Ooops.
And Gephardt Sock and Grabpot Thundergust and Fat Sally (down in Squeezebelly Alley).
Wikipedia has an interesting section on the derivation of Cordwainer Smith’s character names. Many are based on words for numerals in other languages, such as Lord Sto Odin, which is derived from the Russian words for “one hundred and one”.
When your name is Cordwainer, you’ll probably grow up to have some kind of name complex 
My contribution: Grima Wormtongue. Nothing good comes from a kid named Grima Wormtongue. You’ve pretty much mapped out his life for him when you name him Grima Wormtongue
Pussy Galore anyone?
Well his name wasn’t really Cordwainer (he was born Paul Linebarger).
Also… IIRC, “Wormtongue” was an epithet rather than a name.
Yes, please.
Other than moving the weights to the other side of the balance, I fail to see an improvement here…
Ugh, yes; while I like the series that got to me.
Another example of a normal-ish name that’s silly in context would be the dragon named Robert in R.A. Salvatore’s Spearwielder’s Tales trilogy. This actually had a good if amusing explanation; while a giant evil monster, he was a polite giant evil monster. So he chose a pseudonym that would be more pronounceable to humans than his actual draconic name.
I did like what I read of the series. I lost track of it after the second book, but I generally enjoyed it. It was just that ONE element that pulled me out of it.
I had one foot out the exit door of Wicca at the time, and her utter and complete disregard for any kind of magical ethics (mentally enslaving all those people when she secured Jimbob’s reign after his parents were killed) made me wince a little.
Otherwise, I liked 99% of it, although I didn’t get any kind of real sense of the magical “rules” overall until they brought in the major societal taboo against drums and dancing…that part made me feel like there might be an underlying system with different branches underneath it all.
Interestingly, in later books that was revealed to be an irrational prejudice. Darksong, magic over living things is regarded as bad; dancing to drums is music + living things moving to it; so that made it like Darksong and therefore a bad thing.
EDIT: Oh, and in the second triplet of books Jimbob has changed his name to “Robero”; much less irritating.
Ah, good, other Uriah Heep fans. Such an oily name.
My favorite from Pratchett is “Adora Belle Dearheart”, especially since she’s a cigarette-smoking, crossbow-carrying, tough chick.
Slartibartfast!
(“My name is not important.”)
True, but in the novel it’s supposed to be a pen name. And most of the other names (except Lolita’s first name) are supposed to have been changed by the doctor who edits Humbert’s posthumous manuscript. He’s protecting the privacy of the fictional characters. 
The most ridiculous character name I can think of from Illuminatus! is Markoff Chaney, but I’m probably forgetting some minor characters with odder names.
In Jonathon Lethem’s latest book, Chronic City, there are Chase Insteadman (who is once mis-remembered as Chase Unperson), Perkus Tooth, Oona Laszlo, Georgina “The Hawkman” Hawkmanaji, and more.
I sort of meant characters in novels which are in a more or less realistic, true-to-life setting - the world that we actually live in - and not in either future or fantasy settings, in which case strange-sounding names would be pretty standard. I should have specified this in the OP.
I always find it hard to take the caddish hunk lead male character in *Valley of the Dolls * by Jacqueline Susann seriously because of his name. He’s called Lyon Burke.
There is a police detective by the name of Del Capslock (DELETE; CAPS LOCK) in John Sandford’s Prey series of crime thrillers.
The character (Hieronymous Bosch) does mention in one of the books that his mother named him after the artist.
OK, not a novel, but Larry Gelbart’s made-for-cable movie Mastergate (1992) is full of fun names. I thought the movie was stupid, but I got a chuckle out of the names.