Sanderson’s use of names.

[Cotton Sockets]

I have read quite a few different fantasy authors and they all bring their own strengths and weaknesses to the table. One thing I find most often is that authors lose or have too much creativity when naming a character. When an author creates such a unique name that  I can’t pronounce it I have the fourth wall broken every time I reed that name. On the contrary there is the ‘Og and Glok’ caveman effect too. If every town and person in a book is named in a Tolkien manner I once again break the fourth wall. Names are personal and should not be derivative.

Well, enough of my rant. Brandon really gives people and places names in such a beautiful manner. To me every name has so much identity. Vin has such a minimal, beast like feel. Navani sounds like a powerful queen. Alethkar feels like authoritarian life. Shadesmar feels ethereal. I haven’t found another author that writes names as well as Brandon.

[AonEne]

I have to agree that his names are some of the best! So much worldbuilding and delicious sounds in each one! 

[Chinkoln]

This is a little late, but each book/series has a method of name creation. I can’t remember all of them, but Mistborn is loosely based on the French during the 16th-17th centuries, and Stormlight is from the Koreas, where Brandon served his mission for the LDS church.

[Frustration]

8 minutes ago, Chinkoln said:

This is a little late, but each book/series has a method of name creation. I can’t remember all of them, but Mistborn is loosely based on the French during the 16th-17th centuries, and Stormlight is from the Koreas, where Brandon served his mission for the LDS church.

Actually Stormlight names and languages are semetic in origin

[Chinkoln]

Just now, Frustration said:

Actually Stormlight names and languages are semetic in origin

Some of them are, but others are Korean. I actually made a post recently about the origin of the word Havah in ancient cultures and how that became the word for the dresses worn by women on Roshar.

[Kingsdaughter613]

On 4/1/2021 at 8:36 PM, Chinkoln said:

Some of them are, but others are Korean. I actually made a post recently about the origin of the word Havah in ancient cultures and how that became the word for the dresses worn by women on Roshar.

Havah is also a Hebrew word. It means “to be.” Brandon has said that Alethi is a Semitic language. The fact that some Semitic words overlap with Korean ones is likely coincidental.