How do you come up with a fictional character name in a historical era/region?
How do you research to find character names? Especially when it's long ago, not European, and the culture was totally different from what the region has now. For example, how would you generate names for a story set in Ancient Egyptian era (of course I can't use Arabic names)? Would you use king or nobility names (because they are available in encyclopedias etc.) for commoners?
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My first thought would be to try to find any written records or any studies done of the time period in question. There are tombs with hieroglyphics. How much has been translated? Are there any common names among those records?
From there I would look for academics, librarians, museum staff, and archaeologists who study the time period and actually contact them, and ask them this question.
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