I've seen more than one person, myself included, who didn't know what to name their particular world. I'm beginning to wonder if that's even necessary. Think about it. We don't really have a specific name for our world other than Earth and that started as simply the name for the substance we stand on. I mean if you think about it, we refer to the world, generally as "the world" without any proper name needed. Wouldn't the inhabitants of our fictional worlds (who have no knowledge of other worlds, and thus would feel no need to distinguish) probably think along the same lines? I mean of course they would distinguish between countries and regions within the world, but the "world" in general would probably be just that in their minds. A nice bit of endocosmic thinking for you to mull over.
I understand the need to distinguish between multiple conworlds, but I think this can be done with out slapping an official name on them.
What do y'all think?

In Christ,
Jordan

Interesting point. I'd have to say I've never thought about it that way before...but all the other fantasy worlds have names!! Who are we to stand against tradition?

Joke.

Narnia doesn't really have a name. Sometimes when I talk of Narnia to my siblings, I have to distinguish country-Narnia from world-Narnia.

Middle-earth is different: it's the name of a land mass.

In my own writings, typically I follow the same rule for colloquial speech between writer-friends - the primary country/group of countries/etc is the name of the world.

I personally think there isn't a problem with giving the world a name as necessary - it's just when it's not necessary that it's a problem. (The various names for land masses and the entire world in LotR/Silmarillion worked very well - Middle-earth, however, is the colloquial name given it, despite its technical incorrectness).

Sounds about right to me.

I find it hard to write without the name of the world, but you have a good point.

I think I would not get far in my story without naming mine

Sounds like a good line of thinking to me Seer. I like your reasoning. I personally have never named my "world", but wasn't able to put my reasoning into words. I just didn't think it was necessary. Thanks for the help. Now I can explicate my position.

I was getting around to starting a similar thread... I don't like naming my 'world' either, but I didn't know if it was necessary or not. I can't remember the context now.

I personally find it very good for me to know my world's name. Firstly, it helps me in sharing my world with others. Secondly, it's more of what the people refer to themselves as. They are in the world of Enderion. Consider it more like a planet name than a world name. My universe (or world) doesn't have a name...it's just the world of Enderion. Any planet with astronomy advanced enough to detect other planets would see a need to name their own planets.

enderion

I suppose that is a point Eruheran... *shrugs shoulders* I’ll think about that one.

I have to, considering my universe includes interdimensional travel between fantasy and the equivalent of our universe. Not to mention, the fantasy people know other dimensions exist, like we do. Merlin, in fact, was a great traveler between the two.

The inhabitants of Eshteka do not have a name for their planet. It is a name which outsiders bestowed on it. I'm sure the natives just referred to Eshteka as 'Home'. I never thought about our planet not having an official name though. Hmm. Something to chew on.

I tend to keep the naming to basic earth/terra like names. Lor-Amar is the planet although it wasn't thought of as a planet when it was first named. It is a portal world so it was necessary to name it separately from Earth. I also renamed Heaven for the world because it seemed likely.

I was just wondering today if I should name my world, but after reading these reasons why some don't, I don't think I will either. My story is just taking place on one landmass anyway, so I guess there isn't a need to name the planet.

My last story I was working on though, I did name the world Grathomen. It was named after the first human. You know, our world is called 'Earth' which is what it's made from, and if I'm correct, Adam means clay, dirt, or something like that, which is what he was made from. Neat little connection there, I think.

I also wouldn't name a world if it was the only one in the story, for the reasons brought up here in this thread. However, if the story involved parallel universes or other planets and space travel, I would name the worlds.

Here's an interesting thought: if there were parallel worlds, but the people living in them didn't know about them, how would they deal with the issue of names? Upon discovering them, would they decide as a people to name their world? Or perhaps nick names might develop along the lines of what made each dimension unique, such as the world with elves (if the was only one) being called something like Elfworld.

The only worlds I've actually named are Rhoive and Hlior, and in-story, pretty much only the lorvald use those names, because they're the ones who needed the different names in the first place since they can travel back and forth between the worlds. I think the names can also be convenient for the author, particularly if multiple stories take place there; you have a name for the whole thing and don't have to say "the world that X takes place in."

So anyway, I think a world name can be useful, but it's hardly necessary. And certainly, in-story usage shouldn't be casual; there should be a reason everyone calls it something other than "the world."

Ooh; how do you pronounce that?

Uhh...*isn't very good with pronunciation keys* Kind of like ROY-vv. But there is a touch of an "h" in the first syllable, it's just not very strong.

My World is just that. I've never had the audacity to try and name my world like C.S. Lewis did his Narnia. I do not think a world (Or at least mine) should be given a name. Such wisdom to do so that would signify or represent it in one word is beyond my capabilities. However, what J.R.R. Tolkien did with middle earth sounds good to me. I am not content with only calling my world: my world. I certainly do not like the sound of bottom earth.

As for naming this (The world my characters live in) world because of the existance of other worlds as Eru was saying earlier is not needed. My people understand and name planets while the world is still the world. Just as the Earth is the Earth while other planets are Venus and Jupiter.

-Aeleknight

Ok cool, I see what you mean with the H.

Interesting point...hmmmm I see nothing wrong with not naming your world per se, but I really like naming things! I got a lot of inspiration for names last time I went to Hawaii (they have some pretty interesting names down there)
Ana

Hawaii... just at looking at that name I could tell there would probably be some very creative names over there!

Oh yeah !
like:
Moliliili (yes and that is the actual spelling)
Nuuanu
Tantalus
Kahala
Ala Moana
Waikele
Kahlulu
Waimea
Makaha
Diamond Head
Waipio
Lanikal
Ko Olina

So yeah VERY INTERESTING names!

I named my world Eshteka (with Airianna's help ), but the inhabitants do not have a name for it. It was the colonists from Earth who named it Eshteka. Only they call it by name.

Moliliili? Wow... that is a mouthful! That kind of makes me want to go to Hawaii
(going back on topic...)

I wonder what their tongue is for earth? Sometimes you can find the greatest names for things by converting whatever it is into other languages (especially your own).
Like; earth in Fillipio is lupa. And earth in Dutch is aarde. Some pretty cool names!

Iniel means The Cry in the Sedre language, and is similar to our word "universe" (one word). On the various planets there are words like our word "earth," but there are some wise men who name the various Earths, such as the Earths Tow, and Pow, and Russin, the First Earth. They also name the different Heavenses after the main Earths that are in them, such as the Russin Heavens. They also name the Surfaces for the various Heavenses they are between, such as the Russin Tow Pow Surface. But the Land of the Dead and the Dark Ones is over all, even those who venture Outside the Main.
And the Sha...

Or should I stop?

World naming in Iniel is a World of its own.


It would be neat if some one made a list of the names of earth in all the languages.

No! Keep going!

No, no! Continue! And one question; how do you pronounce Iniel?



aarde
tokë
երկիր
أرض
torpaq
lurra
terra
Dìqiú
Zemlja
Země
jord
Maa
lupa
la terre
Erde
γη
sou latè
föld
jörð
bumi
domhan
terram
zeme
art
ziemia
pământ
krajiny
tierra
dunia
jorden
toprak
trái đất
ddaear

There! There is earth in a couple languages!

It just dawned on me that "earth" is just the name for earth in English. Therefore what's stopping you from having more then one word for your world?

for example, Erde (I think that's how you spell it) is German for earth, and Terran is earth in Welsh. So you could have a sort of Germanic country have Erde as its name for your world while you have another country calling it just plain earth. Or if you want to go further in depth you could have a Elf country for example calling your world "the creation of God", in their language. The possibilities are endless.
PS: sorry if this doesn't make sense.

That makes sense.

Philadelphia used Erde as the name for her world.

It makes perfect sense!

In-yel, as in "in" and "yell."




Alright, thank you. I did not want to ramble. But I suppose I was mostly funning you.

...And the Shapeshifters worlds are named for each Shapeshifter, or you may say that the Shapeshifters are named for their worlds. Many Shapeshifters have aliases for their different forms. There are many people who venture Outside the Main, and often worlds will form around them, real or dreamed, it can be hard to tell the difference. The Elders made Worlds Outside, and one of them is named Dew.




Ah, I think when you have them in other writing systems you need to include both the IPA exact pronunciation, and a pronunciation in a more recognizable pronunciation system, a transliteration, and the name of the language that it is in.

For example:

Armenian: երկիր - erkir (jɛɹkiɹ) yeh-rkeer

Oh! Thanks!


Ok, thanks! Will do!

I think, if you have multiple languages, that that would be a good world building tidbit to add depth to the different cultures.

Can you show how to pronounce these ones too? I don't know these writing systems.

I love this list! Very useful.

Hee hee...

It is gi.
pronounced; gjee.
The other one I couldn't seem to get

Dutch: aarde
Albanian: tokë
Armenian: երկիր - erkir (jɛɹkiɹ) yeh-rkeer
Arabic: أرض - uraḍ (ʔuradˤ) oo-rod
Azerbaijan: torpaq
Basque: lurra
Latin: terra
Mandarin Chinese: 地球 - Dìqiú
Croatian: Zemlja
Slovenian: Zemlja
Russian: Земля - zemlya
Czech: Země
Swedish: jord
Finnish: Maa
Filipino: lupa
Italian: terra
French: la terre
German: Erde
Greek: γη - gē (gɛː) gey
Haitian Creole: sou latè
Hungarian: föld
Icelandic: jörð (jœrð̠) yoh-rh-dh
Indonesian: bumi
Indonesian: dunia
Irish: domhan
Lithuanian: žemė
Slovak: zeme
Polish: ziemia
Romanian: pământ
Spanish: tierra
Danish: jorden
Turkish: toprak
Vietnamese: trái đất
Norwegian: ddaear

What is art, krajiny, and terram?

I don't have an ultimate word for my world though I do have different people groups having names for the world. For example my Gnomes collectively call the world Dhomma. My Elves call the world Delhen or Elhen.

Ooh that's awesome Tsahraf! A lovely list indeed!

This is for earth right? Not world..

I actually don't have a name for my world, period. I never really found it necessary, since I rarely use earth in my vocabulary, other that when I'm doing creation science stuff. So I can easily avoid using it.

Dhomma is a really cool word, by the way.

@Tsahraf: O.O

Thanks

That is a good name! Is that a word in your language or just a offthetopofyourheadname?

It is the Gnomish version of the word earth in Irish.

That's cool! Cross-translation!

Even if I never use the name in my stories, I would like to come up with a name because people get confused. I can't just tell them something like 'It takes place in Kythen, in Jin-han...' because Kythen and Jin-han are both countries. So I attempt to explain that 'Bow to Death doesn't take place in my world.'
'So it's not in our world.'
'Yes, it's in our world -an imaginary place in our world. Not in the world where my other major stories are taking place.'
If I had a name, it might be a bit easier.

I agree that a world name isn't necessary for those in the fantasy world. However...

I also agree with these assessments that a world name is often useful for the author.

I think it depends on the author, and the way they tell their story. In my trilogy, there is never a need to have a name for the world. However, in some stories, it is an important element. I think it just depends on what is needed to tell your story. All stories are different, they need different characteristics and attributes.

This reminds me that I need to name my main world Real Soon Now. Its inhabitants migrated there only a few generations ago (beginning only a few years after it was created), and applied-metaphysics makes travel to and (more commonly) communication with other universes possible (if quite expensive and so not common), so they're quite aware that their world isn't the only one, and so they would have at least one name for it. Sigh ...

I agree.