Off-beat Inspiration for Fantasy Names?

[Pseudonym]

When stuck for a name I tend to fall back on the ingredients list of whatever product is on the table in front of me. A mage named Eryth came from erythorbic acid and Brom the paladin from brominated vegetable oil. Thanks Mountain Dew.

Failing that, I fall back on chemicals from work. Pyridine was a mage I played in Asheron's Call for a few years, named after a random bottle from the cabinet in the lab I was, ahem "working", in.

 

[Aeolius]

When stuck for a name I tend to fall back on the ingredients list of whatever product is on the table in front of me. A mage named Eryth came from erythorbic acid and Brom the paladin from brominated vegetable oil. Thanks Mountain Dew.

The BBEG in my game, the Blackwater Hag, is known as Diadema:

So named for the sea urchin of the same name.

 

[Siberys]

If a player of mine is having trouble with names, we usually take their middle name, switch some orders, do some replacements, and add apostrophes or dashes to taste. For example, one player was a female shifter, and his middle name is wesley. After fiddling around a bit, we had Kesh'lei, a suitably shiftery feminine name.

For warforged, it's a bit easier. We work out the backstory first, then pick out the more significant bits and use those as our "list of names".