So my girlfriend and I are discussing names for kids (not having one for the record, just discussing names). We can never agree on anything but were flipping through the encyclopedia (WoT of course) and are trying to find names that would work for an actual child.

 

What are your best suggestions for names from WoT that would work for an actual kid in RL. Will choose our favorites and post a poll for voting.

 

Not only will I give points for the best suggestions, but who knows, you could be partially responsible for naming my possible future child(ren).

 

One she liked so far was Esmara. Apparently she tried to take over Andor in the War of a Hundred years and got assassinated later.

Lot of them are just alternate or made-up spellings for actual names or they are actual names (such as Rand and Perrin). Maybe all of them are but I can only recognise names that I know. My advice would be give your child a name that has an actual ethnic origin and spelling and base the final choice on the meaning of the actual name, so you don't put him/her through the grief of having to explain that their parents chose their name from a fantasy book/ made up a name, though of course, like I said, since there are a lot of names inspired by actual names in WOT, you can use it for ideas. So if you like for example Galadedrid, I wouldn't name anyone that because its gibberish but I would go instead with Galahad or Galath for the Arthurian figure.

I could see naming a kid Rand or Perrin. Mat wouldn't work so well because so far as I know, Matrim isn't a real life name. Any kid named Mat would constantly have to explain that it is NOT short for Matthew anytime his legal name was needed, and have to spell Matrim, and furthermore have to tell people that Mat only has one T (in RL, I've only ever seen it with two). Making Mat by itself the legal first name is also a nonstarter. Cindy can tell you just how much of a pain it is to have people always assume your first name is short for something else.

 

As for girl's names, Elayne would work. But I think the most suitable WoT name for an RL girl would be Kari, after Tam al'Thor's wife.

My mom and sister name their cats after characters from the favorite book series. They're usually Scottish names, and they're usually ginger cats. I think it's fine and dandy to name pets like that. My sister only recently admitted to me that my niece is also named after a character from those books but it's a normal name and you'd assume it was a family name so that's ok.

 

I see a lot of strange names in my work. It doesn't seem to make the bearers' lives any easier, but they probably wouldn't have been easy anyway.

 

Yes, cindy has been a pain to explain but I'm used to it. There are weirder names for sure.

 

I don't think I'd name a child after a character, personally. I'd pick a name that meant something to me, or an old family name, or just something that sounded good. Children don't always like their names, but I don't think it would help to know th were named after some fantasy book series they don't even know.

 

I think mat would pass easier than lanfear or... Well I guess thom would be ok.

I completely get the point about having to explain a name haha. I have a very Italian name and no one could ever spell or pronounce it, so I was always explaining.

 

Honestly I don't have any clue what I would name a hypothetical kid, and this is mostly just a fun exercise.

Gareth                       Alivia

Owyn                         Saerin

Luca                          Teslyn

Adan                          Erian

Eran                           Eriath

Garan                        Moiraine

Nevan                        Tamrin (listed as male but better as female)

Alric                            Emerys

Aram                          Joiya

Rett                            Nissa

Shadin                        Evelle

Sim                             Tamra

Willim (Wil)                  Meilyn

Elyas                           Joslyn

Jori                              Kaylin

Garon                          Caira

Eben                            Breyan

 

 

Do you have the WoT Companion?  Tons of names in there plus there is this site:  http://wot.wikia.com/wiki/Category:People

Kari is a very common Norwegian first name.

@Ryrin - Very nice list. I just got the Companion and that is actually what promoted this thread lol.

 

@Sooh - Kari is one that is definitely a RL used name.

I love talking about names. I have a friend who's son is named "Eben."

There are many beautiful WoT names. Some don't work in certain countries. For example I could not name a boy Rand since it means line in Sweden. And Kiruna is a Swedish town. Min means mine, but I think it could work.

 

I saw that someone named her daughter Aviendha, and I think that is beautiful. I like Moiraine, Leane, Elayne, Lelaine, Melaine, Amys and many others.

I think it's maybe not a good idea to name your child to a character from Wheel of Time if that name is immediately going to be recognized by those who've read it. For example, if Amys is a name that doesn't exist in your country, then everyone who's read Wheel of Time and meets your daughter says "isn't that name from Wheel of Time?"

Ley I live in the US, I meet vastly more people who probably can't read than have read the WoT lol

@Tina - That's a fair point for sure. That's why I'm looking for something that is cool but functional. Some good ones out of the bunch.

Ley I live in the US, I meet vastly more people who probably can't read than have read the WoT lol

 

Touché.

I should put that in my siggy.

 

Seriously.

This one's getting old anyways.

And I'd almost forget about it, but I guess that if it's good enough for my siggy, it's also good enough for 5 pointses.

Haha of it's really going in your siggy I'll take that as a complement.

I should put that in my siggy.

 

Seriously.

 

 

And kudos to that. It got my attention :)

As for naming a kid Matrim (or Mat), I disagree about it being a bad idea. I think it's a great one.

 

A lot of kids these days have names that are of similar spelling to traditional names. Having to explain that it's only 1 "t" isn't a bad thing.

 

He would grow up going by Mat. He would learn someday what his full name was and why. It would introduce him to the series.

Oh.

 

It got necro'd.

 

Hi Eldrick.

Hey I remembwr this thread! Yeah I don't think that Matrim is necessarily a bad name. Could always just tell people it's And or an if they ask and most would just assume that's a real thing lol.

Oh.

 

It got necro'd.

 

Hi Eldrick.

Hi :)

 

Second thread recently that I've necro'd lol

Hey I remembwr this thread! Yeah I don't think that Matrim is necessarily a bad name. Could always just tell people it's And or an if they ask and most would just assume that's a real thing lol.

Not sure what you mean there.

*Andoran

 

My phone doesn't like WoT words.