Topic: Your Favorite Mythology Names

What is your favorite mythology names and from which country do you like ?
Did you use the mythology names for gaming or naming something (your pet, your character design, your mecha design, other things, etc) ?
Share your experience of using mythology names for certain purposes here.

I start from mine.
I used all 9 planet names from Roman mythology to name my fictional RPG characters Planetary Xaviors with names from Mercury until Pluto. Earth was the main hero while the other planets were his partners. Pluto was a secret character that can be unlocked by finishing his quest. No, they are not Sailor Senshi. My Planetary Xaviors consist 8 boys + 1 girl (Venus was the only goddess name)

My other fictional creation was 10 Mecha that I named some of them from Greek mythology such as Atlas, Pandora, Hermes, Amalthea, Helios while other 5 mecha I named by various names such as Maximilian (Maxie), Xidorn, Overcold, Thermal, Sterben. They are elemental based mecha, got the idea from Beatmania IIDX video.

Nice one Anti. I named my last dog Maximus, RIP old boy. I like all kinds of mythology, especially stories involving crypto creatures such as Sasquatch and chupacabra. El Cadejo is a mostly wolf like creature from Central American lore that may appear to travelers in the night. If it appears as a white wolf, it will protect you and lead you to safety. If it appears as a black wolf, you will die or go insane, and you have no choice in the matter. Just always hope to see a grey wolf like creature and you should be fine. It’s also known to protect roaming drunks and hobos as they make their way along their adventures.

Edit - This is important and I forgot to mention it, sometimes the black form can stand on two legs and has been known to punch people right in the face, so just another thing you’re gonna have to contend with aside from death and insanity if you ever meet dark El Cadejo.

I really love mythologies. All of them!

Age of Mythology is one my favorite games. RTS with Norse, Greek, Egyptian and Asian mythologies in it.

Titan Quest is another amazing game that is based on many mythologies. It is a Diablo styled hack and slash game and it is amazing!

Then we go to God of War that started solely from the Greek mythology and it is now in the Norse.

The latest 3 Assassins Creed games also delve a little into the Egyptian, Greek and Norse mythologies.

Fenyx Rising is also a fun adventure game!

Oh and lets not forget Heroes of Might and Magic that uses creatures from many mythologies even if not referencing them

My top mythology is the Greek one but I also love the other mythos. Arabian with Genies, Sirocco and Asian one with their version of Dragons and Chi monsters.

@bimmy-lee
Maximus was a name from which mythology ?
Sounds like a King's name like Alexander the Great.

@Anti-Matter I can see that it is a devil minion. I am sorry as I am not familiar with Yokai Watch games at all.

Are they all localized in English?

I haven’t played any games about mythology, or named anything after it. I do enjoy mythology though. The only kinds I know of is Mayan (from The Storm Runner book series) and Norse (from Marvel), as well as a small bit of Greek, I think.

I forgot the mythology names damn it

Zeus, Thanatos, Ra, Anubis, Odin, Kraken are the ones that pop up in my head right now.

Loved all kinds of mythology as a kid, but can barely remember any of it nowadays! That being said, I love Irish mythology - probably because I am from Ireland, so it makes it a bit easier to remember! The stories of Cú Chulainn, Fionn Mac Cumhaill & the Fianna, the children of lir are just some of what I remember.

I find it amazing seeing these names pop up in JRPG's like Fire Emblem and Shin Megami Tensei. I always have Setanta or Cú Chulainn in my party in SMT and will definitely be hunting for Fionn Mac Cumhaill in SMT V!

@Anti-Matter Yeah, agreed with @bimmy-lee: nice one, Anti! You FINALLY piqued our interest with your very own forum topic. And you didn't even have to advertise it in the Chit-Chat thread. Let's rack it up to a couple hundred of pages, shall we?

My personal favorite myths and names are from Greek mythology. I love the names and the words, especially in Greek.Take the country for example: Greece in Greek is called "Eleniki", which in and of itself comes from the more ancient "Hellas". Perhaps weird, but I especially have a thing for Gods, deities, characters and heroes with the slightly longer names, because of the language and how they roll off the tongue: Persephone, Odysseus, Aphrodite, Tantalus, Pallas Athena, Poseidon, Hephaestus, Prometheus, Dionysus, Agamemnon and Achilles, to name but a few. I also really LOVE the whole mystery surrounding the Oracle of Delphi.
I once even visited the actual place in Greece where she supposedly lived and made all of her prophecies.

My own real name is also partially based on Greek and also ancient Celtic/Irish, so a mix of a lot of things.
I also happen to like ancient British myths, because there's all kinds of cool creatures there as well: wizards, elves, pixies, trolls, golems, and all other kinds of forest spirits and beings.

And besides all that, I also love Egyptian mythology, Norse Mythology and I also like ancient Mayan and Incan cultures, as well as Chinese and Japanese myth and lore, so more than enough, I'd say.

@Zuljaras Thanos? Oh, wait. ThanATHos...

@Anti-Matter - Maximus does sound like a king’s name. There were some important Maximus’ in Ancient Rome too. It’s also a version of Maxi/Maximilian. I named him after the Maximus story poems by Charles Olson, which are kind of their own mythology.

@ThanosReXXX - Whoops, had this comment started for a while and didn’t refresh. I should have mentioned being interested in big purple space gods in my first post!

@WhiskeyFlamingo
Oooh.. CuChuhlainn was from Irish mythology ?
Well, if you remember CuChulainn from Final Fantasy XII, he looks completely different. He was a hideous poisonous monster with scorpion tail inside his back in FF XII. And he was represent Scorpio zodiac.

@bimmy-lee Heheheh.... just in time then...

@bimmy-lee
Oh, Maximilian was a king's name ?
Great because I used Maximilian name for naming my fictional mecha with owner Tobias as a shy geek. His mecha is so huge, like a tanker with some spikes on its body (imagine mecha from Xenosaga 2). He called his mecha Maxie for a short name.

@ThanosReXXX
Sooo... Your username was from Thanatos name ? 😉
Thanatos name used in anime and video game as a grim reaper looking creature (Saint Seiya, Monster Rancher 2, etc).
In Saint Seiya, Thanatos has a big wings on his back.

Also, i realized some of common name we used in real life was taken from Greek mythology. We use Atlas book to look at geography map (Atlas was a Titan that being punished to carry his grandpa Ouranus and standing on his mother Gaia), we called the plants as Flora (goddess of plants) and the animals as Fauna (goddess of animals). The two genders in one body we called it Hermaphrodite, son of Hermes and Aphrodite from Greek mythology.

@Anti-Matter Well, not directly, because my inspiration for the name simply came from the character Thanos from the Marvel comics. But that character himself actually IS based upon the Greek deity Thanatos, so I suppose it's partially true.

@Anti-Matter Oh, I didn't know that one, just looked him/it up there... interesting creature! But nothing like Cú Chulainn haha! His name comes from the fact he had to replace Culann's guard dog. Cú means hound in Irish. So, at the age of 6, Setanta kills Culann's guard hound and then takes its place as "the hound of Culann". Another favourite of mine from Irish mythology is the Salmon of Knowledge, a great story involving Fionn Mac Cumhaill.

One thing I love about mythology and folklore is how it all intersects among cultures. One demigod's feats are similar to another. Apparently, Cú Chulainn's adventures line up with Hercule's trials. Not sure of that myself, but they both share the uncontrollable rage and enhanced strength thing. I'm sure there are other similarities but that's all I can recall at the moment.

This fella here is an Irish storyteller and folklorist, often on Irish telly or podcasts. Well with the read or listening! https://eddielenihan.weebly.com/

@WhiskeyFlamingo Interesting stuff, for sure. Isn't Cú Chulainn the person that the Slaine comics/graphics novels are based upon? (assuming you've actually heard of them)

@ThanosReXXX I've never read them myself, but my Dad did. But yeah, I would say he is! I believe Conan the Barbarian was partly inspired by him too.

I've always liked the name Gawain. Although would Arthurian stories count as mythology?

@WhiskeyFlamingo That's kind of a nice thought, to think of him being the inspiration for Conan, but according to various media, the entire world that Robert E. Howard created, including all of its inhabitants, were basically a mix of Greek, Atlantean and Egyptian influences. The predecessor of Conan, the older character King Kull, was also of Atlantean decent.

And as befits an American, some influences were also gained from the American continent itself, especially concerning the origin of Conan: Cimmeria, his rather barren homeland, was actually based upon the Texas wastelands.

And the rest, also quite fitting for an American, even if I do say so myself (as an import Yank, living in Europe), was basically an American's shall we say, touristic view of Europe.

As for the Arthurian stories counting as mythology: I'd say yes, although their more than likely Roman/Celtic mixed origins have long since been bastardized into the disgusting Christian fairytale myths of fully ironclad knights, which were typically found during the much later Middle Ages, while the ACTUAL Arthur was probably someone from the early Roman era, wearing bear skins and living in a wooden fortress, rather than a big castle surrounded by a moat...

@ThanosReXXX Ah yeah, that's true. I can certainly see the Egyptian and Greek influences in Conan. I like the way you've described Conan too, the influences from America are important additions to it too. Almost like he is a form of a mythological figure for an America, separate from the stories of the old world immigrants like the Irish, Africans and Chinese (among all the others!) and Native Americans.

Good point on the influence of Christianity on Arthurian legend, I've never thought of that before. And it certainly makes more sense to see Arthur in bearskins. Man, I'd love to see a movie or series with this take! Our old stories in Ireland also have been influenced (some would say tainted) by Christian influence. One example would be the legends of St. Patrick but I would also suggest the children of lir. Some versions try to incorporate Catholic guilt and similar themes. Personally, I like to try and separate the Church from our stories. A real-life/ folklore legend that falls into this topic would be Brian Boru, one of the high kings of Ireland. He attempted to drive the Vikings from Ireland. A real interesting fella to read about, but lots of the story is embellishment and bollox.

Like how he is dubbed the Christian King, which is often used to say he was religiously devout, but most of the warlords in Ireland back then followed Celtic customs and used Christianity as a fallback. It also served as a form of a contract of allegiance to the other kings and rulers around Ireland. A lot of the families and bloodlines here you can actually find old documents pointing out their changing of allegiances for any reason at all, from stolen cattle to illegitimate marriages and land disputes. Not unlike today, now that I think about it haha!

Ah, I must read up on Brian again! I spent a chunk of my younger years writing stories of himself and Strongbow fighting and meeting Arthur... lots of time travelling, reaching, pulling ideas out of my a**se and other plotholes just to have a team of warriors that would make the Expendables cower in fear haha.

I wouldn't know much about the Atlantean culture. Does it tie into Atlantis? Or to existing cultures like the Aztecs or Sumerians?