Evocative Names

[Morrus]

Sometimes evocative names can do more to stir the imagination that the reality can - often less is more. We see this with Boba Fett, who was cooler when we knew little about him, or the Clone Wars which were amazing - until we saw them. Then they lost something.

Another example of this is Doctor Who and some of the events of the Time War. The Time War, when we saw nothing of it, was the most incredible, horrific, temporal war you could - not - imagine. Characters described it using lines like "Not just the Daleks, but the Skaro Degradations, the Horde of Travesties, the Nightmare Child, the Could-Have-Been-King with his army of Meanwhiles and Neverweres; the War turned into Hell!"

How awesome do the Skaro Degradations sound? The Horder of Travesties? The Nightmare Child? And who doesn't want to know more about the Could-Have-Been-King with his army of Meanwhiles and Neverweres?

And who bets that if we ever did find out more, it would ruin it?

What names of organizations, monsters, things, have you used but never described? Things a step above the "[Colour] [Organization-Type]" style naming conventions?

Myself, I like to steal things from songs. For example, I heard these three songs driving home from my brother's birthday this weekend, and thought 'what could these things be?' Especially in a sci-fi setting?

- The Diamond Dogs
- Oliver's Army
- The Man Who Sold The World

What about you?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

From music/pop culture

The Spiders from Mars
The Hyperzephyrians
Neon Knights
Knights of Cydonia


From my own (unreleased) compositions:

Surf Valkyries
Warlords of Atlantis
Ghost Labs of California
Texas Death Tulpa
Wise Ancients of New Gaia/Agents of the W.A.N.G

Other

Occam's Razers
Illuminated Society of Thoth
Order of the Wolf & Ram

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

This old thread could also help:
http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?229401-Find-Out-Your-Band-Name-and-Debut-Album

 

[Jacob Marley]

I've used the song titles (Ghost) Riders in the Sky and Riders on the Storm to depict nightmare-riding devils and the paladins who chased them, respectively.

 

[Desh-Rae-Halra]

I like the names (and thanks Dannyalcatraz for having some Black Sabbath represented).
I like it when names inspire imagination, when I can begin wondering "What is that secret society about", "what does The Thrall of Keening do"?
Even something simple like an NPC telling you '"You have to go see The German"....why doesnt he have a name? Why does he just go by that?.
Good names (for me) help create immersion. That is actually the hardest part for me in building a character is giving them a suitable name that I am happy with.

 

[Dioltach]

I don't know how evocative it would be, but I've always wanted to create a village called East Clintwood.

 

[Wednesday Boy]

My friend ran a campaign where the demigod minions of the god of evil (The Undying) escaped the prison where they had been trapped for centuries. They were imprisoned for so long that they were only known in legends or fairy tales. So our GM doled out information about them gradually. First we learned that the Undying's minions were called The Seven. Then we learned the Seven included Blacklove the Enraged, the Masque, Mindbane, the Deathwalker, Mourne the Ever-Hungry, Mirkstone the Haunter, and Scarlet Thorn.

I loved how evocative and mysterious the names were and I enjoyed wondering how each one for their epithet. I wholeheartedly agree with your sentiment regarding Boba Fett and the Clone Wars but I didn't have the same let down with the Seven. Maybe it's because information about them was unveiled at a trickle so the mystique around them remained. Or maybe because they remained engaging because we ended up interacting with them instead of merely being a spectator.

 

[Alex1983]

I definitely agree with the idea that sometimes adding information and details can destroy the richness of an idea. I think that's one of the reasons books and legends can be so evocative and inspiring, in the case of books because the author has plenty of time to 'taste' the information he adds, in the case of legends and tales because over time only the essence is remembered and passed on. Similarly, I recently heard the very epic song Buckingham Green by Ween, and except for the part about Buckingham Green, the rest seemed like an evocative idea for a mysterious NPC I'll probably use:

"A child without an eye
Made her mother cry
Why ask why
She kept her child clean
...

The children saw the eye
As a sign from God
Descending from the sky
It was alright to dream
...

Summon the queen
Spoke the child of eye
It's time to fly
Turning fire to steam
..."

 

[ThirdWizard]

There's a trope for that! The Noodle Incident.

Tolkien used this frequently (although a lot of it came from the then-unpublished Silmarillion). The Blue Wizards were a good example of this.