fantasy fiction In urban fantasy style fiction with multiple supernatural characters, is it understandable to the reader if race names of each group are

I personally find it a little odd when authors go out of their way not to call something what it is. If you have an undead entity that sleeps in a coffin, hates sunlight, and drinks blood, why not call it a vampire? If it's because the word "vampire" is cliche, why is the creature itself not cliche as well?

That being said, there are a few ways around using generic names like "vampire" and "fairy." Technically, those are both blanket terms for many different types of creatures. If your vampire is African and likes to attack its victims from the trees, you can call it an asanbosam. If your fairy is attuned to the element of water and has a hypnotic voice, it can be called a nixie. If you have a fairy-vampire hybrid, why not make it a baobhan sith? Heck, Romero-style zombies are technically better described as ghouls or draugr.

If you're invested in making up your own names I would probably suggest not basing them on the existing words, e.g. "fayree" could potentially leave the viewer wondering why you didn't just say "fairy."

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