I didn't mean to dismiss you and I didn't call you a moron; that's your interpretation, not my intention. I'm interested in the psychology of people's opinions though and what I respond like tends to come from that mental place. Familiarity has a huge effect on whether we like something or not - there's tons of psychology research about that - and I do suspect that people would feel differently if the new ideas and the originals were flipped.

I'm not sure what you expect, though. "You don't like them? Sure, I'll change them then!" I've put thought into them and I know the story as a whole, so I'm not going to discard them just because someone dislikes them because they're different to the familiar and original.

I'm not resistant to critique or completely set in my ways about everything, but I also can't bend to everyone's opinions just because they present them. That's just not reasonable. Everything's so subjective.

I'll explain a bit why I chose this new name though. I should have done that before, but I tried to reply to a bunch of comments at once. Or maybe I should have explained in the post, though I expected curious speculation about the meanings rather than resistance to the new names.

Essentially, Mardek is meant as a lighthearted, nice character, who's neither aggressive to others nor emotionally tortured internally. He's associated with the colour gold. A big part of the story is the possession of his body by another entity. "Honeyblood", for me at least, suggests something golden, sweet (someone aggressive or passionate might have 'fire running through their veins', filling their being; he has golden sweetness running through his), quite down to earth (honey is very 'ordinary') and somewhat (but not clownishly) silly rather than, say, magical or spiritual (e.g. "Skywalker"; or does that sound like a Pokemon to you too?). But it also paints the picture that's a bit 'off' on a visceral level; having literal honey in your veins wouldn't be good for you! So it's got more layers of meaning than just his father's name and his element.

Perhaps it feels wrong to you if you perceived the original Mardek character differently, though? Or maybe you dislike silliness as a concept, but then I wonder why you'd like MARDEK since it was full of it!

As for Charhearth, a hearth is a solid construction that contains a chaotic fire within it, presenting a cosy flame that gives feelings of safety and warmth to others in the process. Being charred would suggest the fire within is doing damage to it, and that its true state is hidden beneath that damage.

Fathom brings to mind watery depths, but also trying to come to an understanding after deep thought.

Here's another way of looking at it: You could essentially swap around a lot of the surnames in the original without losing anything meaningful (if you also swapped the names of their parents). Mardek Fathom and Emeela Honeyblood wouldn't work at all, though; they'd be like "damp fire" or "adorable autopsy".

I love names that are like seeds that grow into a huge tree of branching connotations.