Poorly thought out names in Fantasy/Sci-fi

[John Q. Mayhem]

How 'bout some of the names in Battlefield Earth (NOT the movie)? One of the bad guys is named Roof Arsebogger, for crying out loud!

 

[Klaus]

In Dragonheart, there is an explanation for Draco's name. Bowen (Dennis Quaid) keeps calling him "Dragon", which annoys big D to no end. So Bowen asks his name, and the dragon lets out a roar that no human throat could manage. So Bowen asks if it's ok to call him "Draco". At first, the dragon is annoyed of just being called "Dragon" in another language. But once he learns that "Draco" is the name of the constellation of "Dragon", where he believes his heaven is, he agrees proudly to be called Draco.

 

[Jeremy Ackerman-Yost]

Everyone knows that when it comes to naming things in a fantasy world, Tolkien is King.

It's already come out a few times in this thread, but c'mon. Having a detailed and internally consistent set of languages is a great thing. The lack of internal consistency in most fantasy (naming conventions and otherwise) is one of the biggest problems in the genre. But Tolkien could hardly be called the "King" of this aspect.

Ye gods, I've spent more time explaining and re-explaining the difference between Sauron and Saruman in the last three years... I mean, who in their right mind makes their two main villains have nearly identical names?

And this has already been mentioned, but bears further comment. Most of the Dwarven names are awful. They may have been wonderful and evocative in Ancient Norse and Saxon, but in modern English they just sound silly.

 

[Claude Raines]

The worst one I can remember is Hiro Protagonist from Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash. He might as well hit us over the head with a cinder block while he's at it. Otherwise we might not be able to figure out who the good guy is.

 

[Chain Lightning]

Assenpfeffer wrote:

And people ask me why I can't stand most anime.

VirgilCaine wrote:

Thank you! FInally! Someone who AGREES with me!

Okay, be patient with me guys. This is a natural reaction when we get together and discuss topics. Sometimes we'll agree on stuff and sometimes we'll disagree. That's what fun about debating, discussing, etc. Anyways, you have to admit that its natural that someone will feel a 'need' to defend something they enjoy when they percieve someone else disliking it. Like when someone says, "I hate Lord of the Rings because of xxxx." Y'know that's going to bring a boat load of defenders.

Well, I love anime...so I gotta jump in now after two of these comments. I'm sure the two of you are sick of hearing people trying to change your minds, but I gotta be another one.

While you may hate anime for multiple reasons, I can't imagine the names being a major one. It sounds to me (and this is only my opinion mind you of what I'm guessing) that you guys have a series of major reasons why you hate anime, and the names commonly used are only one of the minor ones. But when you hate something, every little thing can become fuel for that hatred too. Like people who hate Star Wars Phantom Menace (which include me). They hate Jar Jar, they hate the story, they hate the acting. But soon they're saying stuff like, "I hate the backpack Anakin wore", "I hate all those Pod Racers", "I hate how Darth Maul spins in the air", etc.

C'mon, you know those aren't the main reasons you hate it right? Its just that your hatred becomes an irratation that spills onto everything else that has to do with it.

The designs of the Pod Racers or how Anakin's backpack looked like wouldn't have been a factor if the over-all quality of Phantom Menace rocked. I think its the same way with your guy's hatred for Anime. When Assenpfeffer wrote,"And people ask me why I can't stand most anime," I thought to myself that you couldn't possible say that the names WERE THE MAJOR reason when that topic comes up. Its probably the eyes, or the long slow pans, or something usual haters say right?

Anyways, I just feel a little irratation when someone spills their hatred over to another part of the thing they hate. So, I'm not sure what point or counter-point I'm trying to make here. Its really a shame, one of my favorite anime series has horrible names and costume designs.

That's "JoJo's Bizarre Adventures" [the original six parter that is]. My goodness, those costume designs and names are horrible. But man, the story, concept, and everything is so cool. I remember not sitting down to watch it because I hated how it looked and I hated all the little things I've heard about it. Mostly the names. Then one evening I was bored and was willing to watch anything. My friend forced me to watch this thing. He was very insistant. Well, I'm glad I gave it a chance, it was awesome. But I definitely wouldn't show it to you guys. I got a feeling that no matter how smartly it was written, you'd walk out on it still disgusted with anime.

*shrug* too bad.....missing out on some good stuff. Sure beats what's on most Saturday morning cartoons IMHO.

BACK on topic.

In response to when I said:

Anyways, he would say Aldoras doesn't sound like a human city. Human cities should be like, "Greyfalls", "Windhaven", "Northfork", "Yellow Fields"....simple names peasants come up with that basically describe what the area or town is about.

WayneLigon wrote:

And he doesn't think there are some extremely weird names for American towns and cities? We ripped off a lot of those names from languages and places all over the globe. Lots of others do that same. Maybe 'Aldoras' means 'Waymeet' in Elvish, or Gnomish. Maybe it's the surname of the woman who founded the place. Maybe it's the name of a fruit that grows nearby. There are a thousand possibilities.

That's what I thought too. But I guess when it comes to certain people they have a criteria that needs to be met. I suppose my friend doesn't feel like he's playing in a fantasy world unless the names are sounding the way he thinks they ought to sound. :\ Its too bad that , it is that one thing that is keeping him from enjoying the game as much as he could be.

 

[mmu1]

The worst one I can remember is Hiro Protagonist from Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash. He might as well hit us over the head with a cinder block while he's at it. Otherwise we might not be able to figure out who the good guy is.

I think it's pretty obvious the name was intended as a joke.

 

[Holy Bovine]

The worst one I can remember is Hiro Protagonist from Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash. He might as well hit us over the head with a cinder block while he's at it. Otherwise we might not be able to figure out who the good guy is.

Oh good gravy. The name is a joke. They even make fun of it in the novel itself. Since I am just re-reading Snow Crash I find this quite amusing.

 

[Dagger75]

I may get hatemail for this. Bobba Fett. That is a horrible first name. What was Jango thinking?

Lucas sucks at naming characters.


And as a DM, if I had 2 evil bad guys named Sarumon and Sauron my players would never keep them straight.

 

[EntropyDecay]

I may get hatemail for this. Bobba Fett. That is a horrible first name. What was Jango thinking?

And the worst thing is that "Fett" means "fat" in German. When I was a child and saw the movies for the first time I thought "Why is he called fat? He isn't that massive." Plus Bobba is a stupid first name.

 

[Iron_Chef]

There's always the Chinese cult classic film, Inframan, with it's supreme villainess Princess Dragon-Mom

I love Inframan!

Princess Dragon-Mom was so sexy, she gave me a case of ______!