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<blockquote data-quote="Man in the Funny Hat" data-source="post: 3463203" data-attributes="member: 32740">I use <a href="http://home.earthlink.net/~duanevp/dnd/names.doc" target="_blank">this list</a>.I make it up out of whole cloth based largely on what looks and sounds appropriate.I steal shamelessly from fiction and from other players.I also assemble my own lists occasionally, trying to write down whatever names I think up or come across that I can use later and have a few hundred in a seperate list gathered that way.Once in a great while I've used name generators, software and table-based, but more as an inspiration to my own thinking than to be taken literally.Often I have taken a word that I would associate with the character, look it up in a dictionary, and then started messing around with related words, anagrams and just changes to make it look and sound a little different.&nbsp; Best example was an elf I rolled up AGES ago for 1E.&nbsp; I wanted to associate the character with a star, an 8-pointed star.&nbsp; I made the star his symbol and decided &quot;star&quot; would be the translation of his name from elvish.&quot;&nbsp; I looked up star in the dictionary and saw it was based on the word aster, the root where we get asterisk (which means star...) played around with those words and letters and eventually decided &quot;Aste&quot; (to be pronounced AH-stah) was the right name.That seems like a long clumsy process but it really only takes a few minutes.&nbsp; And if you intend to play a character for a long time then the right name can be very important, and the extra time getting just the right name is worth it.I do not use names that are recognizeable as modern, real-world names unless the game setting IS real-world.Joke names are okay by me - but only to a certain point.Throwaway names are NEVER okay by me except AS a remark made in jest.&nbsp; Names like &quot;Bob the Fighter&quot; show that the player either has no imagination, no patience, or no REAL interest in the game at any but the most superficial level.&nbsp; These are players that I will not want to be playing with eventually for those reasons anyway so I make myself heard and understood when I see dead-giveaway signs like naming a character, literally, &quot;Mister Cleric.&quot;</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Man in the Funny Hat, post: 3463203, member: 32740"] I use [URL=http://home.earthlink.net/~duanevp/dnd/names.doc]this list[/URL]. I make it up out of whole cloth based largely on what looks and sounds appropriate. I steal shamelessly from fiction and from other players. I also assemble my own lists occasionally, trying to write down whatever names I think up or come across that I can use later and have a few hundred in a seperate list gathered that way. Once in a great while I've used name generators, software and table-based, but more as an inspiration to my own thinking than to be taken literally. Often I have taken a word that I would associate with the character, look it up in a dictionary, and then started messing around with related words, anagrams and just changes to make it look and sound a little different. Best example was an elf I rolled up AGES ago for 1E. I wanted to associate the character with a star, an 8-pointed star. I made the star his symbol and decided "star" would be the translation of his name from elvish." I looked up star in the dictionary and saw it was based on the word aster, the root where we get asterisk (which means star...) played around with those words and letters and eventually decided "Aste" (to be pronounced AH-stah) was the right name. That seems like a long clumsy process but it really only takes a few minutes. And if you intend to play a character for a long time then the right name can be very important, and the extra time getting just the right name is worth it. I do not use names that are recognizeable as modern, real-world names unless the game setting IS real-world. Joke names are okay by me - but only to a certain point. [U]Throwaway [/U]names are NEVER okay by me except AS a remark made in jest. Names like "Bob the Fighter" show that the player either has no imagination, no patience, or no REAL interest in the game at any but the most superficial level. These are players that I will not want to be playing with eventually for those reasons anyway so I make myself heard and understood when I see dead-giveaway signs like naming a character, literally, "Mister Cleric." [/QUOTE]

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