Daily Entertainment.

[muji]

Suggested topic: What does your character's name mean, either in their canon or in current culture? Does that have any significance on their personality?

Mal: There's the in-canon response from River: "Mal. Bad. In Latin", hence the lj name. I like it a lot because it is vague enough to mess with your head if you think about it too long. Also I am informed that from Star Trek: Enterprise canon, 'Malcolm' is Vulcan for 'serenity'. Which works for me. :D :D :D Also, his middle name is Beauregard, because in like, August of 05, I decided making a Bad-and-Beautiful pun would be funny. Plus it's his father's name, so he doesn't shout it around.

SARAH: Her full designation is 'Self Actuated Residential Automated Habitat'.

Sallie: As of babynames.com, (who did not appreciate the IE spelling =P) Sallie is a diminuative of Sarah, which derives from the Hebrew for princess. This...does not apply to Sallie pretty much in any way.

Ned: Again, another diminuitive. I'm beginning to get amused by this. This is also vaguely significant because Ned, unless you know him already, is almost a non-entity to others. Hence no last name, short first name. No exceptions.

Delysia Lafosse: Didn't even show up. Her real name is Sara Grubb, which Haaa play more or less three Saras, but whatever. Names are very important to D, since she went through the bother of picking a stage name. Just don't tell her that 'fosse' means a pit (as in peach pit).

Comments

[timjr.livejournal.com]

So, I put Stark into Dictionary.com?

And the first definition is: "1. sheer, utter, downright, or complete: stark madness."

And, well, this is amusing on a couple levels. Given Stark is mad, and he is in no sense of the word complete.

Eric, on the other hand, means "Always Ruler" at babynames.com

I'm not sure how that applies to him. He's not exactly a ruler of anything. Except possibly lowest common denominator.

[muji]

Stark's a really good name to have - Tony, Eric, Nathan...

[ostro_goth]

Tower -- duh, he has no name as such. It's the tarot card.

Asar-Suti -- his name was made up, utterly. His canon steals names from all sorts of actual earth traditions, from Aidan to Lilith, but 'Suti is not one of them.

Teja -- means 'people' and is a short form of all names that start on 'thiu[d]' (most likely proper Gothic spelling of that element, as in Thiudereikhs => Theodoric); so his name might even have been 'Theodoric' but it got shortened? That's historical speculation, though, not canon. Alternative spellings are Teias, Teia, Thila; the form of that name (short for all male names starting with 'Diet-') that is still in use in German nowadays is 'Thilo'. His name isn't as rare and odd as one might at first think...

[muji]

That's neat, re: Teja. :D I think his name is cool.

[ashen_key]

Ajedrez is a nickname, meaning 'chess'. AJ is good at it, and despite being a keen little jelly bean, she's capable of being quite calculating and plotting things many moves in advance and, yes, sacrificing pawns and knights for the greater good. Her real first name is never given, but at one point I thought her father yelled 'Beatriz! Get back here, Beatriz!' so, AJ's first name became Beatriz. I've just looked it up, and it is Latin for Voyager (through life). Which I kinda like, because she does try to live life to the fullest.

Marlowe's first name is Christopher, which means 'Christ bearing'. I look at this, and at the exceedingly atheistic Marlowe, and giggle. Kit is just a nickname from Christopher. According to a name site, Marlowe is of Old English origin, and its meaning is "driftwood". The original phrase literally means "lake leavings". Um. Any relevance...Marlowe drifts about, I guess?

Corrie: A round hollow in a hillside; a cirque. [Scottish Gaelic coire, hollow, cauldron, from Old Irish, cauldron, whirlpool.] Which has no relevance whatsoever. I said Corrie is a short form of Corinna, which means spear. Again, no relevance. Her second name is Ann (meaning grace, and has no real relevance) and her last name of Mackenize has an entry that says: its meaning is "fire-born; son of the wise ruler". The name's development was also influenced by Cainnech, meaning "good-looking". Um. Yeah. Corrie's names aren't meaningful to her.

Dara: is either Hebrew for mother-of-pearl or Persian for rich. For various symbolism of 'pearl', you can go here, but given that Honesty, Purity and Wisdom are making me giggle, I think pearl has little to do with Dara, really.

Kore is Greek for Girl and this is what Kore is. She is the Girl, the Maiden, the personification of innocence and navity and being a teenage girl (joy for her). Persephone can mean Bringer Of Destruction or Destroyer of Light depending on how you look at it. Normally this doesn't have much bearing, as she's the heavenly side of the afterlife to Hade's grim justice, but when she gets mad...well, she fulfills her name.

Medusa means...lots of things! It can mean Cunning or Queen or Leader/Ruler...personally, I take it to mean Sacred Female Wisdom in Ancient Libyan (the Sanskirt version is Medha, while the Greek is Metis). While the Gorgon Medusa isn't the goddess that the Libyans worshipped, she's still...very much rooted in that ancient, stone age version of feminine. She's getting back to how she was before Poseidon-related PTSD happened - earthy, sensual, grounded in her own self and all that jazz, which again is part of that earthy stone age-ness that she was when she was a goddess of Destruction (and Death and Rebirth) instead of Greco-Roman monster. While her wisdom is debatable, Meda is very feminine, and is more religious that one might expect. So! I think her name is very relevant. Mostly because it had a large part to do with how I formed her character.

[canadabear.livejournal.com]

Ooh. I like this one.

Clark means "scholar or cleric." Um, that doesn't really jive with him, and since he was named on the fly (ie, it's his mom's maiden name, plus, the creators of Superman just stole it from Clark Gable anyway) I wasn't really expecting it to. Kal-El, on the other hand, means "Star Child" which is, naturally, far more appropriate.

Michael means "who is like God." If you squint, it can work in that he becomes this uberpowerful, unkillable being.

Sikozu... meaning unknown! How strange.

Vanth is the origin of her name, so far as I can tell, so it means what she is - a death demon.

Jimmy, or James rather, means "supplanter." I'm going to go with this not having any match to his personality, aside from the possibility - again if you squint - that he was possibly supposed to be a watered down, dumber version of Mulder. Mulder still comes out on top, though.

[ashen_key]

Vanth is the origin of her name, so far as I can tell, so it means what she is - a death demon.

*grins* It's fun when that happens. I think it's like that with Kore, really.

[prix-etoile.livejournal.com]

I have no clue if Inyri's name means anything. Knowing her family, it's probably like...some grandmother's name.

Allana is the combination of the founder of the Dathomiri witches, Allya, and her dead uncle, Anakin. All+Ana=Allana!

Kira is not the canonical name but when Sarah P gave me the name off of the name generator that comes with the KOTOR II game, I looked it up. It means "dark" which is surprisingly fitting with the character.

John means "God is Gracious" but Crichton was named after his father (who was called Jack, but it derives from John so~).

Azula was named for her grandfather, Azulon.

Gwen means "blessed ring" which...eh. But since Eve Myles played Gwenyth in DW, I'm pretty sure RTD was just like "roflcopter, Gwen."

Just for fun, I did Mara, which means "sea of bitterness" in Hebrew, which makes me laugh. 'Cause 's Mara Jade. She's totally bitter all the time yes. :P

But my name means "Narrow Land, Bitter Sea" if you combine the first and the middle...so I'm JUST LIKE MARA JADE?!

[ashen_key]

But my name means "Narrow Land, Bitter Sea" if you combine the first and the middle...so I'm JUST LIKE MARA JADE?!

*eyes* Maaaaybe.

My name, Ashleigh, means 'ash tree meadow' or 'keeper of the ash tree meadow', but I don't exactly act like lil_green_apple...

(plants hate me. :( but I hate them, so it's aaaaaall okay)

Although, I do like that thing with Kira. It's iiiiiiinteresting. Also, I thought 'gwen' meant 'light', so with Gwenhfar and the other gwens...I could be wrong, though. I should be asleep.

MY CHARACTERS' NAMES, LET ME SHOW YOU THEM, PART I

[buongiornodaisy.livejournal.com]

Hitting up Behind the Name (http://www.behindthename.com):

Paul: From the Roman family name Paulus, which meant "small" or "humble" in Latin. Saint Paul was an important leader of the early Christian church, his story told in Acts in the New Testament. He was originally named Saul, but changed his name after converting to Christianity. Most of the epistles in the New Testament were authored by him. This was also the name of six popes. Famous bearers of this name in the art world include Paul Cezanne and Paul Gauguin, both 19th-century impressionist painters from France.

Uh, yeah. So not Paul. The name I've adopted and given him, though, has multiple meanings -- well, sources. "Paul Varjak" is the name his character has in the film Breakfast at Tiffany's. He is not named in the book. In Personal Canon™, however, "Varjak" is not Paul's original last name. Just like "Capote" was not Truman Capote's original last name, "Varjak" is a pseudonym, though unlike Truman Capote Paul chose the last name for himself. "Capote" is the name Truman was given when his stepfather adopted him. Still, I wanted to base Paul's character on Truman Capote, so. Paul's actual last name is "Anderson." For multiple reasons. A) His PB is Anderson Cooper; B) his middle name in Personal Canon™ is Truman (guess why?), therefore his initials could be P.T. Anderson. You know, the guy who directed Boogie Nights, Magnolia, Punch Drunk Love and I Drink Your Milkshake There Will Be Blood? (P.T. Anderson's first name is, in fact, Paul.) Yeah. I'm a geek.

---

James: English form of the Late Latin Jacomus which was derived from Ιακωβος (Iakobos), the New Testament Greek form of יַעֲקֹב (Ya'aqov) (see JACOB). This is the name of two apostles in the New Testament. The first was Saint James the Greater, the apostle John's brother, who was beheaded by Herod Agrippa in the Book of Acts. The second was James the Lesser, son of Alphaeus. Another James (known as James the Just) is also mentioned in the Bible as being the brother of Jesus.

Kings of England and Scotland have borne this name. Other famous bearers include the inventor of the steam engine James Watt, the explorer Captain James Cook, and the novelist and poet James Joyce.

The meaning of Jacob, according to the same site, is "'holder of the heel' or 'supplanter'"

Yeah I don't know what this has to do with James Bond. XD James Bond's name is James Bond because Ian Fleming wanted that character to have a plain, anonymous name. Which he found in a book about birds of the Caribbean, written by a man named James Bond.

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Simon: From the Greek form of the Hebrew name שִׁמְעוֹן (Shim'on) which meant "hearkening" or "listening". The New Testament presents Simon, also known as Peter (a name given to him by Jesus), as the most important of the apostles. This is also the name of several other characters in the Bible, including the man who carried the cross for Jesus.

YEAH WHAT IS IT WITH ME AND CHARACTERS WITH BIBLICAL NAMES? XD Suffice it to say this really doesn't apply to Simon Skinner, whose name, I take it, is a pun. I haven't done enough research to figure out just why his creators named him that, although one of his creators *is* named Simon. Anyhow. In Personal Canon™, interestingly enough, I made his middle name Sinclair to complete the alliterativeness of his name. Only later did I realize that Sinclair is the surname of Timothy Dalton's character in The Rocketeer. Erm, oops?

Re: MY CHARACTERS' NAMES, LET ME SHOW YOU THEM, PART II

[buongiornodaisy.livejournal.com]

Emma: Derived from Germanic ermen meaning "whole" or "universal". This name was borne by the mother of Edward the Confessor and by an 11th-century German saint. This is also the name of the central character in Jane Austen's novel 'Emma', the matchmaker Emma Woodhouse.

*shrugs?* Emma's name is Emma Peel because it is a pun on "man appeal," which is what Emma's creators said the successor to the departing Cathy Gale (John Steed's old crime solving partner) should have.

---

Frederico: Is the Portuguese form of "Frederick" which means: From a Germanic name meaning "peaceful ruler", derived from frid "peace" and ric "ruler, power". Several rulers of Prussia, Germany and the Holy Roman Empire have borne this name, including the 13th-century patron of the arts Frederick II of Germany, and the 18th-century Frederick II of Prussia, known as Frederick the Great. Another famous bearer was Frederick Douglass, an American ex-slave who became a leading advocate of abolition.

LOL RULER WHAT? The reason why Fredo Corleone got bumped off is because he wasn't a ruler, because he was shoved aside in his family in lieu for his younger brother, and he was plenty frustrated about it.

---

Harry depends on whether his name is Henry, as Behind the Name suggests, or Harold, or whatever name you can pull "Harry" out of. I haven't decided just yet.

---

Raymond: From the Germanic name Reginmund, composed of the elements ragin "advice" and mund "protector". This was the name of several (mostly Spanish) saints, including Saint Raymond Nonnatus, the patron of midwives and expectant mothers, and Saint Raymond of Peñafort, the patron of canonists.

Uh yeah no not Raymond Shaw.

[iambetadraconis]

Rabastan: A respelling of the name, "Rastaban", which means "head of the serpent", and is another name for the star Beta Draconis [hence the journal name].

Strength, Wheel, Misery: Pretty much their name in the tarot, save for Misery. I don't know how Ruin's mun would put it, but to me, it's about as close to a "given name" as you can get in the tarot.

Rad and Starscream: Their true names are incapable of being properly translated into any Earth language, so handles were adopted. Presumably, it says something about their personality, but Rad is not rambunctious or inclined to whatever is the equivalent of a "surfer dude", and Starscream doesn't do much "screaming".

Unicron: According to Seibertron.com, this is their meaning: "The root 'Uni' means 'all', 'everything' or 'encompassing'. 'Cron' is a variation of the Ancient Greek word 'Kron', which means 'time'. Kron is derived from the name of the first Titan Kronos, Lord of Time and Ruler of Chaos. The allusion to Unicron becomes clear when you consider that Unicron has existed since the dawn of time as the ultimate all-encompassing embodiment of evil, whose sole purpose is to consume the universe and return it to a state of Chaos."

Zeke: Means "Strength Of God". Either the guys behind "Ice Age" had no idea what the name meant, did know, but went with it anyways because the name sounds funny, or did know, and meant it to be ironic.

Emile: The site I looked at doesn't list "Emile", but rather "Emil", but I'll just say that it's just one of those "different ways to spell a name", and use Emil's definition, which is: Latin - "To Emulate, Copy". I guess Emile kind of emulates Remy, but mostly in the "admires said brother" sense.

[naelwyn.livejournal.com]

Because it's just easier to copy/paste this morning:

Revan's name apparently comes from "revanche", meaning "the act of retaliating," or "the intent of regaining lost territory or standing." This word has etymological connections to English revenge. In Star Wars canon, there has been some ambiguity concerning whether or not "Revan" is the character's original name or merely an alias. Abel G. Peña comments on his starwars.com blog that he believes that Revan and Malak used their true names, thus making them the first Sith to take up the "Darth" title without also adopting a Sith moniker. However, John Jackson Miller has hinted that Revan and Malak may not be their original names, although the Knights of the Old Republic comics have not taken a stance on Revan's identity as of yet. (Wookieepedia)

:)

[ashen_key]

But what do you think? *steeples fingers*

[kali921.livejournal.com]

Jennifer: Welsh origin, meaning "fair one." Seems apt enough for the Jade Giantess.

She-Hulk should be painfully obvious.

Kendra: UH OH, IT'S CONTENTIOUS. Wikipedia says:

1. A British name meaning very beautiful and amazing.
2. A Polish name meaning long-haired woman.
3. An Anglo-Saxon name meaning understanding or knowledge.
4. An English name derived from the combination of the names Ken and Sandra, or Ken and Andrea.
5. A variation of the name Kenda, which may be English for water baby, or Dakota for magical power.
6. A female form of Kendrick, which may originate from the Welsh word Cynwrig, "greatest champion", or the Anglo-Saxon word Cyneric, "family ruler".
7. Referring to a beautiful woman; goddess-like.

Chay-Ara, Kendra's very first name? You'll have to slug it out with the Egyptian historians for that one. It was meant to be a slight variant of a homophone for "Shiera," from the Golden Age Hawkgirl when her ancient origin was first revealed. Similarly, Carter Hall (Hawkman) has had lots of homophone variant names over the ages, such as "Khufu." (Who was a real pharoah, btw.)


Lockjaw: Lockjaw doesn't bite much, but the name was probably given to him because of his 1) extreme dignity and/or 2) his tenacity, as in you're an evil jerk and you might need to call in Galactus if he's got his jaws wrapped around your leg and won't let go.

[adiva_calandia]

. . . Man, the opportunities to be RIDICULOUSLY sappy with Kendra's name.

*whistles*

[camwyn]

Hn. Let's see-

Harry Wells' full name is given in the credits as 'Sergeant Harry G. Wells'. This has nothing to do with meaning and everything to do with Neil Marshall, the director of Dog Soldiers, admitting that he wanted to indirectly name one of the characters after his favourite author. (Indirectly, because the author's first name was Herbert.) I decided the Harry part was short for Harold before I became aware that in England it's more often a nickname for Henry; oh well. Still, it's bloody appropriate given that it means "leader of the army". No lie. 's derived from Old English here "army" and weald "leader, ruler". The G is for George, and that- well. From the Greek name Γεωργιος (Georgios) which was derived from the Greek word γεωργος (georgos) meaning "farmer, earthworker", itself derived from the elements γη (ge) "earth" and εργον (ergon) "work". I swear on my eyes, I picked both the names without looking at the meaning, long before I stuck the ex-soldier on a farm.

Annie Wells- From the Hebrew name חַנָּה (Channah) which meant "favour" or "grace". Yeah, that sounds about right.

Ray- Ray's first name is Raymond. If he were Italian this would be grounds for snickering, as in the Romance languages that would mean 'king of the world', but he's not. With a last name like Stantz we're going with the assumption that it's the German etymology, and on that front? From the Germanic name Reginmund, composed of the elements ragin "advice" and mund "protector". So really, not that far off.

Whistler- Whistler's real name is Erwin Emory, and he never uses it. The handle he uses is the result of being based on a phone phreak who worked out how to alter a Cap'n Crunch free giveaway whistle to produce a tone that'd let him take control of telephone trunk lines. Since Whistler does all his messing about with the system by means of sound, the nickname probably derives from his own track record.

Very few of the names in the Belgariad universe ever have etymologies. The syllable 'Bel' is usually indicated to mean 'beloved', as is 'Pol'. My best guess, knowing Eddings, is that 'Belar' was meant to mean 'beloved bear' or something of that nature.

The Great Librarian doesn't have a name.

Ironhide and Bumblebee are from a culture that pretty much does self-explanatory names ninety percent of the time. Ironhide's a tough old bastard who's probably got the hardest armour plating of any of the Autobots. Bumblebee has said ICly that his Cybertronian name doesn't have a direct analogue in Earth languages, and that he goes by Bumblebee on the grounds that it's a small, hardworking being that nobody much notices but is generally considered friendly and well liked.

Gordon Freeman- His last name was a deliberate homage to Freeman Dyson, the mathematician and quantum physicist. In Half-Life 2 and the Episodes, the name gets played up hard; Earth was conquered by an interdimensional empire called the Combine long ago, and Gordon is referred to as 'the one free man'. His first name comes from a Scottish place name that amounts to 'the big hill'.

[aberration]

Elle: I've heard this as potentially being short for Elanor, Ellen, and Elizabeth (or any other name that begins with 'El'), but as we see a file with her name listed as "Bishop, Elle", I don't think it's supposed to be short for anything. It wouldn't surprise me if she had a different real name... but the Heroes writers also like to think they're clever, so whatever.

While there's the obvious fun that it's a pun (and really, I love puns), I also like that the name meaning itself is... rather plain. It's "she" in French. Not even 'girl', but just the feminine singular pronoun. Which really strikes me as appropriate for someone who was seen as an experiment rather than a person for at least some significant part of her life - it doesn't assign any particular trait or personality to her, just designates one of the most basic aspects of her, her gender. That combined with the pun just makes it an incredibly basic descriptor of who she is (female, electrical ability), and defines her in the way she likely would have been seen while pretty much treated as an experiment.


No, I did not propose this question for that, I have no idea what you're talking about.


Behrooz: It means 'good day' in Persian. Setting aside that the Turkish character has a Persian name and all those other 'Turkish' characters around him speak Arabic (research, people, it's not that hard), anyone remotely familiar with 24 knows that a character on that show having a name that means 'good day' is... uh. Really fucking ironic.


Jim: Short for James, which babynames says means "supplanter." I... uh. Got nothing.


Mei: There is something of a funny story behind this - Mei is from the English word for the fifth month "May." Her older sister is name Satsuki, which is the Japanese word for the fifth month on the lunar calendar. The similar names came out of the fact that My Neighbor Totoro was originally about one girl, but was changed to be about the two sisters. Plus I imagine Mei would enjoy the springtime in May.

[kali921.livejournal.com]

I have a friend in real life who is named Elle. No short for Ellen, just Elle. The amount of time she spends trying to explain this is phenomenal. I also have a real life friend named Jolie, which also means that she spends 25% of her life trying to explain her nomenclature.

[paragonsoldier.livejournal.com]

I named my version of Shepard in Mass Effect Colene, and decided in the backstory I developed for her that her dad is Irish. "Colene" is an alternate spelling of the word "colleen," an Irish word for "girl."

[453-died-angry.livejournal.com]

Attila means 'little father' in indo-european dialects. Whether this means it was a jokey title and he had another given name it is not recorded. On the other hand, he had so many wives and concubines possible someone suggested he was trying to make himself father of the tribe quite literally.

[adiva_calandia]

I don't have time to do all my pups at the moment (curse you, class!) but Epimetheus means "hindsight." Which more or less defines the guy.

[adiva_calandia]

Right! Some of the rest.

Nita is actually short for Juanita, which means "God is gracious." (Why a family as clearly Irish as the Callahans named their first kid Juanita, I still wonder over. Dairine is very much an Irish name, after all, so why the random Spanish? Whatever.) Nita by itself means "Gift of God." Her middle name, Louise, means "Famous warrior." And Callahan means either "bright-headed" or "lover of churches."

So Nita's full name marks her as a bright warrior given by God.

*eyes the Whisperer*

Carmela is Hebrew for "garden." According to the Young Wizards wiki, her middle name, Emeda, is "an acronym made up of the initials of the first names of three of her aunts and two of her uncles." Rodriguez means "son of Rodrigo," and Rodrigo means "famous power."

Charles means, as pointed out by one of the Taos kids, means "free man." Wallace apparently means either "Welshman" -- appropriate, given Charles' journeys Within Welshmen in A Swiftly Tilting Planet -- or "stranger," which is also appropriate for the kid most people in the village find a little odd. Murry means "lives by the sea."

Valerie means "strength." 'Nuff said.

Tom, in Hebrew, means "innocence" or "purity." Thomas, in Greek, means "a twin." Yeah, I got nothing deep on that one.

Kim is a short form of either Kimberly or Kimball. Kimberly means "From The Meadow Of The Royal Fortress," and Kimball means "Royal and bold." So either way, apparently the Marquis in Magician's Ward is right -- Kim was meant to grace the drawing rooms of the ton, not roam the streets.

Nirupam means "without comparison," which is totally appropriate for the smartest kid -- and the only non-English kid -- in class 6B. Singh is a pretty common Sikh surname, and means "lion."

[sdelmonte]

Alexander means "defender of men." It's a name that suits a crusading and occasionally brave reporter. It's also my actual first name, and I've always liked having such a name. Knox is of Scottish ancestry, and literally means "little hill." It's also a name with a good deal of history, including John Knox, founder of the Scottish Presbyterian Church; Revolutionary War hero Henry Knox; and the noted art collector Seymour Knox. I think that Alex Knox is likely descended from Henry, and a distant relative of Seymour.

James is the Latin form of Jacob (which Batya and I think will be significant on Lost, BTW). Jacob literally means "holder of the heel." James is of course a very common name and the name of two apostles and several kings. I think that Kirk probably never thinks about this, though. Kirk is another Scottish name (though Diane Duane claimed in one of her Trek books that Jim was of Irish stock as well). It means "church" and refers often to the Scottish Church (meaning James Knox was at the kirk, no doubt). Thus James Kirk has a rather religious name for a rather agnostic man.

But let's not forget Kirk's middle name, Tiberius, taken from a Roman emperor. This is the name that seems to balance things out. He's just another man in some ways, just another James. But he's also not just another man with a middle name like that. (And in the rather entertaining if forgettable Shatner-written Trek novels, the mirror universe Kirk becomes Emperor Tiberius, a reflection of the darker side to the hero.)

Joshamee is probably derived from Joshua, meaning "God is my salvation." Which sort of suits the formely devout and currently superstitious pirate. Gibbs is apparently derived from Gilbert, which means "bright pledge," and also seems to suit so loyal a man.

Cyrus was the names of several Persian kings. It fits the dean's ego. I couldn't find anything on O'Dell in my googling, though.

[adiva_calandia]

O'Dell is probably derived from "of the dell," I'd imagine?

[candied-rabbit.livejournal.com]

Well, Momiji is a kind of maple that grows in Japan and turns pretty colors in autumn. And Momiji and pretty colors fit together pretty perfectly. Though, Wikipedia also tells me that, apparently, the author of his canon got the months of the Chinese Zodiac wrong in naming him, and, if she'd fit his Zodiac animal to his name, he'd be "Kureno," which is something to do with spring.

...But Momiji is totally a better name for him.

Dahlia refers to "valley" or a type of flower, neither of which really fits her, in my mind. Though her name is awesome, still.

Ganymede's name is a triumph of facepalmery. The site I looked it up on suggested two origins of the name, with, apparently, only one letter difference between the root words - either "gladdening prince" or "gladdening genitals." Given that it's Ganymede, though, one has to admit that both fit pretty well.

[arkadyevna.livejournal.com]

...either "gladdening prince" or "gladdening genitals." Given that it's Ganymede, though, one has to admit that both fit pretty well.

Hehe! This made me giggle. :D

[agonistes]

*starts laughing*

Dale Bartholomew Cooper has very, very special initials: D.B. Cooper. You know. That guy.

Bobby Singer is named for Robert Singer, one of Supernatural's executive producers.

There's a fair amount of spec on the Battlestar Wiki about exactly what Bill Adama's name is supposed to mean -- one camp tries to connect it to Adam, as in the first man, while another points out that it's the root of adamant, or diamond -- I think that's a Greek root. Both of them fit pretty well for various reasons.

That is all I have the brain for at the moment. D: 8am meetings that never happen mean I don't have coffee and I don't have anything to do. This is not good.

[sdelmonte]

I will remind you, of course, that the original BSG was intentionally trying to sound vaguely Ancient World (Apollo's name really was Apollo). So in terms of original intent, I'd say the former over the latter. Which doesn't mean that the latter isn't part of the current series' interpretation.

[mogget_cat]

Yrael, in canon, is almost exclusively called Mogget. A moggy is an old cat of indeterminate breed, while the suffix -et plays the same role as the feminine 'ette,' only is masculine. "Mogget" pretty much means little old cat.

The Black Rider uses a few names in canon, specifically "Mr Mitothin" and "Mr Hastings." Mitothin was the name of a hard-to-kill demon in Norse mythology, who sometimes is said to be another facet of Loki. I can only assume that "Mr Hastings" refers to the battle of Hastings, the decisive Norman victory in the Norman conquest of England. :D As the Dark is often associated with the people invasions of Britain, the Danes and such, it makes sense as a reference.

The Black Rider's former in-bar name was Mr. Aphelise, which was a complete joke that very few people got. His current name, the one he uses in Truman's world, is Adrian Doyle. 'Adrian' means 'Dark One,' fittingly, while 'Doyle' means 'Dark Stranger.'

Zelgadiss' name is his own, pretty much. I can't find much information on the origins of it.

[stuck-mynock.livejournal.com]

It's been suggested before by some peoples that 'Atton' is derivative from the Mandalorian atin (pronounced the same, I think), meaning 'stubborn.' Which would fit. Jaq is derivative of Jack which apparently is a pet name of John meaning "Yahweh is gracious." Fits less, really.

Victor is easy - Ultron probably picked out that name for the obvious connotations of, er, victory.

Teddy was named after his grandfather. Theodore means 'gift of god' which ... probably doesn't fit?

Seamus is just an Irish form of James. Probably relating to the apostle, so maybe indicative of a fairly religious upbringing?

Amatsu-Mikaboshi means 'August Star of Heaven.' So it relates to his nature as a deity, his nature as the god of stars, and has vague relation to the supposed symbol of Queen Hitoke's cult for him, a red sun. Probably just coincidence, but you also get a relation to the Standard Evil Figure in Christian mythology with the reference to bright stars, what with the Morningstar stuff for Lucifer.

[prix-etoile.livejournal.com]

I like the thought of Atton having a name that derives from a Mandalorian name. It does wonders to the plot bunnies that like to follow me around. *steps on them*

[ceitfianna]

I like this one though the Pirate King if he has another name he hasn't told me.

Borrowed from the wiki for Demeter: Demeter (pronounced /dɨˈmiːtɚ/; Greek: Δημήτηρ, possibly "distribution-mother" from the noun of the Indo-European mother-earth *dheghom *mater. Which makes sense as her daughter is the Maiden, she is Mother.

Will's full name is William Scarlett and in my own mythology, he's named for William the Conqueror since that's near enough in the past to make sense. In terms of his last name, Scarlett, it changes in different versions so my explanation is that the first family member of his in Nottingham was a lost Viking with red hair and so named for their hair.

According to a baby name site, William means strong willed-warrior, which I think fits quite well.

[arkadyevna.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I like your explanations for Will's name! Especially the lost Viking. I can definitely see Will having a bit of Viking in his blood.

[dragonofgrey.livejournal.com]

Sneaking in between studying: focusing on Behind the Name meanings

Nathan Petrelli - Means "giver" in Hebrew. In the Old Testament this is the name of a prophet and also a son of King David. This name can also function as a short form of JONATHAN or NATHANAEL. Also can mean gift. Which are interesting connotations for him, and points to some of things he's done already. Giving of himself to be sacrificed or targeted. (Also Kring loves using Biblical names for his characters) Petrelli is an Italian variation of 'Petros' or Rock. (so his brother's name is Peter Peter really 0.o)

Draco Malfoy - Dragon of Bad Faith. yeeeep, JKR's so not subtle is she? Also Draco's the name of a constellation that looks a bit like a stylized snake dragon. Really not surprising for the Slytherin pureblood wizard.

Katherine Elizabeth Bishop - Pure(From the Greek name Αικατερινη (Aikaterine). The etymology is debated: it could derive from the earlier Greek name ‘Εκατερινη (Hekaterine), which came from ‘εκατερος (hekateros) "each of the two"; it could derive from the name of the goddess HECATE; it could be related to Greek αικια (aikia) "torture"; or it could be from a Coptic name meaning "my consecration of your name". The Romans associated it with Greek καθαρος (katharos) "pure" and changed their spelling from Katerina to Katharina to reflect this.), consecrated to God(From Ελισαβετ (Elisabet), the Greek form of the Hebrew name אֱלִישֶׁבַע ('Elisheva') meaning "my God is an oath" or perhaps "my God is abundance". The Hebrew form appears in the Old Testament where Elisheba is the wife of Aaron, while the Greek form appears in the New Testament where Elizabeth is the mother of John the Baptist.).
Bishop: Either from the English occupational surname, or else directly from the English word. It is ultimately derived from Greek επισκοπας (episkopas) "overseer". She does kind of oversee her teammates, and helps them. Pure part they might be going for irony, or that she's trying to be pure despite what had happened to her.
Hawkeye - Keen eye of a hawk obviously.

John Smith - Could refer to the prophet of Revelations in the Bible, and canon has made references to this. From Behind the Name: English form of Iohannes, which was the Latin form of the Greek name Ιωαννης (Ioannes), itself derived from the Hebrew name יוֹחָנָן (Yochanan) meaning "YAHWEH is gracious". This name owes its consistent popularity to two New Testament characters, both highly revered as saints. The first was John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus Christ and a victim of beheading by Herod Antipas. The second was the apostle John, also supposedly the author of the fourth Gospel and Revelation. Smith means some ancestor was a blacksmith.

Peter Venkman - Petros or Rock, Venkman - possible meaning here (http://www.ectozone.com/gbfl/venkman.html) where Venk might mean fink. Well he's the son of a conman, and pretty tricky himself.

Truman Burbank - True man, which makes sense as being the only real guy in a tv studio world, and Burbank a Hollywood designation since that's where the studio dome is.

Aramis - Also from Behind the Name: The surname of one of the musketeers in 'The Three Musketeers' by Alexandre Dumas. Dumas based the character on Henri d'Aramitz, whose surname was derived from the French village of Aramits.

[canadabear.livejournal.com]

Draco Malfoy - Dragon of Bad Faith. yeeeep, JKR's so not subtle is she? Also Draco's the name of a constellation that looks a bit like a stylized snake dragon. Really not surprising for the Slytherin pureblood wizard.

And let's not forget the Black's tradition of naming after stars/constellations. I think that settles who wears the pants in the Narcissa/Lucius marriage if the mother got to name the first born son, hmm? :)

[dr_temperance]

Temperance Brennan: Her first name literally means moderation and self-restraint in word or action; self-control.

What I find interesting about Brennan's moniker is that (according to TV canon) it was not originally her given name. Her real name was Joy.

When her family was forced to go underground/into hiding when Brennan was three-years-old they all assumed new identities. I thought (as I'm sure the writers did) that it was very telling that Brennan went from being Joy to being Temperance.

[bcgphoenix]

Heh. All of my active characters have what I so fondly like to call Name Issues: for whatever reason, they're not too enamored of their real name, so they pick a new one and go by that as either a big or little "screw you" to the world. It's one of those traits I seem to gravitate toward unconsciously, probably because of my own experiences and my belief in the power of naming things. But I will not tl;dr about that here. *g*

Anyway! Both of Sylar's names highlight some pretty key ironies that I have fun playing with sometimes. The biggest one is that even though he chose it as a means of indicating a fresh start and a brand new life, "Sylar" comes from, of all things, a watch brand -- so by sheer design, he is never going to fully shake his watchmaker roots, no matter how much distance he puts between himself and who he used to be. Evolutionary imperative, yo. (It's also a nice indicator of his inflexibility and lack of creativity, I think.) Meanwhile, "Gabriel," as a certain character so cheerfully points out, is one of the Biblical angels, which: hah. Hah. Hah.

(Though that becomes less ironic if you read the interpretations that cast Gabriel as the angel of death. Then it's disturbingly fitting. :D?)

Mac's short for "Mackenzie," her last name, because she really doesn't like being called "Cindy." The way she put it once, Millicanonically, was that it makes he feel like she ought to stick her hair in pigtails and start wearing frilly pink socks or something.

Mercer's a distortion of "Mercury." Ask him, and he'll tell you that he picked it just because he wanted a change. The real reasons run deeper than that, I think, but hell if I know what they are yet. (And if I still haven't figured them out two and a half years later, I'm not sure I ever will.)

[misslucyjane]

John is one of the most commonly used names in the English speaking world and most (probably all) western languages have some version of it. So it's probably fitting that three of my characters have it for a name.

Jack is used in a lot of phrases and sayings (and fairy tales and stories and so on) just to stand for "everyman" or "we didn't know his name so we called him Jack" kinds of things, so it's only appropriate that the green god became Jack-in-the-green, or Jack Green as he calls himself in Milliways (and being a god from a time when names had a particular power [Rumplestilksen, anyone?] he has a number of names of various publicity, including the one he's forgotten. He'll get it back someday, but he doesn't need it right now.)

My back story for 1941!Jack is that he was named John after his father and called Jack to keep them straight, and never tells anybody to call him John. (Harkness, by the way, is a Scottish name. There's even a Harkness plaid.)

Ianto is a diminutive for Ifan, which is a Welsh form of John. I find it interesting that Ianto basically goes by a nickname, and probably a child's one at that. (In another game where I play Ianto he's told people it's basically the equivelant to being called Johnny, and that his actual name on his birth certificate is Ifan. But that probably won't come into play in the bar.)

More edits! Because I forgot about Jones, which is number 2 in the most common names in the English speaking world (how many characters have been named Jones in the DW/TW universe, after all? I can think of 3 at the moment). It's also something unique about Welsh naming conventions: the Welsh were later than most cultures to adopt the current method of surnames and were still using "son of" and "daughter of" conventions until, I think the 1600s (I'd have to look it up, this is off the top of my head.) So the pool of Welsh last names is small in comparison to the rest of the UK, and you'll meet a lot of Joneses there.

Archy is a diminutive of Archibald, which is Germanic and means "genuine" and "bold." archy tells it like it is, I suppose.

[landlesslord]

..Jones-wise, I can think of Martha, Ianto ...and then I get lost. And then I think hey! What about Martha's mum, dad, brother, sister, cousin...

[leeshajoy.livejournal.com]

Bob's name actually comes from Blackadder, because the series creators liked the way Rowan Atkinson said 'Bob' in the first episode of the second series. (:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bells_%28Blackadder%29") Go figure.

Dominic comes from Dominicus, which is Latin for 'of the Lord.' Deegan comes from Dugan, which is Celtic for 'of dark complexion.' I suspect the name was picked more for alliteration than for any deep meaning.

Artie's name is a diminutive form of his lab serial number, RT-4578.

Audrey II is, of course, named for Seymour Krelborn's sweetheart Audrey.

Osaka was dubbed that by her classmate Takino Tomo by virtue of having transferred to Tokyo from Osaka. She's become identified with that nickname to the point where not even her teachers remember her real name anymore.

Kit's real name is Katya, which is a Russian version of Katherine, meaning 'pure.' Possibly chosen for ironic value, since Kit is about as impure a person as you can get. Baxter is an Anglo-Saxon name meaning 'baker.'

A caprice is a sudden, impulsive change of mind, which is apropos for a person who is a small part of a larger group intellect.