the rawness up close ➝ dolce & gabbana fall 2013
So, you’re writing a thing, and you need to name a character. And, as we all know, naming a character is a giant pain in the ass. I offer this list of shit I use pretty regularly, for this purpose.
- Behind the Name (The etymologies are weird as fuck, in a few places, but it’s great if you’ve got a name and need to find other names that are from or derived from the same culture/language)
- Behind the Surname (BTN for family names)
- Academy of Saint Gabriel Medieval Names Archive (This is the go-to for medieval names in Europe and the Near East. Hardcore scholarship and a distinct lack of fucking around.)
- Kate Monk’s Onomastikon (The original internet name resource.)
- The Soldier in Later Medieval England (Actual names from English military rolls around the Battle of Agincourt)
- England’s Immigrants (Non-native residents of England, 1330-1550)
- Celtic Personal Names of Roman Britain
- Mapping the Medieval Countryside - People (People appearing in English inquisitions post mortem, 1418-1447)
- Wiktionary’s Index of Biblical Names
- Ancient Names Galleria (The weird shit is here. If you need Akkadian or Phoenecian names, those are totally covered.)
- Trismegistos People (Names extracted from the Trismegistos Texts – mostly names from Graeco-Roman Egypt.)
Personally, I use the shit out of Trismegistos People, England’s Immigrants, and the Ancient Names Galleria. If you’ve got good sources I didn’t hit, feel free to add them in a reblog. I’m always looking for more good name resources. (And almost all of what I have is Europe and the Near East, with a little North Africa.)