(Loved Trope) Aptronyms

[u/dream_monkey]

Aptronyms are characters whose name is heavily symbolic or represent them as a character. Sometimes it is a subtle play on words, sometimes it’s just a clunky transliteration. Either way, it can help characterize a character and provide more allegorical depth. Authors must be careful not to delve into the realm of cliche, though.

1. Draco Malfoy (Harry Potter series) His name means Evil Dragon, and he tries really hard to live up to his name.

[Many commenters have pointed out that Darth Vader is not a true aptronym. I stand corrected .]

1. Darth Vader (Star Wars series) His name means Dark Father, which cleverly conceals one of the biggest reveals in cinema history.

2. Cthulhu (Lovecraft mythos) Cthulhu may just sound like a nonsense syllable, unpronounceable by a human mouth. The name is derived from the word “cthonic” which means a being that lives under the earth or in the underworld, so an ancient and terrible god that lies dreaming in death at the bottom of the ocean would definitely fit the description.

[u/Bread_is__funny]

Luo Binghe (洛冰河) was born on the Luo River on the coldest day of the year, his mother died shortly after giving birth but was able to save him by swaddling him in a basket and lowering him into the river. The people who found him named him Luo after the river and Binghe meaning "glacier", and the characters 冰河 taken seperately mean "ice" and "river". Luo also sounds like the word for "lowered", so his name means "lowered into the icy river"

The novel he's from has a lot of characters with names like this but this one is my favorite