I recently did some Gaelic research of my own (Irish, Scottish, Welsh, and Manx) and came across some root words for \”first\” — ciad, kied, chead — and \”earth\” or \”land\” — tir, duir, dowan — and it occurred to me that some of these words, put together and adjusted for pronunciation and creativity, might sound like Cyador. Is it supposed to be similar to \”first land\” or \”first earth\”, or is this a coincidence? Would you be willing to share some thoughts on how you go about naming your characters and places.

I have to admit that while a preponderant percentage of my ancestry is Celtic, with some Welsh, alas, I know neither language, and if the names I used reflect that source, it’s either channeled from unknown ancestors, subconscious, or happy circumstance… or possibly all three.  I do make a great effort to have names used in a given book, particularly in a given location in a book, have a certain internal consistency and some interrelations… but I’d be the first to admit that I probably don’t always succeed.  When it’s a question of Germanic, or Romance language derived names, then… yes, the naming tends to be more formally structured because I do know a bit in those areas.