What's in a Name

[Divina]

Heya. I have been playing H-IV alot once again lately and I thought I'd start a topic about castle and hero names. I don't really have a list written down, but I will post weird ones as I find them while playing. Since I played the undead and the might campaign lately, here are some from those two:

Vogel (might hero): means "Bird" in Dutch
Paphos: Undead Castle, is a place on Cyprus island, where Aphrodite reputedly rose from.
Thassos: Undead Castle, Is a Greek Island (I seriously don't see the connection..)
Nekross: Undead Castle, means "Dead" in Greek
Thanatoss: Undead Castle, means "Death" in Greek
Xeros: Undead Castle, means "Dry" in Greek, means "Dead" in Greek Slang
Lievertje: Undead Castle, means "Sweatheart" in Dutch

Other Curio: Noticed that Life Castles often have borrowed city names from Australia and UK.....

I'd love to see some more of those, so if you have any, please post!

[Kareeah Indaga]

Well, let’s see… I’m pretty sure I saw a town called Machinaw (sp?), which had me rather excited because I’ve been there. And I’ve a guess that Sir Mardor in Gauldoth’s campaign is ‘the land of Mordor, where shadows lie’. Captain Ferth in Lysander’s campaign seemed to come from firth, which is an ocean inlet or similar.

[Ethric]

Of the top of my head, all I recall is that Vasteras (used on Academy towns if I recall correctly) is a town in Sweden

[eekstah]

Here are some Norwegian names I Recognized from HoMM4: With a little searching on the web, I found their some of their bakgrounds as well.

Sigrid (female knight), common name in Norway. Means "beautiful victory" in Old Norwegian.
Bakrus (male priest). Actually this means "hangover" in Norwegian! I guess this was unintended or means something else in another language.
Gavin Magnus (male mage). Magnus is very common in Norway and possibly also in the rest of the Nordic countries. Means "large" or "big" in Latin. Often used for royalties.
Kyrre (male archer) means "peaceful" in Old Norwegian. Common name in Norway.
Regina (female druid) means "queen" in 'new' Latin. Quite common name in Norway.
Hagnar (male barbarian). Norwegian surname(?).

[ThunderTitan]

Bakrus (male priest). Actually this means "hangover" in Norwegian! I guess this was unintended or means something else in another language.

A drunken priest? Sure, must have been unintended.... wonder if his last name is Tuck.

Regina (female druid) means "queen" in 'new' Latin.

And in a certain east european language too.


So, no one mention Erutan Revol (nature lover backwards), Mysterio (glad he didn't have a fishbowl for a head, someone most definatly was a Marvel fan), Baron von Tarkin (better known as Grand Mof...), Dogwoggle (My name is Fido) and Bohb (Bohbby to his friends).

[Kareeah Indaga]

And then you leave out the most obvious ones! Mongo(lia), complete with the Great Wall of (China) Channon (why do we not have a strike out feature here?), and Spasmatic(us).

Ooo! And Tawni Balfour—Balfour is a company that sells expensive school-related stuff—class rings, graduation invites and so on. And they had the MMVII manual’s Dragon on their banner when they came to my high school, which could be why Tawni is a pirate if they used it without permission. o_o

[eekstah]

Mongo(lia), complete with the Great Wall of (China) Channon (why do we not have a strike out feature here?), and Spasmatic(us).

Mongo & Mysterio the Magnificent could also be refering to Mongo the Magnificent.?

And they had the MMVII manual’s Dragon on their banner when they came to my high school, which could be why Tawni is a pirate if they used it without permission. o_o

Cool.

And after investigating a little bit more, I'm pretty sure that Bakrus doesn't mean anything in any other language than Norwegian. Got 104,000 hits on Google, and they all seemed to be Norwegian. It's a very nifty word for hangover. Bak = back or behind, and rus = intoxication or drunkenness.

[Divina]

G'morning ^^

I think Bakrus is a good name for a priest, I can see the association there.. The monks have a long history of making alchohol, right? Very interesting, thanks!

Couple more:

Verdigris: Nature Castle, it is the name of a green pigment, used by 17th century painters to paint foliage, so it's a nice name for Nature Castle. The word itself derives from old French, its actual meaning being "Green of Greece"

Lethe: Undead Castle, means "Forgetfulness" in Greek. It is what happens to the dead when they drink from the river Styx.

[joerginger]

And then you leave out the most obvious ones! Mongo(lia), complete with the Great Wall of (China) Channon (why do we not have a strike out feature here?), and Spasmatic(us).

I think "Mongo" is intended as the short form for "mongoloid" which also refers to people with Down syndrome. At least in these parts this is sometimes used as a very offensive insult (= "retard").

From Wikipedia (s.v. Mongoloid):
"Since people with Down syndrome have some superficially Mongoloid physical characteristics, the term "Mongol" was once also used as a synonym for retardation. It was also employed by some, primarily in John Langdon Down's Observations on the Ethnic Classification of Idiots (1866), as an alleged evolutionary degeneration when applied to Europeans. For these reasons, the usage of the term Mongoloid for racial purposes has acquired offensive connotations for some people."

[Gaidal Cain]

Of the top of my head, all I recall is that Vasteras (used on Academy towns if I recall correctly) is a town in Sweden

It's "Västerås". And it's a Haven town

Oh, and Lysander was the Spartan commander that ended the Peloponessian war by taking Athens.

[ThunderTitan]

And then you leave out the most obvious ones! Mongo(lia), complete with the Great Wall of (China) Channon (why do we not have a strike out feature here?), and Spasmatic(us).

Well it was 2 o'clock in the morning at the time. Just went with what came to mind right away.

Look what i found on Wikipedia:

Solmyr is also a Norwegian family name. The Solmyr family name is from a small farm in the north of Norway. A small fishing community named Hakkstabben, on an island called Seiland, fostered the Nilsen family who built the farm Solmyr. The name came from the sunny moore it was built on.

Can anyone confirm this? Or is it some sort of joke?

[eekstah]

Look what i found on Wikipedia:

Solmyr is also a Norwegian family name. The Solmyr family name is from a small farm in the north of Norway. A small fishing community named Hakkstabben, on an island called Seiland, fostered the Nilsen family who built the farm Solmyr. The name came from the sunny moore it was built on.

Can anyone confirm this? Or is it some sort of joke?

I think that is for real. Sol = sun, myr = swamp of some kind. I found several Solmyrs in the directory.

[Mystic Dragon]

I actually came across an Academy town in a Heroes III scenario which had my son's name: Kelan (it's an Irish name meaning slender or warrior depending on which book you read)

[Divina]

I do not actually remember Mongo, is it a hero name? If it is a might hero, it would make great sense to me.. Because Mongolia/Genghis Khan= barbarian leader?

EDIT: Ok, somehow I had missed the link to Mongo the Magnificent from the earlier post.. That makes sense too...

[theLuckyDragon]

Yes, Mongo is the main hero in one of the Winds of War campaigns.

[Vlad976]

Mongo could also be a reference to the movie Blazing Saddles which has a character named Mongo.

[Kareeah Indaga]

Lethe: Undead Castle, means "Forgetfulness" in Greek. It is what happens to the dead when they drink from the river Styx.

Errr…wasn’t that the river Lethe, hence the name?

[Divina]

I looked it up and you are correct. Seems I got my rivers mixed up..

[theLuckyDragon]

Telares (Necropolis)
plural of Spanish telar, with the following meanings:
1. (in textiles) loom
2. (in theater) gridiron
3. (in architecture) door frame
4. (in bookbinding) sewing press

[St0rmB0lt]

In homm 1 where all town names are random, one of the town names is Necropolis, i wonder if that had any influence on the future.