# Characters in novels with ridiculous names **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 13, 2009, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-in-novels-with-ridiculous-names/521088 "2009-12-13T07:44:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-in-novels-with-ridiculous-names/521088/101 "2011-03-16T17:31:51Z")
Do graphic novels/comics count? I can’t even start to count all the superheroes whose real first and last names start with the same letter. Peter Parker, Bruce Banner, Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Stephen Strange, Scott Summers…I know there are many who don’t, but it always bugged me when I read comics as a kid. And don’t even get me started on prophetically-named comic characters (the worst of which, IMO, was “Telford Porter” who became “The Vanisher.”) Oh, and for the mention above of Remus Lupin turning out to be a werewolf, let me also wonder at the odds that a kid named “Sirius Black”'s Animagus form would end up being…wait for it…a black dog. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-in-novels-with-ridiculous-names/521088/102 "2011-03-16T17:33:26Z")
Dorothy Sayers had some interesting names: Montgomery Thipps, architect Sir Julian Freke, physician The Honorable Frederick Arbuthnot, dim-witted best friend Inspector Sugg Dennis Cathcart, bounder Mr. Grimthorpe, homicidal farmer George Goyles, who signed his name Geo. Goyles, which the Dutchess always read as “Gargoyles” Mademoiselle Simone Vonderraa, mistress Miss Vera Findlater, victim Bertha and Evelyn Gotobed, domestic servants Rev Hallelujah Dawson, long-lost cousin Mr Murbles, soliciter George and Robert Fentiman, veterans Miss Joan Murchison, secretary and lock-picker Norman Urquhart, soliciter Rosanna Wrayburn, aka “Cremorna Garden”, elderly, but at one time notorious, actress Haviland Martin, farmer Inspector Umpelty, policeman Montague Egg, salesman Maher-Shalal-Hashbaz, cat The Reverend Theodore Venables, clergyman Harry Gotobed, sexton Potty Peake, simpleton Nobby Cranton, gentleman thief Dian de Momerie, Paris Hilton of the '20s William Ingleby, advertising agent Alexander Pym, boss Miss Meteyard, copywriter Mr. Tallboy, murderer Major Todd Milligan, drug dealer Mrs. Crump, charwoman Leititia Martin, dean Helen de Vine, research fellow Miss Lydgatetutor Reggie Pomfret, ass Miss Agnes Twitterton, spinster Frank Crutchley, swain The Reverend Simon Goodacre, clergyman John Munting, writer Harwood Lathom, artist Agatha Milsom, spinster Charmaine Grayle, victim Muriel Severn and Thames, countess and, of course, Lord Peter Death Bredon Wimsey, gentleman Mervyn Bunter, valet Honoria Lucasta Delgardie Wimsey, Duchess Gerald Wimsey, the Vicount St. George, nephew ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-in-novels-with-ridiculous-names/521088/103 "2011-03-16T18:21:11Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Gould did this a _LOT_ in **Dick Tracy** , and he was about as subtle as a sledgehammer. One strip had a patriotic character named, naturally, Mr. Toirtap. God, I think Daylight Saving Time has sucked my brain out through my ears. I kept reading backwards and thinking “Pat Riot? What’s a pat riot?” ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-in-novels-with-ridiculous-names/521088/104 "2011-03-16T18:59:07Z")
Ermintrude Inch, from the short story by Arthur C. Clarke, “The Defenestration of Ermintrude Inch.” And also Dirk Gently, which sounds like a porn name but is the detective in 2 novels by Douglas Adams. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-in-novels-with-ridiculous-names/521088/105 "2011-03-16T19:26:31Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > Oh, and for the mention above of Remus Lupin turning out to be a werewolf, let me also wonder at the odds that a kid named “Sirius Black”'s Animagus form would end up being…wait for it…a black dog. :rolleyes: FWIW, my preteen/teen children were slack-jawed when I told them the meanings of the words _lupin_ and _sirius_. They were all blown away by the cleverness and meaning. They’re books for kids, remember. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-in-novels-with-ridiculous-names/521088/106 "2011-03-16T19:49:45Z")
Yeah, kids also really get into the dog Latin spell names which are cringingly obvious for grownups. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-in-novels-with-ridiculous-names/521088/107 "2011-03-16T20:02:26Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > … > Lord Peter Death Bredon Wimsey, gentleman… Death? _Death?_ But… why? ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-in-novels-with-ridiculous-names/521088/108 "2011-03-16T20:22:34Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Death? _Death?_ But… why? it was his great-grandmother’s surname. Historically, it had been spelled D’aeth. French, presumably. In _Murder Must Advertise_, he noted that most people cursed with the name pronounced it to rhyme with “teeth”, but he found it more picturesque to rhyme it with “breath”. Three corrections to my list: It should have read “Inspector Sugg, idiot”, and “Miss Lydgate, tutor”, and “Mirabelle Severn and Thames, countess”. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Q](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/898d66/32.png) [@Johnny\_Q](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Q)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-in-novels-with-ridiculous-names/521088/109 "2011-03-16T23:00:33Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Death? _Death?_ But… why? Makes him sound badass. how many people do you know who can say “Death is my middle name” and mean it? ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-in-novels-with-ridiculous-names/521088/110 "2011-03-17T00:20:29Z")
Well, technically, Death isn’t his middle name; it is his second. Being as he has an even number of names, he CAN’T have a middle name. Oh, we should add Maurice Vavasour, actor. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-in-novels-with-ridiculous-names/521088/111 "2011-03-17T00:23:52Z")
> [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > Ermintrude Inch, from the short story by Arthur C. Clarke, “The Defenestration of Ermintrude Inch.” Obediah Polkington, from the same story. ---
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-in-novels-with-ridiculous-names/521088/112 "2011-03-17T14:01:34Z")
Loren Coleman’s BattleTech books are rife with characters with ‘Chinese’ names, such as Ty Wu Non and Nin Ten Do. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-in-novels-with-ridiculous-names/521088/113 "2011-03-17T22:59:49Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > All of the Hobbit names were translations, actually. For instance, Meriadoc Brandybuck’s untranslated name is Kalimak Brandagamba. Peregrin Took is actually Razanur Tuk. Names that are identical to real-world flowers and such, like Belladonna or Daisy, are most likely supposed to be translations from the Hobbitish. Which doesn’t change the fact that Tolkein made all that shit up, and created those “translated” meanings. > [@Superdude](#): > > Well, of course **Trihs Der** is evil. He’s goateed. > > Other than that, apologies for fucking up your name, and, by extension, the funniest joke ever made. But thanks for finally helping me understand his name. ---
**Author:** ![Lucky\_13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucky_13/32/13209_2.png) [@Lucky\_13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucky_13)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2011, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-in-novels-with-ridiculous-names/521088/114 "2011-03-19T12:05:28Z")
If you speak Japanese, you’ll find than many anime and manga characters have ridiculous yet oddly appropriate names. For example, Sailor Moon’s civilian identity is Usagi Tsukino, which literally translates as “rabbit of the moon.” Another one would be Ichigo Kurosaki in _Bleach_. His first name means “firstborn child” if written with one set of kanji, the numbers one and five with another set (his bedroom door has a number 15 on it), and with yet another set, it means “strawberry.” His sisters are named Karin and Yuzu, which are names for other types of Japanese fruit. I would list many other characters in Shonen Jump, but the list would be too long. ---
**Author:** ![MovieCriticNextDoor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85e7bf/32.png) [@MovieCriticNextDoor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieCriticNextDoor)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2011, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-in-novels-with-ridiculous-names/521088/115 "2011-03-19T15:18:39Z")
I just finished a book called The Furies, by Bill Napier, chock full of references to Greek and Norse mythology. It was pretty wretched overall, so I’m glad it was free – it was one of those books that had just barely enough characters I liked to make me finish in spite of all the characters I grew to detest. Ambra Volpe was a pretty weird name, though the rest were quite ordinary, and she’s not the one I need to complain about. Yes, need. At the very end, the author suddenly realizes he’s gotten one of the main characters in way too much trouble, so he suddenly throws in a deus ex machina sort of character, not mentioned at all previously, who is miraculously both able and willing to help. This character’s name is Siggy Frey. I don’t know why he messed with the name of a male hero; he should’ve just made her a winged Valkyrie flying to the rescue and been done with it. Bleah. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2011, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-in-novels-with-ridiculous-names/521088/116 "2011-03-19T15:56:06Z")
> [@Lucky\_13](#): > > If you speak Japanese, you’ll find than many anime and manga characters have ridiculous yet oddly appropriate names. For example, Sailor Moon’s civilian identity is Usagi Tsukino, which literally translates as “rabbit of the moon.” Well, no, it _literally_ translates to ‘Moon Field Rabbit’ - ‘Rabbit of the Moon’, is just a (deliberate) punny reading of it. (As both are pronounced the same way.) 月の兎 (兎 could also be うさぎ or ウサギ) is what translates as ‘Rabbit of the Moon’. Her name is rendered as 月野うさぎ which translates as I said above. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2011, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-in-novels-with-ridiculous-names/521088/117 "2011-03-19T16:07:01Z")
E. E. “Doc” Smith had a character named **Pilinixi the Dexitroboper** in one of his “Lensman” novels. That was just silly. ---
**Author:** ![Lucky\_13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucky_13/32/13209_2.png) [@Lucky\_13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucky_13)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2011, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-in-novels-with-ridiculous-names/521088/118 "2011-03-19T17:23:22Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > Well, no, it _literally_ translates to ‘Moon Field Rabbit’ - ‘Rabbit of the Moon’, is just a (deliberate) punny reading of it. (As both are pronounced the same way.) > > 月の兎 (兎 could also be うさぎ or ウサギ) is what translates as ‘Rabbit of the Moon’. > Her name is rendered as 月野うさぎ which translates as I said above. True. I forgot about that. The names of the other Sailor Senshi follow the same pattern. The North American dub of the series ruined it by giving them English names. At least Usagi’s sort of fit - she was called Serena, which sounds like Selene, a goddess of the moon. They also changed Mamoru’s name to Darien, and completely got rid of him being called Endymion in the ancient Moon Kingdom, which would have been appropriate as the mythological Endymion was Selene’s lover. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-in-novels-with-ridiculous-names/521088/119 "2011-03-21T15:50:33Z")
> [@Shakester](#): > > Except that Hornblower was a genuine surname. Real people do have strange names sometimes. There once was a writer of English textbooks in Sweden called Gotobed. ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-in-novels-with-ridiculous-names/521088/120 "2011-03-21T17:19:03Z")
I’m surprised I’m the first to mention Ponyboy and Sodapop Curtis in SE Hinton’s book The Outsiders. (mmmm and also Cherry Valance played by Diane Lane) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-in-novels-with-ridiculous-names/521088.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-in-novels-with-ridiculous-names/521088.md?page=7)