Odd names

One thing I have noticed with fantasy books is the abundance of odd names. All the mystical creatures have odd, tongue-twister names. All towns, villages, cities and mountains have hard-to-pronounce (and harder to remember) names. And the characters have outlandish, long names. I am guilty of using otherworldly names in my books, too. I’ve found some pretty colorful names in my time. And for some reason, I think to myself, This name will go just perfectly in this book for this character, etc.

But I have been thinking about how difficult it would be for my reader to have to pronounce and remember these names. I know that where there are characters in books whose name I cannot pronounce, I make up my own name. For example, Carletty would be Charlotte for me. I can remember Charlotte. So I wonder, would I be better off to keep the names short and easy, or am I taking away part of the fun of the fantasy genre? Do you like reading names from different eras ad cultures? Do you think using names from medieval history/lore would be bad? How about names you make up? Would it take away from your creativity if you had to use easy names? Or is that what you like about fantasy?

What do you like better?

The mighty werecat, from atop Bugooladash Hill, was locked in a battle to the death with Sir Eglamoore.

or

The tiger that lived on top of West Mountain fought with Tim.

Personally, I can’t help but love the first sentence.