What makes a name sound heroic, elvish or evil
Readers pick up a lot from sound alone. Long names with soft consonants and endings like -dil, -ion and -or read as elvish and old. Short names packed with k, g, r and z read as harsh, which is why the orc names here are mostly two hard syllables (Gashgar, Kragrum). Villain names mix both: a smooth start and a sharp end, as in Thraxis or Azgaroth.
Dwarvish names here follow Old Norse patterns, ending in -ulf, -grim, -rik and -mund. Tolkien did the same thing, taking his dwarves' names from the Old Norse poem Völuspá. For recorded Viking names, see our Old Norse names list.
Giving a name more weight
A single name can carry a character, but a second part tells readers where he comes from. Add a family or clan name (Brokdak Stonefist), a place (Saelorin of the Silver Wood) or an epithet (Morkhar the Ashen). The generators linked below can add these for you.
Try the name in a sentence your characters would actually say. "Run, Zakinth!" works; a name you can't shout in a hurry may be too long.
Avoiding famous names
We removed names we recognised from major series, such as the elf names printed in the Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook and Tolkien's characters. That is a good start, not a guarantee: search any name you plan to publish, and check it doesn't mean something awkward in another language.