I was trying to think of a character name on the fly yesterday and it got me thinking about what other people called their characters and why.

All of my mates have nicknames (is this an English or worldwide thing?) of one description or another that suits a particular trait of theirs -
"The legend", "sawnoff" and "bigbad" to name but three. When doing my original character I tried to apply the same thinking and I subsequently tried to give him a name that would suit him and emulate something about him. My original plan was to use a fighter with a warhammer and I called him Deadblow (a form of hammer.) My first character therefore became Deadblow a hammer weilding fighter.
Yesterday I made an Elven fighter/thief and was trying to think quickly. He became Oakleaf, just because he's Elven (or is it Elvish) and trees immediately sprang to mind.

So there you have my characters and the reasons behind their names.

What have you called your characters and why?

well now.. i remember a topic like this before but im happy to answer again...
my char name is Zoratorak... or for short Zor... but i originaly got mine from the book of Terry Goodkinds ... Zorander (a powerful wizard with an attitude) ... but when creating my char... i decided that Zoratorak sounds better for me...

my other chars
Merci Hellspawn
Averon Baltmoon

it just came into my mind... so thats original for me

In my first game my main character was named Winston Churchill (no I'm not joking )and he was a fighter level 19. However I wasnt satisfied with the way I did that game with a fighter so on my second and current game I am once again a fighter(level 20 as of today after a bit of a struggle)named....yes Ozzy Osbourne!!! Ozzy is God! Ha! On my next game though I am planning on being a mage because I cant seem to use them right. Practice,practice,practice! I'm thinking of naming him Barbara Streisand, any thoughts on that?

I go with the timeless "spell it backwards".....

Srooc (Si rock)......Coors
Xolaam(Z O lum)......Maalox
Adnama(Ad nam ma)....Amanda
N'nor (N nor)........Ronn

...try it, it's awesome...

Hmmm... when I saw the name of your thread I feared its content...I heard all men carry Bruno's, Biggy's and others of that kind around in their pants but luckily you're talking CHARACTER NAMES

OK I usually use corny unoriginal ones from either literature, legend or fantasy
such as Garion (belgarion from Eddings), Gawain (Arthurian legend), Ehlana (Eddings again), Ligeia (among others from a E.A. Poe short story), Morgaine (from Marion Zimmer Bradley), Artemis (Greek Mythology), Beowulf (from the first Old English manuscript to be found) and even Melusine is from a French legend. I do consider the backgrounds of the names I choose (so that Morgaine is a sorceress or cleric, Artemis an Archer and any names from Round Table Knights will probably be paladins)
So maybe the nickname-of-a-trait thing is typically English because I never do it. We had a couple of enormous threads on namegiving but i think most of them got lost in some crash or other
BTW Oakleaf sounds nice!

Lord of Alcohol isn't that just a bit silly? What does Barbara Streisand do in a Fantasy Roleplaying World!!!
I can't imagine someone saying: Yes Barbara Streisand we have heard a lot of your chivalrous deeds and now Trademeet needs your help to beet a pair of Genies...

erm I mean beat not beet
Anyway Zoratorak I notice that your name would then actually be a combination of Zorander and Kal Torak from David eddings but I don't know if that was on purpose or accidental

For male characters, I usually used Ricky (my real name), for female characters, I usually used Sylvia (my car's name). Other names I usually gathered from WarCraft 2's expansion packs' NPCs.

I was joking Melusine, sorry

Melusine.

I note that even though you thought you might unleash a monster you couldn't help peeking . I'm flabberghasted that you think I would even contemplate posting something of that ilk. I meant to write wielding in my post btw (I dislike my using poor spelling although I often do.) Incidentally did you ever see the film Excalibur Melusine? I did ask before but was unsure if you'd seen the post. If not I'd recommend it.

I just popped into another forum btw, nowhere near as civillised as this one, scared me so much infact that I scampered back here as fast as my little browser would carry me...terrible experience.