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{{trope}}
[[Meaningful Name|Character names]] are by no means exempt from (more than) occasional [[Literary Allusion Title|literary allusion]].
== ''[[Discworld]]'' ==
* The names for camels. Each camel's name is what they hear themselves called most often, e.g. "Evil Minded Son of a Bitch", "You Bastard", and "Evil Smelling Bugger".
{{quote|"That's an odd name for a camel..."
"S'a good name for THIS camel!" }}
* Some human characters also have names like this -- the [[Serial Killer]] [[Knife Nut|villain]] of ''[[Night Watch (Discworld)|Night Watch]]'' is named Carcer (as in ''incarcerate''--and as in "Carcer," the name of an ancient Roman prison) Dun (as in ''whodunit'').
* Death's apprentice, Mort (short for Mortimer), from [[Mort|the book of the same name]].
* In ''[[Thief of Time]]'':
** The Auditor who first assumes human shape calls herself Myria LeJean -- "myriad" and "legion", referring to the Auditors' lack of individuality. After she pulls a [[Heel Face Turn]], Susan convinces her to adopt the name "Unity" instead.
** Another character is named [[wikipedia:Lobsang Rampa|Lobsang]] [[wikipedia:Ned Ludd|Ludd]].
* In ''[[The Truth]]'':
** William de Worde, who becomes the editor of Ankh-[[Morpo Yrk]]'s first newspaper. Also, his first name means "protector", so his name is "Protector of the word", which shows in his always telling the truth as much as he can. (William's surname may well have come from the printer and publisher [[w:Wynkyn de Worde|Wynkyn de Worde]], who was the first to make printed products popular in England.)
** Otto von Chriek, the vampire iconographer, is almost certainly named after the Dutch painter [[w:Otto Marseus van Schrieck|Otto Marseus van Schrieck]], who depicted highly realistic still lifes with insects, snakes and amphibians. Naturally, since the two creators are parallels but opposites, the iconographer is obsessed with light while the Roundworld painter tends toward heavily shadowed art (albeit with highlighted subjects).
** Goodmountain the printer, whose name is [[Bilingual Bonus|a literal translation of the German "Gutenberg".]]
** Goodmountain's colleagues Boddony, Caslong and Gowdie (named after the typefonts Bodoni, Caslon and Goudy which were in turn named after their makers).
* [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] in ''[[The Wee Free Men]]'' when Miss Tick points out that this is "a good name for a witch" because it sounds like "mystic". Less obvious is her first name, Perspicacia, which comes from "perspicacious", meaning "observant".
** The illustrated edition reveals that when the Toad [[Baleful Polymorph|was still a lawyer]] he was named Mr James Natter. A double example: lawyers talk a lot, and "Natter, Jack".
* [[Sweet Polly Oliver|Polly "Oliver" Perks]] in ''[[Monstrous Regiment]]''.
** And Lt Blouse, since the first impression of him is that he's rather wet and uncertain: "a big girl's blouse".
* Reacher Gilt in ''[[Going Postal (Discworld)|Going Postal]]'' is viciously grasping (hence the Reacher) and skilled at making things look more valuable than they are (hence the Gilt). It's strongly hinted that he chose the name deliberately, because he's the sort of person who finds it funny to ''tell'' people they're being conned in a way they won't notice. Possibly also a [[Take That]] aimed at John ''[[Atlas Shrugged|Galt]]'', or a reference to [[Treasure Island|being a pirate]].
* Eumenides Treason, a witch who's made herself into a symbol of harsh judgment in ''[[Wintersmith]]'', shares her first name with the Furies.
* In ''[[The Fifth Elephant]]'', we find that wolves in the wild don't have names so much as descriptions, which leads to some awkwardness when Gaspode introduces Carrot to a lowly omega wolf known as [[Unfortunate Names|Arsehole]]: "So, in fact, it's the name of this wolf you want to know?"
* Parodied in ''[[Lords and Ladies]]'', where the last names of the members of the Lancre Morris Men are professions, but never ''their'' professions; Carter is a baker, Carpenter is a tailor, and so on. Except for Tinker the tinker.
* Mr A. E. Pessimal in ''[[Thud!]]'' Someone who is pessimistic only sees the negatives of his life; the opposite of an optimist. Mr Pessimal is a government inspector; his job is to look for problems with the Watch so they can be fixed; i.e. for things that are the opposite of optimal.
** "Pessimal" is also an allusion to [[w:Simplexity#In_science|algorithms]], which is fitting, since A.E. is one of Lord Vetinari's clerks and can make numbers sit up and beg.
* 71-Hour Ahmed in ''[[Jingo]]''. He was given the name "71-Hour" because his tribe were duty bound to offer hospitality for three days, i.e. 72 hours, to anyone. He ended up having as a guest someone he knew to be a criminal who had poisoned a well, and rather than wait the full three days and give him a chance to run away, he killed him with one hour left to go. (The name is mainly meaningful in-universe, but it's ''possible'' to connect some of the dots before he tells the full story if you're good at math when the first members of the tribe Vimes encounters talk about three days of hospitality, or if you know that the same custom does exist, or at least is rumored to exist, among some real-life desert nomads.)
* Trevor Likely in ''[[Unseen Academicals]]''. A "likely lad" is a skilled sportsman or a known troublemaker; he's both. (The fact he's a [[Phrase Catcher]] for "You're Dave Likely's son!" adds the "lad" bit.)
* The philosopher [[w:Ibid.|Ibid]] from ''[[Pyramids]]'', who "[thinks he's] the biggest bloody authority on everything."
* Inverted with the Carter family, who are introduced in ''[[Lords and Ladies]]''. Mr. and Mrs. Carter used the common convention of naming their daughters after virtues, and the somewhat-less-common one of naming their sons after vices. As it turned out, each of them behaved in a manner exactly opposite of what their name would suggest; for example, Charity Carter was very stingy, Chastity Carter was a woman of ill repute, and Hope was a depressive, while Bestiality Carter was always kind to animals.
* Regarding the names of the Lancre witches, PTerry had this to say: "In Margaret Murray's book ''The Witch Cult in Western Europe'' you will find a number of Magrats and Magrets, and a suggestion that they were not misspellings but an earlier form of Margaret; also in the lists of those arraigned for witchcraft are the surnames Garlick, Device and Nutter. No Oggs or Weatherwaxes, though."
== ''[[Harry Potter]]'' ==
An exhaustive list of such examples can be found [http://theninemuses.net/hp here]. Some are:
* The first name of Professor Snape, "Severus", means "strict, severe, harsh, serious" to the point of "cruel".
* "Beauxbatons", the French wizard school, means "handsome sticks" or "staffs", which is close enough to "[[Double Entendre|handsome wands]]".
* "Durmstrang" smells an awful lot like "sturm und drang", a German expression meaning "storm and strife" or "storm and longing".
* Professor Remus Lupin is a werewolf -- "Remus" being a mythical child raised by wolves (brother to Romulus, founder of Rome), and "Lupin" as described above. In addition, out of the two Roman brothers, {{spoiler|guess which one died}}. He appears aware of this as {{spoiler|he uses "Romulus" as a pseudonym for a radio broadcast}}. This was lampshaded by the ''[[Movies In 15 Minutes]]''.
{{quote|'''Snape:''' I want two rolls of parchment on WEREWOLVES by tomorrow, including what WEREWOLVES look like, how to detect WEREWOLVES in the faculty of a British boarding school for wizards, and the definition of the Latin word "lupus". CLASS DISMISSED!}}
* Another werewolf is called Fenrir Greyback. Fenrir is a wolf in [[Norse Mythology]] who is destined to kill Odin.
* Sirius Black could turn into a black dog (Sirius being known as the Dog Star) and gained the nickname "Padfoot" from his dog form. In Yorkshire, the black dog of ill omen is called "Padfoot."
** Nigellus Black was Hogwarts' least popular headmaster. "Nigellus" is Latin for "black". Also, the whole Black family (except Sirius) are notoriously into Dark magic.
* The aromatic Mundungus Fletcher's first name is an obsolete word for tobacco with an unpleasant odor.
** It becomes more apparent when people use his nickname, "Dung."
** He shares his surname with Norman Fletcher, the career criminal protagonist of [[Porridge]].
* "James" means "he supplanted", and James Potter supplants Snape's place as Lily's best friend before becoming her love interest.
* Voldemort. His name is derived from a French term meaning "flight from death" (though in this case, the french word "Vol" is referring to the literal meaning of "flight"), signifying his goal of immortality {{spoiler|via the Horcruxes.}} Voldemort could also stand for "stealing death", "vol" in french meaning either "flight" or "theft".
* Even his real name Tom Marvolo Riddle has some significance, Marvolo connoting marvelous, and Riddle hinting at the mysterious.
** "Tom" is significant too. It's a common name for him to get rid of when he becomes the Dark Lord. As he says, "There are a lot of Toms."
** "Tom" is also a shortened form of "Thomas," which means "twin"; if Voldemort was aware of this, it would have made him feel even less unique.
* Dolores Umbridge; "dolor" means "pain" or "sorrow" and "umbrage" means "resentment".
* It's a given that any wizard character in the series will have some kind of meaningful name (unless their father was a Muggle). Another example would be Kingsley Shacklebolt, who is an adept and trustworthy wizard who often protects people from harm. {{spoiler|And becomes Minister of Magic in the end, the closest thing the Wizarding World has to a king.}}
* Xenophilius Lovegood, father of Luna and editor of The Quibbler. Xeno/philius ---> one who likes strange things.
* "Harry" is J.K. Rowling's favorite boy name and means "power". Harry was prophecized to have "power the Dark Lord knows not".
* ''Luna'' Lovegood has pale hair and eyes, so she resembles the moon. She is also a [[Cloudcuckoolander]]. Say, did you happen to know that "luna" is the root word for "lunatic", due to an ancient superstition about the moon causing madness? Oh, and her Patronus is a hare, an animal also associated with the moon.
* Pomona Sprout - Pomona is the goddess of abundance and means Fruit in Latin. Sprout is, well, sprout. Teaches herbology, dealing with plants and herbs.
* Septima Vector, the arithmancy professor: Septima means "seventh", a number name, and "vector" is a mathematical term meaning "a quantity having direction as well as magnitude". Lampshaded in the fanfic ''[[The Arithmancer]]'' when the Muggle professor who oversees Hermione's correspondence math courses bemusedly asks in a letter if "Vector" is ''really'' her teacher's name.
* Given that Harry named his son Albus Severus, it's a good thing these names are based on word meanings, rather than history; otherwise little Albus might grow up to become a bitter gay ([[Not That There's Anything Wrong with That]]) man that picks on his would-be beau's 11-year old due to a frustrated love.
* Professor '''Minerva''' McGonagall's name comes from the Roman goddess of wisdom, strength, and skill - which is a fitting moniker for the staunchest bastion of Hogwarts throughout all seven novels. Wise, skilled, and incredibly powerful, McGonagall is consistently shown to be a truly, unambiguously good character, and is one of the few major supporting characters Harry never doubts - and one of the few adults he truly trusts.
* The house-elf Kreacher's name smells like ''Kriecher'', which is German for "toady" or "bootlick." It also sounds like the English word "creature," which suggests that he is an animal or a monster...but not a ''person''.
* The name Albus is Latin for white, which fits considerably as white tends to translate to good.
* Lucius is Latin for light which sort of fits considering his notorious blond hair. Also the root of Lucifer, the light bringer.
* Even the more common names have purposeful meanings behind them. Ronald means "mighty counselor" or "mighty ruler." ''Weasley is our king!''
== ''[[The Idiot]]'' ==
* Nastasya Filippovna Barashkova's first name comes from the Greek word meaning "resurrection", and her last name is related to the Russian word for "lamb". Her patronymic is related to "Philip," which means "lover of horses," and this comes into play in the novel when Nastasya and Lebedev discuss the Four Horses of the Apocalypse.
* Rogozhin, in some ways the villain of the piece and the "devil" to the Prince's "angel", has a name that comes from the Russian word ''rog'', which means "horn".
* The Prince himself has a name that illustrates the complexity of his nature: Lev Nikolaevich Myshkin. ''Lev'' means "lion" and ''myshkin'' comes from the Russian word meaning "mouse." Also, "Lev Nikolaevich" is also the first name and patronymic of Doestoevsky's contemporary, Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy, of whose literary eminence Dostoevsky was very much aware. Furthermore (as another character points out in the story), Myshkin shares his last name with a figure from Karazim's ''History of the Russian State'': the historical Myshkin was an architect who designed a cathedral which collapsed in 1474 before construction was finished--which echoes Prince Myshkin's status as {{spoiler|failed archetype of Christ}}.
* The last name of Antip Burdovsky, the man who tries to con the Prince out of his inheritence, comes from the Russian word meaning "pigs' slops".
* The three Epanchin sisters have meaningful names deriving from the Greek -- ''Alexandra'' comes from the word meaning "defend" (relevant in the bond she has with her lunatic mother), ''Adelaida'' comes from the word meaning "obscure" (a fitting name for a woman who marries Prince Shch. [no full name ever mentioned]), and lastly and most revealingly, ''Aglaya'' comes from the word meaning "radiant" (and she is the darling of her family and social circle).
== Other works ==
* Very common in fairy tales:
** [[Little Red Riding Hood]], "because she always wore a red cloak"
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** Some of these names, such as LeFay and Archleone are assumed. Harry's name is a bit of humor. Michael though, has the meaning for not only being a knight of the cross, but also in him actually being a Carpenter. Assumed names end up often being a [[Stealth Pun]], especially if it is Nordic related because then it's a [[Stealth Pun|kenning]].
*** Speaking of which: Ms. Gard. {{spoiler|As in, [[Norse Mythology|"Asgard" or "Midgard."]] Also, her first name is [[Valkyries|Sigrun]].}}
** Harry's name becomes a lot more meaningful when one realizes that, like the stage magicians he is named for, he's used intelligence, trickery, and quick-thinking to achieve impossible feats that brute force could never succeed at. He's not just a wizard, he's a ''magician'' too. Moreover, each magician's name says something about Harry's own skills. "Harry" for Houdini, who was best known for escaping from impossible traps that everyone expected to kill him; "Blackstone" for Harry Blackstone, Sr. and Harry Blackstone, Jr., who both not only performed but invented many tricks now used by other stage magicians and who taught others how to do magic as well; and "Copperfield" for David Copperfield, who is noted among stage magicians for his skill at combining stage magic and storytelling. Malcolm Dresden must have been something of a [[Seers|seer]].
* Jim Butcher's ''[[Codex Alera]]''
** It's always fun to see how long it takes readers to realize that "Tavi" is short for {{spoiler|Gaius Octavian, and he is the rightful heir to the throne. Oh and it's the birth name of [[Emperor Augustus]] in our world}}.
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** Averted with the [[Non-Indicative Name|ironically-named]] Fidelias, who is [[Heel Face Revolving Door|not exactly as faithful as his name implies]].
*** [[Alternate Character Interpretation|Or it may actually be appropriate]]. He arguably stays true to the exact same thing-- Alera itself, as a whole, NOT any one ruler or faction within it-- throughout his life. It's just [[Ubermensch|not aligned with anybody else's notion of the virtue]]...
** Finally, the [[Distant Finale]] of ''First Lord's Fury'' reveals the name of Tavi's son: {{spoiler|Gaius Desiderius Tavarus. Desiderius means "the desired one" and was chosen by Tavi and Kitai so their child would never feel unwanted despite being born out of wedlock. Perhaps less significant, but no less interesting, is the fact that Gaius, in Latin, is derived from ''gaudere'', "to rejoice."}}
* [[Orson Scott Card]]'s ''[[Ender's Game]]'' has {{spoiler|Ender himself}}, [[Lampshaded]] at Battle School.
* Lewis Carroll's Alice (from the quote from ''Through the Looking Glass'' at the top of the page) has a name that means "Noble." Although this may have been a coincidence, as the name was that of a girl Carroll knew in real life, it becomes appropriate in the ending of ''Through the Looking Glass''.
* This pops up all over the shop in works by [[John Connolly]]. Many characters are explicitly stated to have meaningful names, usually rooted in religious texts.
** The eponymous cancer-transmitting villain of the short story "The Cancer Cowboy Rides" has no memory of his real name. After reading a textbook on cancer and its many causes, he gives himself a name that doubles as his own private joke: Buddy Carson- short for ''carcinogenic.'' He also uses the name Russ Cercan. Arranging the syllables in reverse order gives the word "cancerous".
* [[Roald Dahl]]:
** ''[[Charlie and the Chocolate Factory]]'' (the novel and both movies, but especially the first movie).
*** [[Lampshaded]] by the [[Genre Savvy]] Mr. Wonka when he comments to Veruca Salt that he always thought that a "[http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/verruca verruca]" was a type of growth on the foot, which it is.
** ''[[James and the Giant Peach]]'' had James' two wicked aunts, the obese Aunt Sponge and the skeletal Aunt Spiker.
* Practically invented by [[Charles Dickens]]. He's responsible for dozens of immortal names that sum up the characters perfectly, like [[A Christmas Carol|Ebenezer Scrooge]], [[Great Expectations|Pip, Jaggers]], [[David Copperfield (novel)||Steerforth, Uriah Heep]], and headmaster Gradgrind. He probably pushed it too far when he named a harsh schoolteacher Mr. M'Choakumchild.
* ''[[The Brothers Karamazov]]'': ''kara-'' in Turkish means "black" and ''maz'' in Russian means "paint" or "smear". The eponymous brothers' father is a lecher and libertine who is openly wicked. All throughout the book, characters speak of the "Karamazovian" nature inside of the brothers despite their efforts to separate themselves from their father.
* In ''[[Crime and Punishment]]'': Raskolnikov alludes to the Russian word, ''raskol'', which means "schism", and ''raskol'nik'', which means "schismatic" or "divided," symbolic of his own schism from "ordinary" people and his own mental state. Also, the character Kapernaumov has a name that is derived from the contemporary St. Petersburg slang for a brothel.
* In French, the first name of Edmond Dantes from Dumas' ''[[The Count of Monte Cristo]]'' suggests "demon" if you squint a bit, and the last name evokes "Dante" (usually associated with his ''[[Divine Comedy|Inferno]]'' and giving the French adjective "dantesque", which applies to cosmically horrible, hell-like situations). Which makes his complete name read like something along the lines of "infernal demon" or "demon from Dante's ''Inferno''". Hey, you don't name your kid like that if you just expect him to be a nice and cute sailor.
** It also seems plausible that Monte Cristo, besides being the name of an island, references Jesus' Sermon on the Mount which actually repudiated the type of "eye-for-an-eye" justice which Dantes puruses in this persona.
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*** In the novella ''The Monarch of the Glen'', we learn that Shadow's birth name is actually {{spoiler|Balder Moon, after the Norse god of light.}}
** Also in ''[[Neverwhere]]''. Then, most of the names are self-chosen: [[The Blacksmith|Hammersmith]], Door, the Marquis de Cabaras.
*** Door's name wasn't self-chosen; all of her family had names related to doors and openings. For example, her brother's name was Arch, her little sister was Ingress, and her father's name was Lord Portico.
* Austin Grossman's ''[[Soon I Will Be Invincible]]'' has as part of its backstory the sentient robot Galatea (named for the Greek myth about a female statue brought to life by the love of her creator).
* Robert Jordan's ''[[Wheel of Time]]'' does this for most of the main characters. And most of the minor character. And most of the characters in general, which is [[Loads and Loads of Characters|absolutely ridiculous]]:
** Rand Al'Thor is named after [[King Arthur]], and the Norse God Thor.
**
** Several Heroes of the Horn are named after actual legends.
** The Forsaken are mostly named after demons and monsters, as are the clans of their inhuman minions.
** The one bad Aiel tribe are called the Shaido.
** In ''The Gathering Storm'', {{spoiler|Tuon takes the name Fortuona upon becoming the Empress. At this point, she is married to the luckiest man in the world, Mat Cauthon.}}
** Every other example you can think of will be found [http://13depository.blogspot.com/search/label/Character%20Names here]. Warning: it's big.
* [[Dean Koontz]] does this frequently.
** Averted and [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] in ''[[By The Light Of The Moon]]''. The villain, Lincoln Proctor, not only has a name that screams integrity; he looks like Santa Claus. Parish Lantern (an old term for the moon) is a late night radio talk show host who admits that it's not his original name ("Would it be anyone's?"); he chose it when just starting his career.
** ''[[False Memory]]'' -- the psychologist, Dr. Ahriman (named for
*** In addition, Ahriman's first name, Mark, can also mean "pay attention to" or "notice." "Mark Ahriman" is a command from the author: "mark (pay attention to) Ahriman."
** ''[[From The Corner Of His Eye]]'' -- quite a few characters, most notably the villain, Enoch Cain (named for Cain, the first murderer in Genesis, and his son)
** ''[[Life Expectancy]]'' -- the Tock family were given an unexplained prophetic list of important dates upon the birth of Jimmy Tock, so they are very aware of the passing of time. The maiden name of one of the older women in the family is Greenwich.
* [[Patricia A. McKillip]]'s ''Riddle-Master of Hed'' trilogy has a character named Deth, and a historical figure named Yrth. It eventually is revealed that {{spoiler|1) they're the same character; 2) he's a member of the race of ''Earth''-Masters; and 3) the trilogy is about his plans for his ''death''.}}
* In [[Flannery O'Connor|Flannery O'Connor's]] short "Good Country People", guess what traveling
* In David Prill's ''Second Coming Attractions'' (a novel lampooning the inspirational Christian film industry), there are characters named Ricky Bible, Rance Jericho, Grant Godlee, Buck Verilee, and Paul Pedphill (!). The first two are actors' stage names; the rest, though, are apparently people's legal names. And humor this broad is the ''least'' of the novel's problems...
* [[Ayn Rand]] often gave weak names to [[Designated Villain|unsympathetic]] characters. The pinnacle was probably Wesley Mouch, a lobbyist in ''[[Atlas Shrugged]]'', whose name contains hints of weasel, slouch, louse, and mooch without actually coming out and giving him any of those names. Another minor villain in the same novel is a corporate takeover artist named Hunsacker.
* In the Neal Stephenson novel ''[[Snow Crash]]'', the hero and protagonist of the story is named Hiroaki "Hiro" Protagonist. This is an [[Invoked Trope]], as he actually ''changed'' his name to this.
* Captain Nemo from ''[[Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea]]'': "Nemo" is Latin for "no one", which is likely why the character chose this name after building the Nautilus and exiling himself to the sea. This might have also been used because of a tendency in Victorian literature to reassure the reader that "this isn't real".
** The captain gets smacked with this trope twice. The name he gives in ''Mysterious Island'', Dakarr, is apparently a Hindu word for
** [[Odyssey|Another famous character who roamed the sea and presented himself with a similar name]].
* The narrator of ''
* In ''[[House of Leaves]]'', you have Holloway ("Hollow way") Roberts. This can also be read as "hallway". A holloway is also a sunken road or path.
** Also, Johnny Truant from the same work.
* Naming a colony "Roanoke"
* [[Doorstopper|Tad Williams's]] ''[[Otherland]]'' series includes a character who goes by the name of John Dread. His mother gave him the name "Johnny Wulgaru" because, according to the book, a "Wulgaru" is a type of demon in the mythology of the Australian aborigines, and she wanted him to grow up to be a monster who would take her revenge on the white man for destroying her people's way of life. Later, when the [[Big Bad]] hires him to be [[The Dragon]], he starts to go by the alias "Johnny More Dread", because the [[Big Bad]] thinks of himself as being like King Arthur and "More Dread" sounds like Mordred. {{spoiler|And, yes, [[Eviler Than Thou|he follows Mordred's example.]]}}
* [[H.P. Lovecraft]] had an especially blatant case: Asenath Waite, whose name means "she belongs to her father". {{spoiler|She has been possessed by her father's spirit, who moves from host body to host body.}}
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** Interestingly enough, as revealed in the notes [[All There in the Manual|and in "The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien"]], there are several other cases. For instance, in the ''[[Translation Convention|actual]]'' language that was being spoken, the masculine ending to hobbit names was "a", not "o". So, Bilbo would have actually been named Bilba, and Bilbo comes from Bilbao, Spain (home of high-quality swords).
** Certainly the most obvious Meaningful Name in his works is the flying, foul-smelling, smoke-belching dragon ''Smaug'', -- that is, ''Smog''.
*** The name Smaug is derived from the Germanic verb smugen meaning "to squeeze through a hole." A most excellent joke on the
** Tolkien sometimes gave names a history in-universe (or several: see for instance Elrond and Elros, for whom Tolkien wrote two conflicting stories). Sometimes the choosing of a particular name is meaningful: see for instance Túrin (always renaming himself in the hope to escape the curse laid on him) or the sons of Fëanor (they were all given names with the element -finwë (their grand father's name) by their father, but all but one chose to be called by their mother-name). And choosing a name can have consequences: it's said that it was partly because Nolofinwë chose to call himself Finwë Nolofinwë (Fingolfin) that Fëanor abandoned him.
** Many characters have names that are just Anglo-Saxon words, often referring in a boringly literal manner to what they are. For instance, Théoden is the anglicized form of the Anglo-Saxon word "Ðéoden", which means "king". Tolkien did have some fun with other names; the word "Samwis" means either "foolish" or "half-wise", "Diegol" means "secret" (Gollum hid his murder of
** Hamfast "The Gaffer" Gamgee's first name means "home-bound", or by extension, "parochial".
* Invoked regularly, primarily with the nobility, in ''[[Robin Hobb|The Farseer]]'', because of a folk belief that if one is named after a virtue, the child will eventually grow into his or her name. Seen most clearly in the Farseer royal bloodline, which is composed most notably of King Shrewd and the princes Chivalry, Verity, and Regal. Shrewd is so sharp-witted he could cut someone. Chivalry lives up to a stiff-necked moral code to the point of political suicide, abdicating when it comes out that he sired a bastard before he even married. Verity is blunt and honest to a fault, making him a well-liked leader amongst soldiers but a poor politician. Regal is a self-important [[Jerkass]], playing out the worst stereotypes of "nobility" and "regalness." Most who fail to live up to their names do so ironically, such as Patience, who is one of the most impatient and distractable people around, jumping from project to project so sharply she could induce whiplash.
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* Silas Fennec in ''[[Perdido Street Station|The Scar]]''. A fennec is a desert fox; {{spoiler|Silas is not just a spy, he's also a ruthless and greedy character with [[Smug Snake]] tendencies}}.
* Dorothy ''Gale'' gets carried away by a tornado in ''[[The Wonderful Wizard of Oz]]''.
** The name of the wizard himself is a Meaningful [[Stealth Pun]]. He gives an [[Overly Long Name]], the initials of which spell out O.Z.P.I.N.H.E.A.D.
{{quote|'''Wizard:''' In the first place, I must tell you that I was born in Omaha, and my father, who was a politician, named me Oscar Zoroaster Phadrig Isaac Norman Henkle Emmannuel Ambroise Diggs, Diggs being the last name because he could think of no more to go before it...When I grew up, I just called myself O.Z., because the other initials were P-I-N-H-E-A-D; and that spelled 'pinhead,' which was a reflection on my intelligence.}}
* The second part of Asimov's ''Second Foundation'' begins with the heroine of that part, 14-year-old Arkady Darrell, writing an essay for school, and dreading having to read it because she hates the way in which pupils are obliged to say their names when doing so -- initial, then surname ("A. Darrell" in her case). The only exception being Olynthus Dam, because everyone laughed the first time he did it. A good thing, then, that his name wasn't Randu Slicker...
* Most of Ken Kesey's characters have names like these, but a special mention goes to ''[[Sometimes A Great Notion]]''. One of the narrating characters is born-again Christian Joe Ben "Joby" Stamper who retains a [[The Pollyanna|positive attitude]] towards God in spite of all the [[It Got Worse|increasingly terrible things]] that befall the Stamper family.
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* In the ''[[Circle of Magic]]'', both Rosethorn and Briar Moss are plant mages who are [[Not Good with People|rude and acerbic to people]] but have a hidden, gentler side when it comes to plants and their close friends. In this case, though, they both [[Meaningful Rename|chose their names]], Rosethorn when she dedicated her life to the temple and Briar when he was first offered a new life.
** Academic mages choose their names, too. So you get names like Niklaren Goldeye, who has magical sight, Yarrun Firetamer, who fights forest fires, and Quenaill Shieldsman, who specializes in protective magic.
** Tris Chandler is from a merchant family, so her name probably comes from her family's profession (either original or current).
* In ''[[Literature/The Inheritance Cycle|The Inheritance Cycle]]'',
* Alex of ''[[A Clockwork Orange (novel)|A Clockwork Orange]]''. A-lex: Latin for "without the law".
** Possibly a clever double meaningful name: A-lex can be interpreted as "without law" or "without voice," both of which are true of the character in some way or another.
*** No. Latin for "without a voice" would be "Avox"--like in [[The Hunger Games]].
* Hannibal the Cannibal from ''[[The Silence of the Lambs]]''. Bonus points for his surname being "Lecter."; "lec''tor''", the word's homophone, means "reader," suggesting that Hannibal is a cultured man.
* ''[[Children of the Lamp]]'': Mr. Groanin has a tendency to complain about food, sanitation, and his job being so life-threatening; though oddly enough not about his missing arm.
* A dogmatic fundamentalist priest named Pastor ''Mortmain'' is in [[Madeleine L'Engle]]'s ''[[A Swiftly Tilting Planet]]''. The name is translated as "
* David Linsay's classic allegorical fantasy novel ''[[A Voyage To Arcturus]]'' is rife with meaningful names; some portmanteaux of English words, others Anglicized or slightly altered versions of words from other languages, mostly Germanic. Examples: The name of the protagonist, Maskull, is a portmanteau of "mask" and "skull"; and eventually reveals himself to be {{spoiler|simply a "mask" of the character Nightspore, whose journey through the story is an allegory of his philosophical "journey of the mind (skull)"}}. Joiwind, "joy wind", who enables Maskull to survive in the alien atmosphere, and teaches him love. The Lusion Plain, "plain of illusion" from Hindu/Buddhist mythology. Surtur, a gnostic demiurge, and Muspel, his residence and the source of life
* In ''[[Indigo]]'''s homeland, that color represents death and mourning. In the third book, [[The Good Chancellor]] instrumental to a warlord's successes is named "Phereniq" ("bringer of victory"). {{spoiler|And as for the warlord himself, his surname contains the word "human," which may be foreshadowing: The heroine suspects him of being a demon in mortal form throughout most of the book, but ends up being wrong.}}
* In ''[[Alien Secrets]]'', the protagonist is named Robin Goodfellow, (nicknamed Puck) and she only half-jokingly blames her name for cursing her to be very short.
* In the young adult novel ''[[The Giver]]'', the name Rosemary (which stands for remembrance, according to Ophelia in ''[[Hamlet]]'') will never be used again after the death of the previous Receiver-in-Training forced the community to remember the vivid emotions they have left behind.
* Rex Stout's ''[[Nero Wolfe]]'' combines the imperiousness of Caesar with the wolf, only in this case the wolf hunts crime. His assistant Archie Goodwin is the archetypal good guy who always wins. On the other hand, Saul Panzer's last name is sometimes assumed to be an allusion to the powerful, all-conquering Nazi German panzer divisions, but Saul was created and named before Hitler took office. (Stout was also a strident anti-Nazi and would never make that mistake, especially with a Jewish character.)
* The [[Name of Cain|eponymous]] protagonist of ''[[The Acts of Caine]]'' has set in motion events that would lead to the death of his wife, best friend(s), father, the suffering of everyone who's cared for him, etc. etc. If the dude ''had'' a brother he probably would have offed him too. Also like the biblical Caine, there are gods looking out for him after his punishment (gods who want to punish him [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?|tend to get owned hard]]).
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** Irial means "obscure" or "eerie", and he was the king of the court of nightmares.
** Rae means "wise protector", and she can enter others dreams and help them through them and has knowledge of the future.
** Gabriel roughly equates to "
** Sorcha means "bright", and her court opposes the dark court.
** Niall means "champion", and is a reminder of the times he failed as one.
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* [[Lois McMaster Bujold]]'s ''[[Vorkosigan Saga]]'' has a number of meaningful names:
** Miles Vorkosigan, the hero of the series; Miles meaning "soldier". The meaning does not escape his mother, who tells him to try not to be swayed by it.
** Cordelia Naismith Vorkosigan, aforementioned mother of Miles. Cordelia brings to mind the faithful daughter of [[William Shakespeare|King Lear]], foreshadowing Cordelia's loyalty to her family. "Naismith" is an old name for a nailsmith--that is, a maker of things that help hold others together.
** Aral Vorkosigan, named for a Russian sea. This both references the Russian heritage of Barrayar, and Aral's hidden depths.
** Ivan Vorpatril, meaning "God is gracious". A more apt meaning is that Ivan is the Russian equivalent of "Jack", the fool hero, everyman character.
*** "Vor" means "thief" and "patril" means "father", so his last name means "stolen father" appropriately for someone whose father was killed in a long ago war.
** Gregor Vorbarra, the Emperor of Barrayar, which is similar to Gregory, meaning "watchful, vigilant".
** Miles's wife, Ekaterin, meaning "pure".
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* In the first sequel to the book ''[[The City of Ember]]'', ''The People of Sparks'', one of the people who helps to fuel the fires of tension between the Ember people and the Sparks people is a troublemaking Emberite kid named... Tick Hassler.
* In the books of Bayern, Ani meets a character named Enna, who in later books is a fire speaker -- the name "Enya" is gaelic for Little Fire or Flame, while "Ena" is Gaelic for "bright and shining".
* In ''Farworld'', the orphaned and unknown Markus is given the surname "Kanenas", meaning "nobody
* ''[[Twilight (novel)|Twilight]]''
** Bella (Italian for "beautiful") Swan. Her first name could be taken as a [[Shout-Out]] to Bela Lugosi, an actor well known for his role as Count Dracula.
** The surname "Cullen" means "descendent of Coilean/[http://surnames.behindthename.com/name/o1000cuilinn Cuileann]." "Cuileann" is a nickname meaning "holly," which symbolizes good luck and whose berries represent '''life-giving blood'''.
** "Jacob" means "supplanter" - seen as trying to push Edward out of the way and take his place. Not sure how deliberate this is, though, as Meyer named five characters after her siblings: [[Hopeless_Suitor|Jacob Black]], Paul Lahote, Seth Clearwater, [[Domestic_Abuse|Emily Young]] and [[Doom Magnet|Heidi]].
** Averted with the antagonist Victoria, whose name means "victory" in Latin. She ends by being anything ''but'' victorious.
* ''[[The Jungle Book (novel)|The Jungle Book]]'': Most of the names in the Mowgli stories are Hindi in origin. Roughly translated, "Bagheera" means "Panther", "Baloo" means "Bear", "Shere Khan" means "Lord Tiger", and Tabaqui (the jackal) means "dish-licker". However, the name "Mowgli", meaning "frog", seems to have been invented by Kipling himself. The wolves call the man-cub "frog" because of his hairlessness, but the name can also be seen as referring to Mowgli's 'amphibious' existence, i.e. as both human and animal.
* The ''[[Redwall]]'' series is riddled with these, sometimes intentionally on the character's parts, [[Enfant Terrible]] Veil's being an obvious one.
{{quote|''Give him a name and leave him a while
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* ''The Silver Kiss'': Zoë is the protagonist. Her mother is dying, she runs into vampires, and her name means life. Pretty straightforward cue to look at the differences? Not quite. Another translation of Zoë is ''eternal'' life--which looks like foreshadowing of her becoming vampire...{{spoiler|She doesn't.}}
* Vivian of ''[[Blood and Chocolate]]'' is certainly lively, and it could also be taken as a subtle [[Lampshade Hanging]] on her shared characteristics with Zoë ("(eternal) life"), since both books are by the same author.
* ''[[Stardust (novel)|Stardust]]'': The seven sons of the Lord of Stormhold are quite transparently named Primus, Secundus, Tertius and so on. Their only sister - and the firstborn ''child'' of the House
* In L. Jagi Lamplighter's ''[[Prospero's Daughter]]'' trilogy, Ulysses Prospero. He is quite [[Older Than They Think|peeved]] when someone thinks it's from [[James Joyce]]'s ''Ulysses'' and not [[Homer]]'s ''Odyssey''. Others may have them, but in this work, a number of the characters are those that gave the meaning to the name in the first place.
* Dr. Georgina Orwell from the fourth book in the Series of Unfortunate Events is named for author George Orwell. Dr. Orwell hypnotizes Klaus several times throughout the course of the plot, probably as a reference to the Thought Police in Orwell's novel 1984.
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* Shows up in ''[[Dubliners]]''.
* Geoff Ryman's novel ''Air'' has lots of examples of this trope as it takes place in a fictional country whose culture features some old superstitions about the importance of the meaning behind someone's name. A gangster who made his money from drugs has a name that translates into English as "Wisdom Bronze", and he is both intelligent and materialistic. An idealistic young government worker determined to help the impoverished people of his country has a name that translates as "Genuinely Sincere". The protagonist's name translates roughly into "Have not have" which is the subtitle of the book. The first chapter of the book features some social commentary from the main character about the West's treatment of the third world and the gap between "haves and have-nots".
* Anne Shirley of ''[[Anne of Green Gables]]'' was the blithe spirit of Avonlea, adding mishaps, imagination, and craziness to a tiny town on PEI. Fittingly, she goes on to marry her childhood friend,
** In ''Anne of Ingleside'', the alluring but deceitful friend of Anne's daughter Nan is named Delilah--the name of a charming Biblical liar.
* The names of the main characters of A.S. Byatt's ''Possession'' carry multiple levels of significance. The Victorian poet Christabel [[La Motte]] and her great-great-great-great-granddaughter Maud Bailey, both of whom are deeply concerned with solitude and autonomy, are named for the motte-and-bailey, the most common type of medieval castle; further, both women's personal names come from 19th century Romantic poems. Roland Michell's name alludes both to the eponymous knight of ''The Song of Roland'' and the Robert Browning poem ''Childe Roland To The Dark Tower Came'', which points again to the "castle" meaning of Maud and Christabel's names, while his surname comes from St. Michael, the angelic warrior. Leonora Stern - from ''leo'', "lion", with a feminine suffix - and Fergus Wolff both have names that describe their personalities.
* From ''[[Malevil]]'', a French post-[[World War III]] novel, [[The Hero]] and [[The Big Bad]] are both make-shift holy men with meaningful names: Emmanuel's name means "God is with us". Fulbert shares the name of an 11th century Bishop. "Saint Fulbert"' has controversial status as a saint, he was never canonized, and he lived during the turn of the first millennium, a moment feared to be the Apocalypse.
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* In [[Elantris]], most characters names contain an Aon (rune), each of which has a specific meaning, which results in a lot of meaningful names. [[Guile Hero|Sarene's]] name (The Aon Ene means wit or intelligence). Also [[Non-Indicative Name|brutally subverted]] with Iadon ("Iad" means trust or reliable and he is neither trusting or trustworthy)
* [[Scaramouche|Andre-Louis Moreau]] believes that the stage name given to him is the one that describes him most accurately: the sly, roguish trickster.
* The names in [[Warrior Cats]] are always meaningful. Firestar is named for his flame-colored pelt, which is also significant when you find out {{spoiler|he's the "fire" prophesied to save the clan.}} Tigerstar (formerly [[Tiger CLAW]]) has long claws and is as fierce as a tiger. Crowfeather chose the second part of his name in honor of Feathertail. [[Leaf POOL]] discovered the
** As far as non-warrior names go, there's Sol, who predicts a solar eclipse.
* Almost everything in ''[[The Magic Thief]]'': The Night Bridge connects The Twilight with The Sunrise, a pickpocket named Conn, etc ...
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** Speaking of Perseus, his love interest was named Andromeda. Percy Jackson's love interest has a somewhat similar-sounding name: Annabeth, who is a daughter of Athena. So her name is her mother's with a few extra letters.
** Clarisse - Ares, with some extra letters.
** From the "painfully obvious" archives, we have Grover Underwood the forest-loving satyr and Rachel Elizabeth Dare the
** Happens so often among the supporting cast that one wonders if the Greek gods are choosing their mortal partners based on their surnames. Hermes (thieves and trickery) has a pair of twins named Stoll ("stole"), one of Demeter's (agriculture) children is named Gardner, and Aphrodite (beauty) has a daughter named Silenea Beauregard (French for "good looking").
** Frank Zhang of The Son of Neptune acknowledges it. "I would like to have been claimed by Apollo, because Zhang means master of bows in Chinese."
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* In [[Jodi Picoult]]'s ''Keeping Faith'', the titular Faith is a little girl who starts showing signs of being [[The Messiah]]. The book is also about her mother trying to keep Faith in a custody battle and keep faith in her everyday life. Also, since Faith is believed by some to be the Second Coming of Jesus, it's fitting that her mother is named Mariah (which comes from the name Maria, otherwise known as Mary).
* ''[[Good Omens]]'': knowing the [[Neil Gaiman|authors]] [[Terry Pratchett|behind it]], are you honestly surprised?
** First there's the angel
** Crowley, the demon. Crowley obviously referencing [[Aleister Crowley]], the occult alchemist. Fun fact: his (the demon not the alchemist) original name was Crawly but he [[Enforced Trope|eventually decided it was just wasn't him]].
** Adam Young, the [[Anti-Anti-Christ]]. His (human) father didn't agree with the traditional Satanic names suggested and eventually just went with Adam as in the first human.
*** Also, "the Old Adam", in Christian theology, refers to [http://www.dictionary.com/browse/old--adam humans in their unredeemed state]. Except...what's the boy's name reversed? Young, Adam. Young Adam. Funny thing--the [[w:Last Adam|New or Last Adam]] is another name for Jesus. Fitting for an [[Anti-Anti-Christ]].
** Anathema Device. Her mother named her Anathema because she thought it sounded nice and her family name actually comes from the founders of the Device, but still she lives up to her name by being a plot device to help avert the Apocalypse. Device is actually a [[Real Life]] West Country name, it's pronounced "DEH-viss" and is probably an alternate spelling of Davies.
** Pepper, actually called [[Embarrassing Middle Name|
* ''[[Septimus Heap]]'' is a seventh son of a seventh son. "Septimus" in Latin means "the seventh"
* Both of the main characters in ''[[Count and Countess]]'' are subject to this. Although they are based off of real people (Vlad the Impaler and Elizabeth Bathory), it comes up as a plot point at least twice.
* The name ''[[Therese Raquin]]'' has been speculated to have something to do with the saying "You reap what you sow." Thérèse meaning "to harvest" and Raquin coming from the colloquial verb raquer meaning "to pay" or "to cough up."
* Vida Winter in ''[[The Thirteenth Tale]]''. Both Vida and Winter point to a theme of emptiness and death.
* Clary Fray, of Cassandra Clare's ''Mortal Instruments''. It's painfully obvious that her first name stems from the author's pen name. The surname "Fray" comes from [[w:Fray (comics)|an eight-issue Buffy the Vampire Slayer comic series featuring a future vampire slayer named Melaka Fray]]; Clare was heavily into BtVS fandom for for a while.
* ''Stark's War'' by [[John Hemry]] briefly references the McClellan tank, a very advanced and powerful tank of the late 21st Century. It is ''so'' spiffy
{{quote|'''[[Abraham Lincoln]]:''' "If General McClellan does not want to use the army, I would like to borrow it for a time."}}
* In [[Gene Stratton Porter]]'s ''Michael O'Halloran'', Mickey's name is lampshaded to ensure we know the meaning.
{{quote|''The big fellow called him 'Mickey'; no doubt a mother who adored him named him Michael, and thought him 'like unto God' when she did it.''}}
* Archibald Craven in ''[[The Secret Garden]]''. Gee, the guy's got "[[The Hunchback of Notre Dame|arch]]", "[[Prematurely Bald|bald]]", and "[[Unfortunate Names|craven]]" in his name. He wouldn't be a weak, sickly hunchback, would he?
** Averted with the actual meaning of the name. "Archibald" means "bold master"--yet for ten years (aside from occasional stopovers), Craven avoids his house, his servants and his son.
** Mary Lennox's last name means "[http://surnames.behindthename.com/name/lennox place of elms]." From the very beginning, Mary is associated with a place for plants to grow.
** Colin's first name is derived from Cailean or Coilean--Irish Gaelic nicknames meaning "whelp" or "young dog." This becomes more significant when you think of Dickon Sowerby and his influence on Mary and Colin. To quote the latter, "He's a sort of animal charmer and I am a boy animal."
* ''[[Comrade Death]]'' features Feuerbauch, a [[No Celebrities Were Harmed]] Hitler, whose name translates to "Fire Belly". At the end of the story, {{spoiler|poisoned and insane, he drinks a bottle of Disintegrol, a chemical which is weaponized [[Made of Explodium]] and turns anything it touches into a volatile explosive. Shortly after, his insides explode}}.
* Calvin and Conrad in the book and film ''[[Ordinary People]]'' seem to have purposely been named with the Protestant theologian John and author Joseph in mind.
* In [[David Eddings]]' [[Belgariad]], Garion had a childhood crush on a girl named Zubrette. ''Soubrette'' is a word for an actress' role as "a coquettish maid or frivolous young woman," and it fits her character marvelously. Although the Voice in Garion's head told him that he probably would've married Zubrette if the big "[[Because Destiny Says So]]" events hadn't kicked off, so it seems she had [[Hidden Depths]] or at least would've matured.
*In [[The Winds of War and War and Remembrance]] Victor Henry [[The Patriarch]] of the Henry family is an interesting example of this. He seldom has a command in battle and when he does he wins no great victories(in fact at Midway and Leyte he simply observes while a great victory is won around him). What he ''does'' do is engineer victory by working behind the scenes at tedious jobs which no one would ever think to make into a movie and thus he deserves every bit of what his name implies.
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