Post
by dios4vida » January 14th, 2011, 2:31 pm
I love R.A. Salvatore's names - Elbryan Wyndon, Jilseponie (nicknamed Pony), Avelyn Debris, Drizzt Do'Urden, Bruenor Battlehammer (dwarf), Artemis Entreri (assassin) just to name a few. The man also has the coolest names for weapons - Tempest (sword), Hawkwing (bow), Icingdeath (scimitar), Aegis Fang (warhammer). Of course, he also does the unpronouncable names like Menzoberranzean and Bestesbulzibar. You take the good with the bad, I guess.
Rick Riordan is also a great name-giver. Percy Jackson and Nico di'Angelo are great names to me, even though Percy's rather common. It just fits the character.
With the unpronouncable ones, I just make up my own to go in their place that has a similar sound without the insanity of trying to pronounce the whole thing. My husband christened one of my favorites (it's from a video game rather than a book, but it's the same concept) - we have no idea how to pronounce a certain weapon thats full of 'P's and 'L's and 'K's and he calls it "Potluck".
I like most of my own character names, but that's probably because they came from my own head. I try to stay away from the crazy-hard fantasy names but still give a foreign/fantasy feeling to them. Some of my names are Janua Edynn, Gradon Mateas, Brinelle, and Obsidian (he's an evil mage). I have one name that I hold very close to my heart that I haven't found a good enough character for (it's the name I would give to my daughter if I could have children). One day, though, I'll find the perfect character for it.
Brenda :)
Inspiration isn't about the muse. Inspiration is working until something clicks. ~Brandon Sanderson