Harsh or evil sounding names

Heh. Vagira just looks to me like someone mistyped Viagra.

Maybe hust a wee bit evil. But with staying power.

 

Hey, Cog, what was wrong with that link of mine? I thought it was pretty in line with the rules.

Also, my post makes no sense without it.

 

The link did not contribute substantially, and required members to follow it in order to follow your point. Please read Attention, please, regarding offsite links.

 

Oh, I see! I just have to summarize it in a way that makes my post non-link dependent, yes? No worries, then.

 

@Anders: How do you pronounce that version you offered that most people would supposedly follow? And ew, accent marks. I don't know how to pronounce stuff with accent marks.

 

Is this guy human? I just need to establish that.

 

I think Claude sounds evil..but like someone said, I think their potrayal in the book should be what makes the name invoke a sense of evil.

 

personally ive never thought that a special name should be given. if a guy is born who is, say, part demon, you arent going to call him something like 'Lucifer' are you?
this is just my personal opinion though and i agree with Crave.

just my opinion for whats it worth

 

I doubt you did this on purpose, but Samhael ends with what sounds like hell, a word associated with evil. I think it reads easier reduced to Samhel. Or what about Somhel = some hell.

 

Somhel sounds like a Pokemon.

[/Just saying.]

(The issue is being over-thought here, people.)

 

I don't know much about pokimon, but they have names like Pikachu.

You could drop the H and get Samael, the name of the angel of death in Jewish lore. Also known as Yetzer Hara, Ha'satan, and Melekh Ha'movit.

Melekh Ha'movit = angel of death.

 

Angel names are always fun, so long as the evil in question is undeniably powerful and unquestionably evil. On a normal guy, names like Leliel and Zaphramael just don't sound quite right.

 

You know what? If I, at the age I am now, picked up Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's/Philosopher's Stone, and read it without having read any Harry Potter book before, I would not associate Voldemort with evil or horror or anything. Of course, Voldemort comes from several phrases in other languages having to do with death, the most literal translation being "Flight of Death", so if I bothered to translate, I would see that meaning. But at the same time, it sounds like a very cliche fantasy name, with the French word for "death" stuck at the end. It sounds harsh, and depending on how you view it, it can sound either very ugly and harsh or, if you say it in just the right way, almost elegant.

Now, I associate "Voldemort" with all sorts of bad things, especially since the much darker sixth and seventh installments in the series. I read Harry Potter for the first time many years ago, and it has become imprinted in my mind's eye. But there's nothing evil about the name. When, in the Harry Potter series, people become terrified upon hearing the name "Voldemort" said aloud, you begin to think of it with fear, just like the characters. But that's not the name itself.

If you hear about a boring guy that owns your local grocery store named "Mortimer", do you think of him as being evil because his name contains the root word "mort"? No. It's all about how the author portrays the character.

For example, I recently read a novel by John Grisham called The Associate. The main character is blackmailed into stealing highly important secrets from a large law firm, secrets that have to do with the government. The blackmailer is a man who calls himself "Benny Wright", though this is merely an alias. He has an unlimited budget and a whole team of people to track, tail, and monitor the protagonist constantly.

The name "Benny" sounds very juvenile to me, and is not in the least imposing. But after reading the book, you begin to associate the name with the darker traits of the character, and all the enigma and power that the character has. The fact that Benny is never caught or brought to justice, coupled with the evidence suggesting that he works for the upper echelons of U.S. government, makes him seem very devious and powerful indeed. But the name "Benny Wright" is not evil at all, or harsh, or anything.

If you want the name to match the character, don't focus too much on his moral alignment; instead think about his lineage, his heritage, his nationality, etc. If the name sounds dark or imposing, all the better, but that's not necessary.

Does "Big Brother" sound like an oppressive, enigmatic government figure? It certainly doesn't sound like that to begin with, but anyone who's read George Orwell's 1984 will disagree.

It's all up to you.

 

once you start writing his character, whatever name you choose is going to seem just as evil as you wanted. just choose something you think sounds breezy and run with it. the name doesn't make the character, it's the other way around.

 

In your first post you say he's evil and a demoness... is it male or female? The most evil beings recorded don't have names that sound all that evil. Lillith for example, the first wife of Adam expelled from the garden for not submitting to Adam in the missionary position, or so the story has it. She's the basis for tons of Jewish scary tales.

The bible is a fountain of names of other evil enteties and its facinating reading too!

 

Exactly. Although the story has changed considerably, I still wanted a name that felt... demonic. In Jewish Lore, Samael is the Angel of Death. Samhain is the Gaelic festival of the death. So, I just combined Samael with Samhain. The result was Samhael. And don't worry people, I'll be sure to make it evil throughout the story.

 

The Antagonist. I have so many, and yet so many don't make the final cut. When it comes to names my favourite antagonist names are

Salamandra the Forbidden God
Elijas Darkening
Danou, Prince of the Shadow Realm (Until I thought i don't want you in this story anymore)
Darius Hand aka the Dark Hand - Hand as in right hand of the Forbidden God. The Priest.
Timur Maxim, The Collective Leader of the Russian Confederacy in my Unification Series

Those are just some names, I've dreamt up although some names for my characters don't sound evil, James Short, Hivemind Truth, Hacker, the list is endless. The name itself doesn't always have to be something random you could give them a title instead, for some reason my lead scientist in Genesis Research Industries is called the Mad Scientist.

Personally good or evil i just love dreaming up names, combining names.

 

Hmm... Here are some I could think of:

-The Grotesque (Horrible ugly creature)
-Cringe (Take a verb and turn it into a name)
-Lord Void (Pretty obvious)
-Dr. Chlorine (Chlorine triggers an image of hazardous chemicals when I read it, and I'd bind it with his actions)
-Dr. Atmosphere (Sounds big and powerful)
-Arctus (From the word "arctic", triggering "cold" and "hard". I suppose it's a bit cliché)

TheComet

 

No offense but they all sound rather cliched. Something to keep in mind for naming villains is that the antagonist's parents are unlikely to know that he's going to grow up to be evil so they're not going to give him an evil name. Cool sounding names are good but please no Stabdeath McMurdersteins

 

Non taken

You're right, they are all very cliché and obvious. If you think about it though, I don't think any of the great villain names could be used as a normal name... I remember reading a book about vampires and one of the villain's name was "Murlough". Now try and give that name to an innocent child. Doesn't work, does it? The child is destined to be evil just because of the name.

A common trick is to use a Turkish name : Canberk, Barlas, Berk...

TheComet

 

Names do have a certain power, but to say that someone is destined to be evil just because of their name is, in my opinion, a case in poor plot device choice.

I see it this way: well crafted villains are the way they are because they all, somewhere deep inside, suffer from rejection issues. The behavioral outcomes may vary based on the person's backstory, but the underlying, subconscious thought process might look something like, "No one loves me, so I shall either (a) find someone and make them love me, or (b) make those that no longer love me suffer." Just like you or I, or anyone in reality for that matter, characters are the way they are because of the choices they make. Say you kill someone. You are then branded a bad guy. Whatever your reasons, whether good or bad, only you really know, but you are no longer acceptable to the general public. Likewise, if I save someone from a burning building, I will thus be known as a hero and good guy. Though things are rarely so black and white, especially in a well crafted novel.

I was recently looking for "bad guy" names, and I came across the name Aislinn. Aislinn is Gaelic, and it simply means dream. I thought this was perfect because I am crafting a bad guy that I knew only as The Dream Thief. Aislinn gives him a little more significance. Now, it wasn't the name that destined him to become The Dream Thief. He was one day rejected, and did some things that sealed his fate. He didn't repent; why should he, he was clearly in the right. It was his choices that led him down a "dark path", and for it he was imprisoned by some magic users, and seeks for a way to free himself and exact revenge on those that did him wrong. Or something like that, I'm still working on the logistics of it all.

Anyways, I know this was a bit of a rant. I just saw some strange ideas here, and I thought I would give my two cents for whatever it is worth. As some have said prior, it is all about how the bad guy is crafted that gives the name its menacing feeling. Jason is a common name for a common American dude, but thanks to the horror film industry, any fan (or not) knows that Jason was a brutal bad guy. Murlough may be a common name in some other country, and it certainly doesn't sound menacing to me. If anything, it looks like a re-spelling of a really good wine (merlot), and so it makes me think it is some sort of fantastical drink, but I'm sure he was one bad dude in whatever book that was. Aislinn is just a name, a nice name at that - hell, it simply means dream. But I plan to bring the name to the table as a name that you fear when you hear it through the power of literature.