Fantasy Name Spellings – Orthography for Writers

In my experience, the best fantasy name spellings are the spellings that tell the reader how to pronounce the name.  That’s really all your choice of spelling needs to accomplish.  Contrary to what some believe, your names don’t need to look cool on the page.  If your reader can’t figure out how to pronounce your character names, looking cool won’t help.

Where to Start?

Let’s assume you’ve made up a good few names for your cast of characters.  If you’ve been following along with my other articles, you probably have the names all written down in the International Phonetic Alphabet.  This means you know how the names should be pronounced; the hard part is over for now.

However, if you’re going to publish a book with these character names, you’ll have to spell them using the letters on your computer keyboard.  You can use some of the more common characters outside of the standard Latin alphabet, but fantasy name spellings should be as easy for you to type as possible.

It’s admittedly a lot harder to spell the name in your head using only around twenty-six characters, but that’s what your readers will be able to understand.  Your job is to make your fantasy name spellings as easy for your readers to understand as you possibly can.

There are numerous ways you could spell any given fantasy name, and many authors will try to make the name look cool on paper; this is generally a mistake, as it can lead to names that people constantly mispronounce.  Starting with the Latin spelling instead of rendering it in the International Phonetic Alphabet often means a similar problem.

How do you avoid people mispronouncing your character names?  Nine times out of ten, the key is to be consistent.  It’s time to talk about orthography: the conventions for writing a particular language.

Consistency in Fantasy Name Spellings

If you take away one thing from this article, it’s that you shouldn’t come up with your fantasy name spellings on an individual basis.  To be consistent—and thus less confusing for your readers—you need to figure out a system of orthography that works for pretty much every name in the language in question.

If possible, consider using the same basic orthography across all the languages in your story.  If your fictional languages are so diverse that you can’t use just one system, you’ll need to devise different orthographies for each of them.  This is a lot more work and can be somewhat more confusing for readers, but it should work if done well.

In any case, you want to make up spelling conventions that will not only feel intuitive for your readers, but also spellings that minimize ambiguity.  This generally means avoiding silent letters and digraphs where possible.  Think twice before you decide that ⟨qh⟩ stands for [k] unless there’s a really good reason for it.

Readers Will Mispronounce Fantasy Names

Many of your readers will still mispronounce your character names.  This is inevitable, but choosing the right rules for the spelling of fantasy names will reduce the margin for error.  Readers are less likely to mispronounce /ˈæzdoɹ/ if you spell it ⟨Aazdor⟩ than if you went with something like ⟨Aesdhauxr⟩.  Don’t make things needlessly difficult for yourself and your readers.

Orthography for Fantasy Name Spellings

I can’t tell you exactly how you should decide on your own fantasy name spellings, and that’s because the phonemes you use in your fantasy names are almost certainly different from mine.  I can, however, give you some rules of thumb if you’re writing for English speakers.

Most of the time, you should try to stick as close to your own language’s spelling as you can.  At the same time, dispense with any particularly odd spelling rules your language has.  Generally, you’ll want to represent the pronunciation, not your world’s archaic spelling rules.

⟨g⟩ for Fantasy Name Spellings

As an example, English spelling has an idiosyncrasy where ⟨g⟩ can stand for either the voiced velar plosive [ɡ] (as in ⟨Greg⟩) or the voiced palato-alveolar affricate [d͡ʒ] (as in ⟨George⟩).  It’s really hard to tell which it is unless you’ve heard the word spoken before.  I would advise that you dispense with this convention; let ⟨g⟩ stand for [ɡ].

⟨k⟩ Is Your Friend

If you can, always write the voiceless velar plosive [k] with the letter ⟨k⟩.  Unlike ⟨c⟩, which can stand for [k] in some cases and [s] in others, ⟨k⟩ is about as unambiguous as letters get in English orthography.  When you’re deciding on the spelling of a fantasy name, the letter ⟨k⟩ is your friend.

Generally speaking, avoid using ⟨q⟩ to represent [k].  This holds true even if it has a ⟨u⟩ after it.  Remember that you want to be as consistent as possible with your fantasy name spellings.  I usually use ⟨q⟩ for the voiceless uvular fricative [q] instead.  Anglophone readers will pronounce it [k], but if you mean [k], write ⟨k⟩.

[x] in Fantasy Name Spellings

Despite what I said earlier about digraphs in your fantasy name spellings, you will probably have to use some.  Just stay consistent and you should be fine.  When it comes to everyone’s favourite fantasy phoneme, the voiceless velar fricative [x], it took me a very long while to decide on a standard spelling.

The obvious choice was the digraph ⟨ch⟩, but most speakers of English will pronounce that [t͡ʃ].    This makes it risky if you’re using it to represent [x].

Using ⟨x⟩, despite working well in the International Phonetic Alphabet, runs into a similar problem: most English speakers would pronounce it [ks].

I considered using the digraph ⟨xh⟩, which has the advantage of not having an existing use in English.  That ran into the opposite problem.  As ⟨xh⟩ is almost entirely unfamiliar to English speakers, people won’t have any inkling of how they should pronounce it at all.

I did consider ⟨hh⟩, and I think it would work reasonably well.  People will assume it means either [x] or the breathy-voiced glottal transition [ɦ] (if they’ve even heard that one).  If you have a sound like [ɦ] in your language, consider using ⟨hh⟩ for it.  Otherwise, feel free to use it for [x] if you want.

In the interest of making things as easy as possible for readers, however, I eventually settled on ⟨kh⟩.  The great thing about ⟨kh⟩ to represent [x] is that even if your readers get it wrong, they probably won’t get it that wrong.  The worst a reader is likely to assume is that it means [k], which isn’t too different.

If you’re unsure how to spell the voiceless velar fricative [x], just go with ⟨kh⟩.  Faced with a name like /xɑˈlum/, if you spell it ⟨Khalum⟩, readers will immediately assume something along the lines of /xɑlum/ or /kɑlum/.  That’s as close as readers are going to get without a pronunciation guide (which you should provide, by the way).

Voiced Velar Fricative

Similarly to how I spell the voiceless velar fricative [x], I think it works best to use the digraph ⟨gh⟩ to represent the voiced velar fricative [ɣ].  This keeps your orthography relatively consistent.

Intuitive Fantasy Name Spellings

If possible, try to tend towards the spellings that people will think of first.  For English-speakers, that means you probably shouldn’t use ⟨j⟩ for the voiced palatal approximant [j].  That would make sense to linguists and speakers of many other Germanic languages, but English speakers will assume it stands for the affricate [d͡ʒ].

Stick to using ⟨y⟩ for [j] in your fantasy name spellings.  It’s easier for your readers, and it probably won’t conflict too much with your vowels.

Using ⟨c⟩ in Fantasy Name Spellings

Depending on your fictional language, you could try using ⟨c⟩ on its own for one of several sounds if you really want to.  These include the voiceless palato-alveolar affricate [t͡ʃ], the postalveolar fricative [ʃ], and even the voiceless palatal plosive [c].  Just know that most of your readers will probably pronounce it [k] or [s].

Rhotic Sounds in Fantasy Name Spellings

As for the rhotic sounds (those we think of as connected to the letter ⟨r⟩).  Most languages only have one such sound, so this may not become an issue for you.  If it does, you can probably just use some configuration of ⟨r⟩, ⟨rr⟩, and ⟨rh⟩.

I usually use a single ⟨r⟩ for the alveolar tap [ɾ] and approximant [ɹ].  Taking a spelling convention from Spanish, I like to use ⟨rr⟩ to represent the voiced alveolar trill [r].  The digraph ⟨rh⟩ usually works well the voiced uvular fricative [ʁ], and ⟨hr⟩ for the voiceless alveolar trill [r̥].

Glottal Stop in Fantasy Name Spellings

The easiest way to spell the glottal stop [ʔ] so readers will recognize it is to just use an apostrophe.  If you have a name like /ˈtɑʔuk/, spelling it ⟨Ta’uk⟩ should get the sounds across.

Just a warning: Don’t put apostrophes in your character names just to make them look cool—or even to mark omitted sounds if you can help it.  Your fantasy name spellings should reflect pronunciation.  It doesn’t matter what sound the apostrophe represents in your orthography; just make sure it stands for something.

IPA	Latin
/ˈɁɔnuː/	‘Onu
/ˈɹaɁeː/	Ra’é

Other Uses for Apostrophes

If your language doesn’t have a glottal stop, there are a few other ways an apostrophe might be useful.  Let’s say, for example, that your language has a [t] phoneme, as well as [θ] and [tʰ].  You might find it easiest to use an apostrophe to differentiate /ˈtun/ ⟨Tun⟩ from /ˈθ/ ⟨Thun⟩ and /ˈtʰun/ ⟨T’hun⟩.

Similarly, you could use it to differentiate [ŋ] ⟨ng’⟩ from [ŋɡ] ⟨ng⟩ and [nɡ] ⟨n’g⟩ in your system for fantasy name spellings, in the event that your language makes such a distinction.  Uses like this can reduce ambiguity.  Do think twice before you use apostrophes for anything that isn’t a glottal stop, though.

IPA	Latin
/ˈɪŋʊːʁ/	Yng’örh
/ˈvængu/	Vaan’gu
/pʰoʑ/	P’hozj
/ˈŋisu/	Ngisu

Dental Fricatives in Fantasy Name Spellings

For the dental fricatives, you should probably stick to the digraphs we use in English.  In a world of linguists, we’d be able to use something like the Germanic letters Thorn ⟨þ⟩ and Eth ⟨ð⟩ or the Greek letters Theta ⟨θ⟩ and Delta ⟨δ⟩, but most English speakers won’t have any idea how to pronounce either of them.

With this in mind, the best option is to use ⟨th⟩ for the voiceless dental fricative [θ] and ⟨dh⟩ for the voiced dental fricative [ð].  This will make it relatively easy for English speakers to determine the pronunciation.

IPA	Latin
/θɛv/	Thev
/ˈðulik/	Dhulik

Palato-alveolar Fricatives in Fantasy Name Spellings

My advice is similar concerning the palato-alveolar fricatives, which are a type of postalveolar sound.  Using ⟨sh⟩ to represent the voiceless palato-alveolar fricative [ʃ] is a rather obvious choice, and I think it’s most consistent to simply have ⟨zh⟩ represent the voiced palato-alveolar fricative [ʒ].

IPA	Latin
/ˈɛʃɒɡ/	Eshog
/muːʒ/	Muzh

Palato-Alveolar Affricates

Palato-alveolar affricates are the ⟨ch⟩ in ⟨Charles⟩ and the ⟨j⟩ in ⟨James⟩.  Since affricates begin as plosives but release as fricatives, they’re rendered [t͡ʃ] and [d͡ʒ] in the IPA, respectively.

It’s important to strike a balance between consistency and familiarity.  Because ⟨ch⟩ could just as easily stand for [x], I prefer to spell the voiceless palato-alveolar affricate [t͡ʃ] a little differently.  Spelling it ⟨tsh⟩ might seem sensible, but readers may have to think a bit before it makes sense.

The other issue with ⟨tsh⟩ is that [t͡ʃ] isn’t just postalveolar; it’s palato-alveolar.  Luckily, the letter ⟨c⟩ suggests palatalization, and since I don’t use ⟨c⟩ anywhere else in my standard orthography, I can use it in a trigraph without confusion.

With all this in mind, I think [t͡ʃ] is best represented by ⟨tch⟩.  The ⟨t⟩ ensures that readers will guess that the sound starts at a plosive, and most will guess that a ⟨tch⟩ trigraph probably means [t͡ʃ].

Conversely, I think it’s easiest to represent the voiced palato-alveolar affricate [d͡ʒ] as ⟨dj⟩; it’s the most intuitive spelling I’ve been able to think of. English speakers will immediately associate the letter ⟨j⟩ with [d͡ʒ] to begin with, and the ⟨d⟩ before it eliminates any remaining ambiguity.

IPA	Latin
/ˈtu.ad͡ʒ/	Tuadj
/ˈt͡ʃɒb/	Tchob

Alveolo-Palatal Consonants

Outside the realm of English, there are also alveolo-palatal consonants: most notably the alveolo-palatal fricatives and affricates.  These are essentially like their palato-alveolar equivalents, except that you also raise the middle of your tongue towards your hard palate.

I recommend using ⟨sj⟩ for the voiceless alveolo-palatal fricative [ɕ].  Likewise, I recommend ⟨zj⟩ for the voiced alveolo-palatal fricative [ʑ].  This works well not only because ⟨j⟩ already has a palatal feel to it, but because ⟨sj⟩ is already used for [ɕ] in both Danish and Dutch.

With the fricatives out of the way, figuring out how to render the alveolo-palatal affricates in your fantasy name spellings is trivial.  Just use ⟨tsj⟩ for the voiceless alveolo-palatal affricate [t͡ɕ], and ⟨dzj⟩ for the voiced alveolo-palatal affricate [d͡ʑ].

IPA	Latin
/ˈɕemil/	Sjemil
/ˈd͡ʑu.i/	Dzjui
/ˈæːt͡ɕ/	Aatsj
/ˈo͜ʊd͡ʑaɹ/	Odzjar

Digraphs for Other Fricatives

If you have other fricatives in your languages, think about what sort of digraphs would make sense to your readers.  If you have uvular sounds like the voiceless uvular plosive [q], fricative [χ], or ejective [qʼ], you might try using ⟨q⟩ for the plosive, ⟨qh⟩ for the fricative, and ⟨qq⟩ for the ejective.

If your language has fricatives that don’t exist in English, you might be surprised to find that an existing digraph works better for your sound than it does in English orthography.  For example, you might represent the bilabial fricatives using ⟨ph⟩ for [ɸ] and ⟨bh⟩ for [β].  This helps to differentiate bilabials like [β] from labiodentals like [v].

IPA	Latin
/ˈqoːβoːr/	Qobhor
/jɛɸ/	Yeph
/ɬaɪ̯n/	Lhain

Geminate Consonants

Consonants can also be distinguished from one another by length; this is called gemination.  In the IPA, we can render a geminate consonant either with two of the same letter as in [kk] or with the triangular colon used for vowel length: [kː].  If you want to distinguish geminate consonants, consider doubling the letter.

Using this method, a name like /ˈɑtːu/ would come out as ⟨Attu⟩.  Again, try to think about what works best with your language.  There’s not really any one-size-fits-all here.

IPA	Latin
/ˈɛpːe/	Eppé
/ˈr̥ʊdːi/	Hröddi

Implosives and Ejectives

As discussed in my article on the International Phonetic Alphabet, there are a number of non-pulmonic consonants, too.  These include voiced implosives and voiceless ejectives, the latter you may actually have heard before.

Implosives are “gulped” plosives.  My method for writing these is quite simple as long as your fictional language doesn’t use gemination: just double up the letter for a voiced plosive.  In other words, I write [ɓ] as ⟨bb⟩, [ɗ] as ⟨dd⟩, and [ɠ] as ⟨gg⟩.

If you are using gemination, you could instead represent implosives by adding an apostrophe.  In that case, [ɓ] becomes ⟨b’⟩, [ɗ] becomes ⟨d’⟩, and [ɠ] becomes ⟨g’⟩.

Ejectives are complicated to explain, but you can represent them similarly to implosives.  In other words, [pʼ] is ⟨pp⟩, [tʼ] is ⟨tt⟩, and [kʼ] is ⟨kk⟩.  Again, if you don’t like that method (or you have geminate consonants), you can use apostrophes ([pʼ] is ⟨p’⟩, [tʼ] is ⟨t’⟩, and [kʼ] is ⟨k’⟩).

IPA	Latin
/ˈkʼalyː/	Kkalü
/ˈɓae̯ʃ/	Bbaesh

Clicks in Fantasy Name Spellings

You’re not going to be able to transcribe all the many clicks a click language is likely to have.  Since you’re limited to the parts of the Latin alphabet found on a keyboard, you’ll have to represent clicks in a more approximate manner.  I recommend grouping clicks by place of articulation in your orthography.

A good way I’ve found is to start with just the main categories of clicks: bilabial [ʘ], dental [ǀ], alveolar [ǃ], palatal [ǂ], and lateral [ǁ].  From there, you just need to find a way to communicate that a particular sound is supposed to be a click.  The best solution I know of is to add an exclamation mark.

For the bilabial click [ʘ], I think the easiest spelling for getting it across to the reader is probably ⟨p!⟩.

Since the dental click [ǀ] sounds almost fricative-like, I usually transcribe that with a ⟨th!⟩.  This is one of the few times I’d actually recommend using a trigraph.

I’ll use ⟨t!⟩ for the alveolar click [ǃ].

For the lateral click [ǁ], I’ll go with ⟨k!⟩, as it tends to sound somewhat velar-like.  I suspect ⟨l!⟩ would be somewhat harder to read.

Finally, mostly because I’m used to reading International Phonetic Alphabet characters, I’ll use ⟨c!⟩ for the palatal click. If you prefer, I expect ⟨j!⟩ would work just as well.

IPA	Latin
/ˈǃɑǁɛb/	T!ak!eb
/ˈɣuǂil/	Ghuc!il
/ɬoʘa/	Lhop!a
/ǁire/	K!iré

Vowels in Fantasy Name Spellings

Figuring out which vowels to use for your fantasy name spellings is going to be harder.  In fact, depending on the number of vowels you plan to use, you’ll likely have to make some big compromises.  This is due to the English alphabet having only five or six letters for vowels.

The good news is that there’s a good chance your fictional language only has five vowels anyway.  In fact, many real languages only use [a], [e], [i], [o], and [u].  This means you can usually just assign one of these letters to each of your vowels, depending on what your vowels sound like.

A

The letter ⟨a⟩ is versatile; it can stand for [æ], [a], [ə], and [ɑ] quite easily.  Even if you have all those sounds in your language, it’s not a bad idea to just use ⟨a⟩ for all of those anyway.  If you really need to differentiate [ɑ] or [a] from [æ], the easiest solution is probably to use ⟨aa⟩ for [æ].

If you have a keyboard configuration that lets you type these sorts of characters, you could even represent the [æ] sound with the ligature ⟨æ⟩; /ˈæzdoɹ/ would become ⟨Æzdor⟩, which I think works well if you’re willing to use unusual letters in your names.  Just know that many readers won’t know how to pronounce it: they may say [ˈa͜ɪzdoɹ] or [ˈe͜ɪzdoɹ].

All the same, ⟨æ⟩ does naturally create the feeling of being somewhere between [a] and [ɛ], meaning interpretations will probably trend towards [æ] to some degree.

If neither ⟨aa⟩ nor ⟨æ⟩ appeal to you, or you’d much rather write [æ] with just one letter that isn’t so unfamiliar, then history actually provides us with a good alternative.

You see, the Germanic digraph Æsh ⟨æ⟩, which denoted the vowel [æ] in Old English, was written as ⟨aͤ⟩ in some other Germanic languages, with a small ⟨e⟩ above the ⟨a⟩.  This eventually got reduced to ⟨a̎⟩ and finally ⟨ä⟩ (with a diaeresis ⟨◌̈⟩ above it).

To this day, loads of Germanic languages use ⟨ä⟩ for both [æ] and [ɛ], which are usually not phonemically distinct from each other the way they are in English.  This makes ⟨ä⟩ another great option for [æ] in your fantasy name spellings.

E

The letter ⟨e⟩ works best for sounds like [e], [ɛ], and [ə].  As I said concerning ⟨a⟩, you can use ⟨e⟩ for all of these and people will understand more-or-less how to say a name.  Unlike with ⟨a⟩, however, you shouldn’t use ⟨ee⟩ to differentiate [e] from [ɛ], as most English speakers will see [i].

If you must set [e] or [ː] apart from [ɛ], you should consider using an acute accented ⟨é⟩ for [e] and [eː].  This acute ⟨◌́⟩ accent will immediately tell most English speakers how it’s supposed to sound.

I

I advise that you stick to using ⟨i⟩ for sounds like [i], [ɪ], and maybe [y] or [ɨ].

It’s best not to use a single letter for any diphthongs, such as [aɪ̮].  You should default to spelling [ai̮] with two letters as in ⟨ai⟩.  A phoneme that consists of two vowels should generally be written with two letters.

O

The letter ⟨o⟩ is best suited to sounds like [o], [ɒ], and [ɔ].

If your language needs a letter for [ʊ], I think the best way to do that is to simply use the an ⟨ö⟩ (with a diaeresis above it), as many Germanic languages use it for vowels that English-speakers hear as similar to [ʊ].  Although it might seem easiest, using the digraph ⟨oo⟩ may lead readers to confuse it with [u].

U

The letter ⟨u⟩ is good for [ʉ], [ɯ], and especially [u].  If you don’t really need to differentiate [ʊ] from [u], you can easily use ⟨u⟩ for [ʊ].

You might be able to use ⟨u⟩ for [ʌ], as well, but probably the best letter I’ve found to represent that sound is an ⟨å⟩ (with an overring ⟨◌̊⟩ above it).

Additionally, although the International Phonetic Alphabet benefits greatly from using ⟨y⟩ for the vowel [y], it might not actually be the best choice. Instead, I recommend using ⟨ü⟩ to represent [y], as is common in the writing systems of many languages.

Y

Finally, we have ⟨y⟩, which can be either a semivowel or a vowel in English.  This letter can stand for a lot of sounds, including [j], [ɪ], [y], and even [ə].  I recommend you narrow these down to just two.  First, if you have the voiced palatal approximant [j], ⟨y⟩ works perfectly.

In addition to the semivowel, ⟨y⟩ can also stand for a vowel.  I don’t recommend using ⟨y⟩ for [i], as ⟨i⟩ works better for that.  But if you need a to differentiate [ɪ] from [i], it’s a good idea to use ⟨y⟩ to represent [ɪ].  That’s how I normally use it.

If you want a specific letter to represent the schwa [ə], then ⟨y⟩ is probably your best bet.  This is actually how a lot of languages use ⟨y⟩, making it less confusing than some other options.

Depending on what vowels your fictional language has, there are even more options for how ⟨y⟩ can work in your fantasy name spellings.  Having ⟨y⟩ stand for [y] is a popular choice in some circles, although it can be a bit less intuitive for readers than using ⟨ü⟩.

You could even just use it for any stray vowel phonemes that don’t fit any of the other English vowel letters.

Be warned that ⟨y⟩ is kind of a special case.  Using it for one sound here and another there works because we’ve all been conditioned to think of ⟨y⟩ as working that way.  Do this with other letters and you’ll find that your fantasy name spellings become confusing.

Diphthongs in Fantasy Name Spellings

When it comes to diphthongs, try to keep them straightforward.  The letters ⟨ae⟩ work perfectly for the diphthong [ae̯], as does ⟨oi⟩ for [oi̯].  Other diphthongs may take some thinking, but you should be fine as long as you don’t try to use one letter for a sequence of two sounds.

Diphthongs with Semivowels

If the first vowel is non-syllabic, such as in [u̮e], consider spelling it as though it’s a semivowel, since that’s essentially what a non-syllabic vowel is. A diphthong like [u̮e] or [i̮a] is rarely sufficiently different from [we] or [ja] to justify writing it with a non-syllabic vowel, even in your phonemic transcriptions.

You’ll make your life a whole lot easier if you treat non-syllabic vowels as semivowels wherever possible, which means writing them in your fantasy name spellings will be easy. To make this even easier, I’ve provided a table of which vowels correspond to which semivowels:

Vowel	Semivowel
[i]	[j]
[u]	[w]
[y]	[ɥ]
[ɯ]	[ɰ]

How to Write [aʊ̯]

One of the diphthongs that many people struggle with is [aʊ̯].

You’ve almost certainly heard someone—probably a lot of someones—mispronounce the name of the dragon Smaug from The Hobbit.  The proper pronunciation is, of course, /smaʊ̯ɡ/; it comes from an ancient Germanic word that roughly means “creeping thing.”

But many readers—not to mention the makers of the Rankin/Bass cartoons—seem to have assumed it was just a creative respelling of “smog” /smɒɡ/, a portmanteau of “smoke” and “fog” coined in the early 20^th century.

Sauron’s name, pronounced /ˈsaʊ̯rɔn/ and meaning “the putrid one” in Elvish, has likewise been mispronounced as /ˈsɔːrɒn/ by people who seemingly think it’s related to “σαύρᾱ” the Greek word for “lizard.”

Despite this understandable confusion, I still do recommend sticking with ⟨au⟩ for [aʊ̯] in your fantasy name spellings, mainly because all the other options will lead to more problems.  Honestly, some readers will get these names wrong, but at worst, your fans will get to feel smug when they correct such errors.  It just comes with the territory.

But if you really want to make it clear to your readers that the ⟨u⟩ isn’t meant to be silent, you should consider adding a circumflex accent ⟨◌̂⟩ to clarify that it’s a diphthong rather than a digraph.

Essentially, whenever you use the [aʊ̯] diphthong in a name, you’d write the sound as ⟨aû⟩ so the reader’s eye is subtly drawn to the ⟨û⟩. 

Fantasy Name Spellings and Your Keyboard Layout

Since there’s a good chance you’ll have to make use of letterforms outside the standard ASCII set, it’s worth going into how you can easily type accented and nonstandard characters like ⟨ä⟩, ⟨þ⟩, ⟨é⟩, ⟨û⟩, ⟨æ⟩, and so forth.  This will make typing fantasy name spellings mostly effortless while you’re actually writing your stories.

How exactly you’ll go about this depends on your operating system.

MacOS

If you’re using a Mac, then typing special characters is pretty straightforward.  Just hold the most relevant letter key for a second, and a selection of alternative letterforms will pop up.

You can select a letterform by hitting the corresponding number key shown below it.  You can also click on the letter in the drop-down, but it’s more convenient to use the keyboard.

Annoyingly, you can’t easily type ⟨þ⟩ or ⟨ð⟩ on a mac, so you’ll have to use the Character Viewer for those letters.

Windows

On Windows 10, you’ll need to add an international keyboard layout in your Settings, since the default “US QUERTY” keyboard layout doesn’t support accented characters.

Being Canadian, I rarely favour the American versions of things, but in this case, the best option is the “United States-International” keyboard.  It supports quite a few more accented characters than the “United Kingdom (Extended)” layout, which is only really tailored to the languages of the British Isles.

1. In your Windows settings, select Time & Language.

2. Enter the Language tab and select your preferred language.

3. In the Keyboards section, select “Add a keyboard.”

4. Scroll to the “United States-International QUERTY” keyboard layout and select it.

And that’s it!

You could remove the default keyboard layout now if you want, but I’d caution against it.  It’s actually quite useful to have both the default layout and the international one, since general-purpose typing is a bit easier with the default keyboard.

Luckily, when you have both keyboard layouts, it’s super easy to switch between them.  Just press the Windows key + Spacebar (⊞+⎵) and you’ll be able to use both keyboards while you’re typing.

Example System for Fantasy Name Spellings

Your own conventions for fantasy name spellings may resemble these, or they may be completely different.  What’s important is that you stay consistent enough for your readers to understand the pronunciations.  Avoid using the same letter for one sound here and another sound there, for example.

For those of you who want a template, I have provided a table with my own system for fantasy name spellings.  I tried my hardest to make a standard orthography that’s easy for English speakers to decipher, but you can and should modify it to suit your needs.

Keep in mind that you absolutely will not need anywhere near all these sounds for any one culture in your fictional world.  As such, you can take letter combinations I’ve used here and repurpose them for whatever sounds your fantasy name spellings need to differentiate.

Plosives

Nasals

Fricatives

Affricates

Liquids

Clicks

Vowels

Diphthongs