7. Gandalf The Grey Was Very Nearly "Blandorthin The Grey" - The Lord of the Rings
Gandalf the Grey is one of those names that feels right the very first time you hear it - almost legendary or mythic in quality, there's no disputing its inherent power. It might surprise fans of T
he Lord of the Rings to learn, though, that their favourite wizard wasn't originally supposed to be called Gandalf, but Blandorthin, which we don't think sounds very good at all. It's pretty darn horrid on the ears, in fact, and not at all as catchy. Granted, had Tolkien originally opted to call Gandalf this name, we'd have known no different, but even in that knowledge we're pretty sure that Gandalf is the better name. Blandorthin sounds like the product that a shady pharmaceutical might be pumping out into the streets of Thailand, though Tolkien did actually use the name for a different character: a dead king, mentioned once. "Gandalf" was originally supposed to be the name of a dwarf.