Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is Top Ten Character Names I Love or Top Ten Unusual Character Names.
I especially get a kick out of long, weird, or silly names. I had a hard time coming up with ten different characters, but then I decided to shift my focus a bit to fictional worlds with amazing character names — and also decided not to worry about counting to ten.
Here are five favorite worlds, and some of the amazing names you’ll find there:
1) The worlds of Gail Carriger are filled with truly terrific character names:
From The Parasol Protectorate series:
- Ivy Hisselpenny
- Major Channing Channing of the Chesterfield Channings
- Felicity Loontwill
And from the Finishing School series:
- Sophronia Temminnick
- Mrs. Barnaclegoose
- Dimity Ann Plumleigh-Teignmott
- Agatha Woosmoss
- Lord Dingleproops
- And the adorable Bumbersnoot!
2) From the twisted mind of Christopher Moore, we have:
- Biff (from Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal)
- Abby Normal (You Suck and Bite Me)
- Minty Fresh (Coyote Blue and A Dirty Job)
- Steve (The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove; Steve is the title character!)
3) In the Harry Potter universe, I love the names that are fun to say:
- Bellatrix Lestrange
- Severus Snape (and actually, fun to sing, especially if you’re a fan of Potter Puppet Pals)
- Minerva McGonagall
- Filius Flitwick
- Aberforth Dumbledore
Stop me! I could go on and on with this one…
4) From A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin:
This one is really more of a title, I suppose, but I just love every time she announces herself and the title has gotten even longer. The one, the only:
- Daenerys Stormborn of House Targaryen, the Unburnt, Mother of Dragons, Khaleesi, Queen of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, Breaker of Shackles, Queen of Meereen. And so on. (There’s probably more that I’ve left out!)
5) And just because. Because no list is complete without an Outlander salute:
- James Alexander Malcolm McKenzie Fraser
Okay, I recognize that this is not at all a top 10 list… more like a top 5 list with a bunch of details… but this is what I came up with!
What fabulous character names do you love? Got any particular long, glorious names that I should know about? And do you know of any more titles for Daenerys? Please share!
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Bookshelf Fantasies 
Great names 😀 I loved reading some of them. I think the Harry Potter series has some amazing character names.
Definitely! It was hard to stop once I started thinking about Harry Potter’s world — Helga Hufflepuff, Salazar Slytherin, Narcissa Malfoy… it just goes on and on!
JAMMF! Yes!! 🙂 That is all.
Absolutely! JAMMF belongs on ALL the lists, no matter what the topic! 🙂
I guess Aberforth is more interesting than Albus, but I just love that his full name is Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore.
Oh, absolutely! I almost went with Albus and all of his middle names… but I just really like saying “Aberforth Dumbledore”! 🙂
I will forever love the names in the Harry Potter series. Though I am dying to know how a lot of fantasy authors come up with the names in their books!
I agree — I’m always amazed by fantasy authors’ imaginations, including the character names, the amazing locations, the world building, etc!
I definitely agree that the names from the Harry Potter series and the A Song of Ice and Fire series are awesome. I couldn’t pick just one name from either, so both of those series made my list.
So hard to pick just one! After I finished the list, I started regretting all the other Ice & Fire names that I didn’t include… Off to peek at your list now — thanks for stopping by! 🙂
Oh wow, what a list! I love these, don0t even know first two compilations but they sound so funny! 😀
And omg Dany’s full name! I get all misty reading it, is that weird? 😀 That girl will get far 😀 Great lists! 🙂
I know what you mean about Dany — especially on the TV show, every time she announces herself and her title has gotten longer, I want to cheer for her! If you get a chance, you should check out the Gail Carriger books — not sure of your book tastes, but if you enjoy steampunk with a whimsical, humorous tone, she’s the one!
Minty Fresh!!! I’d forgotten about him 🙂
Ooh, are you a Christopher Moore fan? I love Minty Fresh’s name, and I especially love him as a character! Thanks for stopping by!
Lol! Bellatrix Lestrange, Daenerys Stormborn of House Targaryen and James Alexander Malcolm McKenzie Fraser all stand out for me – but J K Rowling gets the absolute win. 🙂 Awesome list honey! 🙂
Oh, thanks! I tend to gravitate to names that I get a kick out of saying (and also toward anything Jamie-related!). It was hard to stop once I got going with Harry Potter names! 🙂
Lol! 🙂
Gotta love the Harry Potter and Game of Thrones names! A few of them made my list too. 😀
My TTT
I think we could start naming great names from those series, and make it a top 100 list! They’re so amazing, in so many ways. Thanks!
Cool list, although I haven’t heard or read about some of those name!
Our List
Doris @ Owl Always Be Reading
Thanks! I’m looking forward to seeing what you picked!
Felicity Loontwill! awesome name! @Get Lost in Lit
Gail Carriger, to me, is the queen of ridiculous/adorable names — and Felicity’s character perfectly matches the silliness of her name too. Thanks for stopping by!
So many great names to pick from the Song of Ice and Fire books, and I say this as someone who has only watched the show and not (YET!) read the books. I think Stannis Baratheon is my favorite name, even though I don’t like the character. It has a very solid and somewhat menacing feel.
Thanks for visiting!
Stephanie @ Inspiring Insomnia
Oh, yes, Stannis Baratheon is a good one — at least in terms of names! Definitely check out the books when you have a chance! Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
LOl Major Channing Channing of the Chesterfield Channings, this name is so silly and funny. I also agree about Daenerys, I’m amazed by how much titles in her name, it’s a mouthful.