I've seen several threads here about naming PCs or NPCs, and I've noticed that many DMs dislike names from the real world, feeling that they somehow detract from the game.
I most respectfully disagree, and here's why:
1) Names from cultures foreign to the players can still sound "fantasy."
Example: a bunch of people playing D&D in South Texas are unlikely to encounter someone named Vehanen Mikinen (a real world Finnish MD), and yet that name could be quite "playable."
2) Some common names have connotations that have built up over time that are very difficult (not impossible) to capture with a name created ex nihilo.
Example: "Johnny" conjures up a sense of commonness, chummyness, a neighborhood guy. Thus, my PC Johnny Bones (Ftr/Th) sounds like a nice, garden variety street tough- which he was. That connotation would not have been as strong in a PC named "Krandir Bones."
After all, Tolkein gave us Samwise "Sam" Gangee as well as Gandalf, didn't he?
I most respectfully disagree, and here's why:
1) Names from cultures foreign to the players can still sound "fantasy."
Example: a bunch of people playing D&D in South Texas are unlikely to encounter someone named Vehanen Mikinen (a real world Finnish MD), and yet that name could be quite "playable."
2) Some common names have connotations that have built up over time that are very difficult (not impossible) to capture with a name created ex nihilo.
Example: "Johnny" conjures up a sense of commonness, chummyness, a neighborhood guy. Thus, my PC Johnny Bones (Ftr/Th) sounds like a nice, garden variety street tough- which he was. That connotation would not have been as strong in a PC named "Krandir Bones."
After all, Tolkein gave us Samwise "Sam" Gangee as well as Gandalf, didn't he?