The "What's a good name for this?" thread

I need two Russian-sounding names (one male and one female) which are puns on "puzzle" and "jigsaw".

Closest I can find is Paschal for the boy and Jagusia for the girl, but that's French and Polish, respectively, so might not be quite what you need.

I need a good name for a demon king. The king himself is human, so really out-there names like "The smell of fresh blood" or anything with too many apostrophes is out, but I can't think of anything good.

If he's human, why don't you just give him a normal human name?

Or at least a name audiences would be familiar enough with to recognize he is a demon? Beelzebub? Asmodel? Mr. Scratch?

Luzbel

His Nethermost Excellence, Fred Bunsen, King of Dis and Pandemonium, Ruler of the Gehenna, Emperor of the Inferno and LORD of ALL HELL!

A name for a city that would fit into a Fantasy Counterpart Culture of Germany. Making it have something to do vultures or the sky would be a good bonus, but the country is already named the Republic of Geier, so I would prefer not to use the same word again.

edited 6th Jan '12 10:02:21 PM by SnowyFoxes

The first thing that came to mind was "Himmelburg", though I'm not sure you'd want that, especially with the second meaning of "heaven".

^ That's actually a nice, ironic touch. Thanks.

Don't worry, it doesn't need to be authentic Russian.

Change Paschal in Pasha? Or is that Turkish?

Pasha is both a Turkish surname and a Russian first name, but in the latter case it's short for Pavel, which according to Google derives from a Latin name meaning 'small' or 'humble'. It isn't really relevant to the meaning wanted here.

Just to make it more clear: I'm having two characters who are top cryptanalysts from a Fantasy Counterpart Culture of Russia. My intention is to make fun of the trope Steven Ulysses Perhero (particularly the Riddler, hence the need for punny names. If it is so hard to come up with one, I guess I will have to stick with normal names.

Both these are male names.

MEFODIY (Мефодий): Russian form of Latin Methodius, meaning "method." [OK - not a puzzle as such... how else do you get out of mazes?]

TERENTI (Терентий): Russian name derived from Greek Terentios, possibly meaning "rub, turn, twist." [Um - best close match I could find: you need to think twisty, right?]

Got 'em from here - warning, popups.

EDIT - wow. I really have got to lift the whole of Kate's onomastikon, as it's getting very rare to find. But, here: enjoy. You'll find more.

edited 7th Jan '12 3:33:53 PM by Euodiachloris

Thanks a lot.

Oh cool. Russians realized the θ in Μεθόδιος as a "f" sound. Bulgarians turn it into a "t." Методий.

I'd just like to know if "Gwen Watson" sounds okay if you say it out loud. I know some names can sound odd if they both end in an "n" sound

It doesn't sound odd to me...

What's a better name for a book: The Demon King or A Dance of Worlds? I can't figure out if the latter sounds too pretentious.

The first one refers to the Anti Anti Christ main character, while the second one refers to a quirk of the 'verse (all of the planets in the solar system share an atmosphere at some point in their revolutions, actually allowing interplanetary travel simply by flying really high at the right time).

I like A Dance of Worlds more.

The other one just sounds bland and dull.

I like A Dance Of Worlds.

You guys help with plain old character names on this thread?

Yeah.

Also adding by preference for A Dance of Worlds.

Okay, two characters need naming.

I have an older (like late forties) butler character and a girl who is twenty-five and is the new mistress of the estate. Also she has magic and a cruse that those she falls in love with will die after a year and a day if they aren't separated before then. The butler's personality is extremely nice and polite. Like almost too nice type of person, almost to the point of Extreme Doormat. The girl is a lonely Broken Bird type character with Parental Abandonment issues, she changes from melancholic to more of The Pollyanna as the story goes on. There's a May–December Romance involved.

They do not have names, first or last! I need a normal sounding butler-y name and a still pretty normal but with more leeway in getting into made-up name territory for the girl (since she's more 'magical'). Setting is an Edwardian-ish Constructed World. The names don't have to be meaningful, as such, but appropriate or not inappropriate or ironic. Also no straight up 'words' as names, unless they actually are used as names often. (e.g. Flower, no, Prudence, sure.)

If you guys want more information for some reason, just ask.

edited 10th Jan '12 11:02:25 PM by NoirGrimoir

playing with village names in rural England...

Foston

Kelk

Ampleforth

Birtley

Hartley

Morpeth

All good butler names except maybe the last one

As for names for the girl: What about names like Dolores? Lacrimosa? Lacrimosa Pineaway? Is that too silly?

riekers?