"It's a joke name, sir."

[Wombat]

Names have to fit the culture milieu of the game, period. Lots of sample names are given to each player, dependent on race, culture, and heritage. Variants are certainly allowed, but nothing that breaks genre.

 

[GlassJaw]

Anyway, how do you deal with a situation like this?

They are usually met with a rather rude shaking of the head and a simple "No".

I have little tolerance for comical names unless that's the point of the campaign.

 

[dungeon blaster]

I had a friend back in elementary school named "Hung Suk". It took me a while to figure out why my dad laughed at his name.

I guess it's a good thing he moved back to Korea before middle school came around.

 

[kenobi65]

Growing up, I knew a kid named Brick Wahl.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I had a fraternity brother in college whose girlfriend was named Candace Barr. I still think Child Protective Services should have had a talk with her parents.

 

[JVisgaitis]

As a DM I never had those issues, but I can remember playing in groups were people had screwy names. Let's see, there was Grumpnutz Stubyfinger (not too bad for a dwarf), Mike the Magic Man (which still makes me laugh), and my all time favorite: Ramrod the Wandwanger.

I actually enjoy putting screwy names into products I've written or worked on. In a Games Workshop supplement for Mordheim, I had called Lizardman funny names like: Tinciwinci and Whachulukinat. Also, in Where Madness Dwells we have a character named Kraven Morrhead which was a homage to the SNL Celebrity Jeopardy skits with Sean Connery. We even named the section in the module "Who is Kraven Morrhead."

Not sure if anyone ever picked up on those. . .

 

[JVisgaitis]

Slightly off topic, but I work for Network Solutions and run into a lot of crazy names of customers: Mary Seaman, John Krap, Yong Suk Dong, Young Nah. But my all time favorite is Nascar driver Dick Trickle.

 

[broghammerj]

JDyal

I've seen sillier names in real life than in any game I've been in, sadly.

Josh, I'm really disappointed that you didn't throw out the ever lovable character we currently game with.......Rosham Bo. Of course his negotiating skills and conflict disputes with rock, paper, scissors are astounding.

I always loved my friend's duelist named Xes Laro from Way, Way, Beyondo. It's not horribly noticable at first but look closely at his name.

 

[Patman21967]

My ex-girlfriends roommate in college is named Sandy Lane....I used to call her Dirty Alley, Dirt road...etc....

my coolest character name though, and it still lives in infamy was borne about out of a lack of creativity, and a lot of beer....Bolehcim Reeb....I was drinking Michelob Beer...

 

[twofalls]

I've had two players that it was an issue with. One was a nice fellow who always told me I was the greatest GM he'd ever played with. Kinda hard to come down on a guy like that when he brings in his fifth PC (because his play style kept getting his previous PC's gutted like trouts) and names him something inspiring like Bob. He had a Dave, Bill, and the best one was Joe the Figther. It damages the roleplaying when players are addressing him by these utterly mundane names so the other players took to calling him by nicknames and he really appreciated it because the other players were bright enough to appeal to his ego. His final incarnation (before a sick relative forced him to move to a different state) was the half orc fighter named Joe, who everyone called Crunch due to the greatclub he specialized in.

My all time best experience with silly names was a great roleplaying shtick by a player who is still in my games after nearly a decade of gaming. He played a rouge who would adopt a new name for every town he entered. He would keep a list and the other players would just write down what they were supposed to call him in that town. It became so much fun that the other players would help him come up with names to be used in specific locations. Things like Chip when in a forest village (for chipmunk), Dipper (while in a port city), Fleet (once when travelling on a merchant's cog between towns). This character was a riot. Unfortunatly he met his end by being rended into bite sized pieces by a Moss Troll in the Reelio Jungle... poor whositwhatsit.