The name of Strahd von Zarovich, the major NPC from (A)D&D's Ravenloft setting, is the best worst thing ever.

Strahd I am not sure the origins of, and I'll be happy to be corrected, but I'm pretty sure it translates into English as "Weird Foreign Name That Has Consonants Where They Don't Belong".

Which is actually perfect for a cheesy ttRPG vampire that's a Dracula expy. And we can't all be Tolkien and name all characters Filavandrel Rododendron or Mithrilandir or whatever.

(come on, Tolkien fans, take the bait, take iiiiiiiiiit. I know JUST enough of Tolkien's fictional languages and names to be stupidly proud of "Mithrilandir")

So, Strahd? Perfect, no notes.

Von? Makes sense. Strahd is a noble landowner, literally by his nature. He defines and is defined by his domain of Ruritania... pardon me, Barovia. Why it's a Germanic word if it's for a ruler of a Romania-inspired land (so it should be vaguely Slavic or vaguely Romance, depending), I'm not sure. But fictional lands in the "gestures wildly towards former Austro-Hungarian Empire" mold and German-style noble names kinda sorta make sense, so eh.

So he's Strahd Von Barovia? Given that this is the place he is truly, supernaturally, canonically Von. And Von is followed by a toponym, based on my limited and unreliable understanding of the history of German and Austrian nobility.

Oh, he isn't actually. Not sure why, but I guess they wanted a cooler name? Barovia, by the way, perfectly cool in its own right. I choose to interpret it to mean the land of the bears in whatever weird amalgam non-Slavic language Barovia's name resides. I think it's more badass than assuming it to mean the land of the pubs, but maybe that's just me.

Anyway, he's named Zarovich. So, is it from the word car/czar/tsar/whatever? -ić or -icz or -ich if you insist means "the son of". So the son of the emperor.

(and yes, Weird Al fans out there, "Yankovic" is basically the same name as "Johnson". I'm just sad his family name isn't Kubowic, he'd be in the running for the third most famous Jackson in American popular music)

Alright, that works.

Except it doesn't, because he's named Strahd of the Son of the Emperor. Either give him the Von or the patronymic -ic, you don't need to give him both xD

...I.think ttRPGs need more characters named things like "de Mc O'Donaldson". Just sayin'.

Of course, I hope it's Zarovich meaning "son of emperor", because if it's actually a toponym, then the only way I can parse it is za+rov+ic, which would be faux-Slavic for "from behind the ditch".

I complain, but Strahd of the Hole in the Ground of the Land of Pubs is the perfect name in the end. It tells you exactly the kind of character to expect.

It's the trope of Ruritania personified.

#ttrpg #linguistics