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<blockquote data-quote="GregoryOatmeal" data-source="post: 6058141" data-attributes="member: 6667661">Humans have a hard time remembering names, particularly foreign and new names that can’t be associated with a familiar sound or experience. If you met a person named “Basmus” (actual Swedish name) on how many different occasions meeting Basmus would you have to ask him to remind you of his name? I’ve met Chinese people named Quihong and Ruihong that have simply renamed themselves “Kevin” and “Ray” so their names would stick in the western world. People like for their names to be remembered as it represents them.&nbsp;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.&nbsp; For example Pathfinder suggests naming characters as such:&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; Humans: Baolo, Barid, Batsaikhan, Belor, Budi, Darvan, Dolok&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; Catfolk: Carruth, Drewan&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; Orcs: Durra, GrillgissIf 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 understand they’re based off of an interpretation of a fantasy culture. But when foreign names are brought into a new culture they are often translated or adjusted so the people in the culture can identify with the foreigners. I just don’t believe a human would continuously struggle to pronounce an elven name that probably can’t even be pronounced correctly by the muscles of a human tongue. The human would be unable to retain the name and either the human or the elf would invent an alias or a nickname that has more meaning in the (human) culture they share.&nbsp;&nbsp;I feel it would help player immersion if players used names or aliases that could be tied to something tangible. This would highlight the character traits while reducing instances of PCs mixing up characters. These names are a bit corny but at least they stick:&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; Humans: Gregory, Isabel, Victor, Antonio, Margaret, Riverwind&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; Catfolk: Swiftpaw, Thistlesnatch&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; Orcs: Rex, Skullcrusher, the Butcher&nbsp;I know everyone treasures the name of their characters. While they may seem clever to the player, choosing the Greek or Japanese word for anything&nbsp; just causes me to trip over a name and forget it repeatedly. I personally find these left-field names I can’t relate to to be detrimental to storytelling and roleplaying.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="GregoryOatmeal, post: 6058141, member: 6667661"] Humans have a hard time remembering names, particularly foreign and new names that can’t be associated with a familiar sound or experience. If you met a person named “Basmus” (actual Swedish name) on how many different occasions meeting Basmus would you have to ask him to remind you of his name? I’ve met Chinese people named Quihong and Ruihong that have simply renamed themselves “Kevin” and “Ray” so their names would stick in the western world. People like for their names to be remembered as it represents them. 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 understand they’re based off of an interpretation of a fantasy culture. But when foreign names are brought into a new culture they are often translated or adjusted so the people in the culture can identify with the foreigners. I just don’t believe a human would continuously struggle to pronounce an elven name that probably can’t even be pronounced correctly by the muscles of a human tongue. The human would be unable to retain the name and either the human or the elf would invent an alias or a nickname that has more meaning in the (human) culture they share. I feel it would help player immersion if players used names or aliases that could be tied to something tangible. This would highlight the character traits while reducing instances of PCs mixing up characters. These names are a bit corny but at least they stick: Humans: Gregory, Isabel, Victor, Antonio, Margaret, Riverwind Catfolk: Swiftpaw, Thistlesnatch Orcs: Rex, Skullcrusher, the Butcher I know everyone treasures the name of their characters. While they may seem clever to the player, choosing the Greek or Japanese word for anything just causes me to trip over a name and forget it repeatedly. I personally find these left-field names I can’t relate to to be detrimental to storytelling and roleplaying. [/QUOTE]

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