Name that pulp hero (or villain)

[Bravo Six]

Guys, I'm drawing a blank coming up with ideas or inspiration for naming my pulp heroes and villain types. I did find a couple of old, outdated links to "gamemastering pulp adventures" which I hoped would have some resources but no joy.

Any ideas? Resources? References?

And yes... my Google-Fu is weak.

-Todd

[Heldrak]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulp_magazine

http://thepulp.net/

http://thrilling-tales.webomator.com/derange-o-lab/title-o-tron.shtml#titleotron

If you want help with names for specific Pulp Heroes & Villains, it would help to know their characteristics... 

[Tars Tarkas]

I suggest the names invented by Mike and the bots for the chunky hero of Space Mutiny (MST3000 Episode 820):
 Slab Bulkhead
 Fridge Largemeat
   Punt Speedchunk
  Butch Deadlift
   Bold Bigflank

 Splint Chesthair
  Flint Ironstag
   Bolt Vanderhuge
  Thick McRunfast
  Blast Hardcheese

   Buff Drinklots
  Trunk Slamchest
   Fist Rockbone
  Stump Beefgnaw
  Smash Lampjaw

  Punch Rockgroin
   Buck Plankchest
  Stump Chunkman
   Dirk Hardpeck
    Rip Steakface

  Slate Slabrock
   Crud Bonemeal
  Brick Hardmeat
    Rip Sidecheek
  Punch Sideiron

[Wirelizard]

Everyone knows that pulp villains are all foreign. They're all von this and de la that and names ending in -ski. Except for the ones who aren't foreign, but they should still sound suspect.

Anyone with a title is probably suspect. Except possibly the very noble ones, who are often slightly embarassed about the title, at least in public.

With very few exceptions, anyone publicly using the title "Doctor" is an obvious villain. If they spell it "Doktor", start running right away. "Doc" seems to be safer, for some reason. Someone who uses just one name is also probably up to no good.

Nicknames can go either way, but the more innocuous a nickname the more nervous you should be. A gangster nicknamed "Bubbles" probably didn't get his name from his fondness for a soothing bubblebath.

There's a wonderful section in Astounding Tales! 2nd Ed on pulp nationalities and names, and a good similar section in THW's Larger Than Life on a similar theme, mostly on pulpish national motivations, both heroic and villainous.

If you can create a name that's either a horrible pun, a thinly-disguised off-colour joke, or both, then go for it. I'm still quite proud of putting the White Russian heroine Ivana Rumpalotski into my Amulet of Fire scenario.

[marianas_gamer]

@ Wirelizard - and well you should 
LB

[Bravo Six]

Thanks for the input lads. I came across this list of popular first names (male and female) of the 1930s which helps regardless of stats:

http://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/decades/names1930s.html

I guess my Google-Fu is getting better. Now off to find a list of last names.

-Todd

[Bravo Six]

Good American/British surnames here:

http://names.mongabay.com/most_common_surnames1.htm

-Todd

[Wirelizard]

For names for mooks and soldiers (and inspiration for names for higher-grade characters) I've had some success Googling for "common names {country}"; there's lots of sites out there with huge lists of names and even their meanings and history.

Many of them are baby-naming websites, which always reminds me of an aspiring-author friend several years ago who had half a shelf of name-your-baby books and swore by them for character names! You could do a lot worse!

[Bravo Six]

True enough.

-Todd

[thebinmann]

I suggest the names invented by Mike and the bots for the chunky hero of Space Mutiny (MST3000 Episode 820):
 Slab Bulkhead
 Fridge Largemeat
   Punt Speedchunk
  Butch Deadlift
   Bold Bigflank

 Splint Chesthair
  Flint Ironstag
   Bolt Vanderhuge
  Thick McRunfast
  Blast Hardcheese

   Buff Drinklots
  Trunk Slamchest
   Fist Rockbone
  Stump Beefgnaw
  Smash Lampjaw

  Punch Rockgroin
   Buck Plankchest
  Stump Chunkman
   Dirk Hardpeck
    Rip Steakface

  Slate Slabrock
   Crud Bonemeal
  Brick Hardmeat
    Rip Sidecheek
  Punch Sideiron

Now that looks more like pronstarrs!

[Hammers]

Richard 'Dick' Hardalday is one of my  NWF protagonist.

[Bravo Six]

I've got a million gag names I could use (like Ted Stickles) but I figured "real" names would be better.

-Todd