:21Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/832
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T00:39:11Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/832
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T00:39:11Z (almost 5 years ago)
I wish there was a single reference book for given names from around the world, but I haven't been able to find one. I have a couple of books on my shelves that have been quite helpful:

Concise Dictionary of First Names (OUP)[http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780198662594.do](http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780198662594.do)

African Ethnics and Personal Names (Ariko) [new user, so I can only post one link - google it!]

There are a lot of 'baby naming' websites out there; they tend to be pretty poor quality and unhelpful, but others may have better luck.

As for fantasy names, Tolkien was a linguist (or 'philologist' as they said then), and the reason there is such a strong consistency in the names is that they are part of languages he not only spent a long time on, but applied his knowledge of real languages to them. You can tell when people have taken short cuts.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2010-12-14T06:24:47Z (almost 14 years ago)
Original score: 2