On selecting a name

[orion]

Creating a name may seem trivial but for me it is important. For instance, my first time thru I was a goody-goody Kensai named Orion. It sounded heroic and seemed appropriate for a fighter (esp. if he hunts too). However, after familiarizing myself w/ the forgotten realms setting I realized since all the action is set in an entirely different star system, knowledge of our constellations is unlikely -- thus rendering my name anachronistic.

For my new game I've tried to generate a name more suited to Faerun. Now I'm soloing as an evil half-elf sorceror named Harvey. Just kidding, but you get my point -- a good name is crucial for the role-playing experience.

What names have you fellow BGers come up with for your charachters?

[C Elegans]

I usually stick to themes, that I use for a limited time in different games or for different characters in the same game (I've played BG 1 and 2 multiplayer). The themes can be anything from famous writers to chemical substances. So I'm probably not the person able to give advice about good "role playing world" consistent names...

[Ashuermen]

Almost all of my common RPG names are stolen from someting, but generally from obscure sources

Ashen (Simplistic, but one of the few non stolen ones)

Ashuermen (Phoenix Lord from Warhammer 40k)

Habbakkuk (Dragonlance God and Book of the Bible)

Aran'Gar and Ogan'Sar (Wheel of Time)

Sparticus (Lead a slave rebellion in rome)

Asmodean (Another Forsaken from WoT)

Artful Dodger (Very occasionally, but a lot of people miss this reference[oliver twist])

Hiro/Hirosaki (Snow Crash)

[Rail]

I don't know why, but I have to give my characters last names. Usually they're kinda strange and elaborate. Some of my favorites:

I have a half-elven female bard named Gen Renail N'Fithairn.

My female halfling fighter (from IWD) is named Devannah Winterroot.

A male dwarven fighter (also from IWD) named Agavaarden Stenbar.

My current favorite character, a female Cleric of Helm dualled to Mage named Elise Nevay.

I have a dark dwarven fighter/thief named Ben N'Bith-Bodah

My first character in BG2 was a male monk named Cho Shwi Li

Just a few, for what they're worth.

[ 04-24-2001: Message edited by: Rail ]

[Teroril]

Actually most of my names are quite wierd, let me show you:

Zargan, Thantalyr, Ganzor and Llodrien

here is some of my more normal names:

Kain, Jacob and Jarod

and some of my stolen names:

Dakkon

Deionara

zidane

[Manveru]

All my PC's in BG2/BG1 have the same name :

It is actually my own real name : Michael (from Hebrew language : "Who is as the God ?" rhetorical question) translated into Quenya : "Man ve (na) Eru ?" we obtain Manveru - I think it fits very well for BG story.

In IWD I plan to have different name : Manvelen ("Who is as the star ?")

[Delos]

My favourite character name is that of my assassin: Angra Mainyu. In Zoroastrianism he was the evil twin son of Ahura Mazda and the maifestaion of evil, darkness, destruction, injustice and death. What more could an assassin ask for?

[ 04-24-2001: Message edited by: Delos ]

[Pe Ell]

Ah the name problem. Sometimes I sit for ours trying to make up a good name for my char. here are some of them:
Jardan: Chaotic evil fighter (not stolen from what I know)

Belgarath: Lawful neutral sorceror (stolen from Edings books)

Pe Ell: Neutral Evil Assasin (stolen from Terry Brooks books)

Dimin Aymandar: lawful good archer (not stolen from what I know)

[two]

Anybody else NOT go the "silly sounding fantasy name" route such as:
"Z-archel Drwiimi" or "Juthinian Jasoup" or other such drivel?

I can't help it, whenever I start a new game, and the name screen comes up, I just HAVE to put in something silly like "Mr. Berserko" (a beserker) or "Fast-n-sleazy" (a thief) or "Luvemesqueezeme" (an ugly gnome).

I never fail to get a laugh when I hear big bad JonI pretentiously shouting "You shall DIE luvemesqueezeme, and trouble me no longer" or have an NPC state "What should we do now Luvmesqueezeme?"

Simplistic, yes, but anything for a laugh.

[Drakron Du´Dark]

Well, I have found that in the CD1 there is a demo of a program that is a D&D Character Gererator for 3 rd ediction, there you can see very diferent names.

[evermoor]

Yeah i try to avoid the fantasy "Consonant apostrophe consonant vowel" names (Tolkien has A LOT to answer for and prefer names from historical characters:

Darius, Xerxes, Achilles, Agamemnon,
Hasaphut etc.

But my favourite. has to be my LG
Monk....Gandhi.

[MinscFan]

MOst of mine I steal from Terry Brooks books (shea, flick)or I use Kull from the movie. I like it because it is a fighter sounding name!

[fable]

A hint for finding good names (if you can't make 'em up) is to track down historical references for some exotic culture on the Web. Or look at a given international profession. Who could ask for a better name than that of the Azberbadjan composer, Otar Taktakishvili? Or the Georgian composer, Heraclius Djabadary?

[Nightmare]

Mordak (human mage)
Da Master (human fighter with INT of 3)

These are my names from IWD:
Hack (human fighter)
Slash (human fighter)
Fast Fingers (Halfling Thief)
Serena (Half-Elf cleric)
Twillingar (elven mage)

[Georgi]

My fighter/mage from BG/BGII is called Athene, after the Greek goddess of wisdom and war (better for a fighter/cleric I suppose, but it's close enough for me!)

And my girl-power party from IWD are:
Naethe (spot the anagram!, ranger
Zaenne, conjurer
Treia, fighter/mage
Raemis, fighter/druid
Araen, fighter
Kaetana, thief

...all of which I invented by mixing up letters till I got something I liked. (With vowels. Lots of vowels...)


If you're stuck, I believe there are websites which can generate names for you, but you'd have to ask around to find them, I don't know any URLs I'm afraid.

[TVDinna]

I just used my first intial of my first name and my last name for my main character. But for games where people can see my names like EverQuest, I steal a name and edit it.
My character in EverQuest was a high elf and i named him Etharion(stolen from Warhammer Fantasy, there was a high elf named Eltharion).

[Bloodstalker]

My last name was for a Human Cleric....Coril.Personally, I am of the opinion that I suck at coming up with names.

[Craig]

Mines Genillia
I start my names by blindly puting in a letter(K or G) i manly follow these by h i have ae in there and pt(not THAT but its that sort) just go widda flow!

[TheDude]

Mine names:
1st time trough human/male/fighter: TheDude
2nd time trough dwarf/male/assassin: Thorin Theelsord
3rd time trough human/male/sorcerer: Dar'ukobi

---------------------------------------------Some Heroes stand, some heroes fall, others cant sit 'cause they got hit by my fireball.

[Vroom]

I always play as Vroom - not very creative, and not very fitting for a fantasy game, either. But that's just the name I identify most with - it has been my screen name since '94, when I first went online.

Actually, I don't really like it *that* much anymore, because it is stolen as well - originally it was "Vroomfondel", who is a philosopher making a short appearance in "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" (if you haven't read it, I REALLY recommend you do ... ). I just can't get myself to change the name.