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Planet names (a lot of them)

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9 comments, last by EyeTrack 9 years, 3 months ago

OK... I have about 100 planet names and still need minimum 400 :D I'm not expecting quality, quantity is more important :D

So far I was using some web generators for these but the results were average and it's kind of troublesome to weed out the results... I bet even if you are drunk you can invent better ones :) (actually, if one is drunk he/she might invent better names than while sober I suppose)

So, if you have some planet names (preferably in bulk :)), drop them here.

Important: Almost anything goes as long as it's not copyrighted/overused/too famous (so no Endor, Arrakis, etc :D)

Stellar Monarch (4X, turn based, released): GDN forum topic - Twitter - Facebook - YouTube

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http://www.scifiideas.com/planet-generator/

Seems to give decent results. Maybe give some examples in the style you want?

It's a bit more complex than just coming up with random names.

You need to list all the possible phonemes of the language of the fictional race that is naming those celestial objects.

Generally the person to conquer something names it. America wasn't called America until it was discovered.

Start off with all the planets having registry designations like P3X-48C and let your player name them on discovery, it will give them good sense of personalisation of their game world.

I've written a name generator for my game, if you like, you can pm me some input and I will generate a whole bunch of names. I would expect a large list of sylibs like the following (20-30 rows of these) in this format:


	_sylibs = {
		names = {
			"aki","alf","geir","amun","di","ari","ar","mod","arn","finn","laug","nor","as","lak","bar","di",
			"berg","tor","ber","si","bjar","ni","bjor","n","bod","var","bork","bo","tolf","brand","bui","egil","ei","nar",
...

And a basic idea how to construct the names. You can even send me multiple lists if you like to have different categories of names.


http://www.scifiideas.com/planet-generator/

Seems to give decent results. Maybe give some examples in the style you want?
Yeah, but one planet name per refresh is uncute :D It will take me ages to collect the missing 400.


It's a bit more complex than just coming up with random names.

You need to list all the possible phonemes of the language of the fictional race that is naming those celestial objects.
Here are the names I use right now:

Destea
Agrillon
Trounia
Eitrion
Metis
Acadiau
Achaia
Aharon
Akkado
Erida
Kenos
Vigo
Yumi
Snyder
Spinrad
Sphinx
Cronov
Laskaris
Gorganos
Thorax
Thellion
Querkus
New Tellus
Jericho
Figu
Rocinante
Quixote
Blork
Illiad
Kyra
Veron
Ferras
Noma
Seltris
Quona
Duron
Seroon
Ahnta
Gothrah
Utia
Rhoon
Lener
Garine
Aldurni
Entur
Chraegmos
Kastdar
Tharay
Thernal
Hoer
Binar
Lordel
Lerit
Anaugh
Iaon
Ess
Zoor
Undos
Tyzela
Ardis
Yenthu
Hoirrod
Cimos
Oshyo
Endek
Tonburi
Ississo
Polomi
Nysana
Ittur
Anran
Geish
Yabuso
Tasyrak
Nysem
Hidetu
Belem
Ingrod
Serdar
Chetai
Delage
Buret
Vukel
Emrod
Pieyden
Ustech
Llyshy
Neton
Ackango
Buranech
Ranas
Ceyl
Lysoil
Ghas
Zulis
Ecero
Rephtas
Tiaslor
Sanaloria
Sapporo


Start off with all the planets having registry designations like P3X-48C and let your player name them on discovery, it will give them good sense of personalisation of their game world.
And repeat it 500 times :) The player will kill me for this, will kill me for sure :)

Plus, I kind of wanted planets start with some "personality" and with natives, so the plaen by default would have a local name already (that game is not about discovering empty dead uninhabited planets, but lush jungles with primitive lifeforms, ancient ruins, artifacts, aliens, etc). The premise is the player take over the planet and use the local name.


I've written a name generator for my game, if you like, you can pm me some input and I will generate a whole bunch of names.
Thanks, but I kind of not trust these generators :) If I had infinite numer of planets, then yeah, I would had to. But for 500 I should be able to manage handpick these (possibly with the help of generators, right now I run these online generators and then handpick ones I like).

Stellar Monarch (4X, turn based, released): GDN forum topic - Twitter - Facebook - YouTube

So what you probably want is a generator based on Markov Chains. You will still have to sift through the results, because they produce some nonsense, but at least you will have a list of potential names to choose from. I played around with this technique for element names and it produces surprisingly believable results.

You can try this one (it is not mine but made by some kind soul).

Instructions: Put all the names you have as a space delimited string (Destea Agrillon Trounia Eitrion ...) into the input field, NO linebreaks.

Set the Order (the first number at the bottom) to "1" so that it actually takes apart and rebuilds the words and not just phrases (you are not mutating natural language).

Set the Output size (the second number) to a high value (2500 is default and should suffice).

Then you can click go and sift through the output. You will get your original names in the output but also some new names.

If you still need more, just put the new list with acceptable names into the Input, rinse, repeat.

Here are the names I use right now:
Destea, Agrillon, Trounia, Eitrion, Metis, Acadiau, Achaia, Aharon, Akkado, Erida, Kenos, Vigo, Yumi, Snyder, Spinrad, Sphinx (...)

How about this, using Japanese as reference:
http://everything2.com/title/Japanese+Planet+Names

They combine words to form the full name. First a characteristic or mythological aspect of the planet, plus the word for "planet."
In an alien language you can create various words that mean the "characteristics or mythological aspects of the planets" and combine it with the same prefix, which is the word for "planet" but in that alien language.

[characteristic] + [prefix] = [name]

For example, using "kra" (or any other interesting word) to mean either "planet" or as the name of the system that the planet belongs to:

System "Kra:"

Tekra
Sokra
Manekra
Yokonokra
Aweyakra

The reasoning behind this is to make it sound like an actual language, like those names mean something to the race that named those planets. It's hard work, but it's much more believable.


So what you probably want is a generator based on Markov Chains. You will still have to sift through the results, because they produce some nonsense, but at least you will have a list of potential names to choose from. I played around with this technique for element names and it produces surprisingly believable results.
You can try this one (it is not mine but made by some kind soul).
Instructions: Put all the names you have as a space delimited string (Destea Agrillon Trounia Eitrion ...) into the input field, NO linebreaks.
Set the Order (the first number at the bottom) to "1" so that it actually takes apart and rebuilds the words and not just phrases (you are not mutating natural language).
Set the Output size (the second number) to a high value (2500 is default and should suffice).
"Thellionlliona" :)

Anyway, I prefer these to be hand made, for genreators there are tons of these on the web (I will use them as the last resort).


System "Kra:"

Tekra
Sokra
Manekra
Yokonokra
Aweyakra

The reasoning behind this is to make it sound like an actual language, like those names mean something to the race that named those planets. It's hard work, but it's much more believable.
Thanks, I've used some of these.

BTW, overall I need these generic, I don't know which name will be assigned to which race (it's random). So, generic, not really connected to any specific culture/language group (but sure, I can add a bit of Japanese sounding, Spanish sounding etc, as long as these are the minority).

Stellar Monarch (4X, turn based, released): GDN forum topic - Twitter - Facebook - YouTube

If universe will be random each game, I'd prefer random names rather than a name pool on my own.

And you can also consider a naming convention of <solar system name> + I / II / III or Alpha / Beta / Gamma.

mostates by moson?e | Embrace your burden

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