stupid PC names

[Drew]

We have a table rule that makes stupid names illegal. That doesn't mean that you can't have a silly name (like my gnome fighter Lillyhammer), but anything outright stupid is frowned upon. That being said, we've had a paladin named Paradontis, a halfling rogue named Frodo, and a bard named Pissface. That last one was a long time ago, and I made sure he died very quickly.

 

[Neo]

I have to say I despise comedic names in my games with a passion and will not allow them. This is not because I do not have a sense of humour or do not find them funny, but simply because a comedic name encourages distraction. The last thing you want when your trying to get across the serious ness of what the Party is trying to do or the person with whom they are dealing with is when your group can get no further than the NPC or fellow party members name and rolling into fits of hysteria.

There are enough distractions already I say leave comedic names for comedic games and settings and the young

 

[Sejs]

One of the members in the group I play in has a really hard time coming up with character names. He can make the character fine, mechanics, concept, the whole bit.. no worries. But for the life of him he cannot come up with a character name.


So we've taken to naming his characters after things around the gaming area,.. the most notable examples being:

"Oberto", a gnome sorcerer interested in mecha-magical devices. Named for a nearby package of Oberto Beef Jerky. Upon being assigned this name, the player changed the gnome's hair color to black, gave him a moustache, and a slight italian accent.

"Ruffles", a dwarven defender. Once he was assigned the name, he worked it into the character's backstory. His real name was actually Balthus Mugrunner, and he came from a long line of dwarven brewers. Ruffles was a nickname he has aquired in his youth, in which his branch of the family was sent off to go stay with a distant relation whom also happened to be quite well to do. Balthus' parrents, hoping to 'keep up with the Joneses' gussied up their children like little aristrocrats. Nobleman's coat, satin undershirt, buttoned vest.. and to his mortification.. a big lacey crevatte and sleeve ruffs. His friends came to visit him a few times during his stay, and gave him the nickname Ruffles when he returned home. And it had stuck ever since.

 

[starkad]

I have one player that insists on stupid names.. But they are more stupid than disruptive, so I allow them.

His past characters include:

A human monk named Rong Wei
A human monk named Hung Lo
A half-orc fighter/rogue named Whakk

The main reason I allow him to take these, is because he is a huge Hong Kong fanatic, and they all had pretty goofy names.

 

[Palantir]

I DM'd a game that had a fighter named Cornholio. After being teased mercilessly by NPCs, he adapted it to be pseudo-asiatic: "Corn Ho Lio". Sadly, it amused the players (and, I have to admit, me for a time.) Ol' Corn died by picking the wrong card in a Deck of Many Things.

Another was in an old WEG Star Wars game... "Chuck the Wookie." He was created by a very unimaginative player and I didn't feel like pushing him.

Now that we've matured, instead of using silly names, we simply take the names of the characters and corrupt them. So, for instance, we refer to the fighter Maylar as Mylar, and the paladin Alecwyn as Alec Baldwin.

Oh, yes, a mighty serious game have I.

- Palantir

 

[gunter uxbridge]

A while back me and two other friends played triplets names Mongo, Farfig and Homer. Mongo and Farfig were INT 6 fighters while Homer was the smart one of the bunch, an INT 9 wizard (This was 2E so it was possible, just not very safe..) The DM loved it and we played those characters for a while.

When I was DMing I once had a player play as a ranger named Xetok for a while. Only after some prodding did I find that Xetok is KOTEX spelled backwards. Oh well....

As a DM, as long as the name isn't just plain silly or something that will wear thin after a session or two, go for it. But I get the ultimate decision.

 

[Sinistar]

Hey! What is this about Francis being a sissy name for a boy? I'll have you know that my oldest and greatest (as Edina would say) is a half elven bard named Francis. Of course this came to be pretty convenient when for three years he was transformed into a girl (belt of gender change) and did not have to change his name...

That aside, we generally do not give stupid or silly names to our characters. However we often have them assigned to us by other players. My super muscular fighter, Chanis became known as Janice by one of my friends when she was picking on me. All of our NPCs become Woggle (based on a McDonald's employee's actual name tag) when they are useless or serving in simple roles. Example being, "I pay the Woggle 5gp and take the backpack".

My current character is a stage performer who has probably the worst intentional name that our characters have seen. He is a juggler and acrobat who is known as Adam Adamant.

The most disruptive name that has ever been introduced was the player who was so secretive that the other players could not know the character's name. The DM "accidentally" let slip a name and we called the character that the whole time while the PC would say, "but you don't know that is her name"...

 

[mroberon1972]

Roland ThunderHart

We had a player in one of my games that was called Joe the Paladin.

Then the party rogue watched him try to verbally face down a raging earth elemental and got himself ran over.

From on, she called him Roll-on ThunderHard...

Hence: Roland ThunderHart was born...


Now he's an old paladin in the Ancient Awakenings game I'm doing for my players. Ain't Bardic Immortality Grand?

 

[Kilmore]

I am personally known for the Featherfoot family of rogues and like minded priestesses... Tipsy, Footloose, and Tequila (the priestess).

Oh, and one of my players plays a Satyr Jester named Jumpin' Jack Jehosaphat.

 

[F5]

Boy oh boy, I have a love/hate relationship with silly names...
As a DM I'm pretty strict about silly names, if I have any intention of the keeping the game going. On the other hand, I am one of those players that will come up with an in-depth character concept, as many pages of back-story as the DM cares to ask for, and hand-drawn illustration of a character, but my brain shuts down when I try to come up with a name.
My first D&D character ever: an elven fighter called Xerocks. Because I had a bunch of photocopied character sheets in front of me when I tried to come up with a name. Hey, I was in third grade, gimme a break, okay?
The gaming group I'm in now has had some doozies. Otherwise a pretty mature group, the running threat is that if a character doesn't have a name in the first half-hour of the game, he'll be stuck with "Slinky-head". This threat has only been carried out once, to my knowledge.
There was also a Champions character who, out of pride, refused to give himself a name. He was a young samurai, and such silliness as superhero names was beneath him. The DM, after giving him fair warning, had the news media dub his character "Kid Ninja". The campaign went on for years, and all the time the poor guy had to explain to everyone "I'm a samurai, not a ninja, dammit".
A con artist character of mine had to come up with an impressive sounding name on the fly, as part of a bluff roll that I totally botched. On a moment's notice, the best/worst I could come up with was "Count Gustav Von Umlaut". I was pretty proud of that one.
The list could go on, but I'll spare you...