With tremendous effort, the champion-knight pushed the silvered blade deep into the chest of the dragon, slicing through its cords of life. When, after excruciating effort, the hilt of the sword pressed against the bloodied flesh of the dying beast, the knight looked into its understanding eyes and said, “Do you remember me, clan killer? Do you remember the name of thee who ye’ve wronged most across all of England?”
The great monster’s mouth moved, but it formed no sounds beyond a decaying wheeze. Fear was present in its eyes, perhaps for the first time in its long centuries. But there was no recognition. The knight had finally attained her revenge against the fell creature that took everything from her; she was not about to let it die unknowing. Still holding the sword hilt-deep in its breast, she leaned forward towards its massive head, and spoke:
“I. Am. Brittney Tandy.”
Whoever heard of a knight called Brittney Tandy? It’s certainly a wonder the dragon didn’t burst out a burning laugh as it lay dying — to be laid low by a knight with such a ridiculous name. But why is that name that name so out of place, and how can your next blade-brandishing heroine avoid the same embarrassment?
Start with this simple cheat sheet:
- Start by going through words on Wikitionary, a random name generator, a baby name list, or your some of your favorite series, and see what you like — and what fits with your setting. You don’t probably want a Zaphod Beeblebrox running around your gritty, dark ages King Arthur story. For example, in this classic fantasy story, I want to find names that would be at home in northwestern medieval Europe.
- Go through all those things you like, and figure out which ones have the right feeling — and maybe add a few more that come to mind. I want to fix Brittney Tandy, so I want names that feel “knightly,” but also “heroic.” Certain names will evoke this better than others, either because they are associated with people who embody those traits, the name has a meaning which fits, or the literal sounds of the name just feel right.
- With the remaining names, look through them with an eye towards which ones match any themes and messages you want to convey. Not everything needs symbolism, but it can often add an extra layer of depth! For my dragon-slayer I want a name that represents femininity, relates to dragons somehow, and is European without being especially British-sounding.
There is a lot more to a name in fiction than there is in reality, and names can tell you more about fictional characters than real people. Follow those steps, and read on below, and you’ll have a good grounding on how to make you next fantasy character name a winner.
How to Make Fantasy Names to Fit the Setting
Brittney Tandy fits into a fantasy England, no questions asked. That’s important. If your reader or your audience’s first reaction is to confusion as to how someone named Pa’u Zhaan ended up in Rimchester on Longshire Lake, you might be in trouble. Sometimes you want a character that sticks out like a sore thumb, but when it’s unintentional, or when it feels like it wasn’t very thought out, it will only lead to giggles and eyerolls. What’s worse, you’ll need to spend valuable time explaining why they’re there. Time that can be used elsewhere. Sometimes this can be useful, but you will want the vast majority of names to “fit in” with their setting, where it doesn’t require explanation that takes time away from the rest of your story.
And, when it comes to Brittney Tandy, we are in luck… Kinda.
Both “Brittney” and “Tandy” were somewhat popular names in Medieval England. By technical metrics, they fit. This means that we don’t need to stop the story to explain how she ended up in Medieval England, though we might need to explain her knighthood. She simply has a name which people would have in the setting, easy as that. This is the luxury of making sure the names you have fit the setting: a name that fits the setting never needs to be explained, and doesn’t pose any risk of confusing the reader.
That said, not every setting-appropriate name feels how we want. Brittney Tandy is one of those names, in fact. Which brings us to…
Word Association
So, Brittney’s name fits into a stereotypical faux-British medieval fantasy setting, at least technically. But that doesn’t mean it works for a high fantasy, dragon-slaying badass. To understand why, we need to tackle word association.
Every word has feelings attached to it, and that often goes into overdrive for names. Take Bruce for example — a name that conjures up images of lonesome vigilantes standing tall on a neo-Gothic roof, or renegade heroes wrecking cars and blowing up buildings to save their kidnapped niece. Whatever the case, Bruce is the name of a certified tough guy. Let’s imagine a fictional Bruce as an example, an we will call him Bruce Sterling. Now, what is he like? Superspy? Muscled hero?
Well, time for the reveal. The real Bruce Sterling is a bespectacled futurist with a stack of award winning cyberpunk stories. Very cool, but hardly the alter ego of a giant green rage monster (most likely). What gives?
Well, reality doesn’t care about what we expect out of name, but stories do. Most people (including, most likely, you) thought of Bruce Sterling, when he was fictional, as fitting in with your schema of other action-packed, tough guy Bruce’s. The real Bruce Sterling probably didn’t match that imagining, but that doesn’t mean we can’t, as storytellers, use that power of association. Humans are pattern forming creatures, so take advantage of those patterns to give your audience an immediate idea of who they are dealing with.
Back to Brittney: When you meet a Brittney in your daily life you (hopefully) don’t judge them based on abused 90s pop-stars and cartoon chipmunks, but when you meet a fictional Brittney in a book, show, or game, you make those assumptions to fill in information about their character. And, most likely, you aren’t picturing a dragon hunter. Neither “Brittney” nor “Tandy” evoke anything heroic in our pattern recognition brains. The people and characters aren’t especially chivalric, and even the sounds of the name sound light and unserious, like skipping stones.
Themes, Messages, and Metaphor
We, as storytellers, know how a story goes. We know how a story fits together, like a puzzle, and how the purpose of most stories is to share something to the audience. Usually, that something is a message or theme (sometimes several). Here’s where names come in: Names can inform a character’s relationship to the themes, messages, and metaphors of a work.
So what does Brittney Tandy’s name tell us about her? Well, it’s an especially feminine name, with little room for androgyny. It is a name that would lead many to underestimate her. But “Tandy” is a name that might remind people of the Tandy Leather Company, so there is at least some toughness there, if you squint. This could mean that her name could lend itself to a story about the hidden might of women. But even then, it isn’t great, and those themes are all a stretch at best. And don’t even get me started on “Brittney” being a name that could have some odd associations — if she is defending Britain, her namesake, from foreign invaders. Might not give off the intended messages.
Even if we assume that we wanted to have the theme in question, about the hidden might of women, you could create thousands of names that would work better: “Cynthia” and “Rose” come to mind immediately, and if want to draw from history we might get even stronger connections to mighty women in the form of “Mary,” “Joan,” or even “Lilith.” These all fit within the setting, and conjure up much more powerful, dragon-fight-capable images than “Brittney” ever could, while having a more considered thematic relevance. See how that works?
That said, this does deserve a word of warning: not all names need to be attached to symbols, metaphors, and themes. It runs the risk of telegraphing the character’s arc to the audience, and particularly on-the-nose examples can elicit sneers and cringes. At the same time, it is almost always worth taking the extra effort for a main character — like the knight in question.
Our Fantasy Name List
So, let’s try to think of a name that might fit better. We are going to try to encompass all three discussed elements: it is going to be setting-appropriate, make good use of word association to create a mental image, and fit in with some common themes of a chivalric story. This should lead us to a game of elimination: you can bring the vast multitude of possible names into a short list of just a few, and then decide from there. Here are mine:
- Marie Fironette
- Rosalie Allard
- Valencia Torres
- Elena Candella
- Aclinde Acord
- Ember Voclain
- Tindra Vulkan
- Lara Wolfe
- Aithne O’Flynn
- Tana Hestia
- Fira Lambros
- Circe Drakos
Even the worst of those is a remarkably better fantasy knight name than Brittney Tandy. They’re all a bit dragon-y (draconic?), and either sound feminine or are connected to famous women, and — in my opinion — have powerful word associations that make it easy to imagine a mighty warrior. Some of them might be a tad excessive, but it adds to the bombast of a dragon fight. In short, all of these names — even if they aren’t your cup of tea — blow Brittney Tandy out of the water and straight into the dragonfire. Personally, I think I’ll be renaming the character “Ember Voclain” on the rewrite.
