Fantasy names?

[sursumcorda.livejournal.com]

One of my regular guests at work is a little girl named Arwen. Thoughts?

I think a name like that is something you can get away with because it's not super crazy "out there" or too fantasy-ish, you know? Although I do have a friend who had to convince her friend not to name her child Frodo.

Comments

[ohhowlovely.livejournal.com]

My name is Erin and when my 3 year old says my name it sounds like "Arwen"
:)

[hermione-vader.livejournal.com]

I agree with you: it's pretty, but not too "out there", and I guess someone who wasn't familiar with LOTR could interpret it as a Gaelic or Welsh name. Frodo would be...eh. Could go either way? I'm not sure a parent could get away with Meriadoc, Galadriel, Gandalf, Legolas, or Samwise, though.

Now I'm thinking of Pepper, a.k.a. Pippin Galadriel Moonchild, from Good Omens.

[ninimoon.livejournal.com]

Galadriel is a name where you can KIND of get away with it for me. I guess it reminds me of Gabrielle...

[imamaryanne.livejournal.com]

My husband and I tossed around the idea of Katniss. We dismissed it fairly quickly (and I ended up with two boys anyway). I do love Arwen.

[taniableu.livejournal.com]

I don't see it as a fantasy name, it's a pretty common Welsh name.

[behindgrey-eyes.livejournal.com]

Me too. I'm sure it means 'fair' :)

[purplefog.livejournal.com]

Same here. Arwen is Welsh - didn't Tolkien take some of his inspiration from Welsh/Gaelic folklore and culture, or is my memory lying to me?

[bookity.livejournal.com]

Personally if I were going to pull a female name from LOTR it would probably be Eowyn, Arwen really isn't much of a presence in the books. Obviously that's not the point of the post though. You're right Arwen is a pretty safe choice to pull from a fantasy story.

[incogneato86.livejournal.com]

I know a girl who named her daughter Ezrie.

[jeweledvixen.livejournal.com]

From Deep Space Nine?

[lorienellen.livejournal.com]

I like it a lot, but my name is from Lord of the Rings as well and I think that would be a bit weird. Plus our last name starts with the "Win" sound so Arwen Win- wouldn't sound very nice together. *sigh* I agree Frodo would be a bit out there! Or most of the other names, really.

[skittles22088.livejournal.com]

I love Arwen! Other names like Eowyn may be a little difficult for people to pronounce sometimes, although I like Galadriel for a middle name (ie. Emma Galadriel). I named a chinchilla Frodo because it's a little odd for a human. I have a giant list of Tolkien-related names, but most I'd never use (like Feanor). Arwen is not one of them. =]

[laminy.livejournal.com]

I think since Tolkien was so well-versed in the study of languages, that the creation of his languages makes sense, and the names are either inspired by, or taken directly from, languages that already exist, so they're pretty easy to get away with for the most part.

[mirhanda.livejournal.com]

My thought? Her parents are HUGE Lord of the Rings fans. HUGE!

[sursumcorda.livejournal.com]

Haha, they really are! When I first met them her little brother was with them and I was like IS HIS NAME ELLADAN??????? and she laughed and was like, "No, it's Caden."

[mermaid88.livejournal.com]

i like Quorra, (Cora) from Tron legacy. and Radia, it makes me think of 'someone has a RADIANT personality'.