How do you overcome the "improvise a character name" problem?

[Lanefan]

As others have noted, the problem isn't coming up with the name (though I've done the deer-in-headlights thing more than I'd like), it's remembering it later - even later the same session, never mind six real-world months later when the same NPC happens to randomly crop up again.

I'll sometimes scribble the name down as I think of it, then lose that scrap of paper during the session. Some months later I'll trip over that scrap and wonder what the single strange word written on it is supposed to mean.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

So how do you personally combat this problem? Do you always have a tab open to a name generator? Do you brainstorm names ahead of time and add 'em to improvised NPCs at need? Or is there some trick to getting good at improvising appropriate names?

I have a Google doc that I add to over time, with categories of names for whatever sort of NPC I was forced to make up on the spot and, now, groups I think of ahead of time as likely to interact with the players. (And since I started my daughter's RPG playing with Tales of Equestria, there are even pony names in the doc.)

I assembled the names, out of game, by looking at baby name lists, looking at generators or even just wandering around, deciding what kinds of names my goblins would have (I beat WotC to the punch in making them fey-derived, apparently, since my list is full of poisonous plant names that goblins use).

 

[MNblockhead]

Regarding remembering names. I'm lucky to have a player who is good with notes. Of course sometimes he mishears the name and I'll be scratching my head to try to know what he is referencing. In a number of cases the misheard or misspelled version becomes canon.

 

[AnotherGuy]

Bob is a perfectly fine name. and should you fancy you can always use its shortened version Kate

 

[bedir than]

My favorite improvised name is Anderson. He was the goon for a master Transmuter, Chorl.

The party turned what was supposed to be a minor character into a recurring one. I froze, as happens. I looked outside at Anderson Harley Davidson across the street. I went with it .

Anderson featured in five sessions

 

[John R Davis]

If the players introduce an NPC they must name them
Otherwise I try to name them relevant to their role to help my old brain remember.

 

[ilgatto]

[eryg / mhasbe // enthere // eveim // iseda // tergi // venthem // lorfulde // tionand // venad // tedasli // ydi // entva // guely // tisha // entfor // theocca // sionthe // isflo // ingnat // urallya // devery // oneseem // sinvest // dinthe // tionthe // naplaye // rask // thedre // adedque //.]

Every GM has been there. We've improvised a character, given them a colorful description, and even adopted a slightly-different vaguely-British accent for the occasion. The RP is flowing naturally, and everyone seems invested in the fiction. Then a player asks the dreaded question. "What's your name, friend?"

What I used to do in some cases in the long and distant past was take some text, any text, and combine the last letters of a word with the first of the next, and possibly go through it to the next.

These days, I just use this, for which no praise can be enough.

 

[MNblockhead]

[eryg / mhasbe // enthere // eveim // iseda // tergi // venthem // lorfulde // tionand // venad // tedasli // ydi // entva // guely // tisha // entfor // theocca // sionthe // isflo // ingnat // urallya // devery // oneseem // sinvest // dinthe // tionthe // naplaye // rask // thedre // adedque //.]



What I used to do in some cases in the long and distant past was take some text, any text, and combine the last letters of a word with the first of the next, and possibly go through it to the next.

These days, I just use this, for which no praise can be enough.

Yeah, if it were re-released and available in PDF or on Kindle, I'd buy it. But at a $150, I'll stick with the various free on-line name generators.

 

[Broxen]

Prep a list of names and have it handy. Mark them off as you use them and note which NPC it belongs to now. When you get about 1/4 of the way through the list, clear the used ones and generate more at the end.

This is the one. Except I have it broken into First Name / Last Name.

That said, sometimes I have the players name the NPC, but I tell them I'll only take a serious name.

Our various games have all come to feature a recurring trio similar to Ed, Edd, and Eddy. My group loves coming up with setting appropriate names for the brothers. One of my favorites was Taro, Talo, and Tarou for our L5R campaign.

 

[aramis erak]

Our various games have all come to feature a recurring trio similar to Ed, Edd, and Eddy. My group loves coming up with setting appropriate names for the brothers. One of my favorites was Taro, Talo, and Tarou for our L5R campaign.

I've been known, from time to to, to use the "Larry, Darryl, and Darrel" schtick (borrowed from Newhart).

I've also used "I'm [Ōichi/Ichirō], and these are my siblings, Nirō, Sanrō, Shirō, Gorō, Rokurō, Nanarō, Hachirō, Kyūrō, Jūrō"
(all those are literal masculine ordinal names, great-son/1st son, second, third, fourth... tenth. Clearly feminine simply replace rō with ko. kun can replace it for genderless child, chan for very young child or cute female child...).