Lake Ontario's Lesson on Naming in your Fantasy Setting

Hello Dreamers.

I assume you heard about President Trump's whim to rename a lake. Not just any lake, but one of the Great Lakes that sits on the border between Canada and the US. Part of a group of four lakes known for being massive, fresh water, bodies of water. Where one of them is the largest fresh-water lake in the world (not the one being renamed).

I know what you are asking:

What does Trump's Tantrum got to Do with the Names in my Fantasy Setting?

When Trump signed that executive order, out of the woodwork came people explaining how this is an insulting gesture, on top of being stupid. Out of Canada and beyond, everyone and their dog explaining the significance and origins of the lake's original name: Ontario.

If you didn't know that, you might have assumed that Ontario was just a random string of syllables.

Ontario isn't the only name like this in real life. A town in Australia famous for being underground called Coober Pedy, which is Kokatha (an aboriginal tribe nearby) for "White man in a hole."

Now, in the "100 Questions Commonly Googled" about writing, "How to name stuff in fantasy without it being cringe?" After all, a common rookie mistake is to just throw random gibberish together. After all, things in Mythology have random-sounding names, as do all the Anime!

Place Names are not Random

In your Anime, characters and places have the names they do because its based on Japanese terms. In Mythology its words in the languages of the respective peoples.

In the real world, a lot of place names can simply be what it is, like the now famous example of "Big, Beautiful, Lake." It could very well be that your little mountain village is named "Snowpeak" and it woudn't be cringe as, well, there is shit in the real world named like that! Much of the reason why it isn't obvious is because its in a language you don't know, and might be dead/dying.

Names can be like this too. Shannon is from Irish-Galic, translating to "Short and Wise." FYI not all culture's give you a name at birth you are stuck with forever - some give you a name based on what you are, and your deeds, later in life. As can things, which are routinely named after their function.

Things to think about.

Course, as an addendum, some places are named after people of note, like Washington DC being named after George Washington. Keeping this in mind as well can add some history to your setting.

In Closing

You will ultimately name the person, place, or thing something that sounds nice to you, that flows a certain way, and is a seemlying random string of sounds and letters. You want it to be epic, or silly, or whatnot. Once you go into worldbuilding, the names take on a meaning of sorts, like words from a dead language.

Course, naming the macguffin sword "The Master Sword" is perfectly fine too - no one in the Legend of Zelda fanbase is complaining.

In short, don't overthink it.

Also, your surrounded by your history, even in supposed new countries like Canada - from the Haudenosaunee word "Kanata", which roughly translates to "Village" or "Settlement." See, another one! The country is called "Place where people are!"