History AerithAndBob / Literature

* ''Literature/HalfPrince'', due to taking place mostly in an online game, is full of this. Some characters have believable names (Prince or Wen), some have words (Wicked or Ugly Wolf), some have the sort of names you'd expect online (Lolidragon or Ice Phoenix). That is because the original light novel used Chinese names so they only sound like their meaning when translated. The names sound ordinary, like Mary or Bob to Chinese speakers, but their meaning can be as cool as Wind Dragon or Emerald Heart. Also, Lolidragon was supposed to be Xiao-Long-Nu, which means Little-Dragon-Girl (after the heroine from the [[Creator/JinYong Louis Cha]] novel which influenced this story in many ways). The translators thought Lolidragon made more sense for fans, so they stuck with that.

* Most English dragons in ''Literature/{{Temeraire}}'' have [[PretentiousLatinMotto Pretentious Latin Names]] like Maximus or Perscitia. And then there's Lily, who hatched earlier than expected and who's young nervous captain had to come up with a name on the spot. To a lesser extent, Temeraire himself, who's captain didn't know about the traditional naming scheme and went with that of a captured French warship.
* Jim Hawkin's kids in ''Tennis Shoes Adventure'' have the following names- Melody, Steffanie, Harrison/Harry...and then little Giddgidonihah Teancum.

* In Jasper Fforde's ''Literature/ThursdayNext series'', characters have names that are somewhat unusual - Thursday Next herself, her brothers Joffy and Anton, and her children Friday and Tuesday, Archeron Hades, Victor Analogy, Yorrick Kane, etc. - or complete puns - Paige Turner, Braxton Hicks, Lamber Thwalts, Landen Park-Laine, etc. The only exceptions are Thursday's other daughter Jenny, and a character in the second book called John Smith. Upon meeting the latter, Thursday comments, "Unusual name."
-->'''Thursday:''' I was born on a Thursday, hence the name. My brother was born on a Monday and they called him Anton - go figure.

* In ''Literature/{{The Tygrine Cat}}'', cat names are either ordinary names, nouns, or purely made-up. Cats who live close to humans tend to have names more towards the "Bob" end of the spectrum than those who don't but this isn't a hard and fast rule-- within the same society, Binjax or Trillion is just as ordinary of a name as Domino, Arabella, or Sparrow.

* If you speak Polish, ''Literature/{{Uprooted}}''. A pair of friends named Agnieszka and Kasia will be found in any elementary school, Hanna, Jadwiga and Marek are also completely mundane, but Wensa and Ragostok have a definite fantasy feel, even if they do sound Slavic. The wizard's names are a twofer - while a Polish fantasy series ''Literature/KronikiDrugiegoKregu'' also uses proper nouns for names, in ''Uprooted'' these are also given translation into magical language that resembles ''Hungarian''.

* ''Literature/VillainsByNecessity'': There's Sam and Robin alongside Arcie and Kaylana. Valeriana is soon nicknamed "Valerie" much to her distaste. Sam is short for Samalander (''not'' [[InsistentTerminology "Salamander"]]), rather than Samuel however. "Arcie" also turns out to be "R. C.", for "Reinhart Corallis".

* Two of the main characters in {{Literature/TheRiddleMasterTrilogy}} are named Tristan and Morgon. The BigBad, meanwhile, is named ''Ghisteslwchlohm''.

* Justified in Literature/KalpaImperial, as the Vastest Empire that Never Was has thousands of years of existence, each with several cultures, timelines and languages. The names variate with the years a great deal, and several stories have similar names than modern ones like Bib, but others are like Meabramiddir'Ven.

* In Tolkien's works, specifically ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', the translation convention is that various 'real' Middle-earth languages are translated to various real-world ones. E.g.: The Westron language (the 'common speech') is translated to English (including names), Rohirric becomes Old English, while the Dwarves get Nordic names. Appendices and supplementary works mention some of the 'real' names that were translated - for example, Frodo Baggins' and Sam Gamgee's 'untranslated Westron' names are ''Maura Labingi'' and ''Banazir Galpsi''. According to Tolkien, he '''invoked''' the trope to make names from Elvish and other origins feel different from Westron names, to portray the same feeling the hobbits would get when stepping out of the Shire.

* In the ''Literature/MortalEngines'' Quartet, there are "normal" names ranging from Tom and Anna to Wren and Freya, stretching into names like Smew and Oenone. Next to those, there's Gargle and Fishcake vs. Nabisco and Napster - presumably as a sort of Culture Shock and/or nod to the deterioration of origins.

* In the ''Music/EvilliousChronicles'', characters can have completely ordinary names, such as Kyle, Irina or Eve, as well as more fantastic- but still possible–sounding names, like Elluka, Banica or Lilien... and then there's characters like Milky Eights, Aybee Cee, and Neruneru Nerune.
* ''Literature/AnExerciseInFutility'' - Kalharians have made-up fantasy names like Kathelm and Meunig, while the Gurdur have Herbrew names such as Ethan and Joseph. One Gurdur tribe names women after virtues, such as Charity.

* The ''Literature/{{Fallocaust}}'' series is full of this. Names like Reaver, Sanguine and Sidonius appear side by side with names like Tim, Ellis and [[GenderBlenderName Jade]]. Generally, the more unusual a charater's name is, the more likely they are to be a chimera.

* ''Literature/HarryPotter'' really falls under the cosmopolitan exception to the trope. Given that wizarding society is a mix of pure bloods, half-bloods and Muggle-borns, naming conventions are understandably varied. Generally speaking (but not without exception), the more traditional Wizarding families use odder names while Muggleborns and Halfbloods have more common or mixed names.

* Aliens in the ''Franchise/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' tend to follow the LawOfAlienNames but robots and computers tend to have human names like Marvin, Eddie and Colin (although, to be fair, Colin was named by Ford Prefect after a dog owned by someone he knew on Earth). Keep in mind that this series named the InsignificantLittleBluePlanet trope and most of the galaxy hasn't heard of us. The only exception is that someone called Dan Streetmentioner is mentioned in the second book.

* Literature/WarsOfTheRealm features both human characters with names such as Drew, Ben, Sydney, Kathryn, and Jake as well as angels with fantasy names like Validus, Tren, Brumak, Sason, and Ral. And that's without even touching on the ''demons''...

* In ''Literature/ShadowOfTheConqueror,'' Hamahran names include Tara, Lyrah, Daylen, and Ahrek.[[note]]Though Ahrek is Tuerasian by blood, he was raised in Hamahra, and Daylen recognizes his name as Hamahran.[[/note]]
* ''Literature/{{Slayers}}'', being a MedievalEuropeanFantasy, naturally runs across the spectrum, with names ranging from Zelgadis, Gourry, Xellos, Luna, Lina, Sylphiel, Milina and Naga, to Amelia, Luke, Phil, and Alfred.
* ''Literature/SzamankaOdUmarlakow'' is set in contemporary Poland (mostly in the city of Wrocław, to be even more precise), except [[UrbanFantasy magic is widespread and in the open]]. Character names are a motley collection of contemporary Polish names, a few old-timey ones (the sort your great-grandmother would have), people using pretty normal nicknames... and then there are completely outlandish, either foreign or outright made-up names. This is inherited by ''Spiritlessness'' {{Interquel}} short story from ''Literature/HardaHorda'' anthology, with Lajla ''really'' standing out among people like Adam or Marek (Mark).

* For Finnish audiences specifically, ''Literature/KnightsAndMagic'' can be a strange experience to read/watch due to the unusually high number of Finnish names mixed in with other European names (as Finns are used to every fantasy name sounding equally exotic to them, even as audiences from other cultures are experiencing this trope). Such names include the main character Ernesti [[SpellMyNameWithAnS Echevalier/Echevarria]], Helvi [[SpellMyNameWithAnS Oberi/Öberg]], Baston Termonen, Lauri Echevalier/Echevarria, Ambrosius Tahvo Fremmevira, and Eleonora Miranda Aukusti. The [[{{Narm}} funniest]] are probably the names of the country itself and its capital, Laihiala (which sounds similar to Laihia, a municipality in Ostrobothnia whose residents are stereotypically associated with stinginess) and Kankkunen (Finnish for ''hangover'').

** The Alacryans, despite being humans for the most part (albeit with the blood of the Vritra Clan in their veins), tend to have rather fantastical names in stark contrast to their counterparts on Dicathen. Their names range from completely made up like Adaenn, Uto, Melzri, and Caera to being lifted from history or mythology such as Circe, Augustine, and Alaric, to being relatively normal names such as Seth, Ezra, and Lyra. It is implied the reason for their fantastic nomenclature is due to their culture having been ruled over by the Vritra Clan for generations, who as Asuras have rather unique names.
** As stated above, the Asuras have tend to have fabricated names regardless of which race they hail from, such as Kezess (a dragon), Ademir (a pantheon), Mordain (a phoenix), and Agrona (a basilisk).

* ''Literature/BazilBroketail'' series takes place in a fantasy setting and therefore, nearly all characters have entirely fictional names. However, the author also [[PlayingWithATrope plays]] with this trope a bit -- for starters, part of said names were certainly borrowed from the real world, but got tweaked in order to sound a little more otherworldly. This resulted in names such as Jak or Endi (for real-world Jack and Andy respectively). In other, rare cases, this trope is played totally straight with such characters as Tomas, Hektor or Manuel.

* In Creator/HarryTurtledove's ''Great War'' cycle of AlternateHistory novels, a lot of the black characters from the CSA have hifalutin' classical names like Xerxes, Bathsheba, and Cincinattus, apparently as a form of rebellion against the mundanity of life as a third class citizen.

* In ''Literature/TheUnderlandChronicles'', the humans have both typical English names -- Henry, Howard, York, Susanna, Judith -- and more fantastic names like Solovet, Nerissa, Vikus and Mareth. {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d when Gregor is introduced to – Henry, he almost laughs that "among all these strange names, there's a Henry".

* ''Literature/BazilBroketail'' series takes place in a fantasy setting and therefore, nearly all characters have entirely fictional names. However, the author also [[PlayingWithATrope plays]] with this trope a bit -- for starters, part of said names were certainly borrowed from the real world, but got tweaked in order to sound a little more otherworldly. This resulted in names such as Jak or Endi (for real-world Jack and Endi respectively). In other, rare cases, this trope is played totally straight with such characters as Tomas, Hektor or Manuel.

* ''Literature/BazilBroketail'': Played with. Nearly all characters have entirely fictional names, but some of them were surely borrowed from the real world. Only Tomas and Manuel seem to play this trope one-hundred-percent straight, though. In other cases, Rowley tweaks the names a bit so they would appear a little otherworldly -- therefore, we have characters with names such as Jak (for real-world Jack) or Endi (ditto for Andy).

* ''Literature/{{Pareidolia And The Gilded Scar}}'' features a mixture of real names, Megan, Francis etc. and names entierly made up by the author e.g. Prail, Tantallidy, Vensegnia.