Thanks, I got the name from Shadow Over Innsmouth by Lovecraft (the one work of his I've read thus far), which felt fitting for a cephalopod person. I could have sworn I also read something saying it was a Hawaiian name, but when I double checked for this comment I couldn't find anything saying that. Maybe I just misread Waiākea? At least it's a name people like.
It looks Hawaiian but people are prob just getting it confused. In Hawaii, from the little I know, they seem to pronounce almost every single letter except for first and last when they say a word.
So for a “Haole” like myself, this name might sound like “Weh-leh-kay-uh” or something like that
^note this is probably wrong 😂 but gives you an idea of how maybe you’d want Walakea to sound, or not to sound for that matter.
I think the more Hawaiian it sounds, the better. I love that culture and those names. Anything to bring light to them in these tough times too.
Other characters from Walakea's part of the world will likely have authentic Hawaiian names, so hopefully Walakea won't stand out too much. The isles Erlingr and Hákon are from also have some Polynesian elements, like mana as part of their culture/religion as opposed to an expendable resource used to cast spells. I try to give each region multiple distinct real life cultures to take influence from.
My general naming strategy is for each region to draw on a specific group of real life names so I can browse name lists and grab something with a meaning that I think works, instead of having come up with my own naming conventions. None of the regions or countries are a direct counterpart for something in real life, but I do aim to have a diversity of regal titles and names.
Team Walakea because that name is 🔥
Thanks, I got the name from Shadow Over Innsmouth by Lovecraft (the one work of his I've read thus far), which felt fitting for a cephalopod person. I could have sworn I also read something saying it was a Hawaiian name, but when I double checked for this comment I couldn't find anything saying that. Maybe I just misread Waiākea? At least it's a name people like.
It looks Hawaiian but people are prob just getting it confused. In Hawaii, from the little I know, they seem to pronounce almost every single letter except for first and last when they say a word.
So for a “Haole” like myself, this name might sound like “Weh-leh-kay-uh” or something like that
^note this is probably wrong 😂 but gives you an idea of how maybe you’d want Walakea to sound, or not to sound for that matter.
I think the more Hawaiian it sounds, the better. I love that culture and those names. Anything to bring light to them in these tough times too.
Other characters from Walakea's part of the world will likely have authentic Hawaiian names, so hopefully Walakea won't stand out too much. The isles Erlingr and Hákon are from also have some Polynesian elements, like mana as part of their culture/religion as opposed to an expendable resource used to cast spells. I try to give each region multiple distinct real life cultures to take influence from.
My general naming strategy is for each region to draw on a specific group of real life names so I can browse name lists and grab something with a meaning that I think works, instead of having come up with my own naming conventions. None of the regions or countries are a direct counterpart for something in real life, but I do aim to have a diversity of regal titles and names.