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I'd like to throw in the "Blood" naming trend of the Blood Angels. Not because it'll win the contest, but because it deserves to compete.

 Ensis Ferrae wrote:



Another doozy that's always good fun to dust off: Lord Kroak... who is a frog, who happens to be dead.

Pun names have been part of Lizardmen since day 1. Kroq Gar, Mazdamundi and the Skink dude on the Pterodactyl whose name escapes me were all riding the Dinobots FFS. Grim'Loq, Slaq and Swup respectively. Their temple listening out into space for signs of The Old Ones is called XETI.

This isn't even touching on some of the other special characters like Koppakettel etc.

 Engine of War wrote:

I seem to remember the original two were Baneblade (turret w/ battle cannons) and Shadowsword (with the volcano cannon). I think in this context "blade" implied a short-ranged/up close tank (like a "knife-fight"), while the sword was for long distance sniping at titans. I don't have any idea on what the thinking was for the rest of the lines.

There should be some rhyme or reasoning to the name; Blades should be "short-ranged", Hammers should be for city fighting, Lords should be command/support and Swords should be long ranged. Then Banes should be guard weapons, Dooms should have infantry transport, Fells should be melta weapons, Hells should be armed with flamers/plasma, shadows should be "snipers", and Storm should be used by non-guard forces (Inquisition, marines, etc.).

Loving this thread!

As a U.K. native, I would have to draw international community's attention to the Ork's:

MEGANOBZ

Nob is slang for Penis. So yeah...someone at GW was feeling cheeky during that naming session.

As a Nid player, I find the Tyranno-Tervi-T-T-t thing a bit repetitive, but not sure it qualifies for horrendous.

Reading through the thread, it looks like the poor Space Wolves lose/win and were victims of some lazy Friday afternoon, post pub lunch naming shift....

Again, the winner is the tentaclid.

It's hard to find it, but if you do, the Hive Crone will do anything for you.

We are in "Boaty McBoatface" territory sometimes.

 DarkBlack wrote:
Words/names with "hell" in. All the bloodskull or wolf is ridiculous, but not entirely out of place in the Grimdark. The concept of hell would be forgotten by the year 40 000, considering the humanity wide replacement of our religions and the Wrap standing in. I feels like characters are using our language instead of theirs, which scratches the immersion.

There is probably some fluff I'm not thinking of but still.

I wouldn't have thought the concept of "hell" to be forgotten; not when it exists.

On a more serious note, the names are, of course, supposed to allude to other concepts which are know to the readers of fiction. It's why all sorts of "thematic" names are a well-understood trope in fiction across all genres. It's a shortcut to the mood and themes of the work (or just a joke by the author). A couple of examples from works I've read recently; Preacher's Jesse Custer (which not only alludes to Jesse James and George Custer, but given the nature of the work, the initials are rather relevant too) or The Laundry Files' main protagonist, an IT manager called Bob Oliver Francis Howard.

More generally, it's why High Gothic is Latin; it's daft to say it really "is", but its use refers to the use of Latin in the Western Church during the Middle Ages, and instantly helps to build the setting, mood and themes.

 AndrewGPaul wrote:


On a more serious note, the names are, of course, supposed to allude to other concepts which are know to the readers of fiction. It's why all sorts of "thematic" names are a well-understood trope in fiction across all genres. It's a shortcut to the mood and themes of the work (or just a joke by the author). A couple of examples from works I've read recently; Preacher's Jesse Custer (which not only alludes to Jesse James and George Custer, but given the nature of the work, the initials are rather relevant too) or The Laundry Files' main protagonist, an IT manager called Bob Oliver Francis Howard.
.

This.

Meaningful names are a trope in almost all literature. To give an example of one of my favourite characters in tabletop games. Orsus Zoktavir, the Butcher of Khardov. His first name is VERY close to the Latin for Bear (Ursus). This conveys this is a giant of a man (he is), coupled with the title of "the Butcher" is someone not to be messed with. But conversely; you have the axe the man carries, curiously named "Lola". "Lola" is the shortform of the name Dolores, which is Spanish for "Sorrows". Now why would a hulking mass of a character have such a polarizing name to his axe to go with him? Well, if you know the rest of Kommander Zoktavir's background. You know why.

It happens in almost all settings even Eldar suffer from it when the designer can't come with decent names while trying to evocate soemthing special.

The Wraithguard,Wraithblades,Wraithseer,Wraithlord and Wraithknight names are a good proof of that and without falling into the Space wolves idiocy.

 Engine of War wrote:
Hell the only character without "Wolf" in their name is Logan Grimnar but he is still called the "Old Wolf" Which is fine as its a nickname, but everyone else is (something)-wolf!! gaah!

I feel a need to call shenanigans a little here. Based on the GW website, these are the named characters with models available today:
- Logan Grimnar
- Murderfang
- Bjorn the Fell-handed
- Canis Wolfborn
- Wolf Lord Krom
- Ulrik the Slayer
- Njal Stormcaller
- Arjac Rockfist
- Lukas the Trickster
- Ragnar Blackmane

While I'm not going to defend the silliness of Murderfang, only two of the ten characters feature "Wolf" in their name, and that only stretches to four if we include parts of wolf to the list (adding Murderfang and Ragnar Blackmane). The playable characters aren't too bad - I'd say that seven or eight would work as a Viking name - though the amount of wolf in their item loads may go off the deep end...

 AndrewGPaul wrote:

 DarkBlack wrote:
Words/names with "hell" in. All the bloodskull or wolf is ridiculous, but not entirely out of place in the Grimdark. The concept of hell would be forgotten by the year 40 000, considering the humanity wide replacement of our religions and the Wrap standing in. I feels like characters are using our language instead of theirs, which scratches the immersion.

There is probably some fluff I'm not thinking of but still.

I wouldn't have thought the concept of "hell" to be forgotten; not when it exists.

They don't call it hell though, we do. Shouldn't they use "warp"?

Ruin wrote:

 Ensis Ferrae wrote:



Another doozy that's always good fun to dust off: Lord Kroak... who is a frog, who happens to be dead.

Pun names have been part of Lizardmen since day 1. Kroq Gar, Mazdamundi and the Skink dude on the Pterodactyl whose name escapes me were all riding the Dinobots FFS. Grim'Loq, Slaq and Swup respectively. Their temple listening out into space for signs of The Old Ones is called XETI.

This isn't even touching on some of the other special characters like Koppakettel etc.

Incy-wincy was a lizardman also (the spider nursery rhyme).
The kroxigor were basically fed on "choccy biccies".

 Ensis Ferrae wrote:
Another doozy that's always good fun to dust off: Lord Kroak... who is a frog, who happens to be dead.

And the giant from Albion, who wasn't very clever and communicated by shouting his own name at people. His name was Bologs.

 DarkBlack wrote:

 AndrewGPaul wrote:

 DarkBlack wrote:
Words/names with "hell" in. All the bloodskull or wolf is ridiculous, but not entirely out of place in the Grimdark. The concept of hell would be forgotten by the year 40 000, considering the humanity wide replacement of our religions and the Wrap standing in. I feels like characters are using our language instead of theirs, which scratches the immersion.

There is probably some fluff I'm not thinking of but still.

I wouldn't have thought the concept of "hell" to be forgotten; not when it exists.

They don't call it hell though, we do. Shouldn't they use "warp"?

That's me point; "we" are the ones writing this stuff, so of course the language is going to be chosen to have cultural meaning to the readers. Consider it a cultural translation if you must. After all, none of it would "really" be written in a language that probably died out or changed beyond recognition over 37,000 years "ago".

I'm sure they do; Warp, Empyrean, Void, Realm of Chaos, Hell, ...

I have a dislike for any names with weird sounds in them, as it causes my tongue to do a neck-breaking backflip whenever I need to say their names.

Offenders are usually from Necrons or Eldar.