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Help me name my character!

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blope

Mar 20, 2011, 05:34 pm

I'm terrible with naming characters so...thought I'd ask for some ideas here.

The character is a dwarven barbarian. He will be using an earthbreaker. Playing in the CotCT AP. For him, barbarian is more a fighting style than a way of life. He will have 'Hulk' as a likely nickname. I was considering using something like 'stonesplitter' for a surname, but not sure yet. Ideas welcome.

blope

Mar 20, 2011, 05:50 pm

hmmm, this prob wasn't the best spot for this post? Please move to the most appropriate section.

Helaman

Mar 20, 2011, 06:45 pm

Grabass Sniffbutt?

LOL

Just kidding.

Dwarven names in fantasy fiction seem to be a bit Nordic/Viking in flavour... to quote a classic, Thorin Oakenshield.

Leaving first name for the moment, focus on a clan name - whats his Clan famous for? A Dwarf's clan is a VERY big part of their lives and their social fabric in most every fantasy setting.

Lets say they are originally descended from miners? Stonehewer.

If you dont like that, they also tend to use a 'title/Nickname' as a surname, for instance, Shinkicker or Skullcrusher etc.

Ok... first name.

I'd go with a Viking name myself.

Try Snorri.

So we can have Snorri Stonehewer or Snorri Skullcrusher...

And Voila. There you go.

There are a number of sites you can also google for 'authentic' dwarvish names too.

Wolfsnap

Mar 21, 2011, 08:15 am

Snorri is a really commonly used name for dwarves. I'd go with something more iconic - like Dain or Thrain. Or something more typically nordic/germanic like Gunther or Benkt.

Ages ago, I once created a campy dwarven name generator which randomly mixed elements representing different things like weapons, metals, types of stone, types of alcohol, and types of facial hair. So it would come up with things like: "Bronzebeard Marbleaxe" etc.

Best one it ever came up with was "Feldsparfalchion Zincsideburns"

Black Dow

Mar 21, 2011, 08:18 am

+1 on the Norse/Viking themed names

I'd go with Skeller (means crash/smash, loss or blow)

picking up on Helman's suggestion Stonehewer sounds pretty good.

Skeller Stonehewer - good name and in the North that goes a long way :)

DaWay

Mar 21, 2011, 08:23 am

What about Thane, or some phonetic variation. As I recall it's Nordic for king.

Velcro Zipper

Mar 21, 2011, 11:14 am

Pathfinder Battles Case Subscriber

Laserbeard. That's it. Just Laserbeard.

Eddie the 'Ed

Mar 21, 2011, 12:02 pm

blope wrote:

I'm terrible with naming characters so...thought I'd ask for some ideas here.

The character is a dwarven barbarian. He will be using an earthbreaker. Playing in the CotCT AP. For him, barbarian is more a fighting style than a way of life. He will have 'Hulk' as a likely nickname. I was considering using something like 'stonesplitter' for a surname, but not sure yet. Ideas welcome.

Tor'Trach Gar

And the ch- is per German pronunciation. Forget Nordic tropes...go Klingon!

Evil Genius Prime

Mar 21, 2011, 04:29 pm

I had a cool Dwarf once. His name was Loki Kegtapper.

Christopher Dudley RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32

Mar 21, 2011, 05:44 pm

In a Dragonlance campaign once, I played a dwarf fighter named "Kegnar Fellhammer, of the Thorbardin Fellhammers."

keeper0

Mar 21, 2011, 05:45 pm

My strategy for naming character is to use Google Translate.

I pick a good language for the character. (German and Danish are good for dwarves).

Then I use Google translate to copy a root word from English into the language. I sometimes have to put in a few before I find one I like.

Danish:
Stone wall --> sten mur --> Stenmur
Rock wall --> klippevæg --> Klipvig

German:
Stone wall --> Steinmauer

Finnish, Polish and Irish are usually good for go. Unfortunately, too many of the languages pop up in a different alphabet and I can't read them. I wish there was a button to get the best approximation "roman" letters for Japanese, Hindi, Greek etc, or at least a phonetic pronunciation.