The Temple of Dagon

Just to get things livened up again, how's about I start a discussion? How do you guys choose names for places, people or objects when writing? Do you just oull them out of your ass, or do you prefer to use names of things you're familiar with? Personally, I tend to use names I'm familiar with, purely because I'm a perfectionist, and could spend hours trying to make up a name that sounds right, so I just choose one I know - for example, the Professors mentioned in my latest tale, "Dreams from Outer Spheres" are boht named after real people. O'Connell was named after my old primary school chaplain (many moons ago), while my great-grandfather actually was Professor Gillespie, and lectured at Queen's university in Belfast (which, coincidentally, is the city after which Akrford is modelled).
However, one of the names in my current work in progress ("Where the Wild Things Are") was just pulled from the 'thanks to...' list in in the booklet for Iron Maiden's 'Dance of Death'.
Place names are usually a different matter - the few I have specifally named are always fictionalised, to add to Arkford, rather than to make it an obvious imitation of somewhere. The only one I can think of off hand is Patton Street ("Thorn Within"), one of the main shopping streets, which was named after, of all things, Mike Patton, the singer from Faith No More. Arkford itself just uses the the Irish convention of naming cities or towns near large bodies of water with the suffix '-ford' (eg Wexford or Waterford). The 'Ark-' part is as much a biblical reference as it is a (an?) homage to Lovecraft's Arkham. Ictheon, from "Dreams...", is just a play on the word "Icthyic", meaning 'pertaining to fish'.

Well, enough of me - anyone else any conventions they follow, or comments on my own?

Personally, though my characters may be based on one or more people I know (or heard of), I never use the real person's name for the character. I just go through a maddening cycle of combining first and last names until I stumble on one that fits.

It seems that often when one tries to come up with a name for a place, character, etc.. it can sound odd, making a good name hard to come up with - one that you are happy with at least.

But I often wonder if the same names that sound odd (when you first come up with them) would seem as strange if you just read them in another person's work. Would it be thought about that much? Or would it just be accepted?

I often think about company names for example.. seemingly random names with perhaps no real meaning behind them. We just accept it as being the name, and do not really put much thought into it.

Have you ever taken a particular name or even word and repeated it in your head enough that it starts to sound weird.. like a random mixture of letters? I think everyone has at some point or another.

My point is, I think that maybe names are analyzed too much sometimes. This does not really hurt anything, but it can slow the process of getting the rest of the work done

I don't agree with your first point, Al - most of the names I read in (decent) literature just ring true, as if it had been painstakingly pieced together until it did. Richard Upton Pickman, Edward Pickman Derby, Rodion Roskalnovich (sic), Mina Harker, Dorian Gray... &c, &c all seem to sound perfect.
As for repeating names until they seem like gibberish - it works with any word. 'Cthulhu' has lost its ring for me, as has all tenses of 'behold'.

Yes.. it works with any word.. that you already know.. if it is a word you just came up with, it is a similar feeling, just instantly.

From your description, I am not sure you are disagreeing with my first point though I was saying that most names you just read in other people's work sound like they fit automatically.