So, in a book I’m writing, the antagonists are a group of terrorists who want control. I need some names for the terrorists just so I can throw them out in places like “Name’s patrol” and “Send Name down” and stuff like that. I want first and last names, but I’ll probably only use last names, so if you just have last names, that’s totally cool. Also, if you only have first names, I’ve been thinking about the protagonists’ mentor knowing one of the terrorists personally from when they were younger, so he could refer to them as their first name.
Well terrorists will have normal names that fit into your setting and background, since terrorists are born as regular as anyone else. So knowing the setting and background of the story and organisation would be more useful.
If any names will do, use this random name generator:
http://random-name-generator.info/
I recommend you close this thread immediately.
Are you writing a fantasy/non-serious story in which evil characters have obviously evil names like Cruella and Morticia? Or is this story supposed to be mimicking real life? Because if so…
I think asking for people to tell you names that sound like Evil Terrorists is a bit much. If you look on wikipedia and find a list of recorded terrorists, you’ll find their names don’t stick out much. Names do not “sound” like terrorists. And I’m warning you: it will be offensive to many if you suggest that. If you ask me what I think a terrorist “should” be named, I will either answer “nothing” or provide you with the entire nameberry database to take your pick from. Because, again, names do not and never will “sound” like terrorists.
If you are a good writer, you’ll know that opening a thread like this won’t actually help you in any way. Only you know the background and context of your story as well as the backgrounds of your antagonists. It is fruitless to try and get us to guess what you want out of your story.
If you can handle writing about terrorism in an informed manner, you should be able to handle picking names for these characters that don’t rely on stereotypes.
Those are my 2 cents.
You phrased it a whole lot better than I did.
I’d like to add that in real life, there are people who are unfairly targeted for surveillance, airport searches, hate crimes and even denied entry into certain countries because of the way their names and identities are stereotyped as “terrorist”. These stereotypes have even been used to justify systemic human rights abuses. Being categorised as “terrorist” just by one’s name hurts people in real life. In this context, you can see why we are uncomfortable with categorising any name as “terrorist”.
Okay…