I thought some of you who are new to the game and have no idea what to name your character might appreciate some suggestions from myth./lit./legends.
(My apologies to any of you who finally came up with a brilliant name for their characters only to find me posting it on the web for everyone to use. Btw. I would be really interested in hearing from you guys how you came up with names for your chars. Also, it might be possible that some of the names I give below are used in AD&D novels, which could very well be the case as I'm not familiar with any of em)

Male:
Beowulf(danish hero from 8th century manuscript[oldest manuscript found in England]) probably fits any Good Alignment
Grendel(the monster from the Beowulf saga) for Chaotic Evil Alignments
Some other chars from Beowulf: Unferth, Hrothgar, Hygelac, Heorogar, Halga the Good

Some names from Arthurian legend: Lancelot, Gawain, Ywain, Arthur(duh), Agravain, Accolon, Galahad, Mordred, Lamorak, Merlin, Meliodas, Meliasgaunt, Leodegranz, Uriens, Uther Pendragon, Tristam, Percival.

Some heros from Greek myth: Herakles, Perseus, Bellerophon, Achilles, Theseus (who would probably not be good-aligned since he used Ariadne and abandoned her on some godforsaken island - but anyway all greek heroes have their flaws)
Greek gods: Hades (e.g. for a mage kit) Bacchos Zeus Hermes(who would be best suited for a thief kit) Apollo Phoibos Ares(fighter kit) Hephaistos

Some names of Shakespearean "Fools" and other comic characters which are perfect for bard kits (esp. jester): Falstaff, Touchstone, Feste, Berowne, Costard

Female:

From Arthurian saga: Igraine, Morgaine/Morgan/Morgana (for evil mages if you like but in my opinion not neccesarily), Viviane, Nimue, Elaine, Iseult/Isolde

Medea, Kirke/Circe, Calypso(nice for females mages/sorcerors), Female Archers/Rangers: Artemis, Diana
If you have high Charisma you might wanna try Aphrodite, Venus, Helena, Psyche or to move from Greek Myth: Gwenhwyfar (yeah I know, it's also Drizzt's Panther, so make it Guinevere), Ligeia (beautiful woman in Poe's short story of the same name - there's also Annabel Lee from one of his poems)also a nice one I think is Morpho Euginia from one of A.S. Byatts short stories (for a Druid Shapeshifter maybe...)

These are only a few suggestions as I don't want to clutter the board too much and I'm not even sure if anyone needs this information anyway (hope so, though!). Let me know if you like em and esp. how you thought up your own aliases.



Oh yeah, Melusine (which you CANNOT use since it's my very own private and favorite nick name ) is derived from a French legend and is a winged mermaid that falls in love with a Prince, Raymond. She marries him on the condition that he may never visit her on Saturdays. This goes well for years, but then one Saturday he cannot control his curiosity any longer and peeks through the keyhole when she's taking a bath. To his utter bafflement, his wife turns out to have a serpent's tale. Although Melusine is angry with him, she agrees to stay, on the condition that he will never use his knowledge of her true appearance against her. Unfortunately, some of their children turn out to be monsters, and when one of them becomes a murderer, he cries at Melusine: you foul serpent! Melusine leaves him, but the castle (Lusignan) is haunted ever after.

We could always turn this into a little poll on how everyone got their names, but they usually end up cheesy. Last one I saw had people with names like 'ILikeBigGuns' posting "Well, I like big guns, that's why my name is ILikeBigGuns". Uh, sorry.

Yes well, you didn't tell me where your name comes from, Armisael.

Hmmm, some names I forgot (sorry it's just irresistable )
Egyptian: male necromancer: Osiris female cleric: Isis male cleric: Horus, Toth
Summerian: female evil: Ereshkigal Male Good: Marduk, Enki, Enlil. Evil: Tiamat, Apsu(female), Pazuzu, Humwawa, Lilith(female), Xastur(female)
Good: Inanna/Ishtar(female), Ninib, Nebo, Nergal, Shammash, Sin/Nanna

Yeah I know most of these names are corny (esp. if you listen to metal or sth.) sorry!

Heh, alright. My name's angelic, means 'Angel of the Womb'. Try to keep the quips down, eh? ; )

My monk is named Brother Elon. I thought about stuff like grasshopper, and Mr Morita, but Elon just sounded "monkish"

My favorite trick trying to give character D&D sounding names is spelling stuff backwards.

My cleric is named Xolam. I had an upset stomach one night and while looking at a bottle of Malox(spelling isn't right)

I used my name for my mage. Ronn = N'nor

I also like the game Axis and Allies so I tried some of those terms backwards in Icewind Dale

Allies = Seilla

armor = Rom'ra

If all else fails use cool names from movies. My paladin in BGI was Braveheart.

I use the name of my dogfor my bladear'Kan
->I find it a very simple but elegant name.

oops used a smiley without knowing it.The name was Dar'Kan.

Some names from the portal of death

Haplo Onera Hugh Sinistrer (great name for evil) Dog(if your race is dog) Alfred? Nexus Jarre

Oi! After about 15 mins of resultless thinking I put down the name Dominic. I know it's corny, but still fitting for the type of char I'm playing.

in case u know the books i suggest Lan al´Mandragon for good fighters/paladins
or Moraine Sedai for good(evil?) mages/clerics
not to mention my Elaida Eminagium(paladin) and Arostrosius Neh´Tar
lol
my real AD&D char(pen&paper!) is one Iribus Znatgniwz (zwingtanz-german-forced dance
a DSA spell)
finding names is soooo easy =P

MEMNOCH

Those of you who have read Anne Rice will be familiar (hopefully) with the character of Memnoch the Devil! Not Satan, or Lucifer, or Azazel, or Sammael, or Marduk, or Mephistopheles, Memnoch was actually a major angel of God, along with Michael and Raphael, but he fell.

Really cool book if anyone has time out of their BG2 playing to read.

Yes, Memnoch, i have read the series, it is well worth anyone's time. I had two names in BG, one was a conjurer named Trent (after the Transformer King in Piers Anthony's A Spell for Chameleon) and a paladin named Maestro, used because of its meaning ( a master in any art;especially a great composer, conductor, or teacher of music) and it's use in the Conqueror's series by Timothy Zahn

I took my favorite evil mages name straight from my P&P D&D character, which I borrowed from the AD&D name for a race of elves: Alanthis Sylvanesti..

Omega Dawn is one of my original AD&D characters ( a Bard) in the p&p game, who is currently a 2nd lvl theif in bg1. Other fabulous names Ive conjured up are Amber Fairoak, a druid and Leif Mojo ,yet another druid. Currently in BG2 im playing a crazy gnome illusionist named Knimbly Mackerus. I amuse myself by coming up with original names that seem to fit the character. There is no deep seated meaning in any of my names except that they all originate from my over-active imagination.

VLADE-Vladimir the Blade
Seriously, it was a good choice for a fighter(though not good alignment).
Here's a few Kara-Tur names - (from the 3 Kingdoms Period) Zhao Yun, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhuge Liang, Sima Yi, (from the novels of the popular Chinese author Jin Yong) Yang Guo, Zhang Wuji, Linghu Chong

hi all

There also a lot of good names in the wheel of time series like Rand, Lan, and heaps more can't remember them all, has been a while. Baralis (evil), Jack (good) sorcerer and Tawl for a paladin/fighter from J V Jones.
I use gunner as it is a old login from way back and it comes from the australian slang for "going to". The reason, there is heaps of things i'm "gunner (or gunna)" going to do, just never seem to get to them as i play BG2 in all of my spare time.

PS what was the name of the crazy dwarven fighter in the salvodor books. the one that would lower his head and charge?
PPS I choose the little shooting guy in my signature not because i'm gun mad, i just think he looks good.

That guy kinda looks like Vault-ManTM from the Fallout series.
Memnoch, I knew your name sounded familiar.

Bet you cant guess were i got the inspiration for my character from? Actually the Conan saga's have alot of good names. Thoth-Amon the evil mage, Zarono a swashbuckler, or Belit Conans woman in part of the stories.

Some of the Final Fantasy names are pretty good, if a bit techo...Cid Highwind, Cloud Strife...

I like the name Azean

In reply to Gunner:

Most dwarves think nothing of making use of their headin battle but I think you are refering to Thibbledorf Pwent, the battlerager. Other dwarf names you might not know are; of course Bruenor Battlehammer, Gandalug patron of the Battlehammer Clan and General Dagna. The latter from Citadel Adbar, his clan name is not given.

MANTIS i think would be a good name for a monk, becuase the praying mantis style of kung fu is the most furious and aggressive. so its quite fitting.

other names i like to use are:

Qualen (it means to torment... apparently)
Talion (sounds elven to me)
Sagaath
Azeroth (ever played warcraft? u should)

I just found this very interesting thread and I wonder if anyone knows..... I have played a Paladin named Magnus since the mid '70s. I have since found NPCs referred to in the Might and Magic series and Daggerfall named Magnus. I made the name up as a combination of Magnificent and Glorious and liked the tough sound.
My question: Is it a real name? Where does it come from?

i always use the same name for my charecters: Lycan Silvershard , It doesnt mean anything(i think) i just like the sound of it.took me a whole day to think of it.

Magnus is a real name, theres a bloke on mastermind called magnus magnusson. I thinks its nordic,swedish maybe.

Littlemage,
Thanks. I was wondering if one of my old friends had started writing games! Now that I know it's a real name, one more question;
What is Mastermind?

mastermind is a show in britain where the knowledge of the contestent is tested, on subjects such as dog-worming and kinships of royal famlies.

Littlemage,
Excellent. We have a show in the U.S. that follows that very same subject line. No...wait a minute...I think it's cat-juggling to electro-shock therapy.

Hi everyone!! I get a Dancing Dragons catalog and there is where I got the names for my characters. My male thief is named Vladdigor and my female thief/mage is named Shannara. I really love dragons and so I decided to use these names. So it is going to be hard for me to fight dragons in BG2 but if I have to, I have to.

Here are some name suggestions from Arabia:
Female:
Bilqis - the actual name of the Queen of Sheba
Alia
Samira
Ibtisam

Male:
Ahmed
Mustafa
Mujahid (it means 'holy warrior')
Rashad
Khalid (I know, it was the name of Jaheira's husband... but he's dead now ;o)

There are many many more of course, but this is a start.
I'm glad this thread was started because it can be an issue when I'm creating a new character.
Thanks!

Melusine, if u read this, this was a really good thread to start! You can try to mix and match names from Greek mythology and elvenize them with an elvish sounding surname. EG Ares Stormglade, Apollo Cloudhair, Athena Starwoman...(wait, NO!! I didn't mean to type that!!!!) AAAAHHHH!!!!

(All the Aussies reading this will know and berate me for my error........)

Magnus>>
Magnus is indeed a Scandinavian name, as someone said. It is quite common in Sweden and Norway.

My characters name is "Andaras". I took it from the "lord of cats", the god of all feline creatures in Shadow World, a campaign world for the roleplaying game called Rolemaster. The _reason_ I took it is because my real name is Andreas, and the similarity should be apparent.

In all things internet and in most other games, I am "Morninglord".

Some other names to use then, from the Scandinavian viking mythology:

Male: Tor(Thor in english), Oden(Odin), Mode, Magne, Balder, Heimdall, Jörmundgand, Loke(Loki), Mimer, Hödar, Vider.

Female: Frej(Frey), Idun, Järnsaxa, Freja, Frigg, Audhumbla.

/Morninglord of Sweden

I used the name Martel - from Eddings Elenium series as well as from history, Martel was the grandfather of Charlemagne I believe. Another name is Galrion from the Katherine Kerr series.

Some more Kara-Turish names Otaku Kamoko, Bayushi Kachiko, Doji Reju, Doji Rekai, Togashi Hoshi, Shiba Tsukune, Akodo Ginawa, Matsu Hiroru (all of which are charactors in the Legend of Five Rings RPG and CCG).
Oh btw, the Kachiko's Wakizashi that u can buy is a reference to Bayushi Kachiko although story-wise she wasn't a samurai(ie fighter or even a thief).
How about some alien sounding names like those used by Raymond E. Feist in the Empire series for the choja?

And sometimes, names can be taken straight from the dictionary. Find the definition you like....go with it.

like some of the others stated tolkien is(was) the man when it comes to fantasy..
however I mostly use
fighters:
Grumpy (can't take creds for this one.. it's my favorite but I stole it from another guy in MUME (middle-earth mud))
Grunt
Grinch (yeah I know .. jim carrey .. but my grinch is older than his )

mage/cleric:
Witt (I only have 1 mage name cuz I never play them.. though sometimes they are useful to have around (magic is for weenies ))

b

ohh yeah.. I forgot.. pratchett is a good inspiration esp the guys in the watch.. best female dwarfname ever: Cheery Littlebottom (works for hobbits aswell)..
and their is a certain ring to Captain Carrot ..

and what more?? yeah best male dwarf name (unfornatetly it's in swedish): Surskägg (something like Sourbeard) though Stronginthearm is also good..
and from an old swedish rpg-mag: Bultarn ("Pounder"), Trollis ("Wizie") Tjuvas ("Stealer")..

a friend of mine plays with an all orc group.. the names are different indian sauces (Korma, Rogan Josh and so on)..

b

I have used the name Mandrake for years. Stems back to when the Ultima games where still worth playing and Mandrake was one of the most powerful spell ingredients. Yeah, you guessed it, my character back then was a mage!
Other names I have used are:
Elric (from the books by Moorcock)
Etrik Elderbrant
Ragnar Rivenshield
(Both original)

Hi all, thanks for replying to this thread...some of your names are truly interesting!!

Hey Morninglord, wouldn't it be cool to be able to play a frost giant that we could name Thrym??!! (I didn't include any Viking myth names so thanks a lot for doing so)

Please keep this thread up everyone, and if you're non-english speaking, give us a taste of exotic names from your own language!! (Although I'm not sure if I can come up with any cool dutch names; Kees, Piet and Klaas sound pretty dumb to me --btw did you guys know that Jan Janssen is about as dutch as you can get?!!!!!)

Memnoch, the idea of 'elvenizing' Greek names is really cool thanks!

Oh yeah, someone said that Qualen means to torment, yeah, it does actually: the German verb qualen means to torment or annoy

My name is originally from a swedish comic, called Assar (it's great fun, about a walking sausage who run aways from a hot dog salesman and moves out of town to live in a really small village far away from anything called Zero Mountain and... oh, anyway). There are some mountains in this comic called "The Hoggar Mountains" (fancy that). When I was making an ogier on a mud I used to play a few years ago I thought this sounded rather sturdy, large and ogier-ish. Since then its been my name in most games I've played. So there.

I also started using Arak in a MUD ages ago, but from where i got the name i have no idea. I liked the name though and have used it in most RPGs and PnP usually as a Druid with a taste for the good i life.

-"All i ask for is a nice forest, a good wine, and a nymph with a golden voice"