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Basicly what the title is. If you made up months, how would you decide what to name them? How do you get your ideas?
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Time: How do you decide on names
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@DJShy groupWannabe Writer
Well, for actual names, I use a name dictionary. Specifically, this one: https://www.behindthename.com/
At least, that's what I do for the first name. For the last name I typically find a word I wanna use that's associated with the concept or general idea of the character and make an anagram of it.
@Serpentess health_and_safety language
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Research!
I take heavy examples from history and use that to inspire me. Though, if you do this, you’re probably going to have to rewrite your entire fictional calendar instead of just the names of the months. Calendars are structured to last, so that a culture can define their place in time, so history, alongside astrology, plays an important role in its development.
But, as always with writing, it’s as the author chooses. So, you can make an elaborate history of your world and use that to create a whole new calendar (like I tend to do…), but you don’t have to. You can just come up with random names for your months, keep the IRL names for the weekdays, and just never talk about the abrupt difference because it just is. It’s totally up to you.
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But, when you’re changing the names of months, usually you’re going to have to change the names of days, maybe seasons, and maybe the overall structure of the calendar itself. Now, it’s not a prerequisite to do all this, but it does help with immersion.
What I did to start all of this was to first look at the etymology/history of our own real life calendars (namely the Gregorian Calendar). The Gregorian Calendar is a modified version of the Julian Calendar. The Julian Calendar was created by Julius Caesar, AKA the Romans. Now, a major reason why these calendars were built was for political reasons, allowing for more governmental control over the people (for good or ill). Besides that, it was just a way to better unify the people under one calendar, because every culture/religion usually has their own. In short, it was supposed to be a Universal Calendar.
So, there’s food for thought on “Why does my calendar exist? Who made it and why?” These will be integral pieces of the calendar. The Why and Who. In regard to names, the Who is what you need. The Romans, before Christ, had a pantheon of deities that they basically borrowed from the Greeks. So, many of the names they used were of the gods. Otherwise, it was famous people that they wanted to honor, or astrological symbols that they wanted to highlight (usually the sun and moon). And, depending on the situation, other cultures could contribute to the names (such as Norse names in our weekdays).
Example 1: January = Janus, Roman God of Doorways, Beginnings, and Transitions. AKA, the month that transitions from the old year into the new.
Example 2: July = Julius Caesar. He’s the one known for bringing the Julian Calendar to life, so obviously he needed to be commemorated in it.
This basic rule follows through an entire calendar~
Julian Calendar = Julius Caesar’s Calendar
Gregorian Calendar = Calendar modified by Pope Gregory XIII
Monday = Day of the Moon
Wednesday = Woden’s Day (AKA Odin’s Day).
Seasons are the oddball in the Gregorian Calendar, as their name origins are older and reference either what is going on in that portion of the year or what it brings. Winter, for example, is derived from Old English words related to Wet or Water, since it’s usually raining or snowing in Winter. Autumn is a bit more obscure origin-wise, but the latin name refers to ‘drying up’, and this time of year is renown for falling leaves (Fall) or the time to gather your crops (Harvest).
So, basically, what happens during the seasons and calendar will contribute to the names. Who built the calendar and why will contribute. And, cultural and religious ties will contribute. In regards to structure and timing (how many days in a year and so forth), this is usually measured by a combination of astrology and politics, with more focus on astrology. After all, it wouldn’t be day if it was still dark.
Thusly, the Romans built the Julian Calendar to unify the people under the Roman government. They used their gods and other astrological symbols to name the times of the year, which also helped organize festivals, government movements, and other major events. This organization also helped to better define time and give a slightly more accurate estimate of when things happened or were accomplished. The Gregorian Calendar is just a modification of the Julian Calendar to make it better match the Solar Year (which measures the time between equinoxes). Both Calendars don’t exactly match the Solar Year, but when Pope Gregory XIII made his adjustments, he changed the number of days and implemented a leap year to compensate for that off-quilter effect, this way the years stay mostly aligned to the seasons. (Which is also another historical piece you can pull from when building a calendar).
Hope this helps!