"It's a joke name, sir."

[Raging Epistaxis]

No memorable bad names in my games, but I've known a few in RL.

College Professor: Dr. Doctor. I always wondered if his wife went by Mrs. Dr. Doctor. Or if she were a doctor of some type as well, Dr. Mrs. Dr. Doctor.

anyway,

My wife says a friend of hers in high school had the last name Case and always said that if he ever had kids he'd name a son Justin and a daughter Charity. To which I wondered if their cat or dog would be named Basket...

R E

 

[kenobi65]

When I was going to school at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, there was an orthopedic surgeon at a local hospital, who was featured prominently in advertising for that hospital:

Dr. Bonebreak.

Ow!

 

[Nightchilde-2]

I've not had too many problems in my games with goofy names, save for Tatiana Nathasha Titswell (aside from that last name, her initials were..yep..TNT), Gizmo the Gnome (in my current Eberron game, but it fits since he's an artificer) and Spam (in an Earthdawn game. The player's thought process? Since nobody knew what Spam was in-game, they had to call him Spam with a straight face. An encounter with a wormskull left him looking rather like his namesake).

In real life, I've seen a couple odd names. My chemistry teacher, Mr. Head, had a son named Richard. And the most painful? An ob/gyn named Dr. Ripper.

NPCs have ended up with wacky names, though. The less prepared I am, the wackier the name. I think the worst one was Jennifer Luvhewitt. My favorite ended up being a voodooist Follower of Set named Papa Dredd. The name was both appropriate and stood out as one of the baddest baddies the party faced.

 

[Patman21967]

There is a local orthopedic surgeon here in delaware named Dr. Axe....owwwww

 

[Lasher Dragon]

I play a half-ogre in a campaign with a halfling sidekick. The half-ogre's name is Gor Gashbasher and the halfling's name is Thistleknot Sureshot.

 

[Twowolves]

In undergrad, there were a pair of chemistry professors sharing an office; Drs Duncan and Hienz. And the economics professor named Cashdollar.

Ever get the feeling that whomever is crafting reality is making these names up on the spur of the moment?

 

[Lasher Dragon]

In undergrad, there were a pair of chemistry professors sharing an office; Drs Duncan and Hienz. And the economics professor named Cashdollar.

Ever get the feeling that whomever is crafting reality is making these names up on the spur of the moment?

LOL He only does that to mess with the stoners

 

[Desdichado]

NPCs have ended up with wacky names, though. The less prepared I am, the wackier the name.

I have a rather largish list of names written or typed up and with me at every session. It's a GM's best friend.

 

[WizarDru]

No memorable bad names in my games, but I've known a few in RL.

College Professor: Dr. Doctor. I always wondered if his wife went by Mrs. Dr. Doctor. Or if she were a doctor of some type as well, Dr. Mrs. Dr. Doctor.
R E

My dentist's name IS Dr. Docktor. Go figure.
Another I remembered: A dentist sign I saw in Germany: Dr. Wacky.

Frankly, for some of these names, I can only assume these parents have NO LOVE for their kids. They'll be explaining some of this stuff to therapists 20 years from now.

 

[darkelfo]

Silly names in games really bother me. They really make the whole thing a joke. It destroys the illusion of reality for me.

Regular names like "John" and the like aren't as bad, but don't really contribute to the fantasy setting. There are lots of really cool fantasy names to use.

As an aside, it also bothers me that WOTC encourages players to choose weapon names for Warforged. It's really cool from an roleplaying perspective that Warforged want to adopt real names. But names like "Blade" are so cliche! Ironically, choosing a weapon name for a Warforged reinforces the fact that they are "not" human because they are essentially named after their function on the battle field. Overall, though, the quest for a real name is a nice cultural touch.