Apostrophe Rage

[Bill Volk]

I don't know how this came to be, but my group of players reacts with near-violence whenever I try to introduce a character or place name with an apostrophe in it. They aren't as hostile toward hyphens, but eyebrows are still raised. This happens whether I make up the name myself, use a name generator (by the way, I recommend the one on rinkworks.com,) or use published material to which I can point to shift the blame.

Have any of you experienced the same phenomenon? It seems stranger to me the more I think about it. I can see how a truly meaningless apostrophe might bother a language stickler, but my players even hate meaningful apostrophes (such as real-world O'Whatevers and all the various d'Whatevers of Eberron.) On a more important note, do any of you have advice on how to make up memorable (and non-rage-inducing) fantasy names for players who have seen a hell of a lot of fantasy names in their day?

[brainface]

I get accute, circumflex, and grave rage. I have the feeling fair or not, as it may be that they're to fantasy names what umlauts are to heavy metal band names. I could probably extend that rage to apostrophes--to me, excessive word decoration tends to make a word not look like a word anymore, just gibberish.

[Ishmayl-Retired]

I used to use all kinds of hyphens, apostrophes, and other symbols in my proper names.  Then I stopped.  I think my group likes me better for it.  Really, take a look at this:

The Dog Ran Across the Road

It's a hell of a lot easier to read that than:

T'he dog r'an ac-ross the RÃ...d.

Even though it's the exact same letters and words (other than the Ã... is road), it's much harder to read.  The problem with an apostrophe is that, to most english speakers/readers, it creates an instinctual pause in a word or sentence.

Once again, I used to use them all over the place.  Now, I have very, very few (if any) in my campaign, anywhere.  If something needs to sound foreign, I make it sound foreign without decorating the text.  I think my turning point was when I attempted to read a novel by some author with a weird name - come to think of it, maybe that's where he got his word inspiration from - that I can no longer remember.  Anyway, the entire first page probably only had 10 english words in it; the rest were made up of nothing but hyphens, apostrophes, umlauts, accents, and all kinds of other stuff.  I literally could not read the first chapter!  That exact same day, I went through my campaign setting and changed every word like that to a proper, easy-to-read-and-pronounce variant.  

[Stargate525]

I find that it makes things sound more gutteral. If that's what you're going for, I don't mind them. Its when I see them in elven languages that make me cringe.

[Epic Meepo]

The problem with an apostrophe is that, to most english speakers/readers, it creates an instinctual pause in a word or sentence.

In fairness to the apostrophe, that's only a problem if you don't want a pause in a word. Some fantasy names might need a pause in the middle to eliminate the need for silent letters.

[Ra-Tiel]

In the "EarthDawn" rpg, the t'skrang (seafaring, flamboyant lizard-people), had many apostrophes in their names. However, they were not used to pause the speaker, but were rather pronounced like "u". So, their racial name was actually pronounced like "tuhskrang" instead of "t-- skrang".

In my opinion, there is no real hard and fast rule. It must fit the general style of the language. Apostrophes in English names and titles look kind "silly", but thlIgan Hol could hardly do without them! "bortaS blr jablu'Dl'reH QaQqu'nay'"  :axe:

:D

[Jharviss]

In the English language, an apostrophe is used to replace vowels that are excluded in a word or multiple words.  Hence, shouldn't has two syllables but no vowel for the second syllable.  How absurd!  

Having said that, I use apostrophes in my naming for about the same reason.  I don't use them very often, but when I do it means that you either need to add a consonent or pause.  Also, about the only races in my world that use them are kobolds and goblins.

I have a kobold nation called K'rytkul.  For kobolds I normally have the apostrophe signify absent vowels.  I actually say that the kobolds have a vowel that we, humans, cannot hear, so that we just see it as a pause or grunt where they actually have a different sound.  

The goblins use the apostrophe to combine words.  Zok'Ist, Ist'Karilm, and Viil'Ruhal are all examples of this.  I would not suggest getting in to this habit unless you really want to - combining words is best done with a hyphen.  I just didn't think it fit the goblins.

But the more I look the more I realize that I haven't made a name with an apostrophe in it in a long time.  99% of the time they are useless.  

Hyphen names are fine, but that means that a person combined two names or words.  Kildoran Three-Thumbs won't get any irritated looks by anybody.  In many languages people use a hyphen to add names to their own, hence you may have Jane Smith-Jones.  Leave hyphens for what they're there for - combining things.

If you're playing with native English speakers, don't use any wierd accents on your letters.  Accents don't exist in English, don't try and use them.  They'll just irritate people, especially since most Americans don't have a clue what they do.

To get back to your question, if your players are against logical apostrophes (such as in your example, d'Whatevers), then slap them.  They're just being stupid.