Guild of Writers

Jennifer_P wrote:The name doesn't even have to have a meaning, actually. For example, "Amateria" just means "Away from matter/timber" in Latin. I doubt that they meant spell something in Latin when they named that Age though.

Indeed. And there's a good reason for that, this Age's name has a funnny little story..
Back when Exile was being developped (by the late Presto Studio), there was one of the artist who appeared to be a fan of the singer Madonna. And at some point during development he kept singing a particular song.. "A material girl". (You might see where this story is going now). And the chorus for this song goes: "A materia.. a materia.. a material girl!". He kept singing it, and it annoyed everyone in the studio. So, to have fun with this and because the whole "materia" part happened to fit that particular Age so much they decided to name the Age Amateria.
And yes, this is a true story.

(Oddly enough years before I created a name for one of my Ages the exact same way.. Music can be a great inspiration )

Sometimes names have weird origins. I love to hear were names come from. Many people use precise methods to create names such has using words from other languages, but sometimes it just comes out of the most random inspirations and this it totally fun.

Thank you, Aloys, for sharing this interesting and funny story.
Not only you age writers have problems in finding names. Think of car companies who have to find ones for their various models. In 1983 Mitsubishi named its new jeep "Pajero" after a pampas cat. They noticed too late that "pajero" is a real bad word in Spanish (no, I don't want to tell you), so they renamed it for Argentina, Spain and North America to "Montero".

Even not knowing what Pajero means I find Montero much nicer. :p

Although it's always cool that names have a meaning or an history; in the end I always find that it's better to have names that are simply 'cool' and fitting whatever/whoever they belong to. Of course it's best to have both.
Personally I'm not much of a fan of creating names based only on existing words just because it gives the name some 'sense', because there's always a risk that: 1) the name doesn't end sounding too cool, or even nice. And 2) people who don't speak the language won't even understand it, making the whole point moot. Again D'ni names for Ages are a good example of that IMO In fact of all the Ages in the whole MYst/Uru series very few have actual D'ni names..

'Riven' or 'Rime' are good examples of 'good' names, they sound nice without specifically meaning anything at first, but then if you look a bit into it they actually means something which is a cool bonus.

All that being said, creating name is a difficult task.

I believe Chevy made a big boo-boo like that too with a car name... the Nova. It means "doesn't go" in Spanish. Great way to sell your car. LOL

Nynaveve wrote:I believe Chevy made a big boo-boo like that too with a car name... the Nova. It means "doesn't go" in Spanish. Great way to sell your car. LOL

He, he, he.

Fry on Futurama wrote:I've never seen a supernova, but if it's anything like my Chevy Nova, it'll light up the night sky.

lol, I'm never going to think of Amateria's name the same again! I liked Riven but not Rime for the reason that it makes me think of "Rhyme" which is a silly name for an Age.

the Nova. It means "doesn't go" in Spanish. Great way to sell your car. LOL

/me shakes her head

Heh, I used to own a Nova. It blew up, like a supernova. It actually threw a rod, oil got into the engine and I was driving down the road with a James Bond smokescreen excreting from my tail pipe, all because I sped up to catch a yellow light. But I did like the car, 1975 Chevy Nova supersport, it was fast, huge 350 v-8 engine, not good for a mood swinging teenager. I also lost a transmission in it, too. Had to drive in reverse to get to my destination, which was at the top of a hill, then threw it in neutral and coasted the rest of the way home (mind you this was in small town America).

@Aloys, That's a good point you have there about just making a name up that sounds nice. But didn't Riven have a meaning? Wasn't it called that by the people living there? I guess it's still a made up name, it's just the developer's gave it a meaning, so you knew what to expect, after meeting the natives, obviously. Riven is the place the Rivenese lived. And you are right, it's hard to pick a name.

Monkeyboy wrote:@Aloys, That's a good point you have there about just making a name up that sounds nice. But didn't Riven have a meaning? Wasn't it called that by the people living there?

Yeah, that was the inhabitant's name for it. Ghen, who wrote Riven, just called it Age 5. He didn't believe in giving his ages names. To him, they were just experiments to further his understanding of the art.

Riven also has the meaning "split into parts," as in "He made a quick tear, and the piece of cloth was riven in two." Since the main island which once composed Riven was riven into smaller pieces, the name has significance in the game that way as well.

Actually, nova in Spanish would refer to a young star -- maybe following the Latin, if it were a female star. But i suppose it's close enough to no va (which does mean it doesn't go) to suit street thinking.