D&D 5E Do you love Awesome Names?

[iserith]

I like names that say something about the character which typically means a play on words which can sometimes be silly. Generic fantasy names tell me nothing and are easily forgotten. I try to go with names that people will remember and that sum up my character in a word or two. It is generally my characters that are remembered by the other members of the group week to week. Others are usually forgotten or are reduced to a nickname.

 

[Mercule]

Ah ... but how would you feel about a self-absorbed method actor playing Flerd Trantle?

I would pay to watch and bring my own popcorn.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

Puns are great, and characters who make puns are great.

Puns are not appropriate for character names. A name is something that the character has to live with for (potentially) hundreds of years. The joke will get old long before the first session starts.

 

[Gardens & Goblins]

I think awesome is akin to cool - the harder you try, the more you miss the mark.

Dave the Cleric. Most awesome character to grace our tables. He was a cleric. His name was Dave.

His name was mundane. His actions..

...legend.

 

[tuxgeo]

Alright, I voted "Awesome names are awesome," because they are.

However, not all names that aspire to awesomeness ever actually get there. It is entirely possible to try too hard.

As for my own characters, I have been all over the place in the range of complexity from simple names to ones that "sound like a fantasy name" to ones that "I could never pronounce that in a hundred years." I eschew umlauts, but I do include "ae," "oe," and "ue" spellings when appropriate.

Sometimes I get carried away.
Gnomes are supposed to love having lots of names, right? How about, "Gildan Elroy Hyssop Winesong Imphfinning PoDandu TaVanish LaTortoise?" (He could call himself "Gilroy" by making a portmanteau of his first two names; but some in the party might call him "Gilderoy," and that would be detrimental to the seriousness of the game. )
On the other hand, a human named "Buxton Burfield Sedgwick Thredony Hartnell Smallege Rudgwort Ridgeway Rounser" would clearly be a case of trying too hard.
I'm still designing a putative elf bard, retired from adventuring, who is currently named "Aeonas Aubano," which is supposed to conjure up reminiscences of Aesop and Leonidas and Oberon, but I still think that looks a bit stilted. (Needs more work?) At least I didn't name him "Ubbniyart Mibbnade," but I did type that moniker in while I was designing him. . . .

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Puns are not appropriate for character names. A name is something that the character has to live with for (potentially) hundreds of years. The joke will get old long before the first session starts.

My bard, Dore Mifaso LaTido, begs to differ, sir! *slap-slap*

 

[TarionzCousin]

Some awesome names are awesome, but not in every context.

I don't like joke names in campaigns. They're fine in one-shots or at conventions.

See also: Erac's Cousin: http://thecollectorstrove.com/arc-ernie-gygax/ebay-auction-55/4862181

 

[ccs]

I have a Battletech/MechWarrior character named Slash. Pilots light recon mechs for House Davion.

At the time everyone assumed I'd named him after the guy in Guns-&-Roses. But this is incorrect. All I did was mark a / on the name line. Other players called him Slash & that's what stuck.

 

[Sunseeker]

None of those names strike me as "awesome" and I'd be largely annoyed to have to address another character, in-character, as any of them. I agree that D&D can vary in its level of seriousness and joke names have their place...usually on NPCs that are encountered once or twice to lighten the mood...but not on players who essentially force the party to deal with their name on a very regular basis.

Doesn't mean your dwarf can't be Thurgill Thunderfist. Or your elf can'y be Seela Treerunner or your gnome Hoppil Hydrospanner. But that's sort of the point IMO of surnames, "titles" and middle names. Give your character a reasonable first name that we may address them by in informal party conversation and then feel free to go crazy with the middle name, last-name or title. As long as Thurgill Nancy Thunderfist the Orcslammer can be referred to as "Thurgill" I'm fine.

 

[MrWildman]

I enjoy "awesome" names, as long as they're organic to the character. I've played a halfling barbarian who went by "The Mighty Bucket!" because he wore a bucket on his head (long story) and whose given name was Flibbe Nuppkin. And a half-elf named Donnelvonnin Vonneldovvin, shortened to "Donnie Vee".
I've gamed with characters like the seductive dwarf sorceress named Sweet Velveeta and the half-orc Thuggon Baccoff.
They're memorable and distinctive. And if they fit the character concept they're not all that distracting.
As DM I've used NPCs like Louie Louie and Monie Monie the town guards, and their captain, Ringo. The players became invested in them, giving them personalities and risking themselves on the guards' behalf. In the end my group insisted I give LL, MM, and Cap'n Ringo happy endings, so beloved had they become.

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