The Fantasy Name-Pronunciation-Check Topic of DOOM!

Atarien- Ah-TAH-ree-en
Hawlken HAHWL-ken
Coleander cole-ee-AN-der
Kusuri KOO-soo-REE (only because the name seems Japanese to me, and doesn't fit as well with the others)
Marranorn Mare-UH-norn
Dacctyl -DACK-till
Lyrdel LEER-dell
Kyann KYAHN
Tia TEE-ah
Setel SET-uhl
Sellas SELL-ahs
Daren DARE-en

Group two:
Kiern KEERN
Arira ah-REER-ah
Kastarian kast-AHR-ee-an

Group three:
Brook - BROOK (like the word brook for a stream)
Questor- KWEST-ohr

Group four:
Falconor- (honestly, I'd end up calling him falconer in my head, as in one who hunts with falcons)
Railyn RAY-linn
Andrika -and-RIH-kah
Cazen- CAY-zen
Lacet LAH-set

Group five:
Thistle THIS-uhl (like the plant)
Breyer BRAY-er (isn't this a medicine company?)
Rune ROON
Adamine ad-ah-MEEN (this one sounds like medication to me)
Kres KRESS
Tikana tee-KAH-nah
Jareth- JARE-eth

Randoms which are the only names of their culture group:
Selthe- SELL-thee
T'Quariet- te-KWARE-ee-et
Xkalyr (This is supposed to be sort of unpronouncable)- ex-KAL-eer

Hope that helps!

wordcount widgets

Is Group 1 from a single culture? 'Cause their names don't really look like it. Seems more from a multicultural town to me.

Falconor is probably going to get misspelled/misread alot as Falconer. I can see the same for Coleander, just to a lesser degree. (first thought, Coleslaw. second, Coriander)

Dacctyl really reminds me of Pterodacctyl. Like he's supposed to be a bird-person.

I could almost see Hawlken as Hawken, but not quite.

Breyer isn't a medicine company (That's Bayer) Breyers, however IS an ice cream company. The rest don't bother me.

Now to throw mine up on the chopping block! ^^ Just from two stories as I don't want to be here all night, and one of them is big enough to worry about countries and cultures.

YinYang:
Nyi, Kephri, Geneva, Taran, Nithi, Page, Mani & Inanna

Fairytales Don't Exist:

People from Carvelle:
Zin, Niamh, Lalit, Lial, Saori, Siri

People from Dyfi:
Marion, Kuril, Sasha, Nieve

People from Dalia:
Beth, Tobias, Idriss (last name), Mihe, Andrew

Assorted others from different places:
Joshua and sister Kylie
Bliss (real name Chablis) and bandmates Mika and Kuro
Mahou
Seth

For Darkmoon's names:

YinYang: I’d say it like the symbol – Yin Yang
Nyi: NIGH-ee
Kephri: KEPH-ree
Geneva: This is a real name… I’d pronounce it just like the lady in my church does (and if the character was male, I’d find it odd)
Taran: TAH-rahn
Nithi: NITH-ee
Page: I’d say this like page from a book or the old title
Mani: MAH-nee
Inanna: ihn-AHN-ah
As you asked Laela, I’ll ask you: Are these people all supposed to be from the same culture? Most of them seem to fit together, but Page and Geneva are just… hanging out there with practically normal names, or (in the case of Geneva) a normal name.

Fairytales Don't Exist:

People from Carvelle: CARE-ville was my first thought. Then I thought car-VEL, like the ice cream company.
Zin: just like it looks - Zihn
Niamh: NIGH-am
Lalit: LAH-liht
Lial: LEE-ahl
Saori: I’d give this a Japanese pronunciation… sah-O-ree
Siri: SEE-ree

People from Dyfi: DIGH-fee
Marion: again… a normal name among odd ones. I work with a guy who spells his name just this way. It also works as a girls’ name.
Kuril: KOO-rihl
Sasha: SAH-shah, another real, if uncommon, name
Nieve: For some reason, I want to give this a Spanish pronunciation …NEE-ay-vay, almost the Spanish word for snow.

People from Dalia: DAH-lee-ah (like the flower, Dahlia)
Beth: normal name…
Tobias: normal name… to-BIGH-us
Idriss (last name): IH-dris
Mihe: MIGH-hee (as opposed to yours? If this is a first name, it doesn’t fit with the others.)
Andrew: normal name...

Assorted others from different places:
Joshua and sister Kylie: both are normal names…
Bliss (real name Chablis) and bandmates Mika and Kuro: MEE-kah and KU-ro both feel Japanese to me, CHA-blihs doesn’t feel like she should be with them.
Mahou: MAH-ho (long o)
Seth: another normal name. I’d say it as rhyming with Beth.

I tend to use normal names that people wouldn't balk at, so that's no fun for anyone. I've got one group where the names are a bit strange...

They live in Donara (I made this word), but travel to Annwn (not my creation) and Mag Mell (also not mine)
Kassel
Almace
Marin
Orbsen
Diantha

___
NaNo 2006: Steel Bars - 59,233 words
Screnzy 2007: The Enchanted Forest - won
NaNo 2007: Turning Beetles into Buttons - 51,949 words
Screnzy 2008: Simple Gifts - 43 pages total & Butterfly - 9 episodes

Donara --- doh-NAH-ra
Annwn --- hmm pretty much as it looks really, ANN-vnnn, haha
Mag Mell --- Meg MELL
Kassel --- KAS-sell
Almace --- ahl-MASS-seh
Marin --- MAH-reen (like marine, but stressing the first syllable)
Orbsen --- ORB-senn
Diantha - dee-ANN-thah

Am I close? :)

Anyone like to have a go at a few of mine? These are the ones I'm interested in...

Thalanien
Madrynea
Mylanh
Naheli
Alina
Salín
Armand
Narthan
Rámagon

That's about it I think. :)

Characters killed: Adriana 90%, Mylanh 50% and Salín 20%
Quite pathetic heroes: 1
Stories writing themselves: 1
Best daily word count: 7062
Cups of tea consumed in the process: lost count
Total words since Nov 1: about 190k

Ooh, I'll do yours.

Thalanien: ta-LAN-ee-en
Madrynea: MAD-rie-knee
Mylanh: MY-lawn
Naheli: NAH-lie or NAY-lie
Alina: A-lee-nuh
Salín: Sah-LEEN
Armand: ARE-mawned
Narthan: NAR-then
Rámagon: RAW-ma-gone

The only main problem I see there is Armand instantly makes me think 'ANNE RICE!'. Other than that, I like most of them :D

Thanks for the help, those of you who looked at my names! Actually, the pronunciations you did were about right on, other than... I think about three. And one of them I was going to state the pronunciation in the text, because that character's a bit... anal about people getting his name right.

And Coleander is supposed to remind you of coriander... I had wanted to name him after an herb, and thought that coleander WAS coriander. Silly me :) Then I just stuck with it.

The culture one group is actually from the biggest, and most central city in my world, so it's no stretch that though they are the same race, they would have multicultural names. So no big deal! Which I good, I was a little worried about that.

Snippets of fantasy written: 5
Snippets of fanfic written: 4 1/2
Fanarts drawn: 1
... I suck.

This is really turning out to be an interesting exercise. I'll do yours as well (I didn't look at what Laela did with them.)

Thalanien -- thuh-LAHN-ee-ehn (soft th on the front, on the end of with)
Madrynea -- mah-DRY-nee-ah
Mylanh -- MY-lahn (h's on the end always confuse me... I tend to ignore them, although I don't know if I should or not)
Naheli -- NA-hehl-ii
Alina -- ah-LEE-nah
Salín -- sah-LIHN, maybe sah-LEEN
Armand -- AHR-mand
Narthan -- NAHR-thahn (again the soft th)
Rámagon -- RAH-mah-gahn

How'd I do?

I've been saying Kassel --- kah-SELL. Kassel is a real name though (it came from someone's last name) and they pronounced it the way I think you are (like Castle), so I'm not too bothered if other people pronounce my character's name that way.
The other two I pronounce differently are:
Almace -- AL-mays (Like Al's mace without the apostrophe-s)
Marin --- MAYR-ihn.

I wonder if there's a way I can change the spelling that will make the pronunciation clearer. I can't spell Marin as Maryn... because that looks feminine to me and... he's a boy.
___
NaNo 2006: Steel Bars - 59,233 words
Screnzy 2007: The Enchanted Forest - won
NaNo 2007: Turning Beetles into Buttons - 51,949 words
Screnzy 2007: Simple Gifts - 43 pages total & Butterfly - 4 episodes

___
NaNo 2006: Steel Bars - 59,233 words
Screnzy 2007: The Enchanted Forest - won
NaNo 2007: Turning Beetles into Buttons - 51,949 words
Screnzy 2008: Simple Gifts - 43 pages total & Butterfly - 9 episodes

YinYang:
No, they are not all from the same culture but they all do live in the same area. That world is a futuristic version of Seattle, and most of them are from different cultures. Nyi, Mani, and Inanna are related though. I pronounce Mani MAN-NEE though I'm sure it's not too correct. The rest are all the same as I've thought of them.

Carvelle is pronounced to me as car-VEL, but that really name from where I got it, which was a joking nickname for an old part of San Francisco back in the day, Car-ville. Boxcars out in the dunes. Siri I usually say SEER-ee.

Marion's name I did want to stick out a little, along with Seth who lives in the same place. Hopefully gets people to wondering who they are as they're secondary characters. Nieve is NEEV, despite being a spanish word...^^

Mihe is japanese-influenced, so it's MEE-HEY, and she's also supposed to stick out being the all-knowing priestess.

Mika and Kuro are japanese, as is Bliss who is also a guy. ^^ His real name, Chablis happens to be a case of Engrish gone wrong. Mother saw it, decided it was a great male name. Of course, Bliss stands out even more now, which is good because he's the MC. ^^

It's nice that the majority of my names are pronounced the way I've always seen them.

Just had to comment, despite posting a moment ago.

I'd pronounce Marin as either MA-RIN or MARE-IN actually, so you might not need to change it at all. Here in the Bay Area one of our counties is Marin County. There it is definitely pronounced MA-RIN. So I'd think you'd be fine.

Thanks you two who looked at my names! It's fun to see how other people pronounce them. Personally, I am not bothered at all. If I ever publish, I'm going to write a foreword saying, please pronounce the names any way you like - after all, you are the reader, and you make half the story. :) That said, most of your suggestions were exactly or very close to the way I had imagined.

The eternal problem, and I knew this since before, are the names Mylanh and Madrynea (they are siblings, so I suppose it makes sense that both their names should be impossible to pronounce, haha). Mylanh actually comes from Milan, so I pronounce it MEE-lahn. Sort of. Madrynea, in my mind, is close to Mah-dree-NEIGH-ah, if that makes sense. Both of your interpretations, on both names, are what I usually hear from English-speaking people, especially Mylanh seems quite clearly to always be pronounced with a "MY"-sound. I am German myself, so that never occurred to me until I started writing in English. :) But as I said, it doesn't bother me at all, as long as people still like the names.

Do I understand that correctly that you want the "ay" sound for the "a"? In that case, "Mayrin" would almost certainly make me pronounce it like that, but that does look a tad bit female. I am not sure what to suggest. "Mahrin", perhaps? Actually the way I pronounced it is likely influenced by my German background, so you might want to get some more English views on that. :)

Characters killed: Adriana 90%, Mylanh 50% and Salín 20%
Quite pathetic heroes: 1
Stories writing themselves: 1
Best daily word count: 7062
Cups of tea consumed in the process: lost count
Total words since Nov 1: about 190k

Thalanien--Thu-lán-ee-en (as in end)
Madrynea--Mad (the word)--dri (as in drip)-nee-uh
Mylanh-My (the word)-lan (as in land)
Naheli--Natalie only with an annoying 'huh' sound in the middle instead of a 't'
Alina--Al (the name)-een-uh
Salín--Sal (as in Sally)-een
Armand--ár (like the letter)-mand
Narthan--Nár-thun (like darth)
Rámagon--Rá-muh-gone (as in the word)

Thalanien--Tha lan ee an
Madrynea--Mad reen ee ah
Mylanh-My lan huh
Naheli--Na hel ee
Alina--Al ee nah
Salín--Sal een
Armand--Arm and
Narthan-- Narth an
Rámagon-- Rag ma gone

Ok, and for a few of mine:
Keon
Iya
Xiore
Ajukal
Ajikon
Xayvon
Tajical
Nakkul
Amiira
Ceani
Ruari
Alioki
Ciarra

dragonsoul, I'll try yours out. :)

Keon = KEE-ahn
Iya = EE-yah
Xiore = (Not sure how to write this out) ZHI-oar (the zhi is pronounces kind of like zshi)
Ajukal = Ahj-oo-KAHL
Ajikon = Ahj-ee-KAHN
Xayvon = ZHAY-vahn
Tajical = TAHJ-ee-kahl
Nakkul = Nah-KUHL
Amiira = Ah-MEER-uh (the 'r' in meer is pronounced with a Spanish accent, if you know what that I mean by that)
Ceani = See-AHN-ee
Ruari = Roo-AHR-ee
Alioki = Ah-lee-OH-kee
Ciarra = See-AHR-uh

I don't know very many technical terms for pronunciation, so I tried to explain it as best I could. Hope it worked!

Here's some of mine:

Avalbane
Gadhelle
Carken
Astragon
Hilde
Berkeley
Shar'pel (the only name with an apostrophe, I PROMISE)
Pumiel
Hekati
Lilith

NaNo 2008 - Can't wait for it to come!!

Avalbane--(my first thought was elvenbane) Av ahl bane'
Gadhelle--Gahd hell' eh
Carken--Clark' (as in the superhero) en
Astragon--Ast' rah gone
Hilde--Hill' deh (as in the Nowegain pronunciation)
Berkeley--(Like the University)
Shar'pel--Sharp' el (It makes me think of sharpenel)
Pumiel-- Poom' ee el
Hekati--Heck' aht tee
Lilith--Lill' ith

There were three that didn't line up with what I thought, five if you count the two I was expecting, but you did a good job :) I don't know what the spanish accent thing is, but that's ok.

I'm glad I got most of them right! And you got mine nearly right, the only thing was I imagined Gadhelle differently, but it doesn't matter all that much. I think the best way to explain the Spanish 'r' is to say it is nearly like an incredibly fast 'd' in English. If you say "medium" very, very fast, it is almost like the Spanish pronunciation of "Miriam." The 'd' substitutes for the 'r,' kind of.

And I'm glad you got the Norwegian pronunciation of 'Hilde!' I named the world Berkeley, and the main country Hilde after the references in the book Sophie's World, which had an incredibly Berkeley philosophy tied to it, and Hilde was one of the ways through which it was expressed. I thought I'd be clever and insert those names into the book. :D

Hekati is a reference to Hecate, goddess of witchcraft and mentioned in Macbeth. Hekati is the name of a town in my book, and this town is accredited with the introduction of witchcraft to Berkeley.

NaNo 2008 - Can't wait for it to come!!

Just curious... what IS a Berkeley Philosophy? ^^ If it's anything like the town or the University that's one STRANGE planet. ^^

I'm going to end up butchering these I bet...

Avalbane = Ah-VALL-bane
Gadhelle = Ghad-ELL
Carken = CAR-ken (like the word for car followed by Barbie's boyfriend)
Astragon = AHST-rah-gone
Hilde = HILL-deh
Berkeley = BERK-lehy (or the real world name of Berkley)
Shar'pel = Shar-PELL
Pumiel = Poo-meal (........ Looks bad, but that reads like I sound it out in my head.....)
Hekati = HECK-ah-TEA
Lilith = LILL-ith (like the legendary Adam's first wife)

Here's mine....

Raksha
Vega
Mir
Arien
Pierrot
Marianette

*****
2007: Miss. Marin

Haha, nice one. Berkeley was an Irish bishop who lived in the 1600's to the 1700's. He was a major philosopher of the "immaterialism" theory, which suggests that this world, and everything in it, does not really exist. He believed that everything in our world is simply in the imagination of God, who is infinite and incomprehensible. I named my world "Berkeley" after his views, since my world does not actually exist, and it and everything in it are simply whims of my imagination, and under my full control.

The book "Sophie's World" was a book which was really centred around Berkeley's philosphy, in that the characters of the book actually discover that they are in a book, and attempt to escape the control of the writer.

I hope that wasn't too confusing!

Here's my attempt at your words:

Raksha - RAHK-shaw
Vega - VAY-guh
Mir - Meer
Arien - ARE-ee-in (ARE as in the English word)
Pierrot - Pee-AIR-ott
Marianette - Mare-ee-ahn-ET(Pronounced like the word marionette)

NaNo 2008 - Can't wait for it to come!!

I'll do yours too mimzy.

Raksha--Rack sha (as is claw but without the w sound)
Vega--Vae ga (a as in the star)
Mir--Meer
Arien--Are ee en
Pierrot--Pee eh row
Marianette--Mare ee ahn ett

It really is hard to get the phonetic sounds out . . . I hope I didn't do too poorly

Here are some more of mine:
Nakkŏl
Tajiko
Taidyn
Zaya
Vionne
Xu’jalli
Citrone
Aiko

Searen
Nessa
Zyianna
Dmitri
Tristan
Thalis*
Firali*
Maia*
Taelynn
Khyansaria
Chandra
Nolan
Aelthra*
Chaidras
Halan
Luce
Andran
Tari

Most of these people are from the same world (I've put stars by the ones who aren't), so could you also tell me if they sound good together? And I know some of the names are normal, but hey, that's the way things happen.

Crowley had been extremely impressed with the warranties offered by the computer industry, and had in fact sent a bundle Below to the department that drew up the Immortal Soul agreements, with a memo form attached just saying: "Learn, guys."- Good Omens

dragonsoul:

Nakkŏl - Nah-COAL
Tajiko - Tahj-EE-ko
Taidyn - TIE-din
Zaya - ZIE-yah
Vionne - VEE-on
Xu’jalli - Zoo-JHAL-ee
Citrone - SIT-rone
Aiko - I-ko

It's hard for me to write out pronunciations, since I pronounce fantasy names with a mixture of Spanish and English accents, and I'm not sure how to explain that, but I try my best!!

Tasha:

Searen - SEER-en
Nessa - Exactly how it's spelled, like Vanessa without the Va.
Zyianna - Zee-AH-nuh
Dmitri - Same as the regular name, Duh-MEE-tree
Tristan - Again, same as the regular name.
Thalis - THA-liss
Firali - Feer-AH-lee
Maia - MY-uh
Taelynn - TAY-uh-lin
Khyansaria - Khan-sar-EE-uh
Chandra - SHON-druh (Like the real name)
Nolan - Like the regular name. This is my brother's name!
Aelthra - AIL=thruh
Chaidras - SHY-druhs
Halan - Hah-LON
Luce - LOOSE-eh (Hehe, you're 'loose, eh'? Sorry, I just found that amusing.)
Andran - AHN-drahn
Tari - Tahr-EE

Some of those were regular names, but the crazy fantasy ones I gave a try.

Here's some of mine, from my MayNoWriMo! My made up world is organised into different ethnic groups, all based on real-world races.

Greek/Roman Style:

Dorias
Arella
Matteo
Ista

Scottish/Irish Style:

Aidan
Malley
Scot
Fife
Dale
Stonehaven

NaNo 2008 - Can't wait for it to come!!

Now the way I pronounce things is often weird, but here's how I would write them.

Dorias-Door- eas
Arella- Are-ella
Matteo- matt- aeo (a-o sound)
Ista- Is-ta *shrugs*

Scottish/Irish Style:

Aidan- Ae-dan
Malley- same way it looks- I don't know of a a way to describe it.
Scot- Scott
Fife- like the instrument
Dale- it's a normal name
Stonehaven- stone-haven

Sorry I'm not much help. I'm 14 after all.

Crowley had been extremely impressed with the warranties offered by the computer industry, and had in fact sent a bundle Below to the department that drew up the Immortal Soul agreements, with a memo form attached just saying: "Learn, guys."- Good Omens

Oh boy...I'll just do my list from my current project.

Tallis
Kayle
Matteo
Peri
Solen
Mihan
Sadira

Your Service,
Ket Makura

TAH-lis
KAY-el
MAH-te-oh
PEH-ri
SO-len
MEE-han
Sah-DI-rah

:)

Yep, that's how I've been saying them. Rockin'.

Your Service,
Ket Makura

How can I change Khyansaria to sound more like khEYE- ansa-ria? I've been saying it that way for about two years, so I don't really want to change, but- hey.

Crowley had been extremely impressed with the warranties offered by the computer industry, and had in fact sent a bundle Below to the department that drew up the Immortal Soul agreements, with a memo form attached just saying: "Learn, guys."- Good Omens

I think Khyansaria is fine, actually. I would pronounce it khEYE- ansa-ria when I saw it, so you should be all right. The only other ways I can think of changing it (without changing the entire spelling completely) would be Kaiansaria, or Kayansaria. I prefer 'Kayansaria,' but you have to keep in mind that no matter which way you spell it, with a name like that there will always be readers saying things like "Kansra," or "Kynsara." So, keeping that in mind, I'd spell it however you want to!

NaNo 2008 - Can't wait for it to come!!

Ah. Mine are pretty much normal... So I'll just post a few a' the not-so-normal ones?

Aekai.
Aahaarikka
Ernil
Melanthe
Galban (Last name)
Rammos (Last name)
Laryna

... And that's prety much it. I'll try to think of more next time.

Aekai : Ay-KYE
Aahaarikka : Ah-har-EE-kah
Ernil : Er-NIL
Melanthe : Mel-AHN-thay
Galban : Gall-BON
Rammos : Ra (like the Egyptian god)-MOS
Laryna : La-REE-nuh

NaNo 2008 - Can't wait for it to come!!

Aekai. - ah-EE-kigh
Aahaarikka - ah-HAH-ree-kah
Ernil - er-NIHL (the er, like in the end of Mother)
Melanthe - mehl-ANN-thuh (soft th)
Galban (Last name) - like the name Alban, with a g (like Goat) on the front
Rammos (Last name) - RAH-moss (long o)
Laryna - lah-REE-nah

Some of the characters from my latest work
The ones with less normal names:
Xeneel
Yarnaraj
Malloran
Peral
Torydalis

The ones with normal names (these should be easy):
Keenan
Aidan
Bartholomew
Colleen
Lily
Rusty
Elayne
Amythyst

___
NaNo 2006: Steel Bars - 59,233 words
Screnzy 2007: The Enchanted Forest - won
NaNo 2007: Turning Beetles into Buttons - 51,949 words
Screnzy 2008: Simple Gifts - 43 pages total & Butterfly - 9 episodes

Xeneel--Zen eel
Yarnaraj--Yar nar adge (as in badge)
Malloran-- mal or an
Peral-- I'd probably end up pronouncing it "pearl"
Torydalis--TOR (like the god) i dahl iss

Keenan-- kee nan
Aidan-- Ae dan
Bartholomew-- Barth ahl oh mew
Colleen-- coal leen
Lily --as in potter
Rusty-- as in crusty
Elayne -- El lane
Amythyst-- like amathyst

Here are some of mine. Do they sound like they fit into the groups?
Yom
Namiir
Aloki
Aiko
Akeim

Kadeem
Jinae
Zaya
Kattria
Orae
Ezria

Medicean
Xu'jalli
S'aer
Sajiv
Akira
Slade

Domani
Amiira
Taidyn
Lais