(Untitled)

[moirae]

Sup, cncers, let's have a talk about names. Fictional characters usually have pretty interesting ones, whether it's oocly because of what they mean/how they were thought up, or icly the history behind them and what that says about the character or their ethnicity/heritage. So tell me about your characters' names, nicknames, codenames, and titles.

Comments

[enigmaestro]

Eddie Nygma was born Edward Nashton to a family in Connecticut, some thirty-odd years ago. Edward, which means rich/blessed guard, was likely a family name, as none of the aforementioned qualifiers really fit him. Indeed, according to Batman 171, Edward had an uncle by the name of -- you guessed it -- Edward. Given the apathetic nature and general disinterest that his mother showed him, I've headcanoned that it was Eddie's father who named him after his brother.

Nashton is undoubtedly an allusion to John Nash, the brilliant mathematician and pioneer in game theory who suffered from paranoid schizophrenia.

Nygma is Eddie's invented surname (sometimes spelled the entirely aesthetically unappealing Nigma). Nygma for the obvious but nevertheless delightful pun, E. Nygma. Although not his born name, this is his legal name, as it appears on his very legal New York driver's license in canon.

[someonetoscold]

I like Nigma.

[enigmaestro]

I have to question our friendship now.

[someonetoscold]

I like Nygma too.

[nottheanswers]

"Vic Sage" is an entirely fabricated, though fully legal, name. His birth name is moot, he was either never given one or was never made aware of it. The orphanage named him Charles ("free man") Victor (as in "one who is victorious") Szasz (oocly most likely to be after psychiatrist Thomas Szasz). Sage was probably meant as some clumsy anglicization of Szasz, but I like the idea that he picked it as a hotheaded and presumptuous young man and had to grow into it and earn it when he got older

[moirae]

kanaya is named after the virgin mary
donna's name is short for madonna

they are so the same character in two separate canons

[nottheanswers]

i know right
it's like the moment they first threaded i realized retroactively that nothing could possibly make more sense

[sorcerously]

Gemma Doyle
→ Gemma is an Italian name, meaning "gem" or "precious jewel." NOBODY SAW THAT COMING. Doyle is an Irish surname, and traced back it roughly means "dark stranger."

Scathach
→ Scathach is an ancient Celtic name meaning "shadowy" or "the shadowy one." Her twin sister's name is Aoife, ancient Celtic for "radiant one."

Nill
→ Nill literally means nothing. The word "nil" means zero or nonexistent. The closest real name I could find was Nell, an English diminutive of Eleanor.

Rikku
→ Rikku is a purely Al Bhed name. Translated to Spiran, it's "Huggo," so I guess it has something to do with hugs, who knows. Most Al Bhed names either have a double consonant in the middle (Rikku, Keyakku, Buddy) or are only three letters long (Rin, Cid.) The closest real name I could find was Rica, an English diminutive of Frederica.

[respaces]

"Riku" in Japanese apparently means "land", and in Finnish it's a short form of Richard lmao

[sorcerously]

FUCK WHY COULDN'T I FIND THAT... why would they ever add an extra k then japan makes no sense to me

and lfdsiafd richard always makes me think of looking for group

MORE ON SCATHACH

[sorcerously]

She has several titles: The King Maker, The Daemon Slayer, The Warrior Maid. These were all acquired during her 10000+ years of life, mostly because she did make kings and she did slay daemons. In canon, she seems to be a bit embarrassed (and somewhat disgusted) with all the nicknames she's been given.

Her favorite nickname is Scatty, because nobody can pronounce her full name. I pronounce it "SKA-thash", but I've seen "SCAW-thach", "SCOU-ha", and "SKAH-thakh" so who even knows. HOW DO YOU PRONOUNCE IT, CNC??? Color me curious.

[terra]

Bucky's name is James Buchanan Barnes, Bucky is short for Buchanan, but if you go back and do it Golden Age the "James Buchanan" thing is a retcon. I tend to interpret Bucky as being a kid-sidekick play on "buck private" which is a term indicating the lowest rank in the service. Later on they retconned it to being short for James Buchanan

[terra]

LONGER THAN MOST and I didn't even go into the curious double-context of Winter Soldier or that James is a variation of Jacob meaning "the supplanter" or that he has THREE NAMES like every other big time assassin

AW YEAH

[moirae]

this is sort of off-topic but i have always loved how carol is ms. marvel and not miss.