Top Ten Favorite Character Names

October 22, 2013 Top Ten Tuesday 16

 

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature/meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.  This week’s topic is Top Ten Character Names I Love or Top Ten Unusual Character Names. My list is a mix of both.

  • Luna Lovegood, Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks, Draco Malfoy, Dolores Umbridge, Bellatrix LeStrange… the list of terrific names in the Harry Potter books is almost too long to count.  I could come up with more than 10 just from those books alone.  Rowling is a genius!  Many of her names mean something, or describe the character. Remus is one of the twins suckled by a wolf in Roman myth, while Lupin derives from lupus, or ‘wolf’ in Latin.  Dolores means ‘sorrows’, while Umbridge sounds like ‘umbrage’, which means ‘offense or annoyance’, and the character certainly brings both sorrow and annoyance/offense to those around her.  “Malfoy” puts together mal meaning ‘bad’ and foy or foi, the French for faith, so ‘bad faith.’   Perfect names for those characters, you have to admit.  And who else would come up with a fabulous name like “Nymphadora” — and then have the character refuse to use it?
  • Kvothe from Patrick Rothfuss’s Kingkiller Chronicles. Not just for his given name, but for this: 

     I have been called Kvothe the Bloodless, Kvothe the Arcane, and Kvothe Kingkiller. I have earned those names. Bought and paid for them.
     But I was brought up as Kvothe. My father once told me it meant “to know.”
     I have, of course, been called many other things. Most of them uncouth, although very few were unearned.
     I have stolen princesses back from sleeping barrow kings. I burned down the town of Trebon. I have spent the night with Felurian and left with both my sanity and my life. I was expelled from the University at a younger age than most people are allowed in. I tread paths by moonlight that others fear to speak of during day. I have talked to Gods, loved women, and written songs that make the minstrels weep.
     You may have heard of me.

Kingkiller t-shirt, available through The Tinker’s Packs
  • Aunt Dimity, of the eponymous mystery series.  I love the name “Dimity”, so rarely used these days, and I can’t imagine the wise, practical ghost of this series having any other name.
  • Winnie-the-Pooh.  A delightfully eccentric name, and I love Christopher Robin’s explanation for it: 

     When I first heard his name, I said, just as you are going to say, “But I thought he was a boy?”
     “So did I,” said Christopher Robin.
     “Then you can’t call him Winnie?”
     “I don’t.”
     “But you said–“
     “He’s Winnie-ther-Pooh. Don’t you know what ‘ther’ means?”
   “Ah, yes, now I do,” I said quickly; and I hope you do too, because it is all the explanation you are going to get.

  • Diana Bishop, of Deborah Harkness’s All Soul’s Trilogy.  It’s surely not a coincidence that she’s named after the goddess of the moon; alchemical symbolism is key throughout the books.  It’s also both interesting and ironic that Diana — a witch with blonde/strawberry hair — signifies the moon (associated with night), while Matthew Clairmont — a vampire with dark hair — stands for the alchemical sun.
  • Garion/Belgarion from David Eddings’ Belgariad series — along with Belgarath, Polgara, and the other sorcerers.  I rather like the explanation for the “Bel” or “Pol” at the beginning of their names: it means “beloved”, and is given by the god Aldur to his disciples.

What are some of your favorite character names — or most perfect or unusual?

Related Posts

16 Responses to “Top Ten Favorite Character Names”

  1. Greg

    I haven’t read Harry Potter yet (yes I know- soon!) but those names are just awesome. And the Belgariad had some good ones- I was always partial to Mandorallen. I remember thinking, really?? 🙂

    Tolkien (of course) had some good ones- Gil-galad, Glorfindel, etc. Radagast the Brown (always wanted to know more about him).

    I should have done a top ten post on this I suppose. 🙂

    • Lark @ The Bookwyrm's Hoard

      Oh, I forgot about Mandorallan! Great name! Tolkien was brilliant, of course — but did you know that Bilbo’s name was originally Bingo? Even the master could stumble on occasion!

      I liked how they fleshed out Radagast for the first Hobbit movie; I hope we get to see more of him in part 2.

  3. readerholicnotes

    Lark, you came up with such a great list. I certainly agree with all the Harry Potter series names. It’s really fun when characters names mean something.

  4. Jennifer

    Such great names! I could have populated my entire list with HP names, but I restrained myself to one. I also love that you put Winnie-the-Pooh and Diana Bishop on there too. Thanks for sharing!

  5. xtina@moydrookreads

    J.K. Rowling is truly a genius with names, isn’t she?? I also liked the name Diana Bishop in A Discovery of Witches, but have always been fond of Diana ever since reading about Diana Barry in Anne of Green Gables 🙂

    my ttt

  9. Stephanie Shepherd

    What a great list! I can’t believe I didn’t think of all the awesome HP names and had never really given much thought to the clever symbolism behind them. I love the choice of Winnie the Pooh as well. Scarlett O’Hara and Rhett Butler topped my list.

  11. Berls

    J K Rowling did really create some amazing names. It’s funny, because Harry is really one of the only characters to have a straightforward name. Him and Ron. I think Hermione (I’m not sure I’m spelling that right) was even a creative name. But maybe it’s just British? Fun post!