Thread: Naming Your Elf

I named my elf to be a bank-alt-mule. 3 letters for ease of typing in the name when mailing junk. Thank god for auto-complete on the mail system now. Fortunately or unfortunately, my alt became my main. Go ME! I just wish my racial's were worth a hoot and a holler.

How do you write night and wish in Sindarin? Wanted to make an elf mini with my fav bands name. Thanks in advance.

dû = night
iest = wish

Dûiest / Duiest

Very interesting. So, what would the name i gave my oldest char " Ilnogwin " mean?

Originally Posted by Hellsbane

Very interesting. So, what would the name i gave my oldest char " Ilnogwin " mean?

Nothing in Sindarin, as far as I can tell.

Originally Posted by Schirf

Nothing in Sindarin, as far as I can tell.

Oh. Used what they offered. Next elf i roll i will name him Aglarebamdir.

What would Fronagon mean? I know that gon would mean rock.

Hmm, so I did the 'random syllables' thing to come up with my current Elvish character names:

Felorian - closest I can find is fela (cave) + or (above, over) + ianw (yoke) which really doesn't mean much of anything. I suppose the first syllable could be 'fael' (fair-minded, just, generous) but the last two bits don't do much for me in any case.
EDIT: If only I had reversed two vowels, it would have worked beautifully! fela (cave) + ar (king) + ion (son) = Cave Prince... and he's from Mirkwood. Ah well, hindsight is 20/20.

Fingaladan - fing (lock of hair) + galad (shining) + ann (long) = Long Shining-hair. Guess I'll have to go blonde with him.

Ulroduil - yeah, I got nothing. again.

Curubaran - Skilled Shaver or Smooth Craft are the meanings I come up with for this one. (curu + paran, paran->baran by soft mutation.)

Guess I'm batting .500 on getting 'real' Elvish names by accident.

Originally Posted by Schirf

I enjoy helping people make elf names in Sindarin. The sound mutation and assimilation rules means that it's often not just a matter of sticking two words together.

Examples:
Glin+Tol = Glindol
Ech+Sael = Echael
Estel+Bain = Estelvain
Gala + Gol = Galangol

If anyone wants help making names in Sindarin, feel free to send me a PM or ask on this thread.

I am curious if Ellor would mean anything?

Originally Posted by Founder_Travlar

I am curious if Ellor would mean anything?

Hmm... Could be el (blue) + lo (shallow lake) + or (mountain [reduced form of orod]) = Blue Mountain Pond

That sound right, Schirf?

What would Fronagon mean?

Fornaglon is "north pass between high walls".

I can't find any use of "FR" as an initial sound in Sindarin. Also, gond/gonn (great stone, rock), when used at the end of a word, has some issues.

I am curious if Ellor would mean anything?

If you want a different meaning from the one posted above, êl (archaic word for star) + glor (the golden light of Laurelin) would mutate to Ellor.

So I named my Elf Hanniel after a lot of searching at Council of Elrond's Sindarin names database. It is supposed to mean "intelligent." I chose it because I thought no one else thought of it on Landroval server(thank goodness I was right). What do you think?

I created an elf and named her Maraeth just wondering if that means anything cool.

Originally Posted by Nishika

So I named my Elf Hanniel... It is supposed to mean "intelligent." What do you think?

Hanniel is "Intelligent maiden." I hope your character is female. Hannion would be the male version.

Originally Posted by Vagrantone

I created an elf and named her Maraeth just wondering if that means anything cool.

A number of sites used to list Mar as meaning Home, but this is incorrect. Angmar comes from Ang (iron) + Bar (home) plus a sound mutation to turn the B to M on the combine.

In the case of Maraeth, we're left with no "Mar+" word-part to work with, but we have Maw (soil or archaic "hand"), Maur (gloom), or even Maer (useful) as a starting point. Maw works best, since the w may assimilate on the combine.

For the end of the word, you're looking at...
gwaedh (oath) mutating to waedh/waeth
maeth (battle), mutating to vaeth
naeth (neck) not mutating at all.
raef (net)

Nothing works 100%, but IMO Maw+Raef > Mawraef > Maraeth could be argued. Tell everyone it means "butterfly net" (literally hand-net) and challenge them to prove otherwise.

Originally Posted by Schirf

In the case of Maraeth, we're left with no "Mar+" word-part to work with, but we have Maw (soil or archaic "hand"), Maur (gloom), or even Maer (useful) as a starting point. Maw works best, since the w may assimilate on the combine.

For the end of the word, you're looking at...
gwaedh (oath) mutating to waedh/waeth
maeth (battle), mutating to vaeth
naeth (neck) not mutating at all.
raef (net)

Nothing works 100%, but IMO Maw+Raef > Mawraef > Maraeth could be argued. Tell everyone it means "butterfly net" (literally hand-net) and challenge them to prove otherwise.

Ahh cool gloom battle would've been cool, but since she's a hunter butterfly net(hand net) works well. Maer+raef > Maeraef > Maraeth could work also work I guess. Useful net is not a bad name. Hmm now all I have to decide is if I want to be useful or a butterfly...

I named my elf Arelduin Guruthos. I know Guruthos means something with shadow, but I mostly wonder what Arelduin means. I hope I can learn more from you.

Greetings,

thommie1313666

Originally Posted by thommie1313666

I named my elf Arelduin Guruthos. I know Guruthos means something with shadow, but I mostly wonder what Arelduin means.

Duin doesn't always mutate to Dhuin, so I'd go with... Ar (noble) + Gell (joy) + Duin (river) > Arelduin

There are other possible meanings, but this one has the nicest flow.

Here's what I thought I was naming my characters:

Dolenmir - Hidden Jewel

Thandinn - Abiding Heart

I ask with trepidation ... What did I actually name my characters?

thanks for this,
blue

Originally Posted by Schirf

Fornaglon is "north pass between high walls".

If you want a different meaning from the one posted above, êl (archaic word for star) + glor (the golden light of Laurelin) would mutate to Ellor.

Okay. I like this one also. Thank you very much for your help.

Originally Posted by Mister_Underhill

Hmm... Could be el (blue) + lo (shallow lake) + or (mountain [reduced form of orod]) = Blue Mountain Pond

That sound right, Schirf?

Thank you. That is very cool.

Originally Posted by bluegreen

Here's what I thought I was naming my characters:

Dolenmir - Hidden Jewel

Thandinn - Abiding Heart

I ask with trepidation ... What did I actually name my characters?

Thandinn is fine.

Dolenmir is a bit more complicated. The "rule" way to change Dolen + mir would give you Dolenvir, but you're in luck! Tolkien's process of sound mutations evolved over time. At one point he explained Boromir's name not having the m lenited to a v by saying that it was of "mixed" origins, containing both Quenya and Sindarin roots, and was formed as Boron+mir > Borommir > Boromir. This concept was abandoned, but it was too late to change Boromir to Boronvir (Boron+mir > Boronvir). The good news is that Dolen ends with an n, just like Boron. It can be argued that your name is Dolenmir, Dolemmir, AND Dolemir; all three steps in the assimilation process, with the m not mutating to a v for whatever rule caused the m in Boromir to stay an m. The representation Dolenmir, by that logic, gives you the same meaning you were targeting.

Thank you for the explanation.

How did you become so knowledgeable about naming? It's amazing to me.

blue

The key is understanding the language enough to do the basics and spot the exceptions, which can then be researched. While I have page after page after page of my old notes from the early 80s, most of what I use for source material is now online in one form or another. I use pages like The Council of Elrond and Ardalambion as quick reference guides, but I don't always agree with them. Everyone in this field argues about what angle to take and I'm certainly not perfect; I've just been toying with using Sindarin for naming for a long time.

The lore for this game is so deep.

Thanks again,
blue

Does naming your elf really matter?

I'm naming my elf minstrel Elfis....

Originally Posted by ko0b

Does naming your elf really matter?

You'd better believe it.

Originally Posted by ko0b

Does naming your elf really matter?

Imagine if all of the NPCs had names like "IHealWell", "TankForHire", and "Lootz"… would this game feel like Middle Earth? If the names on the NPCs matter, then the names on the PCs you encounter matter some too.

People that care the most about the setting often believe that characters sporting silly names are played by immature kids, and those who have lore appropriate names are driven by players here because they too love Middle Earth. The later are given a little instant respect. Sure, they're wrong sometimes, but life is riddled with first impressions.

To put it another way; you can't go wrong by using a lore appropriate name. Does it matter? It matters to some people.

Ah I see, No wonder there's no silly name in this game =]. TY for the reply.

My forum name is short for Arsakalthor Malkor or 'he who rises in might'.

I tried to dig up some information on naming my elf warden before I knew this thread existed.

I finally found something that I thought fit the class perfectly and wasn't already taken. I came up with Arech. I thought this meant Noble Spear. Did I mess something up?

Originally Posted by Arech

I came up with Arech. I thought this meant Noble Spear. Did I mess something up?

Did you mess up? No, but the etymologies mistranslated 'Ech' as "spear". The correct translation, according to VT/45, is "spine".

Noble Spine may sound strange at first, but in English "backbone" means strength of character for a reason. I think it's a great name... but then again, I have a character named Echael (Ech + Sael > Ech + Hael > Echael), literally Spine-Wise.

Galedhel or Gal'edhel.

I love the Elvish names.

I'm not sure why I can not put an ' in my nick, It would be more Elvish.

I named my elf Morotheri Mithfaron, would that be Conquerer of Shadow, and Gray Hunter?

also, a nice word list is here (it has 3 languages I think: http://www.jrrvf.com/hisweloke/sindar/df20.html just download the program to get the word list, it's pretty much a dictionary)

Oh wow, reading all your knowledge about Sindarin was really interesting! I'm new to LOTR, so I'm still learning all about the world as I go through the books. I love stuff like this. Kudos!

Well I use Anidith I used a elven name generator years ago not sure what the language base was but have used it on all my elves I have ever played from D & D through WoW. I am trying to give serious thought to surname but I am a bit lost on that idea. Great information on this thread thanks.

Anidith is a hard one. The sounds are right, but no word combo jumps out. It's a stretch, but An + Idh + Hith is the closest I can come. Idh+ Hith > Idh + Chith > then dhch is reduced because of the special consonant rules... sorta. The meaning is interesting; roughly translating as "mist that causes tranquility".

Well I have to say I like the meaning even if the language rules are stretched a bit Thanks

Ervist

I got this name from a pretty fancy looking website. Basically, it lets you pick two Sindarin words for your name and smushes them together and sometimes changes them a bit to make the final name.

I chose Er, which is supposed to mean 'one alone', and Mist, which is supposed to mean 'wandering'.

It put the two together as Ervist. While the setup looks fancy, I'll never trust a program as much as I trust actual people.

Did it put them together right? What is the literal meaning?

I mean for my character to be a kind of lone Elf. He doesn't call any of the Elven(Elvish?) settlements home. He has just been wandering Middle-Earth for a few milenia. Does the name work in that sense?

If I chose Amarandir(Amar = Earth?, Randir = Wanderer?) as a surname, would that be considered redundant?

When M is the first sound of the second element of a compound word, the standard mutation of the M is to a V sound. Thus, Er + Mist results in Ervist. The 'standard' mutations can be seen in the first two columns of THIS chart. There are some special rules not found on that chart related to a multiple consonant combination and assimilation, but they're rare anyway.

I believe that I've seen the site you used. If I recall correctly it uses the basics of the linked chart, but I think it treats all 'G' mutations as dropping the initial 'G' sound rather checking to see if the 'G' should mutate to 'Ng', which occurs when the Sindarin word's root was a Quenya Ng- sound. Again, not a major problem; what it does is fantastic for an automated system.