Are you a creative namer?

[Decado]

It depends on the game. For some reason, CRPGs get fantasy and/or sci-fi names. But all From Software games get ridiculous names. Also, for World of Warcraft I'm 50/50, some are ridiculous and some aren't.

Some of my favorites in a From game so far:

• Fat Axe Dad. This guy was a super fat Deprived who was bald, basically your stereotypical fat dad. Then I farmed for the great axe. Went through the whole game in pants and a ripped shirt with a great axe.
• Katy Parry. A chick who parried a lot? I dunno, was funny at the time.
• Hot George. My pyromancer.
• Gay Nerd. A gay guy who used magic, hence a nerd. I tried to dress him in the gayest clothes possible, can't remember what that was though.
• Lord Poopington. I think I platinumed Bloodborne with this guy.
• Nutz2Buttz. This was my Stake Driver build in Bloodborne
• Dog Pound. This was my Church Hammer guy in BB.

When I'm in a jam, I just name a character after one of my wife's many, many teddy bears. Which I continually buy for her, because I'm an enabler.

 

[luj1]

Wizardry and M&M games had great character names

 

[octavius]

Of course I'm a creative namer, how can there be any doubt about it? Just look at my username!

Very Kreative.

 

[Zlaja]

When I was younger I use to name all my female chars after my favorite pornstars.

Katy Parry. A chick who parried a lot

Good name for Dark Souls PVP. :D

 

[Bastardchops]

Usually run with
Bongman Chong
Gay Man Chan
Slunt
D.com
Failed German Artist
Rawdog

 

[wishbonetail]

If it's party-based my characters always named like Fighter-the fighter, Mage-the Mage, Thief-the thief you got the idea. It doesn't get more creative than this. If it's a single character it's always Bob.

 

[Swigen]

I named my dog Dee Oh Jeee.

 

[VHS9000]

Wizardry and M&M games had great character names

M&M have juicy and well sounding naming for real. Kriegspire, Antagarich, Bracada, Tatalia, Nighon... Adventure-ish and metal.

Spoiler

And then I remembered PoE's boeuawawuas.

 

[Eldagusto]

It depends on the game. For some reason, CRPGs get fantasy and/or sci-fi names. But all From Software games get ridiculous names. Also, for World of Warcraft I'm 50/50, some are ridiculous and some aren't.

Some of my favorites in a From game so far:

• Fat Axe Dad. This guy was a super fat Deprived who was bald, basically your stereotypical fat dad. Then I farmed for the great axe. Went through the whole game in pants and a ripped shirt with a great axe.
• Katy Parry. A chick who parried a lot? I dunno, was funny at the time.
• Hot George. My pyromancer.
• Gay Nerd. A gay guy who used magic, hence a nerd. I tried to dress him in the gayest clothes possible, can't remember what that was though.
• Lord Poopington. I think I platinumed Bloodborne with this guy.
• Nutz2Buttz. This was my Stake Driver build in Bloodborne
• Dog Pound. This was my Church Hammer guy in BB.

When I'm in a jam, I just name a character after one of my wife's many, many teddy bears. Which I continually buy for her, because I'm an enabler.

I love Fromsoft names! They just use bonkers spelling of common European names hoho and it works! I am also a fan of Exalted so I use things like Deednames and cultural motiffs for names.

 

[Viata]

I name them after their class, makes the combat logs easier to follow.

That is how I play Wizardry. By the end of the game it's Warrior 30, Bishop 20, Thief 15(it's a ninja, though) and so on. The number is because of how many times they have been replaced.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

If it's party-based my characters always named like Fighter-the fighter, Mage-the Mage, Thief-the thief you got the idea. It doesn't get more creative than this. If it's a single character it's always Bob.

If you can't think up names yourself, or borrow names from prestigious sources such as the Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast books, you can at least resort to random name generators from a variety of sources. For example, there are dwarven name generators in both GAZ6 The Dwarves of Rockhome and PHBR6 The Complete Book of Dwarves:

Dwarven names are very simple to work up. Most dwarven names are derived from the same set of prefixes; diffe rent suffixes are added to indicate whether the dwarf is male or female. Take a look at the following list:
Given Names
MALE FEMALE
SUFFIXES SUFFIXES
-ar -a
ed -as
-ic -i
-in -ia
-lum -if
-or -il
-to -is
-ur -la


PREFIXES
Bal- Gor-
Belf- Kon-
Bif- Kor-
Bof- Kur-
Bol- Mor-
Bomb- Na-
D- No-
Dor- Nor-
Dorf- O-
Dur- Or-
Dwal- Thor-
Far- Thra-
Fil- Thro-
Gil- Tor-
Glo- Whar-

The list above is not the sum total of dwarven name components, but you can create quite a few names from it, and can invent other name components as you see fit. Also, see the dwarven dictionary in the "Dwarven Society and Politics" chapter for more name components and the meanings of many dwarven words.

*******************************************************************
Each dwarf name consists of a prefix and a suffix. To create a name either select or roll for a prefix and a suffix. Gender is indicated by the suffix, so male character names are generated using the Male Suffix Table and female names on the Female Suffix Table. For example, a roll of 2 on the Prefix Table gives “Bal-,” and a roll of 1 on the Male Suffix Table gives us “-aim:’ for the name Balaim.

Dwarf Name Generator Tables
Prefixes (ld20)

1. B-
2. Bal-
3. Bel-
4. Bof-
5. Bol-
6. D-
7. Dal-
8. Dor-
9. Dw-
   
10. Far--
11. Gil-
12. Gim-
13. Kil-
14. Mor-
15. Nal-
16. Nor-
    
17. Ov-
18. Th-
    
19. Thor-
20. Thr-

Male Suffixes

1. -aim
2. -ain
3. -ak
4. -ar
5. -i
6. -im
7. -in
8. -o
9. -or
10. -ur

Female Suffixes

1. -a
2. -ala
3. -ana
4. -ip
5. -ia
   
6. -ila
7. -ina
8. -on
9. -ola
10. -ona

If you cannot create a name you like, try adding a "b", "d", "f", "g", "k", "m", "t", "v", or "z" between the prefix and the suffix.

 

[Cael]

Wizardry and M&M games had great character names

M&M have juicy and well sounding naming for real. Kriegspire, Antagarich, Bracada, Tatalia, Nighon... Adventure-ish and metal.

Spoiler

And then I remembered PoE's boeuawawuas.

So... PoE is calling the PC "Because You Are A Wuss"?

 

[Lonely Vazdru]

Sure Valla.

 

[Bloodeyes]

I did a fun party for a (tragically short) Kingmaker LP recently. A half-orc fighter called Corpse Shitter, a busty human cleric called Bertha Bustberth, an equally busty bard called Clarissa Honeybust and an Aasimar paladin called Celestine Chastefanny. I do put thought into my character names, but I think those were some of my best. They died pretty quick though.

If I'm not feeling inspired I'll use Celtic or Norse baby name lists and look though until I find something that seems fitting. Sometimes I'll take a name from pop culture or history, like my favorite Kingmaker main Lematte, named after the creator of an iconic but reportedly rather crappy confederate revolver. There's also Crom the Orc (Crom Broken-Fang) a Skryim character named after Conan the Barbarian's god Crom. Combining two English words into a surname then giving them a traditional British or Eurpean first name works well. You want to go for something that isn't too weird like Birger or something, but also not in common use either like Peter. Alliteration helps too: Moric Mensbane. Brogan Bloodgrace etc

 

[RNGsus]

No.

 

[Burning Bridges]

When I'm outta ideas, Cumblaster or Cuntblaster will do the trick.

Ted Cunterblast was used in a Fry & Laurie sketch, in fact I have it because it predicted our time

 

[Eldagusto]

Ratkin from the Old World of Darkness had the one of the test games character's named Scumdangle Elfbiter, and I love that name...

 

[Nortar]

If it's party-based my characters always named like Fighter-the fighter, Mage-the Mage, Thief-the thief you got the idea. It doesn't get more creative than this. If it's a single character it's always Bob.

If you can't think up names yourself, or borrow names from prestigious sources such as the Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast books, you can at least resort to random name generators from a variety of sources.

For example, there are dwarven name generators in both GAZ6 The Dwarves of Rockhome and PHBR6 The Complete Book of Dwarves:

This table is how I got the name for one of my tabletop characters, and ended up using it online.

 

[Assisted Living Godzilla]

 

[wishbonetail]

If it's party-based my characters always named like Fighter-the fighter, Mage-the Mage, Thief-the thief you got the idea. It doesn't get more creative than this. If it's a single character it's always Bob.

If you can't think up names yourself, or borrow names from prestigious sources such as the Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast books, you can at least resort to random name generators from a variety of sources. For example, there are dwarven name generators in both GAZ6 The Dwarves of Rockhome and PHBR6 The Complete Book of Dwarves:

Dwarven names are very simple to work up. Most dwarven names are derived from the same set of prefixes; diffe rent suffixes are added to indicate whether the dwarf is male or female. Take a look at the following list:
Given Names
MALE FEMALE
SUFFIXES SUFFIXES
-ar -a
ed -as
-ic -i
-in -ia
-lum -if
-or -il
-to -is
-ur -la


PREFIXES
Bal- Gor-
Belf- Kon-
Bif- Kor-
Bof- Kur-
Bol- Mor-
Bomb- Na-
D- No-
Dor- Nor-
Dorf- O-
Dur- Or-
Dwal- Thor-
Far- Thra-
Fil- Thro-
Gil- Tor-
Glo- Whar-

The list above is not the sum total of dwarven name components, but you can create quite a few names from it, and can invent other name components as you see fit. Also, see the dwarven dictionary in the "Dwarven Society and Politics" chapter for more name components and the meanings of many dwarven words.

*******************************************************************
Each dwarf name consists of a prefix and a suffix. To create a name either select or roll for a prefix and a suffix. Gender is indicated by the suffix, so male character names are generated using the Male Suffix Table and female names on the Female Suffix Table. For example, a roll of 2 on the Prefix Table gives “Bal-,” and a roll of 1 on the Male Suffix Table gives us “-aim:’ for the name Balaim.

Dwarf Name Generator Tables
Prefixes (ld20)

1. B-
2. Bal-
3. Bel-
4. Bof-
5. Bol-
6. D-
7. Dal-
8. Dor-
9. Dw-
   
10. Far--
11. Gil-
12. Gim-
13. Kil-
14. Mor-
15. Nal-
16. Nor-
    
17. Ov-
18. Th-
    
19. Thor-
20. Thr-

Male Suffixes

1. -aim
2. -ain
3. -ak
4. -ar
5. -i
6. -im
7. -in
8. -o
9. -or
10. -ur

Female Suffixes

1. -a
2. -ala
3. -ana
4. -ip
5. -ia
   
6. -ila
7. -ina
8. -on
9. -ola
10. -ona

If you cannot create a name you like, try adding a "b", "d", "f", "g", "k", "m", "t", "v", or "z" between the prefix and the suffix.

Jesus Christ. Okay, i know it’s blasphemy to confess something like this on rpg forums, but such naming follows an utilitarian purpose. It is just much easier to keep track of things in long complex games and to avoid confusion (who posoned who, who is stunned, who is dumbfounded, dumbfucked etc).

 

[unseeingeye]

I tend to name my characters after the early Patristics, so Augustine, Monica, Ambrose, Origen, those types.

Otherwise I tend to use the names of whomever historical figures I'm reading of at the moment and their families or opponents. Lately it has been the Merovingian and Carolingian dynasties, but Saxons, Goths, "Danes" &c are always at hand and often in mind, as are personal heroes of mine like Saint Louis, or early crusaders like Godfrey, Baldwin, Raymond, Alexios, Anna, Bohemond (love that guy), Tancred (his nephew, love him even more for his classic story of getting up in the Emperors grill and talking shit in his face), Stephen, &c.

 

[Jackpot]

Depends, if it's a character I'm actually roleplaying as I like to try to make creative names.
Though I find myself leaning towards names that begin with vowels for some reason - Aravos, Enderon, Estekar

If I'm making a self-insert though, I just use the shortened form of my name that no one ever uses.
So it's just different enough to not be weird.

**
Oh, and if I'm really invested in a game or I can't think of a good name off the top of my head, I use the old google translate method.
Think of a word associated with the character - incinerate for a fire mage for instance.
Choose a language that fits with your character - Lets say polish.
Plug the word into google translate with the language - palić
Make a name out of it - Palichar

Boom, easy name.

 

[deuxhero]

I've recently taken to naming all my female MCs "Yuusha", because that stupid "joke" is better than anything I can pick. Male MCs are named "Yukon", because it started when I needed a name for one of the Tag Force games (meaning, thematically, it had to start with "Yu") and the potatoes were the first thing that came to mind.

 

[Saerain]

Always been terribly autistic about this, to the point that my Battlet.net account needed a passably Protoss name.

 

[Divine Blessing]

personally, any name has to transport the characters identity. any identity consists of race, background and class, ideally with a sentiment of the characters intented temperament.

Ultim Vicci, Aasimar, Noble, Paladin
T.S. Tallion, Human, Outcast, Warrior
Bonny Chance, Human, Orphan, Rogue
Ceste Lest, Elv, Noble, Priest
Bra Rok, Orc, Savage, Shaman
Fank Nights, Human, Wasteland 1-3, Ranger

but... there were dark times, MMO-PvP times, where names like Endsequence, Bowjob, Lillydan, or (even) Ownz (...) were en vogue...
if i could just undo one mistake in my life, it would be this latter (Ownz) symptom of degeneration. Although it soon got replaced by Snobz, Snazs, Tars etc., it still symbolizes a descent into triviality (a standard side-effect of MMOs).