Character Names - How Do You Come Up With Yours?

Olaf the Stout · Apr 18, 2007

I'm about to switch from DM'ing to playing in my campaign for a little bit. As such I've had to roll up a character. However I'm at a bit of a loss for his name for some reason.

So, where do you get your character names from? Name generator? Changing around letters from other names/words? Just make them up?

Olaf the Stout

Woas · Apr 18, 2007

Yes.

Hehe, I guess I can be a little more helpful than that. I use generators. A lot: squid.org, Serendipity (nine.frenchboys.net), seventhsanctum, along with the Ever Changing Book of Names. Theres others too...
With these generators I either get good names that I use straight from the source or I change letters out to make semi-bad names more pronouncable and turn them into good names.

theredrobedwizard · Apr 18, 2007

I'm of the "just make them up" camp. I actually had a thread on the WotC boards like a year or two ago where I'd help people come up with names for lots of random crap; then I lost my internet connection for like 3 months and it dried up.

Sad day in history.

-TRRW

Hunter In Darkness · Apr 18, 2007

i tend to make mine up as well but have took names from all kinds of places aswell from books to the back of pop cans.

Beowolf · Apr 18, 2007

i like using favorite character names from many different places. the best are video games and my collection of old conan comics, a sourse of great names with a bit of authenticity.

Perun · Apr 18, 2007

Since we mostly play in FR, I take my inspiration from the sample names by race/culture page in the FRCS. Sometimes I use a name from the list, and sometimes I just check it for inspiration (and to see what names from certain cultures sound like).

Otherwise, I just use whatever sounds the best at the moment. Some of the names of characters I played include Drabwadnis Swifwhoops (gnome illusionist), Maranzel (human druid), Padraic (human cleric from the Moonshaes), Ulf Olafjotunsson (human cleric), Rupert Ravensbeard (human paladin of Siamorphe), Lassin (moon elf wizard), Ismael (tiefling wizard), Shadzeir (another tiefling wizard), Thergrim Strongbeard (dwarf sorcerer), Umbero Marivaldi (human telepath from Sembia), and Atreios Helioforos (my current character, another human cleric from Chessenta).

hong · Apr 18, 2007

I just grab names from messageboards. "Perun", for example, sounds like a good name for a gnome.

Firedancer · Apr 18, 2007

for me it depends on the race of the character to be named and their place of origin.

Usually the first name is made up, something I like the sound of, tweaked to the origin. Elves have long sounding names that sort of roll off the tongue. half orcs have harsh names., dwarves have no nonsense names (two syllables) Humans will have a real world name given a bit of variance. I often try to give names a translated meaning (and its not unknown to reverse this; get a meaning and work out a racial equivalent).

Surnames, I tend to give meaning to; Coldaxe, Firevein, Shipmann, Cavernfist, or ~son or de la for a noble taste.

Wraith Form · Apr 18, 2007

First, I very much dislike naming characters "Tim" or "Bob" or...*shudder*..."Drizzt". Cheeeeeeeese-ball. (Although I generally like Salvatore's books, I think most of his character names are kinda stupid.)

Elf names are easy to create by looking at Tolkien's books and seeing how he did it; you might even take one of his characters' names and spin it a little to make it less obvious. Dalgethas <-- "Belfalas" with a few letters changed or switched. And it sounds authentic and cool. (In fact, I'm going to use that name in this week's adventure--*yoink*)

Ed Greenwood, whether you like his writing style or hate it, also comes up with some dang cool names. I'm too prideful to blatantly rip off one of his character's names, but I'm not beneath doing the same thing I just did with Tolkien by swapping letters or replacing them to create a new-sounding name.

Asmor · Apr 18, 2007

Generally speaking, I'm in the "make it up" camp. I can usually come up with something decent with a moment of thought.

Of course, there was the time I named a character Tied because I couldn't think of anything and I had a can of Diet Arizona Peach Tea (Tied, of course, being diet backwards >_<)