Topic: Naming units and characters

[Fidelis von Sigmaringen]

I strongly agree with Victor regarding bad German (or bad Latin for that matter). But I would not be too punctillious. A warhammer pundit will always enjoy a finespun wordplay - as long as it is in good taste and moderation.

[Victor]

The issue for me are usally the last names, as it is difficult to mess up the first name. Some examples:

o) Marius Leitdorf = fine with me
o) Aldebrand Ludenhof = (Erich) Ludendorff comes to my mind, which is not so great, as I don't really want to be reminded of real (historical) persons. Otherwise an ok attempt, as I like the first name (sounds noble and old).
o) Boris Todbringer = that's not a proper family name, but a byname at best. Boris Propername, "Der Todbringer" (The Bringer of Death)
o) Pieter Verstohlen (A spy from a BL novel) = No ... just no. (verstohlen translates to something like surreptitious, perfidious.)

A warhammer pundit will always enjoy a finespun wordplay - as long as it is in good taste and moderation.

But how often is that the case? 

[Konrad von Richtmark]

Warlord Games has this thing where they make special miniatures that you can only get by buying a certain book from their webstore, in which case you get the special miniature for free as part of the order. For their flintlock-and-bayonet game Black Powder, that was Big Wullie, a Napoleonic Wars Highland grenadier, a massive beardy Scot. When they later released the 18th century supplement Last Argument of Kings, the accompanying miniature was Wee Wullie, a (much smaller) Scot from the Black Watch.

Then, one day, Pike & Shotte the pike and shot game happened, and sometime after that came The Devil's Playground, the Thirty Years War supplement. Apparently the Warlord guys didn't just want to settle for the slightly naughty penile innuendo inherent in the Wullies, so the accompanying special miniature was this... thing:

[S.O.F]

The issue for me are usally the last names, as it is difficult to mess up the first name.

This is tradition though and one that stretches way back to the late 80's, the name of the wizard in Trollslayer is Zauberlich after all. On the nose puns can be a bit much but as Warlord brought up the Lizardmen book is perhaps worse.

[Konrad von Richtmark]

What's the thing with the Lizardmen book? Stupid nonsense mesoamerican?

[Xathrodox86]

Grymloq, Tiktaq'to (sic!) and other, pun-tastic names are all the rage among the Lizardmen.

[Von Trinkenessen]

Unfortunately the source that i use does not appear to be on the internet anymore "Gerry and Julie's landsknecht site",
a reenactors site ,so Hank from Seattle became Hendrich von Kinckelbach.info is based from :- The triumph of Maximillian, The world of Durer, The book of trades, Three Behaim Boys amongst other historical references.
Another sourcef or surnames is to get a large map of eastern Germany ( West Germany is too well known) using some of the smaller place names.

[Fidelis von Sigmaringen]

Here is the new link to the Malleus name generator I mentioned earlier: http://malleus.dk/forge/warhammer-fantasy/name-generator/
You can also choose Kislev, Border Princes, Tilea and the Wasteland (amongst others).

[Fidelis von Sigmaringen]

o) Aldebrand Ludenhof = (Erich) Ludendorff comes to my mind, which is not so great, as I don't really want to be reminded of real (historical)

Perhaps it does want to refer to Ludendorff, but ,as it happens, there is also a historical Ludenhof (now Luua) in present day Estonia. The place was established as a manor named Pakuvere by the Schwertbrüderorden (the Livonian Brothers of the Sword , an ecclesiastical military order, founded in 1202). In 1519, the manor came into possession of the von Luden family, and was renamed Ludenhof.

[Naitsabes]

This is tradition though and one that stretches way back to the late 80's, the name of the wizard in Trollslayer is Zauberlich after all. On the nose puns can be a bit much but as Warlord brought up the Lizardmen book is perhaps worse.

That's my take as well. Mangled German names have always been part of the Empire in warhammer and it just fits so well with the mangling of real world history. Personally I enjoy the creative spelling more than the puns themselves. The 3rd edition warhammer armies book is a prime example.