Some names are simple, they don't mean anything to me. Fred, George, Bob... nothing. Some names, though, have a powerful affect on my vision of a character. For example: Hermione just wouldn't be the same bibliaphile super-nerd we all know and love if her name was Amy. Or something too fantastic like Erthelda or for that matter Wyusnmicckers.

Sometimes we encounter a stupid name... no... let me rephrase that. A bloody awful name, (usually in high fantasy), that we stumble across and just can *not* take it seriously.

My best example is Galbatorix. That has to be the worst villain name I've ever seen. Make that the worst name period! I mean I'd sooner accept Evil McDragonface as a menacing villain...

My grammer is better when I come to writing novels dont worry LOL.

I disagree about "Bob," or "Fred," or similar names not meaning anything. Bob has a regular guy tone, which would be valuable for regular guy type chacacters. Fred is sort of regular, but not as regular as "Bob" or "Mark." It vaguely hints of a slightly marginal character. Stories that sweep up a regular guy into extraordinary situations would do well with Bob, Mark, or Fred.

On the other hand, a name like "Dick" automatically makes me consider how much flack the guy has gotten over the years - in spite of the regular name. Did he handle it well and develop a sense of humor? Did he handle it badly and develop a crippling self-consciousness?

Most of the reading I've done on writing technique emphasizes the importance of names. I think Elizabeth George's book _Write_Away_ is particularly balanced about the relative importance of them.

Fantasy, to risk stating the obvious, is one of the more problematic genre. Depending upon the universe of a particular book, it might be important to find names that are strange and distant from our own. On the other hand, we might want names different from those in our universe, but they should read as if they were perfectly normal. When I construct made up names, I often feel foolish about them. I'm struggling with one name in particular in my current project. It doesn't help that we have the work of the master of names, Tolkien, to which we <gulp> compare our attempts.

Probably the most difficult name I've had to come up with was for the all-powerful God figure of my universe. And that was just for one language of one people.

One thing I did not too long ago was to say all the names of my main character out loud to my adolescent nephew and elicited his response. I did the same with his parents. The parents really liked the name. My nephew thought it sounded "made up." <sigh> Nothing like consistent results. Be that as it may - I am happy for the input.

There are many ways I derive names, but most important with fantasy is how they sound. Does "Meck" come off as our "Mack," or does it remind me of a snail? Does "Ribbel" sound too much like "tribble?" Does "Galbatorix" sound made up? (When I first read the name "Vercingatorix," I thought it was made up.) Or did a very young author painstakingly develop the name from Gallic and Roman roots in order to find a name that sounded genuine and authentic in certain contexts? Does "Hod" sound like a regular guy name? Is "Ulf" (a real German name - I met an Ulf) just too funny a name to avoid distraction? Does "Almut" (another good German name) make you think of a strong woman? A homely woman? A tiny woman?

My latest, I borrowed some themes loosely from the Abraham story. I took the meaning of Isaac [laughter] and found a female equivalent, 'Risa'. Because it is believed that Melchizedek was Shem, and Shem means 'name', I went with Jerome which means 'sacred name'. Arioch means 'fierce lion', so he got named Leo. The rest of the characters I renamed from the first letter, Sarah become Sharon (but was more a Hagar-like figure), Lot became Lazlo. Chedorlaomer became Ched, the king of Sodom nicknamed Soddy.

Of course, I doubt anybody would notice, but at the very least, it was fun.

I choose names a variety of ways. My novel is a contemporary fantasy, so a lot of folks have "normal" names. I try to keep them within the UK/Celtic/Gaelic realm, since most of the story takes place in the UK. I pick strong names with good meanings for my heroes, "nature" type names for some of my fairies (Laurel, Holly, Lily), and made up names for elves in a rather bizarre way - we were traveling when I was writing the elf section, and I chose lettering off of trucks and signs and put them together, or chose part of the name of whoever was singing on the radio and added truck business name letters, for instance. So I wound up with "Enyanel" when Enya was on the radio. It was fun! The weird thing is, some of the names I made up turn out to be actual words in some foreign languages. "Revelan" is one of my elves' names, and it's an actual word somewhere (can't think where at the moment).

Galbatorix: Gay + Albatross + Rex

Which adds together to be nonesensical gibberish. A far cry from the weight and power of a name like Darth Vader.

Less common English names that sound archaeic.
or
Fantasy names that are almost but not quite european.

All of my names are easy to pronounce and easy to create a mental image of.

Complex foreign sounding names, in the minds eye, become 'that name that starts with a G'. It's always better to use a name that is easily pronouncable using standard english pronunciation/spelling rules even if the name is not English.

This is assuming that we are all writing in English.

Contrived names should never have more than 3 syllables.

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Galbatorix: Gay + Albatross + Rex

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Naming characters is the hardest thing for me when it comes to writing. I try to use www.behindthename.com because it sorts names by origin and gives you the meaning of each. So I can search meanings, or countries. I try to keep everyone from one place in my fantasy in one name group. For example, I created a village and I knew my heroine's name would be a certain name. It was french, so I made every one from the village have a french name. When I take her to other towns, they may have different names.

Well, that it sounds odd is no surprise. But I don't find "Galbatorix" any more cartoonish than "Darth Vader."

Comparing the names Vercingetorix and Galbatorix, I found the following:

[Vercingetorix] Means "king over warriors" from Gaulish ver "on, over" combined with cingeto "marching men, warriors" and rix "king". This name was borne by a chieftain of the Gaulish tribe the Arverni. He led the resistance against Julius Caesar's attempts to conquer Gaul, but he was eventually defeated, brought to Rome, and executed.
From URL: http://www.behindthename.com/php/view.php?name=vercingetorix

"It is uncertain why the first of the Sulpicii who bore the surname Galba assumed the name, and whence it was derived. Some think that it was because after having for a long time unsuccessfully besieged a town in Spain, he at last set fire to it by torches smeared with galbanum;7 others because during a long illness he made constant use of galbeum, that is to say of remedies wrapped in wool; still others, because he was a very fat man, such as the Gauls term galba, or because he was, on the contrary, as slender as the insects called galbae, which breed in oak trees."
From URL: http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/Galba*.html

discipuli: How about a villain named Ricky? That'd strike fear into my right ventricle. Mean Ricky. *shudder*

I am writing near-term sci-fi. I'm using today's baby names as the names in my settings (e.g., Emma, Amelia, Connor, Blake, and the like.) However, my near-term sci-fi vision includes a global cooperative effort toward space travel, so I have a lot of non-western names, as well as european names that aren't common in the US/UK. Examples: Kofi, Jens, Kenji, Annemette, Mayean, Yulee.

I have the advantage of having attended an international school in SE Asia for high school, so I have my yearbooks for source material. Knew they'd come in useful some day! I've also asked some of my more well-traveled friends and siblings to toss me name ideas. I have a spreadsheet started, first names, last names. I want to be sure to not accidentally reproduce the firstname/lastname combinations of school buddies. Plus, I'd like to do interesting things like demonstrating cultural intermingly through name choices, giving someone a Chilean last name and a Japanese first name, for example.

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Well, that it sounds odd is no surprise. But I don't find "Galbatorix" any more cartoonish than "Darth Vader."

Comparing the names Vercingetorix and Galbatorix, I found the following:

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I suppose you may think Darth Vader sounds cartoony, I can give you that. But is that necessarily bad? Remember Darth Vader actually sounds cool, Galbatorix sounds like a bumbling idiot. It also causes most readers to stumble the first time they read it.

And whether or not Galbatorix is a legitimate name, like "Vercingatorix" is neither here nor there. Both Galbatorix AND Vercingatorix are bloody terrible.

My protagonist's Name is Tom Archer. With Tom, I though average Tom, Dick, and Harry. Archer had two connotations: The original meaning of archer was coward, someone that struck from a distance so they wouldn't have to face a warrior man-to-man; and the newer use of archer makes me think of Robin Hood. He's a little bit of both.

That's not always the way I think of names.

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I'm afraid that what a name seems to connote makes the most difference.

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I agree.

Darth Vader is a name created for the sound of it. Darth is close to dark--which you want an archetypical villain represent--and Vader refers to invader which adds to his persona. Many screenwriters use that technique.

I thought the exact same thing. So yesterday I looked it up. Darth is indeed derived from Dark, but Vader is derived from the Germanic word for Father. Therefore meaning, Dark Father.

However, my main character, if it's a human male, is always named "John."
John Samuel Abernathy
John Bishop
John (whatever, for a surname)

Darth Vader = Dark Father

Han Solo = Han could be based on any number of names that mean "Happy" and SOLO

Luke Skywalker = Do I really need to say that someone named "Skywalker" is going to do great things?

Obi means "Heart" although I suspect that name was picked for the sound more than anything.

Leia means "ruler" or "mistress" - goes nice with the whole princess thing

I think it was Elmore Leonard who said, "Once I've got the name, I've got the character."

I'm a bit that way myself. If I pick the wrong name for a major character--one that just doesn't feel right to me, for how I want the character to be--I get pulled in different directions and can't write the character consistently.

As a reader, on the other hand, I've found that it hardly matters at all. I start reading a book with a character whose name I don't like, and I think, "yuk!. Why'd the author have to name him/her that?" But before long the name stops bothering me, and shortly, if I like the character, I start to like the name as well.

The thing is, the reason I don't like some names is that they have unpleasant associations for me. Other people will have different associations. So indulging in name-omancy is, to some extent, pointless. But not entirely--names based on words rather than various people we've known will have a much broader consensus as to how other people will react to them, and names related to famous people (let's restrict this to famous historical figures--famous pop stars only carry the weight of famous pop star, and only for one generation--if that) also will have similar associations for lots of people.

ChrisOwens, I concede that I didn't find the definition of Vader and went with my first thoughts. However, the point was not to demonstrate my knowledge--or lack thereof--of name definitions, it was to illustrate how a lot of screenwriters choose them.

At http://www.wordplayer.com Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio (professional screenwriters and producers) explain how they choose names by sound and meaning. There are a plethora columns there worth perusing.

Anyways on with the topic:

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A far cry from the weight and power of a name like Darth Vader.

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When I first heard of Darth Vader I almost wet myself with laughter when I heard it. I found it funny because I thought it was all about nonsense, and when I think about it now, Lucas used a lot of similiar names, obviously for the attraction of it at first, but for the easiness it brought to pronouncing them.

As for Galbatorix, I have no problem with it, as C. Paolini probably did what I do with my names, writes random letters in hopes of getting a pronounciable name. Some of the ones I've made up are:

Alluran
Urtak
Frynity
Vatra
Whillop

Zero, I don't know if it is bad, or not. I'm simply comparing it to Galbatorix. It is interesting to me that you have such a strong reaction against that name, and I'm still not sure why that is, or why Darth Vader escapes the same ridicule.

"Gibberish names, as I will call them, don't fly far with me when I read. It just makes me think the writer is ignorant or lazy."

How do you distinguish between a "gibberish" name and a non "gibberish" name? If we hypothesize that Paolini derived it from the Roman "Galba" and "rix" for king, it doesn't seem to come from gibberish after all. Maybe less so than Darth Vader, since it actually derives from a real name. So what is it that makes it a poor choice of name?

And what about Tolkien? How many of his names were completely made up? And – in terms of names – you can't call Tolkien lazy.

In case you misunderstand me, I am not challenging you and trying to say you have no reason to dislike the name Galbatorix. It doesn't actually sit very well with me, either. (Though my negative reaction isn't nearly as strong as yours.) I think there may be a legitimate reason to avoid using a name like that, but it is probably difficult to articulate why that is. So I'm trying to get to the real reason, and being "gibberish" simply doesn't seem to distinguish it from many other names that work.

I was just thinking of the comic rule that the "k" sound is funny. No one knows why, but it just is. What if there is a rule just as valid and mysterious that, say, the "or" sound makes a name sound like gibberish. Quite frankly, Galbrix and Vercingrix don't seem nearly as bad. Or maybe the letter "t" is bad in the middle of a name. Galborix? Vercingorix?

Anyway, discovering some simple guidelines to avoid putting you (and any number of people like you) off of my stories would be a good thing.

"I never thought much of the names in "Star Wars"…"

Galbatorix may not be a gibberish name, I don't know. But the next step away from Gibberish names, which is almost as bad, are names that appear to be gibberish. Galbatorix looks like gibberish, hence my immediate reaction is laugh when I see it.

Darth Vader escapes because it means Dark Father, it reads smoothly, I don't stumble over it, and probably partly because I accepted it a long time ago as a child.

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And what about Tolkien? How many of his names were completely made up? And – in terms of names – you can't call Tolkien lazy.

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Though I am not going to criticize all of Paolini's names, some of them are clever. For instance I don't like the name Eragon... at all, but I can see how it relates to Dragon and even sounds similar to other heroic sounding names, like Aragorn. Another example is Arya, "arya" sounds hindu or something and I have heard it used before to connote something "good." In addition it sounds like "aria" which is part of an opera, an emotional and usually singularly female part. You see it has great ties in addition to a good sound to it.

I agree about the phone book being a good source of names. I'll throw in another. "Passport to World Band Radio." I get it for that, of course, but if you sift through the entries there are loads of utterly unfamiliar names just waiting for characters to acquire them.

Since we've discussed Star Wars alot, think of that. Why is it alwasy a hard and fast rule that aliens need not have last names but humans do? Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, ... Chewbacca... Yoda. Why not, say, John Chewbacca, or Yoda Miller, to give some examples, albeit silly ones.

But even then, what about Emperor Palpatine. Presumably, he has a first name, but we never know it do we? It's senator Palpatine, Chancellor Palpatine, Emperor Palpatine. So at what point do you *bother* to create a full name for a character?

For that matter, what is Luke's middle name? Does he have one? At what point do characters need middle names? Especially because, as I write my novels, I always come up with a single name to begin with (whether that be the first name of our MCs, or the surname of the evil Emperor, or what have you) it always seems unnatural to try to tack on a last name to a character you've been referring to as, say, Richard for how many days/weeks/months/years.

If it's past fantasy, they probably just need a first name. Sometimes they will get a title, like Robert the Bruce.

If it's urban fantasy or scifi or anything in our present or future, they can have a last name. As to middle names, unless they need one, they don't get one.

Just because someone has a last name, doesn't mean we need to know it. Your characters can be named Tom, Dick, and Harry, and we probably don't need to know they're Tom Jones, Dick Murphy, and Harry Potter.

You ought to be willing to change the first name you think up for a more suitable one.