Best fantasy names in literature

[Joshua Randall]

Brandoch Daha is clearly on the "amazing" side of that divide.

I've been unable to read that name without hearing a certain song from the 1980s. Warning, it's super catchy.

Spoiler: annoying catchy '80s rap

Lady Mevrian

She not only has a great name, she is bad mother -- SHUT YO MOUTH!

 

[Mad_Jack]

Some - not all - of the naming in the Malazan books is fun, and I'll second Glen Cook for flavour.

One of my favorite names in Erickson's Malazan series is the character Gruntle.
Much like Cook, the nicknames he gives his soldiers really make them fun to read about - especially since both of them don't always go into great detail about how the characters ended up with them.

 

[Kobold Stew]

“There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it.” ​

C.S. Lewis, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader ​

 

[Sacrosanct]

I think the best names are those that help you visualize they character themselves and their personality.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Which makes sense, since he said that if he sees a cool word out in his travels, he adjusts it to put in a book as a name

Queue Radark Windpassing:

TPratchett
Beatrice Potter - I've used Jemima Puddleduck and Mrs Tigglewinkles Shop in games

Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler!

Aslan
Reepicheep
Fafhrd
Tempus
Lythande

Ahh, Thieves World. The names definitely were evocative. Tempus evokes time - he is immortal, temple - he is god-ridden, and its Latin points to his own references to, and possible roots in, our antiquity.

“There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it.” ​

C.S. Lewis, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader ​

One of my favorite opening lines. And yes, for much of the book he almost entirely deserves that name.

 

[TheSword]

I think the Witcher books by Sapkowski have some of the best names in fantasy. They are generally phonetically written and promounced as they read. They don’t require mangled syllables or ridiculous silent letters. Lots of them roll off the tongue and quite often the names say a little about the person description.

Ciri is small and sharp. Calanthe is regal tragic. Emhyr var Emreis is imperious. Strong alliteration used sparingly and well. Often with clever appellates like the Butcher of Blaviken or The White Flame [Dancing on the Graves of his Foes].

Love it. The naming quality even crosses over into the names of locations - Novigrad, Aretuza, Vizima, Caer Morhen. Or spells - Alzur’s Thunderbolt.

Geralt
Jennifer
Ciri
Jaskier
Vesemir
Lambert
Roach
Tissaia de Vries
Queen Calanthe
Vilgefortz
Stregobor
Radovid
Mousesack
Emhyr

 

[aco175]

I was watching the Wheel of Time series on TV and cannot understand most of those names. I seem to only recall Rand at the moment.

 

[TheSword]

I was watching the Wheel of Time series on TV and cannot understand most of those names. I seem to only recall Rand at the moment.

Perrin
Matt
Elaine
Nyneave
Lan
Thom
Ruarc
Tam
Lanfear
Ishmael
Siuan
Morraine.

These don’t feel like difficult names.

 

[aco175]

Perrin
Matt
Elaine
Nyneave
Lan
Thom
Ruarc
Tam
Lanfear
Ishmael
Siuan
Morraine.

These don’t feel like difficult names.

I guess seeing them in writing makes them easier. Maybe I'm getting old.

 

[Joshua Randall]

Sound mixing is so terrible in most shows that even the most common name often cannot be understood.