Character Names
 

I just finisted Gaiman's American Gods, which had a main character named Shadow. Before that, I was reading Only Forward which had a main character named Stark. Snow Crash has the uniquely named Hiro Protagonist.(that's my favorite) The Dead Zone has the super generic name John Smith. Hitchhiker has the off-kilter names of Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect. Does the name Hannibal make you first think of a Carthaginian general, or someone who likes liver with fava beans and a nice Chianti?

Character names are really important to the books (movies, tv shows) they are in for any number of reasons, what are your favorites?

The first thing that came to mind was T.S. Garp. Garp's father was a dying soldier who, through his injuries somehow could only say "garp".

The second thing that came to mind was Brazil, where BUTTLE is taken away instead of TUTTLE.

Er, that's one book one film.... the first name that comes to mind for TV is Jack Tripper. But the second thing is even better, fresh from TV Land's 48 hour marathon: Green Acres and its protagonist, Oliver Wendell Douglas. That name was great, not only because it was an obvious take on Oliver Wendell Holmes, but also because Eva Gabor would always page the guy with her Hungarian "ALL-EE-VAHH!" It was a simpler time of TV, granted.

oh - i loved that book. and T.S. wasn't even from someone's name - it was for Technical Sergeant, the sperm donor's USAF rank... or is my memory playing tricks on me? i haven't read the book since '90.

it's not about the name but my favorite aspect was the author writing about the author writing about the author.

ender

Burke

(character developed by Andrew Vaachs)

Thomas Covenant ( The Unbeliever)
Jonathon Livingston Seagull
Slartibartfast
Rincewind

I like all of them because somehow their name tells you all you need to know about their characters :P

is this the first time you are reading that series OC? i personally enjoyed them.

Some names that work for me:

Atreides (really cool name, I think I Herbert got it from the Iliad)
Daneel Olivaw
Elijah Baley
Doctor Who
Bink
Q
Data
Geordi Laforge
Skywalker
Hari Seldon
Ted Striker (striker? Striker?!? STRIKER!!!! *WHAP*)

Some that don't:

The Mule
Giskard
Stile
Gurney Hallec (a cat coughing up a hairball?)
Chani
Duncan Idaho (makes me think of potatos)
Jonnie Goodboy Tyler
Pham Nuwen (great character, really bad name)

I always liked Taran and HenWen from the High King books. If I was a king, I'd be High, too.

BelGarath
Barak
Coll
oh, and my favorite:

Jesus Christ.


How about real life people's names? do they count?

There are no real people, you're just a brain in a jar suffering hallucinations, I'm surprised you haven't figured that out yet.

~~WHO SAID THAT!?~~

this jar is getting crouded

Well, the Belgariad had some cool names. Belgarath and Barak were mentioned.

The thief/acrobat/spy was nicknamed Silk.
Polgara and her mother Poledra.
Durnik the level-headed blacksmith.

A nice list of Belgariad characters names can be found

here

Some characters were named for their tasks. Brand was the caretaker leader of an island nation. Brand was a title and a name, since all caretakers gave up their names on assuming the post.

An orphaned child whose errand was to steal an object was named Errand, since that was the only word he would speak.


Names in fantasy books are usually more interesting than those in hard science fiction since the authors usually draw upon some form of historical language to come up with something unique.

When SF deals with alien races, it seems they just cobble together some letters and sounds that match the sounds they think the earth critter most similar to the aliens would make or evoke.

If your aliens look like a giant crickets, then their names would be Ch'kk'irp or T'kkitp.
Giant crocodiles? - then Hssoar or Gr'owrah.
Giant Armadillos? - Kee'ractk or Tr'uod'tl

Since we are not limiting ourselves to one type of media, here goes:

TV: Miss Choksondic (spelling?) - South Park

Music: GWAR - God What A Racket

1. Oderus Urungus - Golden-Throated Crooner
2. BalSac The Jaws Of Death - Rythm Guitar
3. Beefcake the Mighty - Bass and Vocals
4. Flattus Maximus - Lead Guitar
5. Jizmak Da Gusha - Drums
6. Slymenstra Hymen - Vocals and Dancer
7. Sleazy P. Martini - GWAR's Manager and Vocals
8. Sexicutioner - Bodyguard and Vocals

Slymenstra (real name?) is the first woman to ever pass 1,000,000 volts of electricity thru her body.

The Misfits

Jerry Only - Bass
Doyle Wolfgang Von Frankenstien - Guitar
Dez Cadena - Guitar
Franche' Coma - Guitar
Joey Image - Drums
Eerie Von - Drums
Todd Swalla - Drums
Robo - Drums
Dr. C.H.U.D. - Drums
Arthur Googy - Drums
Brian Damage - Drums
Mr. Jim - Drums
Glenn Danzig - Singer
Michale Graves - Singer
Myke Hydeous - Singer

I'll not start naming pro wrestlers. Trust me, some of the names are pretty out there.

Of course, just about any name from Monty Python.