It sounds like something out of an old pulp fantasy novel. Is it someone's actual name, or is it just something made up? I read the wikipedia article and there's no mention of where the name came from.
Where did the name "Ral Partha" come from?
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According to a letter from Jack Hesselbrock, a former president of the company, "Ral-Partha" was the name of a wizard character played by John Winkler, a friend of one of the company's founders:
Ral Partha was a name made up by John Winkler. John is a friend of Tom Meier. John was playing the original D & D in high school. He had a wizard character he named RAL-PARTHA. He came up with this name because he thought it Middle Eastern sounding. RAL-PARTHA was extremely successful and it was hoped some of this success would spill over into the fledgling miniature company. The hyphen was somehow dropped.
- Jack Hesselbrock, President, Ral Partha Enterprises, Inc.
I can't find a definitive original source on the letter (e.g., one published on Ral Partha's website), but it's reproduced here and described again here. This story is also corroborated by an interview with John Winkler himself, found in the October 1982 issue of Cincinnati magazine and accessible online in brief preview form here.
