iiYoshi

i hope this scene implies there'll be a NY special focused on adrien because i think miraculous is in desperate need of more adrien content

No clue if this has been asked before butttt

How do you get ideas for character names/place names? Say, all the names of lands in The Nobel Trials

(Absolutely loving your work btw!! <3 Thank you for all you do)

I LOVE making names for locations and people, especially when I have free rein to do what I want.

I stole Serulla from my personal fantasy world, but I knew I had to expand on it. At a base, when I'm developing a region, I like to choose a fictional root language—or at the very least, popular syllables/letters/sounds—to draw from. If I'm inspired by certain cultures, I use them as an initial guide of making naming patterns. However, when it comes to Qesra and shaping the world as audios are created, I think about its brief history and who the land is now occupied by.

For example, there are locations/names with Ý, such as Ýalos, and Lake Zýne. One can assume they come from a similar root language; a few gods in Videinity also have this which could indicate its age. But Thýten also has it, so there could be history there. Or, it could be a coincidence.

With this latest episode, you get a glimpse of this language when Zaros prays: Qel deima qiridrieth vo nihilý. However, ý shares the same phoneme with non-accented y's (Kymen, Dysan, Ryn), which could imply a change in the language somewhere in its history.

Qolgri was also used to shape the western part of Serulla, and it's been sprinkled in the last couple of episodes. The style of naming things is different to what the audience is normally used to, such as apostrophes for Za'Tabunad, or adding q in the middle of words (Shiqeti, Daqshiret, Iboseqsa, Aqabat). It naturally feels like a different culture as the words sound sharper when compared to the eastern part of Serulla, and one can infer that these naming conventions stem for a similar root.

For other regions, it's a matter of making them sound different to what I'm already familiar with. The land of Arginfell is inspired by the English medieval naming system, (Mirror Mountain, Rhinestead Groves), whereas across the Hallow Sea, you have places named Kroiye Da Cica and Lecaiyn (with a potential shared root of C pronounced as S).

I also take into consideration that characters automatically translate locations, such as Blacksalt Bay (Kroiye Da Cica), but that's more uncommon for me with this particular series; I'd have to create mini conlangs for what the natives would call their land, and I don't have time for that.

For character names, I use a similar approach but with a different format so they don't clash with location names—though, like in our world, some locations would sound nice as names (Hýnia, Torjan). But I also have to consider not making names too complicated for the audience, so it's challenging yet fun to balance accurate world lore and accessibility.