hmm…I mostly agree with the Guardian article about Harry Potter names – I’ve mixed feelings, but especially for the spell, the names are often very good.

For the most part names in a series only jump out when they are very bad, otherwise they tend to blend in – which is a good thing.

Authors who do it well:

Robert Jordan immediately comes to mind. He did lots of research into cultures, mytholgy, legend, religion, etc. when coming up with his names. And they blend in well – just different enough to be other-worldly, but not so different as to stand out.

Another author that does well is Steven Erikson – in his Malazan novels, it’s rather mixed. But the shorter novellas set in the Malazan world, and The Lees of Laughter’s End in particular, have absolutely brilliant names.

Absolutely Gene Wolfe – especially the way he reuses existing names and words in interesting ways (destrier, arquebus, oubliette…).
Also, the article mentions Le Guin, and that gets a definite hell yeah from me. Everything about that setting was so damn evocative.
I don’t mind the apostrophes in McCaffery so much, but the dragon names irritated me – or rather, the fact that they required a pronunciation guide irritated me (Mnementh? Buh?)
Now I’m off to write the continuing adventures of my barbarian hero, ””””””’

Mervyn Peake – his names feel very Dickensian without being too obvious and they do make it very clear to new readers what sort of world they’re entering into.

Also Gene Wolfe, who I need to reread. The Guardian article mentions Garner, whose writing I love, but I’d really never thought of from that angle.

Names should definitely mean something, I agree. They should reflect a the culture from which they come from. I mean, I think a few readers might bat an eye when they read about the conqueror of ages and revered scholar of Barra-Kholth: Steve.

Technically, we do write fantasy, don’t we? While there’s a definite trend toward interpreting “low/gritty fantasy” as being a recreation of medieval England with new politics, I don’t think we need to be wringing our hands worriedly over whether a guy from a fantastic culture has a fantastic name.

But I’ve noticed a sort of subconscious desire in the readership to look for these flaws, perhaps to address them before they come out in an attempt to stymie criticism from mainstream literature. I’m not quite sure why we have to act as though we need to please people who don’t read fantasy.

I like names that have an otherworldly feel but aren’t’ too complicated for me to remember. I recently read a fantasy book where the characters all had very modern sounding names, and this put me off a bit.

Did anyone read the first comment though? Genius! My vote goes for Le Guin. I also love the names of the characters in the prince of nothing series. Anasurimbur Kelhus and Drusas Achamian. Not difficult to say and yet totally different. I once read a book (I think it was Chaz Brenchley? Not sure), where a female character was called Tigrinia, which is the language spoken in Eritrea where I’m from, so that didn’t work for me at all..

@Sam – I do actually have a Troll called Joseph, but that’s only because his race adopted easier-sounding Christian names after being converted by Catholic missionaries.

All my other names are created by how they sound rather than how they look on the page. Nothing worse than an unpronounceable name with lots of apostrophes

@Stefan: You’ve pretty much stumbled across the golden rule there, haven’t you? An otherworldly name doesn’t have to be loaded with apostrophes and weird naming conventions.

Personally, whenever I want to name someone, I just sort of use the sound they make and go off that.

I think names in fantasy should not be to difficult. And unfortunately there seems to be a lot of apostrophes floating around. I don’t know who started it, but sometimes it seems like there’s a consensus that apostrophes make anything fantasy. And I dont like it.

I’m Norwegian so I thought I’d supply you with some additional information on something Mark wrote.

The word “gata” is still in everyday use in Norwegian. It is interchangeable with “gaten”, they mean “the street”. As in “Kirkegata”=”The Church Street”.

And as for the Norse language often being used in fantasy, take a look at this http://bit.ly/aokd2L and see if you recognize any names in 10-15.(A little note “Eikenskjalde” at the end of 13 would be “Oakenshield” in English.)

I prefer to not have to fight associations I already have with “real” names. For example, my brother’s name being Sam very much influenced my experience of the character Samwise Gamgee. I’d like to be able to get to know a character the way the author intended. Granted I’ll eventually form my own personal opinion of that character, but starting with a clean slate is important.

@Mark – I certainly didn’t mean to imply that it was a failing, just personal preference.