[riffraff]

I always thought Obelix was named after obelisks because of the menhir connection (e.g. both are upright stone monuments of a sort).

The connection with asterisk/Asterix makes it so much better.

FWIW, I only realized last year, ~30 years after I read the books, that Idefix was named thus because of "idée fixe"[0].

Ah, the unexpected depth of a children comic book!

[0] https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/id%C3%A9e_fixe

[BowBun]

I'm not sure if you're a native French speaker, but most of the names in Asterix & Obelix are puns and worth exploring!

- Panoramix (panorama) - Abraracourcix (a bras racourcis) - Bonnemine, Assurancetourix, Agecanonix, etc.

[riffraff]

I'm italian, so some of the things made sense from the start (Panoramix, Asterix and many of the one-off characters which I can't recall) but some have always been obscure :)

[Tainnor]

They translate most of those names differently in other languages, in German, they use German puns, etc. (strangely enough, Idefix wasn't translated).

[OskarS]

I always kinda enjoyed the english translation of the tribe chief being Vitalstatistix.

[phaemon]

A pun that actually works better in the English translation as Dogmatix.