185 replies to this topic

[Crates of Thebes]

You know, one of things that bothers me about ASOIAF are the myriad nicknames for everyone. It seems like most people go around by their nicknames, not there real names, and that seems odd to me. Perhaps the middle ages were really like that, but some of the names are annoying, like "Hot Pie." It sounds so ridiculous. Now, I know it was what he said, but who really has a nickname like that? That's really the only fault I see in Martin, and even that is really small.

Anyway, I vowed never to read Eragon after seeing online the name Galbatorix. It seems like a B movie alien name or something. Exactly what I would expect a kid to name a character in a fantasy novel. Maybe that's what bothers me about names like "Hot Pie" - how juvenile they seem.

[MinDonner]

The whole Lord Voldemort/Tom Riddle thing kinda stinks too. By itself, Lord Voldemort's a typical Dark Lord name, but then you find out he's not even a lord, he just made the name up out of a stupid anagram of his name, and still managed to get people to call him it. Imagine that actually happening! "Alright, Tom?" "No, you have to call me Lord Voldemort now!"

I knew someone at Uni who insisted that everyone call him Doctor Smooth. Lord Voldemort isn't much better than that. Why did he not have the piss utterly ripped out of him?

[Maid Sansa]

MinDonner, on Aug 6 2007, 10.28, said:

I knew someone at Uni who insisted that everyone call him Doctor Smooth. Lord Voldemort isn't much better than that. Why did he not have the piss utterly ripped out of him?

Because he had a habit of doing Nasty Stuff ™ to kids who laughed at him? Just guessing.
I thought it was a pretty neat demonstration of how lame-ass Dark Lord names really begin. And that every Dark Lord used to be a lame-ass emo kid. :P

[Hereward]

Maltaran, on Aug 3 2007, 20.27, said:

Some of the aliens' names in Julian May's Galactic Milieu trilogy are fairly bad, especially the Krondaku ones. Throma'eloo Lek, for example.

Don't make me hurt you.  :mad:

PS I thought it had already been decided that pretty much anything by Robin Hobb wins. It wasn't? Well, it should have been.

[whelp]

Galbatorix, from Eragon - when the main EEE-vil reminds you of an awesome comic, then his intents on sowind death and conquering the world seem kind of laughable. Also, I couldn't contain a snicker whenever I read the guy's name.

[Myrddin]

My name Isobel, on Aug 5 2007, 11.02, said:

Well y'all already bet me to the Albus Severus Potter... :P

Um, call me paranoid, but please don't tell me this is from book 7.

Thus a spoiler for someone who hasn't read the damn book yet.  :tantrum:

[From that One Book]

I was reading some of the Sword of Truth threads, when I was reminded of possibly the worst name for a villain ever:

"Nicholas the Slide"

Are you serious?

[The Iceman of the North]

Because Darken Rahl is so much better?

[From that One Book]

At least Darken Rahl had a certain sinister, if juvenile, air to it.  I'm just waiting for the book in which Tairy unveils the terrifying Jeffrey the Teeter-Totter.

[Deornoth]

From that One Book, on Aug 8 2007, 07.45, said:

"Nicholas the Slide"

What...?  :huh: I really don't get that... Why was he known as 'the slide'?

[My Lady Ashalind]

Cinnaminson from Terry Brooks Straken novel always irked me. Such a weird name.

[tomfoster]

Ashen Shugar, the Valheru Tomas merges with in Magician.   It always sounded like "Ash and Sugar", like an almost pun.

[Aemon Stark]

Any name from Goodkind...

The aforementioned Darken Rahl, and thus Richard Cypher/Rahl. Kahlan Amnell and Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander
are pretty bad too.

A number of Rowling names bug me too:

Bellatrix Lestrange... Le Strange??
Remus Lupin (way to hide his werewolf side...)
Cornelius Fudge
Dolores Umbridge

Edited by Aemon Stark, 08 August 2007 - 03:27 PM.

[tomfoster]

Myrddin, on Aug 7 2007, 15.42, said:

Um, call me paranoid, but please don't tell me this is from book 7.

Thus a spoiler for someone who hasn't read the damn book yet.  :tantrum:

Oh, and don't worry about that - it's a fanfic thing.

[Myrddin]

tomfoster, on Aug 8 2007, 14.27, said:

Oh, and don't worry about that - it's a fanfic thing.

Thanks, tom. After getting the deaths from 5 and 6 spoiled before I could read them (normal print media of all places), I've been a bit paranoid about having the end of 7 spoiled.

Just waiting for my wife to finish it...

[Ser Paladin]

What, no Anasurimbor Kellhus, with all the attendant umlauts and such?

[MinDonner]

I'm going to throw in all the character names from Chris Bunch's Dragonmaster trilogy. What are they? I can't remember; they were as unmemorable a bunch of random syllable-groupings as you'd hope to find anywhere. And I'm right in the middle of the series, now, and I can only remember the name of the hero. And his girlfriend's called Salsic or something. Saslic? Saclis?
People complain about Erikson's marines with names like Kettle, Stealth, Munchy etc but at least they *mean* something...

[Muttering Bill]

I must add Hyacinthe from Kushiel's Dart.  That name was half the reason I stopped reading it.

[L'Sana]

laoise, on Aug 5 2007, 20.52, said:

I don't think anyone's mentioned Buttons Tailor from Tony Shillitoe's Dreaming in Amber series.  Nearly every sodding character gets names like this and it was nauseating.  Then when people from that country (Western Shess) went to or met people from countries that just had non-meaningful names, there'd be a remark about how strange it was that their names didn't mean anything.  EVERY BLOODY TIME.  OK, Tony, I get it - people from Western Shess like names that means something.  Buttons and a prince called Future Royal are the only ones that sticks, but there were heaps of them.

Okay, I think you win.

Rowling's names bothered me a bit. I kind of liked that Voldemort started out as Tom Riddle, however, so I didn't have to wonder what kind of parent would name their child Voldemort. As it is, we have Remus Lupin and Fenrir Greyback (who theoretically were not born werewolves), and Xenophilius Lovegood (I'm assuming that his parents wanted hims to be a wacko). And of course there is the worst of them, which others have beat me to.

I always found the worst names were in Mazalan: Tattersail, Wiskeyjack, Sorry, take your pick.

[Bellis]

I sort of have the opposite issue to some of you. I don't mind long exotic names that are hard to spell. That's part of worldbuilding, part of emphasizing that the story you are reading is not happening in America or Victorian England. Names that subtly evoke certain cultural connotations without being actual Earth names are always nice - Scott Bakker is good at this.

It really bothers me when authors are lazy about this. When they take names which were derived from Earth religion or mythology (especially biblical names) and import them unchanged into a world which is meant to have completely different mythology. Sometimes I don't notice when this happens, other times it really sticks out. Last time it stuck out for me was in Scar Night, where several characters have Old Testament names like Rachel (which I assume they had for a reason) even though the setting is on a world that does not seem to be derived historically from Earth history. Maybe it'll make sense later in the series, but I found it jarring upon reading the first book.

This is a trap BTW that GRRM very adroitly avoids by using non-canonical (or at least non-Bliblical) spellings of Earth names (Eddard, Jon).  In this way, we get the metaphorical echo of Earth culture without leaving the historical context of Westeros.