Where do YOU steal your names from?

[Dog Moon]

I tend to pick a descriptive word and enter it into either etymonline.com or behindthename.com and choose something from what I find, occasionally modifying it. So if I was playing a Bard, I might choose 'Song' and then enter it into both of those sites and see what pops up.

As a DM, with NPC names, I tend to think of random names or to a random generator site to create numerous names at once. Making up random names doesn't work as well for me because there are too many similarities [like most names would begin with a, l, or s, and be like Selyana, Liliana, Rilyana, Alyana, etc. Very [annoyingly] thematic.

 

[pogre]

Check you bulk mail or junk mail folders - there are some great names on those.

 

[Dog Moon]

Check you bulk mail or junk mail folders - there are some great names on those.

Yes, like isbycolatpy, kmtqigx, douflsxud, and m.r.fontenot. [Wow, 1153 emails in that account].

 

[cthulhu_duck]

Spammity, spammity, SPAM!

I get a lot of my NPC names from Spam (as in the unsolicited commercial email kind).

I have several levels of spam filter on one of my email accounts, and tend to vet the emails in the 'least likely to be spam, but probably still spam' spam filter personally.

Since I'm checking names and subjects, any good names (or suggestive names that with a little tweak work well) go into an ever increasing text file of names.

 

[cthulhu_duck]

Yes, like isbycolatpy, kmtqigx, douflsxud, and m.r.fontenot. [Wow, 1153 emails in that account].

Valentin Cleod, Tamra Iaglasts, Alvan Tidwell, Keven Varner, Keren Malina, Kristopher Whaley, Veola Crews, Dilion Castillo, Galen Hackett, Malinda Keck, Alejandro Pence, Jolyn Fichtner, Amado Zavanna, Alden Payne...

..ok, so some aren't as fantasy as others - but I find having names that are close to reality somehow adds to the verisimilitude.

 

[EyeontheMountain]

I used to tkae them off a big map of Illinois that was next to my bed when I played during JHS and such.

Then I migrated toteh random syllable method with very very mixed results. Now I tend to go to translation dictionaries online of obscure languages. One town was Sioux, another Gaelic, another some african tongue. Works well.

 

[Psion]

Random name generators.

http://www.seventhsanctum.com/index-name.php
http://rinkworks.com/namegen/
http://www.squid.org/tools/names/
http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~pound/
http://www.xtra-rant.com/gennames/
http://www.dwheeler.com/totro.html
http://www.gamewyrd.com/archives/name.php

Pounds is the one I use.

I use seventh sanctum too, but more for titles and character ideas.

 

[shilsen]

I tend to use real names as well as those of literary, mythical, historical figures with a little tweak to spelling/pronunciation, or sometimes a transposition of a syllable. I've also used a name or two from ENWorld.

 

[Lord Mhoram]

I generally don't steal names, but I'll use the appendix in the Return of the King for Elvish (or the Klingon Dictionary) to get something that soulds nifty, or use variations of names or language bits that appear in books. If I am completely brain dead, and cannot think of anything I roll dice. D20 for consanants, and a d6 for vowels. After a few combinations, I'll get a phoneme that will spart my creativity and then I'll go from there - I almost never end up with the letters I rolled, but it does start a chain that can get me where I want to go.

 

[Calico_Jack73]

I use the Everchanging Book of Names.