Top Ten Tuesday: Unusual Names

Whee! My first Top Ten Tuesday!

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This weeks topic is: Top Ten Unusual Character Names. Because I grew up reading fantasy books, what may sound unusual for others is quite normal for me. So this was actually a bit tough.

1. Dudley Dursley from Harry Potter. This name makes me laugh every single time. The alliterative qualities, along with the duh sound make it the perfect name for the character. My dad - who has never read Harry Potter - picked up the first book once, and read the first chapter. He was in hysterics when he read Dudley's name.  
2. Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore from Harry Potter. It just sounds good on your tongue! And it's majestic - yet a little bumbling - at the same time. And so loong!
3. Eilonwy from The Chronicles of Prydain (by Lloyd Alexander). So pretty. So queenly. So flowy. And not too girly.
4. Gwydion from The Chronicles of Prydain. Gwydion and Aragorn will always define my epic fantasy hero. The name Gwydion has a certain strength with it, and an ancient sort of feel that seems as though he has a long line of ancestors just as awesome as he (which he does). 
5. Lots of people from The Chronicles of Prydain. These books have lots of weird Welsh names that are hard to pronounce (weird for me, not for Welsh people necessarily). So I'm just going to make #5 cover all the people with unpronounceable names in CofP. There's a freaking pronunciation guide in the back.
6. Daenerys from The Game of Thrones.This name is a little awkward for me for some reason, which is why in my head I just call her Dany. I have never seen the show, so I have never heard it out loud, so that might be a reason. The rest of the names in GofT are somewhat normal and pronounceable, but Daenerys throws me for a loop. Is it Dan-eries? Dan-eres? Dane-eres? Dane-iris? 
7. Galadriel from Lord of the Rings. I love this name because it could be both a male or female name. And then you read the books and it takes on the qualities of the character and you wonder how you ever thought it could be anybody else's name. Galadriel is Galadriel.
8. Eowyn from Lord of the Rings. It sort of makes me think of Eilonwy (#3). Also pretty, and queenly, but not too girly.
9. Meriadoc Brandybuck from Lord of the Rings. Lets not forget all the awesome hobbit names. I would have put Pippin in too, but Peregrin is not a really unusual name, in my opinion.
10. Sherlock Holmes. So I was trying hard to think of a good final name, and then suddenly - bam - I realized that Sherlock Holmes is a pretty weird name. Seriously, Sherlock? Where did that come from? And then their's his brother, too. Microft. What were their parents thinking?

~Sophia