Forum: Author Hangout

Super Naming Super Characters

Redsliver 🚫

I've been knee deep in writing a superhero story and I went overboard populating the lore. There was a discussion about resources on how one names character but what about pseudonyms, epitaphs, and noms de guerre.

Anyway, I've been having fun and decided to inflict my thoughts on all of you fine folks and JoyR.

The way I see it there are generally 5 sets of hero names: Supersmans, Color Guards, X-Men Style, Ben 10 Style, and Ostenationiques.

Supersmans are generally follow the Modifier Type but can go Type Modifier when the type is a title and not a gender. Superman, Wonder Woman, Doctor Doom, Captain Marvel, Sailor Moon. These are my least favorite and I tend to use them for the garbage tier and god tier characters. Doctor Nightmares a biochemical supercyborg created by overindulgent self testing. Action Girl, the K-Mart generic sidekick of a off the rack Crimefighter. In the upcoming story the best name I have is Bad Dreamgirl.

Color Guards might be Supersmans but instead the modifier is a color and the Type is generally a weapon or sigil: Green Lantern, Omega Red, Blue Beetle. These I ended up using the least. I have a girl named Halo Silver who's basically a werehurricane, but it's not my favorite. All my Small Town Goddesses are Color Guards: Minerva White, Diana Green, Venus Red, etc.

X-Men names are single words. Beast, Wolverine, Magneto, Phoenix. Sometimes there are natural compound words: Quicksilver, Nightcrawler, Iceman. I like these names because they are sharp and visceral but I still favor the next category. I've used Ivory, X, Beacon, and Leash. Heartwood, my heroic Poison Ivy, fits this category but the natural compounds do sound more like my favorite category.

Ben 10 names are forced compound names. These are my go to. Generally throwing two words together and seeing if they stick: Wildmutt, Ghost Freak, Diamondhead. These are where I went overboard. Flying Fox, Warhound, Wicked Sharp, Crimefighter, Damselfly, Heartwood, Witchwood, Deadwood, Ironwood, Cherrywood.

Finally there's the Ostenationiques. These are just normal words fucked with more often than not to make the word feminine: Bayonetta is the one that sticks out most in my mind. I've seen Diabolique. I've created Cybernetica.

So those are my categories. Anyone else writing superhero stuff? How do you come up with names? Is there a place for really garbage names? How bad and cheesy is bad and cheesy enough? Who wants to point out X-men exceptions like The Scarlet Witch or Negasonic Teenaged Warhead?

Replies: Dominions Son Dominions Son Vincent Berg joyR karactr Baltimore Rogers

Dominions Son 🚫

@Redsliver

Ironwood

This one is not a forced compound, It's a real word.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ironwood

Replies: Vincent Berg Redsliver

Vincent Berg 🚫

@Dominions Son

Ironwood

This one is not a forced compound, It's a real word.

It was also the title of a great adult comic book from years back. Great art, terrific plot and exciting sexual hijinks.

Redsliver 🚫

@Dominions Son

Yeah, I guess I should have said Ben 10 style are forced compounds and natural compounds. Though natural compounds can be X-Men style as well.

Dominions Son 🚫

@Redsliver

Anyone else writing superhero stuff? How do you come up with names?

I've used just about all your categories and will add using the names of mythical figures. Using the names of Greek/Norse gods, and the names of mythical heroes, villains, and monsters from lots of different mythologies.

For example: A super strong but not terribly bright male villain named Grendel.

Replies: Redsliver

Redsliver 🚫

@Dominions Son

Shit! I never even thought of taking on names like Thor, Atlas, or Grendel as a category. I mean, I could've argued that they are X-Men type but they're much more than that.

I haven't used any of these in my universe. Damn, now I might just make more characters that are too big to fit in the project.

Thanks

Vincent Berg 🚫

@Redsliver

Among your sundry 'wood' names, how about Woody, the Hardwood Pounder. But, unless your superheros whole mission in life is avenging trees cut down in their prime (as opposed to in their old age), I'd skip the various legitimate names of trees and wood types.

Vincent Berg 🚫

Snoodlebrowser? Mindfuck? (after all, wouldn't evil villains be likely to toss profanities around?) Thunderbrat (underaged super villain), BitchCop (cyber-enhanced female officer), Blowjob (super breathe, need I say more), The Clit! (Please, say LOTS more about this one), The Pussy Avenger (pretty damn obvious), Dickhead (super-powered rapist) or Slick Willy (able to slime anyone he wants).

Then there are 'plain' superheroes: John, Mary Sue, Buffy, Felix. If you're only aim is to inflict evil and steal whatever you can carry, why bother trying to promote yourself with cute copyright names. As soon as you file the copyright, the heroes can track you down easily.

Replies: Dominions Son BlacKnight

Dominions Son 🚫

@Vincent Berg

If you're only aim is to inflict evil and steal whatever you can carry, why bother trying to promote yourself with cute copyright names.

True, but if your goal is world conquest, you might need the publicity.

BlacKnight 🚫

@Vincent Berg

Mindfuck?

Mindfuck is in fact an existing superhero (telepath) from the Empowered comics.

Which is the main problem with coming up with supranyms: All the good ones are already taken. So are most of the bad ones.

Radagast 🚫

Flying fox is a form of bat.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pteropus
Eats fruit, craps everywhere with a sticky goop.
Might make a suitable bumble-villain.

Decades ago I met an Australian TV presenter who had invested his life savings in buying a sanctuary for flying foxes and built a little hut in the middle. He wasn't known to be gay, but had no family. Just a skinny man with weird hair, obsessed with his bat farm.

Replies: Redsliver Dominions Son

Redsliver 🚫

@Radagast

Flying Fox is my favorite of my names. It's overly symbolic like Heir to The Empire by Timothy Zahn.

Flying : A euphemism for using superpowers. For example let's say superpowers aren't allowed in Washington DC people might call it a No Fly Zone.

Fox : A hot chick. Amy is definitely hot and knows it.

Flying Fox : A bat. She started as a Kim Possible clone with her comedic sidekick. She evolved much closer to Batgirl with a properly competent Nightwing partner.

Fox and Hound : Friends on different sides of a conflict. Amy is basically the princess of supervillains who is rebelling against her imprisoned dad by trying to be a hero. Warhound is unmistakably a good guy. Amy's family keeps having the world try to sweep her onto the side she refuses to be placed on.

Replies: richardshagrin

richardshagrin 🚫

@Redsliver

Flying : A euphemism for using superpowers. For example let's say superpowers aren't allowed in Washington DC people might call it a No Fly Zone.

People use insecticides to establish no fly zones.

Replies: Redsliver

Redsliver 🚫

@richardshagrin

It is more important to prevent pools of standing water.

Replies: Baltimore Rogers

Baltimore Rogers 🚫

@Redsliver

It is more important to prevent pools of standing water.

That works well for controlling mosquitoes, but for flies, it is more important to properly destroy or dispose of garbage, fecal matter, and rotten meat.

Dominions Son 🚫

@Radagast

Might make a suitable bumble-villain.

Or a third string hero used mostly for comedic effect.

joyR 🚫

@Redsliver

Anyway, I've been having fun and decided to inflict my thoughts on all of you fine folks and JoyR.

You care...! -swoon-

Instead of building a mythology around a 'cool' name, why not build a mythology first and see what name evolves..?

This might be my first time quoting Tarantino, but at the end of 'Kill Bill' he discusses superheroes and the one hero that is different to all the others. They all put on an outfit in order to become their character, all except superman who IS superman but puts on an outfit so as to pretend to be Clark Kent. According to Tarantino, Clark Kent is superman's critique on the human race.

When mankind invented gods, they created a mythology around them to explain not just their relationship to each other, but to explain the world the inventors lived in. It was not enough to just list their new gods powers, to make others believe in them it was necessary to explain their origin, thus which gods their parents were, what realm they moved in or controlled, and almost always what part of the world they ruled. Making them part of a natural phenomena added to their believability.

So, when creating your main characters, why not take a similar approach..?

Replies: Redsliver

Redsliver 🚫

@joyR

Yadda, yadda, yadda.

So, when creating your main characters, why not take a similar approach..?

I love Carradine's monologue on Superman in Kill Bill. Your description is great on how to go about making my main characters. Definitely evolve them that way. They have their powers and you write their origins and you explore each character in the telling. Compare Action Comics #1 Superman to the many Supermans who come after. The name was carried all of the way through.

The names are a lot like costuming. You have a character, themes, ideas, stories to tell with them. You get them moving but as you define the color around them, the clothes they wear, the names they get called, you can magnify out those attributes until the audience and the author sees them better.

Plus, not everyone gets to be a main character. The supporting cast needs to work even at an even lower resolution. That's my purpose for the names. And I really enjoyed coming up with them.

Replies: PotomacBob

PotomacBob 🚫

@Redsliver

Compare Action Comics #1 Superman to the many Supermans who come after

Yeh, sure. I'll run right out and get a copy. Care to enlighten those of us who haven't read #1 Superman?

Replies: Redsliver

Redsliver 🚫

@PotomacBob

Yeh, sure. I'll run right out and get a copy. Care to enlighten those of us who haven't read #1 Superman?

I was more suggesting that the character has changed over time. That 1940 and 1970 and 2000 Supermans have changed, evolved, been retconned, had more writers imagine them, that there isn't one Superman. From his powers: Leaping over tall buildings faster than a locomotive vs fly through space at 160 quadrillion times the speed of light.

To his themes: Being true to your culture vs adapting to the culture you've immigrated to replacing or living up to perfect image the world has put on you or just taking a simple conflict, undesirable relatives visiting, and amplifying it to cosmic proportions.

karactr 🚫

@Redsliver

all of you fine folks and JoyR.

And joy is somehow not a fine folk? Shame on you.

"Good afternoon, men. Oh, and redsilver."

Replies: Redsliver joyR

Redsliver 🚫

@karactr

Good afternoon! Hope you're well.

Replies: karactr

karactr 🚫

@Redsliver

It's 5 in the morning. Irritated at work, but other than that, I'm fine. Thank you for asking.

How are you? joy is, of course, joy.

joyR 🚫

@karactr

And joy is somehow not a fine folk? Shame on you.

There is no shame in honesty.

I value honesty over politeness, so if that is how he feels, then so what.?

awnlee jawking 🚫

You could mix up your languages - Uber Girl, El Sid.

AJ

Baltimore Rogers 🚫

@Redsliver

Lately, I'm more enamored of Super-squared type names: Epitome, Paragon, Exemplar, Acme. Or to steal a couple of examples from my buddy J Darksong: Quintessence and Pinnacle.

I mean, seriously, what kind of ego do you have to have to give yourself a name like that. Either you're an arrogant SOB setting yourself up for a BIG fall, or you're playing the subtle psychological game of trying to make the villain overreact to your perceived ego.

Replies: Dominions Son Redsliver

Dominions Son 🚫

@Baltimore Rogers

Either you're an arrogant SOB setting yourself up for a BIG fall, or you're playing the subtle psychological game of trying to make the villain overreact to your perceived ego.

Not all superheros chose their own names many were named by the press or fans. I could see the press dropping a super-squared type name on a hero hoping the hype will help sell ads and/or subscriptions

Redsliver 🚫

@Baltimore Rogers

I have a Zenith in my universe. Arrogant DOB set up for a fall in this case. I like these kind of names too. Exemplar is my favorite. Quintessence has that alchemy root to it so it could have a few layers. I can't think of Acme without thinking of Wile E Coyote, supergenius.

Paragon was one of the archetypes (character classes but for superpowers) I had when this universe was a Dungeons and Dragons type tabletop RPG. All the super-ability type powers: Flash like speedster, Deadpool like regeneration, Wile E Coyote like intellect, sort of deal.

Reply to topic

Forum: Author Hangout

Super Naming Super Characters

WARNING! ADULT CONTENT...