All in a Name: Romans, Russians, and Fantasy

A character’s name will be the trait most often referred to in a book, so today I’d like to talk about historical and fantastical names, as well as literary usage.

We’d start with a quick review of some interesting naming conventions from history (Romans, duh, but also others), then touch on fantasy and science fiction literature and hopefully spark a discussion that might prove useful to both history aficionados and authors.

Roman Naming Conventions

As anyone with even a...