Inventing names is detrimental to my immersion

[Sunseeker]

Batsaikhan

You know, I just went and read over your post and spoke the name out loud to my wife to explain the topic to her.

After reading "Batsaikhan" I got this image of a crazy, asian-looking wizard who shouts out his name every time he kills an enemy or does something cool. It's like how classic comic-book villains used to make word-plays with their names in almost every other scene.

 

[MortalPlague]

You know, I just went and read over your post and spoke the name out loud to my wife to explain the topic to her.

After reading "Batsaikhan" I got this image of a crazy, asian-looking wizard who shouts out his name every time he kills an enemy or does something cool. It's like how classic comic-book villains used to make word-plays with their names in almost every other scene.

Yeah, and every time they worked their own name into the comic, the chance of remembering went way up.

I try to strike a balance. I don't want to use a real name. It might draw comparisons to a real person, who could be completely different than my character. After introducing Robert, an urbane duelist, I don't want to learn that my DM's hick cousin is named Robert. It could color the perception of my character in a way I didn't intend.

Instead, I pick a name that makes some sense and isn't stupidly complicated (or if it is, to have a nickname ready). And then I use my character's name liberally over the first few sessions. Nobody forgets the names of my characters.

 

[Sunseeker]

Yeah, and every time they worked their own name into the comic, the chance of remembering went way up.

Fury: "We're here to put an end to your evil Victor!"
VVonDoom: "No, you are here to meet your DOOOOM!!!" *LASERS*

I try to strike a balance. I don't want to use a real name. It might draw comparisons to a real person, who could be completely different than my character. After introducing Robert, an urbane duelist, I don't want to learn that my DM's hick cousin is named Robert. It could color the perception of my character in a way I didn't intend.

I think it wholly depends on the setting too. A lot of people forget that long, multi-syllabic compound names were common in the middle-ages. Even the very poor were unlikely to simply be named "Chris". The way we write names now would literally be insulting to someone with that name in the 1200s.

IE: in the Deadlands game I played, my character was named "Frank". Totally a fine name for a psuedo-steam zombie-apocalypse western. Completely unfitting for a high-fantasy themed middle ages.

Instead, I pick a name that makes some sense and isn't stupidly complicated (or if it is, to have a nickname ready). And then I use my character's name liberally over the first few sessions. Nobody forgets the names of my characters.

I always have a habit of making my characters have names that can be shortened to 3-letter nicknames, with those three letters making up one part of the name. Helps the DM greatly(speaking as both a DM and a player) when they don't have to remember: "Relonatlab Claddghym"(which is a legitimate Drow name) and can instead call you "Rel".

 

[Lwaxy]

Not an issue here. It's usually more detrimental for most of my players to use standard names. We have a Peter, for example, who is now an important NPC, who really caused immersion issues. Same would of course be true to obvious names from other cultures transferred to the game. I'll probably disallow it for all future games.

 

[blargney the second]

For my Kingmaker game, I've established that names from the northern part of the world tend to be swedish, czech, russian, or any other north/east european. So I've got:
Baron Karl von Hammerschmidt
Marquise Natasha Lenova
Sir Reginald Orlovsky
Branthwaite of Armel
Privates Bjorn and Ulfgar

I like to establish a naming convention and stick with it. When the players hear a name that doesn't fit the convention, they can infer that the character is likely from far off.
-blarg

 

[Lwaxy]

That is an idea, I'll do that with my earth-like campaign!

 

[Nellisir]

Different real-life languages have different speech patterns. My graduate program has had an influx of Chinese students, who seem to be about evenly split between using their "American" names and using their Chinese names. Part of the problem with the Chinese names is the tonality of the language - my "next-desk neighbor" just laughs at my attempts to pronounce her Chinese name, and goes by "Sherry" instead. I simply cannot hear many of the tone differences in Chinese names, let alone remember them.

In game, I have pulled names from real-life cultures (Asilud Sunnilda Gelud-Diedelindadottur), made up something easy to remember and usually alliterative (Cyr Cyreen), or used a nickname (Toad). I find familiar (American/English/Spanish/Italian) language names extremely jarring, breaking the immersion.

 

[timASW]

Generally speaking, I research name generators before I start making names. But I always preemptively choose a real-world culture to theme my in-game culture from, and then take real-world names(usually from baby-name books or other generators) and name people after those.

I do however think that certain races or cultures which have developed so far as to be something of their own should be named using their own system. EX: I read a webcomic called "Drowtales", and it largely uses Drow-correct naming terminology. However, the main character's name uses your methodology, a name that will stick with the real-world culture it's being read by. So amidst all these really Drow-sounding names, we have a girl named "Ariel". Kills my immersion every time.

Names should fit with the in-game culture you're trying to go for.

I do the same thing. Humans are usually english, germanic or greek. Dwarves are scottish or scandinavian, elves are japanese (makes a fun switch) and orcs are just random nick names for big dumb thugs.

 

[Orius]

In my view roleplaying games and fantasy literature often fail terribly at creating characters with names that stick and evoke the characters they’ve represent. Too often I feel writers are rolling a 26-sided alphabet dice 1d10+5 times to create a name that sounds vaguely exotic. For example Pathfinder suggests naming characters as such:
Humans: Baolo, Barid, Batsaikhan, Belor, Budi, Darvan, Dolok
Catfolk: Carruth, Drewan
Orcs: Durra, Grillgiss
If a GM or player used any of the above names I would have to look at my character sheet the first twenty times I refer to the character. The names don’t really evoke anything.

I think the problem is that such names feel very random rather than something natural and organic. eah, they do feel like they were rolled out of a die without any sort of thought put into what sort of phonemes are typical to the culture. Even better when you get ordinary names next to names that are supposed to sound fantastic.

 

[S'mon]

I definitely prefer names that sound as if they could be real, and fit the culture. That may involve using real-world names. Eg names from the House of Kallent in my Yggsburgh campaign, a quasi-English culture with 16th century tech level and social mores mixing the 18th & 20th (mostly '50s) century:

George, the Earl Kallent
Byron, the former Earl Kallent
Dame the Lady Gertrude Kallent
maid, Molly
manservant, Grigor.
Countess Tabitha Kallent (nee Fortescue)
Lady Helen Kalent
Sir Percifal Maltovor
Cassandra Starling, of the Little Aimswick Starlings.
Dame Judith Starling
maid, Martha