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

[soviet]

I generally have a list of names ready to assign, as several people have suggested.

If the NPC is obviously not plot relevant (although they may become so later, of course) I will also ask another player. Bob, what's this guy's name? I do the same thing for personality traits or notable characteristics too. You do need to know your players here, as some will always contribute something silly which may not always be what you want.

 

[Jd Smith1]

For Fantasy, I use EBON. For non-fantasy. I copy the names of the UK Parliament. Either way, I make a list, and pull a name when needed.

 

[piers]

If the game has a particular style (eg Pendragon) I keep a list and choose from that.

Otherwise they're named after whatever bottle of alcohol on the table comes to the GM's attention first. If you like wine (we do) then you end up with many characters named after vineyards. Or sometimes you notice the beer first.

So, respectively, were the long-lived characters Clausis and Stella born.

 

[Sir Brennen]

Back in the day, I'd keep a phonebook handy, at least for modern or futuristic games.

Oh, umm, a phonebook is like a user list for the phone companies, printed as a book.

Ah, well, see, a book is a collection of pages...

 

[uzirath]

A former GM of mine who ran mostly modern and sci-fi games would use movie credits to find great names. On any major film, you'll have a trove of names from cultures around the world to choose from.

[Edit] Examples from the latest Avatar film (courtesy of IMDB):

• Tsuyoshi Abe
• Benoit Beaufils
• Aimey Beer
• Léa Catania
• Bronte Coluccio
• Lance Lee Davis
• Dzmitry Patsukevich
• Pol Villà Trilla
• Giovanni Ermes Vincenti
• Hung Vodinh
• Dhawal Vora
• Wayne Stables
• Amalia Stark
• Owen Longstaff
• Melvin T. Rice III
• Deep Chahal
• Electra Sinclair

 

[MichaelSomething]

Yet people complained bitterly when WOTC included a list of names in one of their books...

 

[uzirath]

Yet people complained bitterly when WOTC included a list of names in one of their books...

Did I miss this kerfuffle? What was it about?

 

[MNblockhead]

Did I miss this kerfuffle? What was it about?

What I saw was people complaining about the page space wasted on name lists versus other content they wanted to see. I don't think it was particularly wide spread and there are just as many people that appreciated it and would complain if there were no name lists. Just normal internet mini-drama.

 

[Arnie_Wan_Kenobi]

A frighteningly in-depth knowledge of early 1980s GI Joe file names: "Conrad Hauser" has been a dwarf mercenary, a barkeep, a cleric; "Dashiell Faireborne" has been a bard and a rival adventuring party captain; "Clayton Abernathy" has been a paladin; "Lonzo" has shown up a few times, as have "Shana," "Friestadt" and "MacCullen," and in modern games I've pulled out "Rafael Melendez," "Hector Delgado," and "Anthony Gambello."

...otherwise, I default to "Steve-Dave." One name. Often "Sergeant Steve-Dave."

 

[Yaztromo]

I use https://www.fantasynamegenerators.com/ as well. It works well for me.