Names (of People, Places, and Things)

One of the best gaming resources on the Internet was Kate Moss's Onomastikon (dead link). Unfortunately for all concerned, the site seems to be dead, and it's been dead for quite some time. I've done lots of searching around, and found no clues as to what happened to it: just speculation that she's perhaps moved (with no indication of where she's moved it to). If it's truly gone, it's a great loss. If it's not gone, somebody please contact me and tell me how to find it.

In the absence of any truly great name sites, it's on all of our heads to provide a new one. I present the beginnings of one here: in time it will grow, although it will probably never be as wonderful as Kate Moss's site.

Some notes about the names here.

My attention to research and historic accuracy is similar to the rest of this site: that is, I play fast and loose with history, stealing liberally from history to provide good gaming content. Thus, if you're a member of a historic recreation group like the SCA, don't use this as a definitive work. On the other hand, I will try my best to list the sources I use for names, so if there's historic worth to some of them, you can figure this out on your own.

The names are organized into broad categories based on geographical region, and then subdivided from there into historical era. This grouping is useful for two reasons: first, some people actually run historic campaigns, and so this is essential. For the rest of us, names from a region/period pair tend to be similar (names vary over space and time), so it's often fun to say things like, "Siliria has names similar to those in 13th century France."

Anyway, on to the names.