A Critical Study of Translation of Proper Names in Fantasy Literature

Literary proper names can perform various functions. In fantasy literature, which usually has its own dedicated secondary world, these functions are even more prevalent. Analyzing the translation of these names provides new insights for translators of the genre and literary translators in general. In that light, the present study was designed to analyze the translation of proper names in five fantasy novels. To conduct the research, first the proper names in fantasy novels were identified and their functions were determined based on Gibka’s model (2018). Then by analyzing the translation of the proper names from English to Persian, the translation strategies were identified and examined. After the analysis of data, it became evident that contrary to popular belief, non-translation is not always the best strategy for translating literary names. Based on the results, the strategy of translation never caused the loss of semantic function in the translated texts, while in some cases the non-translation strategy caused the loss. Moreover, non-translation never caused the loss of localization function. Therefore, choosing the translation strategy for proper names with secondary functions in mind will help translators transfer these functions to the target text more effectively.