Names, names glorious names!

[moiraine sedai]

Hey everybody. Just thought that I'd bring up a minor conversation point: where do you all get your names for your characters? Do you think them up? Steal...errr....'Borrow' names from books or movies? Any other ideas?

The only other place I get my names from (aside from books and my own imagination) is from different mythologies. It's fun to run around with a dwarf called Thor. I frequently get names from Egyptian mythology.

So maybe by contributing and sharing all your ever-so intelligent ideas others less....capable in naming characters can gain some insight.... (me )

Cheers,

Moiraine Sedai

[Wyvern]

I have a set of names that I use regularly. Some are from mythology, some are made up, some where names of characters I played in online chat RPGs. Long ago my husband and I wrote a program to generate names to use for NPCs when I was running on online chat RPG (ran it for about 13 years). There are places on the web that will do the same thing. Have a link for one somewhere, will have to try to find it.

The names I use most commonly are:

Ratter - a rogue type - Ratter is the nick name for Rasil Bathbone a character I've had around for ages and ages.

Ma'eldra - magic user - name of a character I played

Lothar - fighter - name of a Pookie - named for a king

Gustav - also a rogue type - ditto Lothar

Manfred - fighter/paladin - ditto Lothar

Eldrad - always Ratter companion, usually a magic user

wd - pronounced "dubbadee" was a tiny dragon (ost)in my RPG game, in other games she is usually a magic user. wd is short for Wind Dancer. Never show her donuts or berries! She is the proud owner of TWO never emptying jars of horehound candy (just in case).

Wyv

[WillowIX]

Well I get my names in the same way Wyv does. Usually a party consists of

Willow - no not from the movie. I just like my middle name. She has no certain class and tends to be a multi class character

Waylander - not from the book although the character is pretty much the same. Rogue/assassin.

Hephaistion - name from Greek mythology. Paladin and fighter.

Medea - also from greek mythology. Female witch in mythology and therefore a spell caster.

Aspasia - yepp you guessed it. A ancient Greek woman (teacher). My priest or monk.

Those are the five I usually pick. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Bungleau]

Boy, I come from a few different places. In no particular order...

Bungleau... my thief. Came from the first thief I played who I felt would bungle things a lot [img]smile.gif[/img] Pronounced like "Bungalow", 'cause he's got french blood in him... in every gaming universe

Morris the Monk... gotta love alliteration

Gruhntt... the general purpose fighter. He has no higher expectations than to smash things...

Copperield or Henning... mages. Named after the more current illusionists.

Jean Paul (or Jeanne Paula, depending)... cleric. French blood, again

Studley Dinsmore... Paladin. Or other noble hero-type stud-muffin.

Will Scarlet... archer, from Robin Hood's band of merry men.

Stumblebum... dwarven whatever. A grizzled, grumpy guy who'd just as soon smash you as look at you.

Jurania Legolas (Penndragon)... druid. Named after one of my first D&D characters.

Missy Hissy.... available only in the Gael Serran. I liked the rhyme, and when I started, I imagined her having hissy fits when things didn't go right. That didn't happen...

Jurania's brothers Ruhon Penndragon (ranger) and Huon Penndragon (paladin) sometimes show up, but rarely. And long-time family friend Jason Longtooth has been kept out of sight for years; rumor has it he's touring the lands of Jadame as an itinerant magician, making gold disappear wherever he goes

[Radek]

It depends on the character. I often give my characters names of heroes from my favourite books. The characters then try to behave accordingly. Examples:
Henry Marapper - a priest. What kind of priest? See Nonstop by B. Aldiss [img]graemlins/hehe.gif[/img]
Elven, dwarven and human names from the books by R. Tolkien.
Names from Dune. And so on.
If I cannot find a "pattern" for my hero then I invent the name myself. For example, Tia.

[jsalsb]

I almost always (unoriginally) have a ranger named (uh...) Aragorn. So sue me.

I also always have a priest named Startahemp, which was the name of my very first AD&D character (a cleric) back in 1980. (I had 'inherited' the character from a friend of mine back then, and am not sure what it means... but I played him for 2 years of campaigning, so it grew on me.)

I usually play a multiclassed Elf character named Sargon, named for an AD&D character of mine that I was very fond of in the late 80's.

And for the last 3 CRPG's I've played, I've had a pair of pure fighters named Bjorn and Fjorn (Bjorn is always furry, and Fjorn is always scaly). I commonly refer to them as "The Twins," not because they are related, or even look alike, but because they tend to end up with exactly the same abilities, precisely the same exp, and very similar equipment.

Finally, often have a rat-type thief named Basil (a la Fawlty).

[LiOnHe@rT]

all my characters have names from the PS2 game, Final Fantasy 10:-
Tidus- main character (wizard)
Auron- my heavy warrior
Khimari- my 2nd heavy warrior
Yuna- my priest
Rikku- my rogue
Wakka- my pixie priest
although they may not correspond to their "classes" in the game, it's still fun right?

[Morguemaus]

When i played AD&D, i created a fighter thief, with fluke high rolls, so i called him Conislav.
Have a Ninja named Maus, after me
Morgy, a Zenmaster
Honeymaus, a Valkyrie, after my girlfriend
Con'nori, a paladin com assassin, named after my Son, Connor
Owl, a monk, named after a good friend of mine
Baltius, mage, priest or Bishop from my Wizardry days
and finally
MGM, short for Montgomery George Maximus, also a mage from my AD&D days.

Sometimes, i would create names for their class .ie. fighters names starting with F
mages with M
clerics with C
etc etc etc.

Morguemaus ( because i do work in a morgue)

[Queen Kalindra]

About half I make up, others from books. I have used a few since the Might & Magic days.
Orion - always the elven archer or sorceror.
Flek - perfect for pixies!
Sonja - Red Sonja, human females, though I find humans useless in most games
Stryke/Stryker - an orc knight or barbarian (a Gourk this time)
Slithenda - made up just for a female Lizzord
Lucas, Keith - thief; Skeeth for a ratling
Female orcs/Gourks are named after flowers.

[Andraste]

I shamefully confess that I couldn't resist the temptation when I created a dummy character to keep in the inn as storage. The character was an Oomphaz. I named him Trunk.