I've been working on a story and at on point in the story the main character meets up with some characters that I've called 'tree-men'. They're small and grizzled but are similar to trees...they look kind of woody and textured.

They speak the same speech as the rest of the world but it is guttural and simplified with few vowel sounds and words.

I'm trying to find a better name than just 'The Tree-men' since that sounds really dumb.

Here are a few of my ideas so far:
Ugrund (Ooh-Grooh-nd) -- sounds kind of 'guttural' like the language
Gruytng (Groo-Yit-ng [as in 'ing' but without the i])

What do you all think? Any better suggestions? These people are a minor part in my story but they are an entire chapter and I want them to seem realistic yet fitting in with how I describe them...and you really can't say a story is finished when some of the people in it are called 'tree-men'

Thanks!
Eruheran

Ents? Huorns?

Just teasing.

Um, do me the reader a favor and don't name them anything that I'll need a pronunciation guide to figure out. (i.e. Gruytng is a little out there for pronunciation)

I like Ugrund. It's not quite as "pronunciation guide dependent" and it also has a lot of character.

I have to agree that you don't want too much in your story to start fights over pronunciation between readers with lots of time on their hands.

As for naming your creatures, why not browse around the web and look for tree-like words in other languages you can derive from? That might help you find some sound combinations that might not have sprung to your own imagination, and the name would still be rooted (uy, that was an unintentional pun) in the tree idea.

I agree with everyone that you should use one that does not need a pronunciation guide.

Try combining words that mean 'tree men' or something that is included in their description....

How about Mtu mti? It is Swahili for tree man...

How about Kunugill or Grulack?

Yes, I'm leaning toward Ugrund. It's better than Gruytng since a reader would know how to pronounce it without having to look it up in the back (the problem I always have with LoTR :P)

I like Mtu Mti but that brings up pronunciation again...not as straightforward as I like. I've thought about basing them off of a Scandinavian language (not because Scandinavians are dumb....but because they're big...like trees :P)

Grulack is good...it sounds "guttural" (guttural is such a fun word to say....guttural, guttural, guttural...oh yeah sorry back on topic )

Kunugill is good as well, but I like Grulack better. We'll see...I'm re-writing most of the story over this summer so a lot will happen.

eruheran

I like Ugrund, Grulack definitely sounds tree-like.

So I'm redoing all of my race's names...one by one, but here is what I've come up with for the tree-men...kind of a brainstorming session:

Tree-men are the remnants of a civilization in the former territory of Andevian. Because of oppression by many of the other nations, the tree-men keep largely to themselves and do not trust others. Their vocabulary and language is simple and is roughly based on the language of Andevian.
This nation is based off of: African nations, specifically Somalia
My favorite name for this country so far: Shibaar (In Somali, 'baar' is tree and 'shib' is silence....so this mish-mash means like Silent tree)

Cool!

One question...These sound more like a race than creatures to me. Am I correct in thinking that?

Well, they're sort of a race, that are humanlike, but they aren't a big part of the story, and they aren't as advanced as humans...so they are sort of a mix. They definitely have a culture and language, even though it is basic, so yes I guess they are a race. But they don't really play a big part.

eruheran

EDIT: Could this actually be moved to the "Races, people, and tribes" forum? They kind of changed through the course of this thread.