Dear WotC - You suck at names.

[Gold Roger]

Mostly just the silly. Although if you really lke Blibdoolpoolp, then I DARE you to tell me that Yan-C-Bin is a good name. Seriously. I double DOG dare you, skipping a few steps there.

I actually think that both Blibdoolpoolp and Yan-C-Bin suit their owners quite well.

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

I've always liked the name "Blibdoolpoolp." Say it with me, "Blibdoolpoolp." Doesn't it just hit the right note of silly, aquatic and alien?

I wouldn't say "aquatic" so much as "bathroomlike."

Brad

 

[Doug McCrae]

Looking over that list from the Dvergatal, I'd say about half of them are good names. For example Durin, Thorin and Finn are good. Haugspori, Heptifíli and Vit aren't.

Tolkien chose well, Gandalf is a f---ing awesome name and perfect* for the character. Faced with the same source material a lesser writer would have chosen less well. That's what it means to be good. To make the right choices about what not to put in.


*Well okay, not quite perfect cause he's not an elf.

 

[Korgoth]

Tolkien chose poorly in his choice of sources.

Norse Mythology is a poor choice? Sorry: That's absurd. IL.

 

[Transit]

Is it OK if we now have the predicted explosion? Now that two folks have claimed that Old Norse is a poor source for fantasy names?

Rereading this thread, I'm not certain if you're counting me as one of the two folks or not, but to clarify my post, I wasn't claiming Old Norse was a poor source for fantasy names.

I was commenting that I thought Tolkien had made good choices from among those names specifically listed in The Dvergatal, which includes some names that might have been even less readable/pronouncible/acceptable in a fantasy novel than "Oin, Gloin, Bifur, Bofur and Bombur."

Saying that some Old Norse names in a certain poem might be better sounding than others from the same poem doesn't mean I'm saying "all Old Norse names are bad."

I also pointed out that The Dvergatal was where Tolkien got the cool and famous name "Gandalf" from. I was using that to illustrate that Old Norse was a good source of fantasy names, not a poor one. If it came off like I was bashing Old Norse names, that wasn't my intention.

 

[Blackwind]

Anyone feel like naming their next character "Mjóthvitnir"?

No, but I do like "Frosti." That's got to be one of the better dwarven names I've seen

On a more serious note, I think the Dvergatal was a perfect place for Tolkien to find dwarven names, and I suppose I might consult it myself if I was going to play a dwarf. But one does need to strike a balance, I think, between faithfulness to source material on one hand and pronunciation on the other. Tolkien undoubtedly had no problem pronouncing Old Norse, but your average D&D player? I dunno. There were at least a few on that list that would trip me up pretty bad. So Tolkien made good calls, I think: he chose the names that would be easiest for the "common reader" to pronounce.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

there are 100 others who possess the linguistic talent of a wombat.

Wombats possess linguistic talent? And here I'd been going to the kangaroos!

 

[Simia Saturnalia]

Woe! Woe and anguish! I have been ignored by the mighty Korgoth! My world is bleak, and I despair of the sun ever rising again! How can I go on posting knowing that I'll never
be able to reach him? He was my world!!!!

I've been ignored by better men than you, sir, and for much better reasons. Sorry, but pronounceable to your audience trumps nerd cred every time, especially if you have no argument in favor of it other than sniffing through your upturned nose at others.

 

[Thunderfoot]

Next up on WotC's place name plate:

Elftree
Dwarfhole
Orcpit
Trollplace
Rosebush
Pinetree
Oakbranch
Emptyhollow
Darkarea
Evilspot

Yeah, all the creativity of a three year old on illegal drugs...

Yet another reason to play homebrew.

 

[Mighty Veil]

The names just get worst by the editions.

We get Limbo in 1e, for example. It's a chaotic realm ruled by Slaads, a strange planar monster.

2e decides it's not PC enough so renames it. The realm of Johnson Avenue! Slaads are still there but now they're given a detailed background. Turns out they're all bed wetters so act chaotic because they're cranky. They are having an epic war with the Water Elementals, who won't help wash their sheets.

2e's Planescape. Turns out the best Italian food in the planar realms is here. Send out the tourist brochure to all adventurers (you can now play a Slaad!)

3e comes around and realizes how dumb 2e's changes were. But can't change it all back since their friends wrote that junk, so we get instead. Stupid longer names! Welcome to "The Many Limbo Streets of Johnson Avenue".

3.5 we get some details. The frogs are still there but the reason for the war with the elementals is because of global warming and the assassination of their king Algorik, who warned the frogs not to water their lawns during the day.

4e...
Turns out the frogs were similar enough to Treants so are gone (plus there's plenty of frog-like faeries in the plane of Girls Gone Feywild!). Limbo is merged with 3 other planes to create the new chaotic realm of "Chaos Zone".

Personally I just hated the 2e name changes and Planescape just killed outer planes for me. RIP and good bye Cosmos Wheel! But these new plane names do suck.