Coming up with monster names

[marygold]

Common problem I bet. So in my comic I've been referring to his non-human thing as demon demon demon but at one point I thought "ehhh with all the stuff coming up with my plot I probably don't want to use a term like that." It's not too late for me to pull a name-change off, so I'm wondering if I should. It seems like some comics are better off with specific terms for monsters while others aren't. Black Haze can just go around spewing demon and everything seems fine but meanwhile D Gray Man seems better off naming a specific term.

And, if I do try coming up with a name, how do you guys come up with your special terms? Name generator? Rolling sounds around your tongue? Catering to a specific trait of the monster?

(I nearly decided on Hollow, then I realized it sounded familiar and then "Oh, yeah" Who else is feeling slightly "wtf" at that comic's ending?)

[BladeRabbit]

It might not work if you want an original monster name, but I personally like to pull things from mythology or folklore.

You don't need to copy them outright though, you can always put your own spin on monsters.

[phen]

Combination of multiple words in categories works really well for me!

An herb monster: Sage+Basil+Coriander = Sasilander
A fire beast: Cauterize+Blaze = Cautblaze
An angry creature: Seethe+Ruffle = Seefle

It's far enough removed that it's not immediately obvious and it's really fun mishmashing words that come to mind!

And for smaller, more bite-sized terms, I really like to flip through thesauruses or dictionaries to grab from the pronunciation descriptions. Like, from scatological I'll grab skat-l-oj/Skatloj. It looks exotic and has a few different ways you could work to pronounce it!

[johnscuffle]

Well for me I do naming for aliens but also creatures but mainly alien names.An example would be a name like Ginjar, the name comes from the word ginger and then I took that word and spun it around that idea of the creature.That's how I do it for most Creatures/Aliens I take a word that very much describes them and then find ways to make it either sound foreign, mystical, or scientific etc. Yes it can take time but in the end you always have that one word that made you think of the Creature or Alien in your head when writing or drawing it. For me it really does help because it really gives a sense of character to it even if it's small and minimal to the main story.

[nathankschulz]

Mythology usually has a a lot of cool names that you reuse or retrofit to your needs.
Also, cool sounding names are work fine. I make up some, and look up others.

[JessJackdaw]

Personally? I can never come up with a good fantasy name for monsters. It always sounds cheezy and awful each time I try inventing a new word. So normally I take existing mythical names and do my take on the monster.

I dunno to me, some people might know the beast's original lore and it might resonate with them while others just hear a strange word like Catoblepas and go, "Huh, sounds like an exotic new monster to me."

There are so many uncommonly-used mythical beasts to pick from, and the internet is a great resource for digging up history. I think D Gray-man succeeded in a lot of ways because it blended mythos quite well using both Japanese and European names for mythical creatures and objects. Likely a lot of English viewers were unfamiliar with the Japanese word for demon so the show could paint this new creature in new ways by using the word Akuma instead. So try and do a little research and find some interesting creatures that perhaps you can twist in new ways!

[joannekwan]

Found a neat website that can combine words, good for inspiration!
http://unique-names.com/word-mixer.php

[indagold]

I just think of random names and roll with it. I had a demon character in an older comic of mine called Ijango. Forgot how I made it but I just like how it sounds. Apparently the name exists in real life as a pyramid scheme, who knew.

[El_Psy_Congroo]

I often use mythologies and words in other languages. In my comic I haven't really decided what to call the monsters as a whole (since they differ significantly from just ordinary animals), I figure different cultures will call them by different names.

[KSlinger]

I prefer to consult the natural world for things like this. Animals, insects and plants are ace for being named after what they look like (grasshopper, daddy long-legs, slug, orange cone flower, lamb's foot etc) which can really help you out if you know what kind of feeling your monster is supposed to invoke.

Your monster look like a spider? Call it a huntsman or a prowler. Is it white? Paper prowler. Is it silver? Gray huntsman or ash weaver. That's how I tend to do it, but then I really like simplicity in world building and names. I think it's the reason why worlds like the one in Harry Potter are so quick to swallow you up-- it's easy to become immersed in a world built on simple concepts. Things are easy to remember if they make sense.

Then again, if you place a lot of value in being 100% unique and original then maybe you're better combining well known names and terms into new ones that sound like you need them to.

Killer whale + oxen = Killox.
Dreadful + skinny + sallow = Skindresal.

I dunno, play around, but there are cool combinations out there that may work for you.