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A Guide to the Naming of Speculative Organisms
Topic Started: Feb 16 2018, 03:14 PM (844 Views)
Dr Nitwhite
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Hello folks!

Very often I find folks complain about the difficulty of naming their creations. This isn’t an uncommon issue, both those with lots of writing experience and those with little have great difficulty with naming anything in a work of fiction, from characters to places to strange, speculative organisms, which will be the subject of this particular guide. Regrettably, this problem leads to a lot of poorly thought out names slapped onto otherwise upstanding organisms that can really leave them at a disadvantage, in some cases, they become entirely forgettable. Even worse, some may stop reading a piece simply because its introduction doesn’t catch their eye! Here, we’ll discuss some unfortunate naming conventions, how to avoid them, and a few better ways to approach naming your speculations. Keep in mind though that this guide is not meant to be a “be-all-end-all” on the subject, as there are plenty of situations where one might want to ignore my advice (some of which we’ll discuss here). Think of these points more as... guidelines. So without further ado, let’s get to it!

What one should avoid-

The “Awesomebro” Name-

This is perhaps the most obvious convention one should try and avoid, but you still see it pop up once and a while. Many real animals have somewhat imposing names, but rarely anything like “Deathspitter” or “Cavefiend”. Such names try far too hard to make its audience tremble in fear, and generally sound like something a 3rd grader would consider good. Even worse is throwing in some latin or greek where it suits and forgetting what it means, like “don”, “saur”, and “archeo”. If the name sounds like it belongs on a Magic card, one should probably rethink the name a bit and tone it down. It can give a project an immature feel (depending on the severity) and gives a project an air of fantasy rather than science fiction. Unless you’re gunning for that, try to avoid this convention, it sounds silly.

Mythological Names-

A general cliche, naming creatures for mythological beasts and individuals wouldn’t be such a problem if it hadn’t been done to death already. Countless sci-fi projects before spec even existed had a “medusa”, a “leviathan”, and a “pegasus” somewhere. And while many of these names are very evocative and create a solid image in one's mind as to what this creature would be like, it’s unfortunately quite trite, which unfortunately translates to forgettable. Once you’ve read about three leviathans, you really can’t keep them straight anymore. They blend together, and often draw a bit too much on the source material, giving them shared traits that make it even more difficult to tell them apart. This doesn’t mean don’t ever use mythological names though, just try and use them sparingly and subvert them a bit from their original use. Instead of one off names (“THE Leviathan”), use it to distinguish whole groups (The LeviathanS). Instead of describing an animal whose biology is basically that of the beast in question, use the name to describe an animal who only vaguely shares its characteristics. Try not to design a creature around the name, but find that the name describes the animal you've created well (more by accident). Unless you’re doing a fantasy type project like Bestiarium, use these names sparingly and where they won’t be forgettable.

(noun/verb)(noun/noun) and Related-

This is probably the most common poor naming convention I see in spec projects, but also the most tricky, as it can be done right. But it is so very often done poorly. You know the sort. The “quickrunners”, the “deserthoppers”, the “savannahbounders”, the “quillheads”, the “tunnelcrawlers”. This convention is defined as smashing two words together and leaving it at that. It’s something that you notice in almost all of the TFIW names, and I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the reason the convention was so common (I know my somewhat derivative early works, which have never been posted on this site, suffered quite heavily from this). But what makes it tricky is that it can be done well, even more so than the previous two, but it can be tough to see what makes one name good and the other bad. I think the first thing one must consider is- does this name describe one animal, or many? Let’s take an example from TFIW. The snowstalker. This is a bad name. Why? Because it’s meaningless! Think of how many modern animals fit this name. Wolves, foxes, several owls, several mustelids, and the list goes on. I will say this several more times today, but it’s truly the most important aspect of a name. A common name is a method of describing an animal, and the more memorable and specific it is to an organism, the better it is. If your name can fit so many different animals in whole different classes, you should seriously reconsider it. When naming an animal like this, try to make it unique. “Lurkfish” is dull. Lots of fish lurk. “Bushwipe” makes you pause. What is a bushwipe? Why does it wipe bushes? Not many things wipe bushes.

If you’re simply at a loss as to what to name something, there’s another thing you can do to subvert this trope and make it difficult to tell you’ve sneakily used this convention. Smush those words together even more to make a new one! “Lurkfish” becomes “Lish”. “Snowstalker” becomes “Snalker”. “Quickrunner” becomes “Quinner”. This sounds more natural than simply making a compound word, as humans like to mush compounds together and shorten things, especially where they’re awkward to say.

Things One Can Do-

Now that we’ve discussed everything you should avoid, let’s consider some good ways to go about naming something. The first is what I like to call the “Golden Rule”.

The Golden Rule of Naming Stuff-

I’ve actually discussed this rule already, but I’ll say it again, it’s that important. A common name is a method of describing an animal, and the more memorable and specific it is to an organism, the better it is. When scientists go about naming things, they try and make it unambiguous what it is they’re describing. You should to. Speaking of-

Look at Real Animals First-

Probably the best way to name something is to look at how similar creatures are named in the real world (and yes, that even goes for you xeno speccers!). Most animals have close relatives they share an “end name” with, but have additional adjectives in front that help to describe it. You’ll often see people mocking birders by making up particularly ludicrous names, but they can do better than that- I’d wager most organisms with a common name share this general convention! White-throated sparrow, white-footed mouse, Carolina anole, fire-bellied toad, striped bass, and the list goes on. Some things have standalone names, but most share this general convention. Best of all, the combination of adjectives with nouns really helps with specificity. A sparrow, what’s it like? Well, it’s got a white throat. Not many other sparrows have one like it. Another thing you’ll note about most of these names is the second bit is often arbitrary. That brings us to the next section.

It’s OK to be Arbitrary-

Nothing about the word “sparrow” on its own does much to evoke a sparrow. Nor does the word “deer”, “mouse”, or “duck”. These are all words that people made up for the animals around them, and generally, if you’re looking for something that sounds good as an “end name”, you can’t go wrong with arbitrary syllables that kinda “feel” like whatever it is. “Deer” feels sort of sleek, “Duck” sort of sounds like a guttural waterfowl call in a way. But only vaguely. A good place to look for names like this is Sheatheria. Very good work with arbitrary names there!

Miscellaneous-

There are more ways to name things than the simple (adjective)(optional second adjective)(arbitrary noun) way. Borrowing words from other languages (or conlangs!) is one way to start, just make sure it translates right, Onomatopoeia based on the animals calls is also a nice touch and favorite among ornithologists. And yes, naming things in the previous two “bad” ways of naming things can work well, and have in the real world. Sidewinders, woodpeckers, and hydras are real animals, but note how they fit into the exceptions I illustrated on both of those points. Another time honored tradition is naming things for human professions, like “noisy miner”. And there are lots more I'll have you go and find yourself.

I hope this guide has been helpful for you, and that you had as much fun reading it as I had writing it. Thanks for reading, and remember the Golden Rule!
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I was thinking about posting something like this, but a quick flick through shows that this looks much better and more comprehensive than anything had in mind. I look forward to looking through this properly tomorrow.
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I've always been very wary of these cliches, and try to avoid them when possible. In the Neozoic I have Gourmands, Seavets, Harrow-wings, Molots, Lorrots, Shallisks, Bordas, Jabberjaws, Chugs, Kahunas, and Kujirani. In Valhalla I have Flass, Mantipedes, Bumbis, Flitterbicks, Baygulls, Picky-pickies, Poppycocks, and Stukas.
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Dr Nitwhite
Feb 16 2018, 03:14 PM
Hello folks!

This is probably the most common poor naming convention I see in spec projects, but also the most tricky, as it can be done right. But it is so very often done poorly. You know the sort. The “quickrunners”, the “deserthoppers”, the “savannahbounders”, the “quillheads”, the “tunnelcrawlers”. This convention is defined as smashing two words together and leaving it at that. It’s something that you notice in almost all of the TFIW names, and I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the reason the convention was so common (I know my somewhat derivative early works, which have never been posted on this site, suffered quite heavily from this). But what makes it tricky is that it can be done well, even more so than the previous two, but it can be tough to see what makes one name good and the other bad. I think the first thing one must consider is- does this name describe one animal, or many? Let’s take an example from TFIW. The snowstalker. This is a bad name. Why? Because it’s meaningless! Think of how many modern animals fit this name. Wolves, foxes, several owls, several mustelids, and the list goes on. I will say this several more times today, but it’s truly the most important aspect of a name. A common name is a method of describing an animal, and the more memorable and specific it is to an organism, the better it is. If your name can fit so many different animals in whole different classes, you should seriously reconsider it. When naming an animal like this, try to make it unique. “Lurkfish” is dull. Lots of fish lurk. “Bushwipe” makes you pause. What is a bushwipe? Why does it wipe bushes? Not many things wipe bushes.


so, "Snowstalker" is horrible...because more than one animal has that habitat and can be described as doing that? (given that moose is "twig eater" that's not saying much...oh but my bad - you say later that its cool if its not in English)

(also, yes, lots of fish lurk - but few are actually called a Lurkfish)


Quote:
 
Most animals have close relatives they share an “end name” with, but have additional adjectives in front that help to describe it. You’ll often see people mocking birders by making up particularly ludicrous names, but they can do better than that- I’d wager most organisms with a common name share this general convention! White-throated sparrow, white-footed mouse, Carolina anole, fire-bellied toad, striped bass, and the list goes on. Some things have standalone names, but most share this general convention. Best of all, the combination of adjectives with nouns really helps with specificity. A sparrow, what’s it like? Well, it’s got a white throat. Not many other sparrows have one like it


and that's great -- if you're doing spec that includes new types of sparrows.

Quote:
 
“Deer” feels sort of sleek, “Duck” sort of sounds like a guttural waterfowl call in a way.


"deer" feels pudgy, and "duck" is a stool.

Quote:
 

There are more ways to name things than the simple (adjective)(optional second adjective)(arbitrary noun) way. Borrowing words from other languages (or conlangs!) is one way to start, just make sure it translates right,


so, "snowstalker" is a bad name...but "snowstalker" in a non-English language is a good name?
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Dr Nitwhite
Feb 16 2018, 03:14 PM
The “Awesomebro” Name-

This is perhaps the most obvious convention one should try and avoid, but you still see it pop up once and a while. Many real animals have somewhat imposing names, but rarely anything like “Deathspitter” or “Cavefiend”. Such names try far too hard to make its audience tremble in fear, and generally sound like something a 3rd grader would consider good. Even worse is throwing in some latin or greek where it suits and forgetting what it means, like “don”, “saur”, and “archeo”. If the name sounds like it belongs on a Magic card, one should probably rethink the name a bit and tone it down. It can give a project an immature feel (depending on the severity) and gives a project an air of fantasy rather than science fiction. Unless you’re gunning for that, try to avoid this convention, it sounds silly.
Um, you do realize that 'awesomebro' animal names like what you just described really exist, right?

Deathstalker scorpions, killer bees, Dracorex hogwartsia, Tasmanian devil, Tyrannosaurus rex, thorny devil, sea dragon, black swallower, destroying angel, death adder... the list goes on and on.

Adding onto Rodlox's points, this whole thing also completely bypasses some really big parts of names: Why would people in-universe give something a particular name, or what you want to evoke with the name.

Let's say that you have an alternate Australia where varanids dominate, and you have a giant macropredatory species with osteoderms down its back and tail for sexual display. However, you're a good speccer, and you won't stoop to such a stupid awesomebro name as a 'dragon!' No, you're a good speccer, you have a much better name: you'll call it a 'florfer'! That's totally unique, and it has zero awesomebroness! It fits these criteria, yes, but it makes zero sense for anybody in this universe to call it that. If colonists saw it, they would call it a dragon, but rather than go with the obvious, you just threw this in for no other reason than to make it unique. Besides that, though, it doesn't sound like a predator at all, or even alive, it sounds like something out of Care Bears; hardly what you would whisper in a hushed voice. But hey, it's not a noun and an adjective combo or anything remotely exciting, so hey, I guess that makes it good.

The way I see it, if your creation absolutely needs to have a unique name forced onto it to be noticed at all, then it probably needs some damn work. Go over potential names in your head, see what it evokes in your mind and see if that matches your creation. Alternatively, you could go the same route that Stan Lee and Jack Kirby went when designing monsters: that is, making random guttural sounds and writing out the ones that sound good.
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Dr Nitwhite
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Quote:
 
Quote:
 

There are more ways to name things than the simple (adjective)(optional second adjective)(arbitrary noun) way. Borrowing words from other languages (or conlangs!) is one way to start, just make sure it translates right,


so, "snowstalker" is a bad name...but "snowstalker" in a non-English language is a good name?


To begin, that isn't quite what I'd intended by that. When I meant "translate right", I didn't mean "make sure it fits the (noun)(noun) convention" in doing so, more that the translation makes sense. For example, some folks really enjoy throwing the suffix "don" at the end of a name without realizing it means tooth. Less "Foreign words automatically make it ok!" and "foreign words can make an interesting name, just make sure that if you're doing so it makes sense in that language to describe the organism in the way you are." Also, the other considerations don't disappear.

Quote:
 
(given that moose is "twig eater" that's not saying much...oh but my bad - you say later that its cool if its not in English)


First of all, on the second point see above. Secondly, real names aren't always perfect, and not every name has to fit the guidelines I've illustrated. I suppose I wasn't clear enough in the second bit and I didn't explicitly mention that reality isn't a perfect wellspring, so I'll go back and clarify later this weekend.

Quote:
 
and that's great -- if you're doing spec that includes new types of sparrows.


You realize that was an example, correct? I made sure to list a bunch of other animals this same convention works very well for that were mammals, amphibians, fish, and reptiles each. And that's simply the vertebrates. Frankly I'm unsure what you meant by that.

Quote:
 
"deer" feels pudgy, and "duck" is a stool.


Fair enough? Again I'm not sure what our point is here, unless that arbitrary words are arbitrary, which they are I suppose. I didn't mean to suggest that they weren't, but I can see how you'd come to that conclusion- I'll edit that section later as well.

Quote:
 
Um, you do realize that 'awesomebro' animal names like what you just described really exist, right?


Quote:
 
Why would people in-universe give something a particular name,


I will concede both of these points actually, I'll make the edits later. However-

Quote:
 
However, you're a good speccer, and you won't stoop to such a stupid awesomebro name as a 'dragon!' No, you're a good speccer, you have a much better name: you'll call it a 'florfer'! That's totally unique, and it has zero awesomebroness! It fits these criteria, yes, but it makes zero sense for anybody in this universe to call it that. If colonists saw it, they would call it a dragon, but rather than go with the obvious, you just threw this in for no other reason than to make it unique. Besides that, though, it doesn't sound like a predator at all, or even alive, it sounds like something out of Care Bears; hardly what you would whisper in a hushed voice. But hey, it's not a noun and an adjective combo or anything remotely exciting, so hey, I guess that makes it good.


I think you're reading into all of this a little too deeply. In fact, I'd go so far as to say you ignored the two main points of the post- the first being that these are guidelines that can be ignored if the situation demands it, and secondly that a name should describe whatever it is it's describing well. In the situation you described, arbitrary names would be unlikely to arise, since we're dealing with human colonists with an entirely alien environment- there isn't much time for arbitrary names to develop naturally. And if there where, "florfer", arbitrary as it may be, is awkward to say, and if you're dealing with a macropredator you'd probably want something easy to yell. "Flor" wouldn't be so bad.

If it sounds like I'm agreeing with you in how ludicrous the name "florfer" is, it's because I am- you've set up a strawman.

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The way I see it, if your creation absolutely needs to have a unique name forced onto it to be noticed at all, then it probably needs some damn work.


This is somewhat true, but really beside the point. This isn't a guide to magically making your creatures better by giving them a good name, it's a guide for people who want to add some zest to their world with more creative, less cliché heavy names. It's certainly the case that a lot of people genuinely have trouble naming things, and also the case some people might not look into something if the title of the post doesn't catch their eye. Your creature should of course be able to stand on its own, but its name isn't a non-factor.
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What's your take on pop-culture reference names? I think it was a funny idea early on (like when the Speculative Dinosaur Project was doing it), but a lot of projects these days really overdo them.
Edited by Scrublord, Feb 16 2018, 10:05 PM.
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On the subject of awesomebro names, I think using real life as a comparison is a bit flawed. "Killer whale" is pretty awesomebro sofar as they come, but we've heard it so much it kind of loses that, we've been desensitized. But when we learn about your spec creature, the barbaric slasher, it's new to us and immediately stands out as awesomebro. Regarding the dinosaur names cited, they're in Latin, so it stands out far less. I would say Tyrannosaurus rex is a fantastic name, one of the best, especially considering the context that Osborn wants his exhibit to be a hit.

Additionally, consider the wider universe, if that's applicable. Dragons and devils, for example, are a part of our folklore, and then we found something real that fit closely enough the definition. You could just draw from some Earth mythology, but if you have the sapient side of thing fleshed out a bit to (say, something you could do in a project like the Library or Cornucopia), then you could instead draw from that. Perhaps some bird or biblidont in the Library could be named after the page sucker story.
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There's also the fact that, well, a lot of damn things are named 'dragons' even in real life. Lizards, seahorses, sea slugs, deep sea fish, even flowers.
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On the subject of awesomebro names, I think using real life as a comparison is a bit flawed. "Killer whale" is pretty awesomebro sofar as they come, but we've heard it so much it kind of loses that, we've been desensitized.
"killer whales" used to be called "whale killers"...and for a bloody good reason. but, sadly noun+verb. bad humans! don't you know lots of things eat kill whales?
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Feb 16 2018, 09:49 PM
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However, you're a good speccer, and you won't stoop to such a stupid awesomebro name as a 'dragon!' No, you're a good speccer, you have a much better name: you'll call it a 'florfer'! That's totally unique, and it has zero awesomebroness! It fits these criteria, yes, but it makes zero sense for anybody in this universe to call it that. If colonists saw it, they would call it a dragon, but rather than go with the obvious, you just threw this in for no other reason than to make it unique. Besides that, though, it doesn't sound like a predator at all, or even alive, it sounds like something out of Care Bears; hardly what you would whisper in a hushed voice. But hey, it's not a noun and an adjective combo or anything remotely exciting, so hey, I guess that makes it good.


I think you're reading into all of this a little too deeply. In fact, I'd go so far as to say you ignored the two main points of the post- the first being that these are guidelines that can be ignored if the situation demands it, and secondly that a name should describe whatever it is it's describing well.

Quote:
 
The way I see it, if your creation absolutely needs to have a unique name forced onto it to be noticed at all, then it probably needs some damn work.


This is somewhat true, but really beside the point. This isn't a guide to magically making your creatures better by giving them a good name, it's a guide for people who want to add some zest to their world with more creative, less cliché heavy names. It's certainly the case that a lot of people genuinely have trouble naming things, and also the case some people might not look into something if the title of the post doesn't catch their eye. Your creature should of course be able to stand on its own, but its name isn't a non-factor.
"a name should describe whatever its describing well" - yes, like Twig Eater (moose) or Snowstalker, which is a proper name, not a noun phrase.

Snowstalker may be cliché - because its a famous speculative critter.

(though in a way your right - this is why my projects avoid cliché things like naming planets after gods...I name them things like "Placid" and I think in my notes I have plans for the Tall Continent (two big mountains) and the Squat)
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I think a good thing to add would be not to force scientific names through google translate Latin (or something similarly crude), and especially not to use them in absence of a common name. It almost always ends up sounding and looking terrible, and it's an instant turn off for me.
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I think that this entire sub is a guide to something wholly subjective that doesn't really matter. Just name things how you want and be done with it, yes people may appreciate it more if you focus on the etymology of your speculative names but ideally, it doesn't even matter that much. Now we've managed to start an argument over such a little thing.

P.S. 'Awesomebro' can be taken as a derogatory term (by certain members) that I think should be left out of something so subjective and broadly encompassing as etymology. It refers to the sacrifice/ignorance of accuracy for the 'cool' factor, something that is done all around the English language (Greenland comes to mind, but other people have shown other examples), which in my opinion makes it actually to some extent accurate. Please refrain from using this if this conversation continues, for my sake.
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Beetleboy
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neither lizard nor boy nor beetle . . . but a little of all three
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I think you're all overthinking this. Dr Nitwhite has simply given some advice to those who want it, it's not like he's forcing anybody to name their creations how he says.
I think all of what you've said are good points, Nitwhite, and this is certainly a helpful guide.
~ The Age of Forests ~
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