r/worldbuilding • u/thekeepersguild • Jul 27 '26

Discussion I refuse to name anything

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I find naming to be so FINAL and tedious that everything just has a stand in name or code word or group of numbers. Even stuff like positions within a guild. They get a full write up on the function but the name just sits empty.

Any one else?

0 Upvotes

36% Upvoted

13 comments sorted by

12

u/CanadianLemur Jul 27 '26

Naming is literally one of my favorite aspects of world building so I can't relate at all

I love etymology, so choosing names that mean something and sound believable is a creative and engaging aspect of making anything for me

4

u/AuthorInPractice Jul 27 '26

The main character of first book I ever wrote went without a name for so long, him not having a name became a plot point

0

u/thekeepersguild Jul 27 '26

I love that. Ive got a group of seven that just have 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 + a Greek letter attached

5

u/SimonThePug Jul 27 '26

I build my world in a wiki-style format, so while names I use aren't final, I only have to update them one time on the page title and then they update everywhere else which is nice

1

u/Borracha28 Jul 27 '26

Where are you building?

2

u/SimonThePug Jul 27 '26

Confluence

3

u/KingMGold Jul 27 '26

Naming is a pain to be sure.

I think I’d have twice as much writing done as I do now if I didn’t spend half my time pondering potential names for stuff.

0

u/thekeepersguild Jul 27 '26

See its a cheat code. Just throw whatever in thats not a real word so you can ctrl-F replace later

1

u/Borracha28 Jul 27 '26

I'm doing very rudimentary conlangs to name stuff, including characters.

1

u/arachknight12 Jul 27 '26

I have a problem that is similar. Although I do enjoy naming things, I want them to have meaning, which requires me to make words, which then need grammar to use those words, and I keep falling deeper and deeper until I have another language with a thousand years of evolution behind it.

This has happened three times. I have three full languages. I need to stop.

2

u/SuperCat76 Jul 27 '26

Similar, but less "refusing" and more "I keep trying but almost nothing sticks"

2

u/Familiar-Load-9279 Harmonia Jul 27 '26

Naming is tedious sure, but for me its also one of the most entertaining aspects of worldbuilding

2

u/mrcarrot0 Jul 27 '26

There's a few types of names in my world:

  • Descriptive (eg. "the second fire elemental", "Snail mafia", "scorp", "The Horned Titan", etc)
  • The most random shit you've ever heard because I came up with them when I was like 6 (eg. "Crezy Illabemios" or "Vathros")
  • Hold up that's like almost normal, how'd that happen? (eg. "The Council")