creative writing - What are the Pros and Cons of long names?

Background:

I'm developing names for places/characters/races/etc. in my world. One example are a particular political sect. The sect are a group within a different species that are named (the species in general) "Sun's children" (lit. translation.) and the city they are in is called "(Earth's) Shadow" (lit translation.) Combined, the political group of this species in this place are "Sun's children of Earth's Shadow".

The actual name (not the translation) is the tonguetwister "Exopeildelivurathneyateyafilen," more accurately "Exopeildelivur-thneya Tey-filen," since adding an "a" acts as an apostrophe plus an "s". "Tey-filen" means "Tey-children" and "Teyafilen" means "Tey's Children." "Exopeildelivur-thneya" translates to "Exopeildelivur Shadow" and "Exopeildelivurathneya" translates to "Exopeildelivur's shadow."

Now, I'm keeping this name. But I wanted a list of the pros and cons of long names like this--never mind the obscurity/tangled syllables like Exopeildelivurathneyateyafilen, it could include names like "Bobjohnmarkdaniel Coopersmithbrown" as a random example.

Question

What are the pros/cons of very long names?

Update

To note all your notes on frequency: Many of the names I build are unusual, but only a handful of them reach the length of ExoathTeyfilen, as I've decided to shorten Exopeildelivurathneyateyafilen (per recommendations). Thankfully, there aren't that many such names and they're not used much. And, no, there isn't a "ExopeildelivurathnuyaTeyfoolen." All of the long names I'm planning are completely different. And I provide the translations/meanings/histories of the words via enlightening, often humorous footnotes.

I've gotten so, so many great answers, and I'll never be able to pick just one ... so I started a canonical bounty for it! Please provide a complete list and see the bounty message below.

Answer

Disclaimer

This answer was created by pulling together pros and cons from the other answers on the page (at time of writing) I am not claiming credit for the contents of this answer, credit goes to the original authors.

PROS

• Using full names or nicknames will allow the author to convey different levels of formality in different situations. Obviously, you cannot further shorten a one-syllable name.


• A long place-name might have some cultural significance, Terry Pratchett, of course, uses long names as a way to hide a joke. For example, the mountain of the gods is called 'Dunmanifestin'.


• Appeals to linguaphiles (especially if names are rich with internally-consistent historical or cultural meaning)


• Can add a sense of realism/immersion


• It is difficult to represent unfamiliar phonetics in written text. (For instance, an English speaker will absolutely butcher the sounds of any Asian language transliterated into our alphabet.) Long names are an alternative way of creating a sense of "foreign" sounds which is much more accessible to readers.


• Can create a sense of formality or pomp. Long names are often used as a sign of respect or formality (think "The Right Honourable the Lord Mayor of the City of London"). The full name of Bangkok is 65 syllables.


• Can be used for comedic effect (an "inconveniently long" name—doesn't fit on forms, holds up proceedings, the individual stands out embarrassingly, etc.)


• It sparks interesting conversation


• You would probably have a more unique name than most other people. Your name sounds more professional.



• When someone wants some help, he or she will ask the one with shorter name. (could be positive or negative)


• Adds a way to slowly introduce a fictional, foreign, or constructed language to the reader

CONS

• People will not read them more than once, so your story becomes confusing, and they will stop reading altogether.They may sound exotic to begin or appearing once or twice in a book, but if they are not replaced by nicknames of 2 or 3 syllables, people may put your book down, it gets tiring to skip over gibberish and look for where normal text starts again.


• Many readers will gloss over long words. (Remedy: Add hyphens, spaces, apostrophes, capital letters, parentheses or even non-standard punctuation to make names more digestible. It doesn't matter if the speakers of the language don't do this; you can make it clear to your readers that you are not staying true to the language's written form if you want. Start with small, easy words and build up with time, and give readers incentives to actually imagine the words in their heads, for example by describing in detail the way a drunk character slurs some of the syllables.)


• Long words are a cognitive strain. If you don't give the reader's brain a reason to say "oh, cool!", it's going to say "oh no, not again" and the reader will not enjoy reading.


• If your characters are saying long/complicated words frequently, you can actually lose credibility. Unless one of the defining features of your race/culture is "correct speaking" then readers may find it strange that the characters are not using abbreviations or slang.


• You'll make an audiobook almost impossible to produce.Do you want to get this book published? If you don't, if you're writing it just for you it doesn't matter, go for it. But if you want it traditionally published, most publishers will want an audiobook produced. The fact that yours will be unpronounceable may put them off taking your book at all. And when it comes to getting published, you don't want make it harder for yourself than it already is.



• If you have multiple long names like this, readers are going to start getting confused between Foobacktrannorthramnewup and Foobackgranramnorthwup or whatever. Two long names with minor differences are hard to tell apart at a glance.


• It can be quite frustrating to have a name that is butchered every single time it's read,


• It is probably a little hard to remember.


• People may make fun of you.


• Filling forms and applications are going to be awkward since there may not be enough space for a big name.


• If an emergency occurs, it's tougher to warn the one with the longer name.


• When someone wants some help, he or she will ask the one with shorter name. (could be positive or negative)


• Kinda obvious: hard to type it out. Do you really want to write "Bobjohnmarkdaniel Coopersmithbrown" every time that character speaks?

Advice

• We are good at pattern recognition and if you keep the bizarre names to a minimum you should be OK. Long is fine, so long as they can be scanned and not confused with one another.


• Be sure your strange words are not too frequent and also (most importantly) they should start and end differently from one another. If your words start with different letters, and end with different letters, your readers will have an easier time keeping them straight.


• Fantasy folks are more tolerant of this sort of stuff than readers of some other genres, in part because we are trying to be anywhere but present-day Earth.


• A compromise might be that you have a long and complicated name, but also have a common short abbreviation of that, which normally is used.


• Long names are great and beautiful, but they should be easy to use and pronounce.


• Try to take easy words or existing names and just play with them


• Try not to build up names which don't flow easily, such will be harder to read and pronounce, and will most probably cause trouble for the reader.


• Provide a correct pronunciation guide somewhere near the word (in a footnote/in dialogue/in parentheses)

Other examples

Laurelindórenan! That is what Elves used to call it, but now they make the name shorter: Lothlórienthey call it. Perhaps they are right: maybe it is fading, not growing. Land of the Valley of Singing Gold, that was it, once upon a time. Now it is the Dreamflower. (Lord of the Rings III 4 - Treebeard)

In Finnish, you've got names like Väinämöinen.

Johann Gambolputty.... von Hautkopf of Ulm, Monty Python http://www.ibras.dk/montypython/episode06.htm#2

In Mass Effect we have Tali'Zorah vas Neema nar Rayya, short Tali, who is a Quarian. The prefixes "vas" and "nar" have special purpose: nar - denotes to a ship born on, vas - denotes to a ship accepted to.

In Star Wars there are a few long names which are very easy to pronounce and have short forms, which is, by the way, a very necessary thing as I think. For instance: Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jinn, which are shortened to Obi-Wan or Ben, and Qui-Gon.

Thanks to the following users for their answers:

• Galastel


• DPT


• Amadeus


• Artelius


• GGx


• Celtschk


• Olivier Dulac


• Jay


• Theodore Weld


• SovereignSun



• Prakash-Ganesan


• User31565

And to everyone who commented.