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

Maybe something like "Firearm Maidens Hyper Tactics"?

[edit] Well, there's a page-topper! XP

Edited by ArsThaumaturgis on Jun 4th 2023 at 10:05:47 AM

One of my newer story ideas is about a guy exploring the ocean in an advanced deep sea submarine designed for long journeys that he'd himself invented. In the unknown depths he encounters among other things new animals, hyperintelligent octopi, and some sort of merfolk. It's at least currently less dark than my usual fare and i think i came up with it as sort of escapism, even though the depths have their own dangers and problems. Technologically it's sort of pulp-inspired i guess?

Title ideas? Also name ideas for the submarine (no design yet), something involving manta rays maybe? The submarine's name could be the title if it's distinctive and interesting enough, or part of the title.

Edited by Nukeli on Jun 4th 2023 at 5:35:37 PM

After some thought, I came up with one of my own: Schoolgirl Squad! Initiate Operation Plastic Storm!, or Schoolgirl Squad for short. If I have to have a Japanese title to satisfy the weebs, Google Translate says Mesukosei Butai! Purasuchikkusutomu Sakusen Kaishi! is a close fit, which when re-translated becomes High School Girl Squad! Operation Plastic Storm Begins!. Does it get the idea across, or is it too cliche?

Edited by Negacube on Jun 4th 2023 at 9:43:06 AM

Is "Reunibec" or "Runibec"^note from Ressources Unies du Québec, or "United Resources of Quebec"; the former contraction has the advantage of evoking the French verb réunir "to gather, collect; to bring together" sound like a good name for a Quebec-based megacorp that had its start as a conglomerate of petroleum, food, and mining enterprises (i.e. Canada's major natural resource sectors)?

x2 I would change "Mesukosei" to "Joshikousei", but otherwise the title looks pretty good.

From last page:

Holy crap, this is such a ridiculously kickass name. I gotta use it in my future works.

What's your suggestion for my idea tho?

Ideas about my question?

Looking for a nickname for an early timeline villain named Balmunc that basically tells anyone who hears it that he's pure bad news.

Basically, he starts off as a Blood Magic user, on top of a few other fields of Obviously Evil magic - but when he gets trapped inside magical ice that ends up thawing too much, he ends up using his Blood Magic to insulate his mind against his dying body throughout millennia purely to keep himself alive out of hate for Vonh, The Hero.

Such that by the time Balmunc shows up again, he's basically his brain and heart inside a patchwork body of the best pieces from anyone that died around him.

So I need a good nickname for him once he does come back that nicely encapsulates just what a nasty piece of work he is.

The Presage, maybe?

Who's giving this nickname, and how much do they know about who he is and what he can do? (i.e. Do they know that it's this specific guy, and what his powers are, and how he made his new body; or do they know nothing more than that there's some patchwork horror out there with terrible powers; or somewhere in-between...?)

He's thawed out a lot earlier than Vonh and the others in the party, and has a reputation like that of a "Don't venture out too far alone, or he'll get you. Don't stay out late at night, or he'll find you." He's gone from an imposing enemy general to a complete rogue factor and infamous monster - some people even wondering if he exists at all, or is just something the outlying townships spread around as a frightening tale.

Perhaps something like "The Bloody Man"? (... in the sense of "involving lots of blood", not the other sense. ^^; )

That might suggest both his connection to blood magic and the rather... messy-sounding nature of his body.

It also has, I feel, a bit of a bogey-man feel to it, which seems to me to fit what you describe.

Edited by ArsThaumaturgis on Jun 8th 2023 at 10:07:24 AM

Ideas for Romano Marchegiano's supervillain name in Red Revenge?

I don't know what his costume should look like besides being a wetsuit with something worn over it, but he's usually some sort of a frogman. He has gills and inaquadate webbing on his toes and fingers, and his powers are underwater breathing, Making a Splash, (fresh)water-adapted senses, and possibly increased strenght and endurance since treading water is slower and more energy-consumptive than walking. He's from Italy and a human-aquatic hybrid, aquatics being not quite Apparently Human Merfolk that live across Eurasia, but the officicial story is that he's from Atlantis.

The nazis use Der Einherjar in both combat and propaganda, which is the whole point of codenames and costumes^note  (it stems from some trench raiders from WWI's both sides in wearing masks and using related aliases for intimidation purposes), so the codename should sound cool, intimidating, or "heroic".

The maybe-obvious name that comes to mind is Nix, a territorial water spirit with many variations across Germanic languages and folklore.

The German Nixe was a female river mermaid.

But also on the same page:

The Nix also usually drowns random people, so propably not.

Like I said, many variations.

I guess since nobody commented either way on the Quebec-based megacorp name, it's neither particularly bad nor particularly good. Well, being so-so is better than being outright bad.

Reviving a years-old question of mine: I'm looking for alternate names to use for the concept embodied by Warhammer 40,000's Rogue Traders — commonly summed up a combination of "freelance explorer, conquistador and interstellar merchant".

FWIW, the German- and French-language official materials translate "Rogue Trader" into the target languages' equivalents of "Free Trader" or "Free Merchant", which nicely emphasizes the one truly unique thing that Rogue Traders have compared to other members of the Imperium (namely, a huge level of freedom from the Imperium's social and political structures^note even Inquisitors arguably don't get as much leeway as Rogue Traders do when it comes to potentially heretical behavior), so I'm thinking that would be a good starting point. Is there a synonym to "free" that could be construed as negative? Or a word similar to "rogue", which does kinda connote a "bad" sense of freedom (that is, it implies not giving a shit about the law or social mores)?

Edited by MarqFJA on Jun 11th 2023 at 9:57:13 PM

'Sovereign' has multiple meanings, one being 'free'... but it can also mean a ruler of some sort, in particular an unelected one like a monarch, or anyone holding absolute power in general. Might also just be my Mass Effect fandom talking, but it does also sound kind of sinister besides.

Edited by Chortleous on Jun 11th 2023 at 1:54:59 PM

Maybe Wild Pioneers?

That runs the risk of confusion when I have to use "sovereign" in any of its regular sense, though.

... You know, your use of "pioneer" in the suggestion reminds me of "buccaneer" as a term for pirates, as well as "privateer", which is theorized to have been modelled after the former (an alternative candidate is "volunteer"). And "rogue" has a synonym in "rapscallion", which is ultimately derived from "rascal" (a word which I see often used in reference to pirates, such as a pirate captain calling his crew "you rascals"). So how about the following?

• Rapscalleer: A rapscallion — i.e. someone who's viewed as the scum of society — that is nevertheless employed and sanctioned by the ruling authority to serve its interests, in the same way that real-life governments have in the past sanctioned private individuals to commit what would otherwise be acts of piracy against said governments' enemies, becoming known as "privateers" as a result.
• Libreneer: Anglicization of the French neologism librenier, from libre and -ier (with the interfix -n- thrown in for euphonic reasons), mirroring "buccaneer" being derived from French boucanier. Emphasizes the extraordinary liberty/freedom that these people enjoy in conducting their operations as well as their lifestyles; also bears a resemblance to "libertine", which adds connotations of immorality.

Also, going back to something that I said in my original post, the German term for WH40K's Rogue Traders is Freihändler (lit. "free trader"). Tracing back the roots of Händler, I found that it's etymologically related to the English verb "handle", which surprisingly does have several meanings that are relevant to what a Rogue Trader does.

• "To receive and transfer; to have pass through one's hands; hence, to buy and sell.": Rogue Traders are by and large driven by the desire to accumulate wealth, and their warrant of trade directly empowers them to trade, exploit resources and plunder as they see fit as long as the Imperium itself isn't victimized in the process.
• "To manage, control, or direct": Rogue Traders are essentially given free rein to command their fleet, accompanying forces and whatever planetary operations they establish.
• "to act on or perform a required function with regard to": Rogue Traders are routinely called upon to "handle" specific problems on behalf of the Imperial authorities, such as making a "state visit" to an isolated Imperial world that has been falling behind on its tithes, crushing a rebellion, reclaiming a planet that had been lost to an enemy or a natural disaster, or exploring a specific region of the galaxy.

Somewhat relatedly, the wars of the 12th to 14th century saw the emergence of free companies, armies of soldiers that were laid off en masse between wars and were thus forced into acting as mercenaries, acting independently of any government (thus being "free").

So with that in mind, wouldn't Freehandler — a direct calque of the German term — be fitting as well? It would also double as an allusion to them having more or less a "free hand" in running their affairs.

I could even draw upon "corsair" — a common term to refer to privateers, with several Romance languages using their own cognates as their equivalent of English "privateer" — and blend it with Spanish conquistador (one of the inspirations for Rogue Traders) to create Corsartador. Or even blend conquistador with Spanish mercador ("merchant") to form Mercantador. ^note ... look, it's the best that I could do off the top of my head, okay? I'm open for better derivations/neologisms if you have them.

Thoughts, everyone?

Edited by MarqFJA on Jun 11th 2023 at 12:10:42 PM

"Libreneers" suggests something more like a pirate librarian to me, but Liberteers has the same idea and sounds more natural. (It also neatly combines "privateer" and "libertine" with a faint suggestion of "libertarian".) "Rapscalleers" also feels clunky.

Freehandlers is a pretty good calque, though. Other ideas that brings to mind include Freemerchants (suggests "free market") or Merchandaries.

"Free companies" also remind me of the later German Freikorps (also mercenary companies), which in turn suggests either Freecorp(oration)s or a rather literal take on Corporate raiders.

The portmanteaus with "conquistador" both sound distinctly Spanish, if that affects your decision; it's the -ador ending, which would typically be anglicised as -ater outside of direct loanwords (like "matador"). "Mercantador" sounds better than "corsartador", though. Creditadors would fit in the same category. Mercanteers, maybe?

...maybe no longer directly related, but now I'm thinking about a white racket (as in racketeering) as the logical antithesis of a black market.

Edited by Noaqiyeum on Jun 11th 2023 at 11:42:12 AM

FWIW, the French suffix -ier does get combined with adjectives or verbs rather than nouns, so I don't really get how Libreneer (via French neologism librenier doesn't sound natural). Or is it something that only someone who is intimately familiar with how French actually works would know?

Is "Merchandaries" a blend of French marchand and English "mercenary"?

I too am leaning towards "Mercantador". Also, "Merchanteer" does remind me of "profiteer".

As an aside, I suppose it would make sense for these guys to be called "Freehandlers" or "Free Traders" when politeness is called for, e.g. in official ceremonies where they are granted their commissions or their service to the government is celebrated. Only when the public pretenses don't have to be upheld would they be called the other, less flattering names, especially if a government official is rankled by their "excess" of autonomy and feels secure in their own power and authority to disparage them to their face.

Edited by MarqFJA on Jun 11th 2023 at 5:03:10 PM

The -ier itself is fine, it's something about that middle -ren- syllable that feels off to me. It might just be that -n- doesn't feel like the right choice when -t- is also used as a euphonic infix - libre is a Latin root inherited by a Romance language and I'd expect Latin phonology would normally accompany it. (Also, I think there are plenty of French words that add -ier to a noun anyway? Boucanier is one itself, from boucan meaning either a roasting grill or a ruckus.) I'm not actually fluent in French, though, just interested in etymology.

And yes, that's basically what I was thinking of with "merchandary". ("Marchand", "mercenary", and for that matter "market" and "commerce" - oh, commercenaries? - all ultimately derive from from the same Latin word, merx, a commodity or trade good.)

What could i call the star 2MASS 19281982-2640123 for short in a scifi story that involves aliens from there?

(I don't yet know if the aliens themselves or their companion robots will communicate vocally or not. Or if the aliens themselves are still around since the radio transmission is 1800 years old and it's a pretty long trip. But the robots definitely are in this)