I have a VERY bad problem. The best name I can come up with for one of my villains is The Conqueror. I need something better. WAY better. I need names for an (for lack of better words) evil witch and an evil wizard. Does anyone have any ideas as to how to come up with cool awesomely evil names besides blabbering randomly? That's all I've ever done, and it's not working anymore.
Names for Villains
- Thread starter mekolo_diesne
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I don't suppose you could do a Monty Python and call him The Very Very Naughty Man? No, I suppose not. How about using a Thesaurus? Look up words similar to nasty, evil, greedy etc and see what you come up with. Then you might like to go on line and translate them into other languages to see if you get a nasty SOUNDING name as well as having a nasty meaning.
You could warp names, take out letters or switch them around. The one i've liked recently was Ink Heart's 'Capricorn'. It sort of agrivated me because in one of my YA fantasy ideas I was going to name the villan 'Virgo'. When in doubt you could try Babynames.com and look up names by meaning.
Cool, I came up with a name for my 'evil wizard'. Malvado. Means 'wicked' in spanish. Is this okay? What I think funny is, if this book is printed in spanish, will his name appear as 'Wicked' or just remain Malvado? Either way, all they'll see is 'Wicked'. What do you think of Travỹsa?
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My strategy is similar to what Mumut suggested. When I have trouble thinking up a name, I pick a word that reveals something about that character and use an online translator to see what that word is in another language. So, for example, “villain” in Spanish is maleante. To avoid confusion, I sometimes change around the letters of the resulting word – in this case, maleante might become Maelant or Malente.
Whoops – I think you and I posted at the same time, Mekolo. But yeah – changing around the letters would be one way to avoid translation confusion, though I wouldn’t worry about it too much.
Why on earth would an evil person have an evil name?
When parents in our imaginary worlds discuss what they will name their forthcoming bundle of joy.....do they say:
'I know dear...let's give Junior a better shot at carrying on the family Evil Wizard business....we'll call him Soulstealer Totalbastard...I' know he'll be teased at school, but it'll toughen him up and make him a real man...sorry, what I meant to say was a real psychopath!'
One of the things I find cringe-worthy about the Harry P books (and I love them otherwise) is that god awful villain's name, and that Draco Whateverhisdamstupidnamewas.
Are our characters so one dimensional and our readers so dense that we have to do the literary equivalent of stapling signs to people's heads?
When parents in our imaginary worlds discuss what they will name their forthcoming bundle of joy.....do they say:
'I know dear...let's give Junior a better shot at carrying on the family Evil Wizard business....we'll call him Soulstealer Totalbastard...I' know he'll be teased at school, but it'll toughen him up and make him a real man...sorry, what I meant to say was a real psychopath!'
One of the things I find cringe-worthy about the Harry P books (and I love them otherwise) is that god awful villain's name, and that Draco Whateverhisdamstupidnamewas.
Are our characters so one dimensional and our readers so dense that we have to do the literary equivalent of stapling signs to people's heads?
Here's a cheap trick...
If you type in "Name generator" in google, tons come up, many with names from different cultural origins. One of the best for a good "evil" name is...bear with me...the Dungeons and Dragons name generator.
You select a bunch of criteria about the character's personality, and the generator will turn out tons of names. Even if you don't like them, one might inspire the perfect name!
Here's the link to that one:
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/20010208b
Good luck!
If you type in "Name generator" in google, tons come up, many with names from different cultural origins. One of the best for a good "evil" name is...bear with me...the Dungeons and Dragons name generator.
You select a bunch of criteria about the character's personality, and the generator will turn out tons of names. Even if you don't like them, one might inspire the perfect name!
Here's the link to that one:
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/20010208b
Good luck!
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Voldemort?
His birth name was Tom Marvolo Riddle, which isn't particularly strange or anything.
Draco Malfoy might be unusual, though Draco is actually a real name outside of the book.
I agree with your other points, though. Why does the evil person need an 'evil' name?
Well, like Tom Riddle, many evil people HATE the name that their parents give them, so they change their name to something evil. Make sense?
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Oh my gosh, I LOVE that Dungeons and Dragons generator! So much fun! 
Apparently Shale's name should be "Kevlamin." Heheh.
Apparently Shale's name should be "Kevlamin." Heheh.Villains are frequently consumed by a single drive or desire, manifested or represented in the name they choose to take on (i.e. Voldemort, which translates to Fly from Death). I'd add that a gimmicky name often helps a villain to make their identity more terrifying - take a look at Batman's rogues gallery for examples.
I've got Matilda "Mattie" Livingston as my main villain.
Ha! Haha!
Sorry, but that's EXACTLY the situation with a character of mine. His parents were vampires (he's one of the not-so-common born-vampires, most people just get turned from human) and they were sort of the equivalent of . . . like evil hippies. So they raised him evilly, with the name Cain. Cain Gabriel, I think. They were going for something biblical (for irony) and cool-sounding.
The thing is, he's evil, but he isn't really a villain. He's a love interest. I was toying with the idea of naming him 'Morgan' (first name) because I liked the way it sounded, somewhat dark, but I decided against it.
Anyway, my point was that I totally agree. In nearly all cases, villains should NOT have villainous names. Unless they chose them for themselves, in which case their given name should be exceedingly normal. (Eg. Gabriel Gray, Benjamin Linus . . . that's all I got.)
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Just a thought, what do ya think of the name "Obsidian"? It's a black gemstone. Or "Garret"? Add an "a" to either of 'em and you'll have a girl's name.
Obsidian is a cool name. I actually own a big hunk of it. I'm not a big fan of the name Garret, but then again, the only person I know with that name loathes me with a passion.
hehe guess who.
I had a funny villains name pop in my head the other day. Ecolli.i would be evil if i had a name like Ecolli. and yes I know it sounds just like E Coli, its supposed to.
I had a funny villains name pop in my head the other day. Ecolli.i would be evil if i had a name like Ecolli. and yes I know it sounds just like E Coli, its supposed to.
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