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Q&A How can I make names more distinctive without making them longer?

Using more compound sounds is a good start. Part of your problem comes from the syllables you're using - most of them are only 1 or 2 letters. The longest of your sample names is all of 5 letters -...

posted 5y ago by Evil Sparrow‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-14T20:45:27Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/44612
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 · 2019-12-08T11:42:39Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/44612
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T11:42:39Z (almost 5 years ago)
Using more compound sounds is a good start. Part of your problem comes from the syllables you're using - most of them are only 1 or 2 letters. The longest of your sample names is all of 5 letters - there's not a lot of room for variety when all the names are 3 or 4 letters long.

I recommend adding more consonants to most your syllables, especially some of the less common ones (x, z, q, etc.). This way, your names will have different _lengths_ as well as different spellings, which will make it easier to help tell them apart.

A trick I use is to make sure that the first three letters of any character's name don't match the first three letters of any other character's name. You could try something similar, using the last three letters instead.

Your sample names could be changed to be something like this: Elish, Arax, Efa, Ermdril, Ayrgo, Ilthaz, Ilu.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2019-04-14T22:11:24Z (over 5 years ago)
Original score: 26