Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Ut-Napishtim 04-13-05, 09:56 AM	This is something I've seen a couple people do, and something I also do myself. From character to character there is an underlying theme in the naming process. For example, my characters over the years have included: Lars Marlboro Benson Hedges Phillip Morris Winston Newport Smokey Carlton See what I mean? What's your theme, if any?
mcnoo 04-13-05, 10:10 AM	I tend to name my NPCs after beers, or any other words on the beer labels. (and i have a wall covered in beer labels, it's a student thing) You end up with some supprisingly workable ones if you mix them properly, like Ruddles McEwan, Leaf Belhaven or Innis Brown.
LCD2YOU 04-13-05, 10:16 AM	or eyesight. The best was a guy who couldn't name his Paladin. Then he saw the remote control and named his character "Lortnoc". Mine are different, but not extreme. There was a time when I combined the stuff out of the back of the "Simarillion" Torgil Jal'mere Laun Kalos Nolan Elvish inspired: Fincul Lithluin Coranserke Feafaroth Delrog
LCD2YOU 04-13-05, 10:18 AM	This is something I've seen a couple people do, and something I also do myself. From character to character there is an underlying theme in the naming process. For example, my characters over the years have included: Lars Marlboro Benson Hedges Phillip Morris Winston Newport Smokey Carlton See what I mean? What's your theme, if any? You smoke?
Ut-Napishtim 04-13-05, 10:19 AM	You smoke? Now what would give you that idea? :ayyyy!:
LCD2YOU 04-13-05, 10:22 AM	I tend to name my NPCs after beers, or any other words on the beer labels. (and i have a wall covered in beer labels, it's a student thing) You end up with some supprisingly workable ones if you mix them properly, like Ruddles McEwan, Leaf Belhaven or Innis Brown. The Mage, Red Guinness The Rogue, Bud "Low-Down" Brown The Bard, Murphy Boddington The half Orc Barbarian, Heffe Weizen The Dwarven Fighter, Rock Stout
LCD2YOU 04-13-05, 10:22 AM	Now what would give you that idea? :ayyyy!: I'm a DM. I'm supposed to know that stuff.
moby 04-13-05, 10:29 AM	I tend to give my characters names that can be shortened to one or two syllables. Examples: Koramine Latro d'Deneith -> Kor Mobius Gaius Helene -> Moby Bandon Tay Ohmsford -> Tay Dent -> Dent I find that people are typically not willing to put the effort into pronouncing a name with more than one syllable - especially when the name is odd-sounding to their ears (in my group's case, not American-English-as-spoken-south-of-the-Mason-Dixon-line). The only other trend I can see is that I often draw names or parts of names from biology/biotech/medicine/mathematics/computer science: "amine", "Golgi", "Dijkstra", etc etc etc. moby Edit: Bud "Low-Down" Brown... HAHA. I have a professor named Ezra Brown. Nicknamed Bud. Bud Brown. Rogue. Hillarious. Wackiest math teacher I've ever had. Gonna go share that with him now :)
Phrennzy 04-13-05, 11:34 AM	I DM. When I get a chance to play, my PC is usually human. And they have modern day human names. I was shocked at how it set them apart from the other PCs. My guys: Derek Nimmes Jacob Prophet Hakim (no last name - he was a rogue, Hakim was an alias.) Seth (can't remember - he died too quickly. Stupid zombie.) Justin Tyme (yes. I know. But it makes me laugh) Gabriel Black I like the cigarrettes naming. LOL.
Jelstan 04-13-05, 12:33 PM	Justin Tyme (yes. I know. But it makes me laugh) . great name... NPC1: you're late! Justine: no, I'm Justine Tyme, pleased to meet you.
Solidcobra 04-13-05, 02:28 PM	When i'm bored i just jottle down "uses nom de plumes, doesn't tell real name because of scrying paranoia" Otherwise, nope. but i always do play females, so usually female names. Also, a lot of NPCs are named "Dan", "Ted" or the like.
Rith'tar d'lil Isto 04-13-05, 08:07 PM	I have almost no theme at all to how I name my characters. (I play all kinds except for mages-the one mage I do play is half fighter and carries a bastard sword around and mithral full plate :) ) I name them things that seem to flow. Like Rith'tar d'lil Isto (if you understand that then just laugh whenever you want. I know it means something totally strange....) or my latest who is called Tirenedian Areneuven, and he's human. So I do not have a set theme for how I name my characters but that's just me.
Big Tom 04-13-05, 08:19 PM	I usually just pick some random name out of thin air that is most often a reference to something. I occasionally use something that might or might not get past the rest of my reference-happy gameing group. For example: Exiled pirate Dwarf Fighter-Rouge named Isu bin Muriam. (name of Jesus in the Quran) Human ranger named Jon Snow. (A Song of Ice and Fire, by Geroge R. R. Martin, one of my favorite series) Half Elf warmage named Errent. (in Errent Story, a quality web-comic, a crazed half-elf destroys an entire city in a 15 minute orgy of magical destruction) Lawful Evil Gnome Aristocrat named Brunt. (Star Trek DS9 Ferangi higher-up) All references to something else. Not a one ever got picked out by the other players. It's like a game.
wordserpent 04-13-05, 08:24 PM	For a little while I was on an Anglo-Saxon name kick. Here are some of them: 1) Grimfirth 2) Athelwulf 3) Wilfraic 4) Ethobart 5) Athelred "the Ready" 6) Athelstan son of Athelred 7) Athelfirth son of Athelstan 8) Beoric son of Beorn Other times when I have felt silly I have used names like: 1) Heywood Djeu :censored:wmi 2) Hugh G. Re :censored:ion 3) Jack M :censored:v 4) Kamanawana La :censored: ia
Melpomene 04-13-05, 08:26 PM	I had a player who would name charicters in threads of "Kandi Wax, Candella Red, Dr. Red Von Candelwaxon, etc."
Moon-Lancer 04-13-05, 09:28 PM	I Usually go for names relating to the moon or the forest, or something shadowy. Dragons are good too. Moon Lancer [ranger] all 2 to 3 of them. lol Sorvin Kilar [dervish] Terran Vailray [Druid] Dragon Flower (npc) [Sorcerer] Knight ray (npc) [Scout] Dragon Moon (npc) [forest guardian] Kesia Twilight (npc) [bard] Kesia means earth in some langague. forget which one. Twilight is another name for star. Rock star. LinShou (npc) Reversed it is ShouLin. Little pun. becuse he is a [monk] Kalin Stoneguard (npc)
Titan W 04-13-05, 09:36 PM	I usually take japanese words and add a sylabal(Sp?) or two for sound... Ex. Urana Hikari - Close translation "Light Devine" - Coicidentally a cleric I'm thinking of re working my latest character's name sisnce it has yet to be used and I didn't follow my pattern... the character before that it's too late, japanese themed definately, but out of my patter due to lack of resources at the time... concidentally I'm learning a few words of japanese... go figure...
Eliza_Stormwhisper 04-13-05, 09:58 PM	Yes. Most of the time, my character's last names will usually involve the word "Storm" in some way, shape, or form. My name is Liz Stormheth (you can all stalk me now). Eliza Stormwhisper Elizabeth Storms Lysandra Stormheth Lidda Stormshard Isthmael Lightning-storm And other uncreative combinations like those.
Raymond_Luxury_Yacht 04-13-05, 10:02 PM	My past three PCs that I named (I didn't name one. So sue me.) have been named Bob, Bob, and Nelson.
dknight100 04-13-05, 10:10 PM	I often name mine after authors - my previous character was called Poe (female human urban druid), with her dog animal companion Lovecraft, my current character is a swashbuckler elf Pratchett, next character i'll prolly name either Auster or Kafka. i don't give last names.
DwarvinJedi 04-13-05, 11:11 PM	I normally take random foreign languages and mix up random words, like my latest Star Wars character: Eischlag Reingreifer, a dagger wielding Jedi, is name references claws, striking, perfection, and somthing I can't remember, and his daggers: Dulch and Messer, Dagger and Knife respectively.
Deflare 04-14-05, 03:05 AM	With most characters, I just play with sounds until something that sounds good results. However, if they're the first characters in my campaign, then a male will probably be Deflare, and a female will probably be Coroseth. Those are recurring characters in all of my worlds.
weasel fierce 04-14-05, 02:35 PM	My campaign uses nordic and germanic names, though there are plenty of "traditional" fantasy names thrown in, typically of the "first name + nickname" kind.
Keenath 04-14-05, 03:17 PM	I have a friend who always names her characters after animals. After a while, some of the group got tired of a list of Mouse, Raven, Jackal, Snake, and so on. So she just picked some more obscure animals, like Serval or Grackle, always misspelled to look cool.. ;) Personally, I don't follow any given scheme, other than using names from obscure video games or minor characters from books when I can't think of anything better. I had a gnome named Torin (some of you may recall Torin's Passage from Sierra Games..) a couple of games back. Most recently, I'm playing a character named Maya (based on a minor character from an anime). She has no last name, so far as I know. I usually don't specify last names, except in the case of gnomes, who are so proud of their long names, at which point I really HAVE to specify it somehow. I think my last surname was "Gimblewright" or some such thing. Hey, I just noticed that I used the word "obscure" twice in one post! :D
Dhar Sedai 04-15-05, 11:50 AM	I usually just take a name from thin air, or a name inspired from the last book I read or something. I will usually try to get something with storm, or something with the old tounge (Wheel of time) in my name just for fun