Some thoughts on names in PFS

[nosig]

Here's a quote from someplace else... Extra credit if you recognize where it's from...

Nobody wants to play a campaign with Emperor Fred or High Chancellor Gary, and so the usual approach is to give everyone high fantasy names like King Geon’ai, Sir Lua’an-Eradin, or Lady Alaain Mera-Dovrel. You know, strange and fantasy-ish. Of course, this means the names will all be unpronouncable, difficult to spell, and easily confused. For fun, have your players describe the plot of your campaign after it’s over. I promise it will sound something like this:

"The dragon guy with that black sword was oppressing the people that lived on those hills. Then that one king with the really long beard got that one chick with the crazy hair, and she went to that one lake. Then she got corrupted by that curse thing that made her attack that group of guys we found dead. You know, the ones that had that +1 sword and the bag of holding? Once we broke her curse she told us about the dragon guy and gave us that thing. And the map. Then we found the dragon dude and kicked his ass."

It’s like living in a word without proper nouns. I’ve always wanted to make a campaign like this:

"The Dark Lord Walter, wielder of the Black Sword of choppery, was opressing the peoples of Pittsburgh. Then King George Washington enlisted the help of the Warrior Princess Rapunzel. Sadly, in the Land of Yellowstone she fell under a spell and slew the Steelers, Knights of Pittsburgh. At last the heroes freed the princess, traveled through the kingdom of Barstow, and confronted Walter in the land of Spokane."

Sure, it sounds stupid, but you have to admit: your players will be able to remember, pronounce, and even spell all of the important people and places.

Now, think back to your last game... What names do you remember? What ones can you pronounce?

older thread on names

[RealAlchemy]

I found your Emperor Fred. I think I found a Chancellor Gary as well. Full names Frederick and Gerald, but pretty close :)

[Muser]

Or you could get better players.

I mean, sure, in Varisia there's a tyrant named Kazavon, river Kazaron and lich Azaven, some dragon names are super complex and many settlements are named multi-partly (Xin-Grafar, Doga-Delloth etc), but usually it's not hard and most players I know make notes.

That said, pronounciation seems like an EFL problem. I got no beef with Iadenveigh, Kopparberget or Sankyodai-Yama.

[nosig]

But seriously, think back to your last game... What names do you remember? What ones can you pronounce? If you asked the other players, what would they say?

[Codanous]

Its definitely an interesting question, I see this happen often with PFS and sometimes I see it happen like a game of telephone where as a GM I'll say, Lord Mcguffin has the thing we want, go take it from him and don't cause a stink.

Players write down "Lord Muffin has things we want, kill him and all his staff to get it if necessary,"

[DrParty06]

Drawing from experience with a home game, though the same applies to PFS...

Complicated names of characters are much more memorable if the character itself takes on a memorable life of its own. For example, there was an alchemist named Theophrastus (not an easy name) who popped up as a recurring villain in our game more than a year ago. Ask anyone who was there and they still remember his name, because he had a voice and acting from the GM to back up his myriad deadly forms.

Sometimes though, a simple name can be made effective in a way that doesn't sound silly. This example, a demi-god-like creature named Tricky, who as his named might suggest, had the most chaotic ways of killing the PCs possible.

Basically, if the emphasis is put in the right places, it doesn't matter if the name is complicated or simple, it will be remembered.

[The Fox]

⦿ I strongly agree. Even in home games where we are playing with the same group of people week after week, we try to use names that are easy to remember.

Here are the names of some characters in our two home games: Jane, Burl, Red, Sapphire, Ector, Zelda, Ori, Flint, Basil.

Here are some past characters in that group: Shade, Raphael.

Here are some great names from PFS in the sense that I remember them: Hans, Dunc, Harmonius, Primus, Secondus, Tertius (those three were brothers), Agra, Reya, Tika, Azara, Huckleberry Buck, Kiku, Grigorii, Dmitri, Wisp.

I played in a home game for two years where the same characters all went from level 1 to 20. The only names I still remember from that one are Iron-Brow and Hamish.

If you peruse my PFS aliases you will see that I have embraced this philosophy in most cases. I have a couple of outliers like Zrinka, Zranashta (my Varisians), and Na'idrahezade. But I also have Sparrow, Boomer, Juniper, Arlo, Cosmo, Pepper, Kaeus (pronounced Chaos), Hrolf (pronounced close to Ralph), and Rex.

[nosig]

DrParty06 wrote:

Drawing from experience with a home game, though the same applies to PFS...

Complicated names of characters are much more memorable if the character itself takes on a memorable life of its own. For example, there was an alchemist named Theophrastus (not an easy name) who popped up as a recurring villain in our game more than a year ago. Ask anyone who was there and they still remember his name, because he had a voice and acting from the GM to back up his myriad deadly forms.

Sometimes though, a simple name can be made effective in a way that doesn't sound silly. This example, a demi-god-like creature named Tricky, who as his named might suggest, had the most chaotic ways of killing the PCs possible.

Basically, if the emphasis is put in the right places, it doesn't matter if the name is complicated or simple, it will be remembered.

IMHO I have actually not found that to be true.

Think about the faction leader of the Dark Archive faction.

Everyone remembers her title - and calls her by it. Not everyone remembers (and fewer can pronounce) her name (even just her first name).

I wonder if she had a name like Cherri would more people know it?

[The Fox]

That might be a regional thing, nosig. I hear people here pronounce both of Zarta Dralneen's names correctly pretty frequently.

I think that exotic names like Zarta can work if they sound very similar to familiar names—like Marta, in this case.

I played a game where the only name I remembered was Sleven. It is a weird name but it sounds like Seven with an L thrown in. That made it easy to remember.

[Muser]

I'll bite. Can't comment on the pronunciation thing, but otherwise...

Our team was Uped, Domasi, Thomas Vanhorme and iirc XXXzey the Gnome(we called him Kisskiss and Ex) with his wolf, Saint. The mission was by given by Valsin and concerned Miss Delroya. There was someone called Laszlo the Leper. We kept making tongue-twisters about his lab.

IIRC, people forgot Delroya's fist name pretty soon and I know I have. We had some trouble with combat turns because the genitives of Domasi and Thomas make the names sound identical in Finnish. Beyond that, it was just a big champloo of code-switching and jokes about Blue Oyster Bar.

[Goddity]

My philosophy has always been that character names should contain as many puns as possible.

It took me 3 tries, because at first I thought it was Irregular Webcomic, and then I considered Darths and Droids. But I got it on my third guess!

[nosig]

Goddity wrote:

My philosophy has always been that character names should contain as many puns as possible.

It took me 3 tries, because at first I thought it was Irregular Webcomic, and then I considered Darths and Droids. But I got it on my third guess!

Yep, you got it!

[Ascalaphus]

nosig wrote:

But seriously, think back to your last game... What names do you remember? What ones can you pronounce? If you asked the other players, what would they say?

.

I just got back from Xin-Grafar to put a collar on Eramine.

I'll say though, that those names are not actually a hassle to pronounce. Not too many syllables, and "Xin-" is already somewhat familiar due to seeing the name Spires of Xin-Shalast so often.

I think the best thing for a writer to do is to try to pronounce the names of his NPCs/places out loud for a while; have a conversation about them. See where that takes you, if you maybe want to change the names a bit to feel better.

[Woran]

My recurring home campaign NPC is called Bob.
Bob's a good guy.

[Blackbot]

My home group had Leonard , Fur, Besh, Nyssa, Olo (Yolo Olo if he did something extremly risky) and...Exelius. Guess which name took forever to memorize.

My local lodge is also conservative with names so far, all quite short and nothing too weird. But now that I think about them, I can only remember Will the witch, and that's because I watched Buffy. And Wolfang, the brother of Leonard. I always hoped one of them would die so that I could deliver the tragic message to the other IC.

LAST NAMES are quite a different matter. I keep getting weird looks for Bodo Mudfoot because his name is so thoroughly unassuming.

[Goddity]

I know a guy who played a hobbit called Cupa T. N'bicky. Try saying it out loud.

I also know the guy who couldn't think of a name for his dwarf barbarian, so he ended up playing Gimli.

[Leathert]

(Xxxvii, btw).

But yeah, we have very varied naming principles here in Finland. And I've found that it really depends on the character whether I remember the names. Sometimes if a name is difficult, it actually captures my imagination on its own. (But that might be because I'm a linguist).

Side anecdote: During one of my playthroughs of a Pokemon game, I actually named my pokemons after characters from here. It might be interesting to see if a still have the save, as it would show which names I remembered while not at the gaming table.

In general, it is difficult to find a balance between easy and serious names. If easy means "could be found in my culture in the real world" that is. Of course references stick to our mind, that's basic psychology.

I'd say I'm able to remember the names of recurring NPCs like VCs and the three masters and stuff, but the one in only one scenario are lost after a while. I do remember a gnome named Poppo, though, to give an actual example. But gnomes are kinda expected to have a bit silly names.

[William Ronald]

I tend to pick where a character comes from and use names from different parts of the world. So, my Scarab Sage ranger from Thuvia is Amanar Bakare, with a first name taken from the native language of the Tuaregs (Amanar is their name for the constellation Orion) and Bakare is an ancient Egyptian name. Or Ellestron Makkarios, a native of Absalom (my 12th level diviner), whose name has Celtic elements (Welsh and Gaulish.) Or in the case of my bard, Teveil Ellyllion, I mixed Hebrew and Welsh.

History is a hobby, so I can usually find something memorable and give life to a character. I have seen player characters with the names of Robin Hood's Merry Men, the Three Stooges (they all met untimely ends), and several others. What I think is important is for a player to find a name that he or she feels is appropriate for a character. (Note: I did joke that when I played Living City that I might have been able to find Ravens Bluff Mayor Charles Oliver O'Kane in a Chicago, New York, Boston or Dublin phone book. This is not to as bad as a halfling rogue from 1st edition whose name was not Bilbo Baggins but remarkably similar in an awful pun way or Superthorondus and Typewriterus Ringerus, none of whom were my characters.)

[Serisan]

The best way to make character names remembered is to have memorable characters. When I'm on the ball, nobody forgets who Josef is or what motivates him. Other days, I'm tired and need a nap, but on good days, everybody knows that rascal and his Erastilian devotion.

From a campaign standpoint, I try to make the NPCs stand out in some way if possible. Everybody has their takes on Drandle Dreng, Kreighton Shane, etc. that make them very easy to remember, but those yahoos out in actual cities? PAH! There's frequently little about them to make you remember. I'm GMing Hell's Rebels for a home game and already forgot the name of a plot-central allied NPC. Face, sure I remember that, but MAN it's hard to remember his name for some reason and I just ran a session of it on Tuesday.

My REAL problem, though, is when authors start using weird word choices for commonplace things. How many times have I explained to the players in Hell's Rebels that "dottari" = city guard? Entirely too many. How many times have I seen "gaol" for a jail? More than I wish to recount.

[Hmm]

My requirements are:

1) easy to remember
2) easy to pronounce
3) ethnically appropriate from the area or culture I'm from

So I have:

Zahra from Katapesh

Lyric the Singing Paladin

Jasmine Wu from Tien

Bobbi Blakros ("My dumb family won't let me use my last name.")

Nixie (my Undine)

I like picking names that are flavorful and fun.

Hmm

[robertness]

I have a bad habit of naming minor NPCs Bob, Frank, or Charley. This afternoon, the captive kobold told the PCs that he wouldn't be a prisoner for long because Bob had run off to alert the rest of the tribe. I had two players look at me and ask, "A kobold named Bob?"

[Kerney]

Character names I've learned from--

Shiba Natsume more often got called Shiba, her surname rather her name. Only one person got the L5R reference and he was playing a caviler with an L5R reference in his name.
Jon Wein the oriental gunslinger was understood immediately.

Elinee Thesalaki Kalkamendes is nice and complicated and the fact that she'll thank anyone for helping her uncle with his sleep walking problem is a bonus. The fact that she can just go by Elinee once the game starts is fun. I have another character who has 2 middle names that seldom come up is good for when they do. But it is good he's just Ambrose most of the time.

Marv is also a great name. The fact he has no other name (until he proposed to an NPC and took her surname for future adventures) says just as much about him as the complicated names say about the other characters.

A little descriptive text under the name works. Strenella, Pathfinder Society's leading souce of PTSD hints at her intimidation fighter build.

[Simon Dragonar]

Hello everyone! My real name is Simon, and all my characters are named Simon. They have different last names, but all the same first name. I.E. Simon Dragonar, Simon Victorious, Simon Charming.

My good friend Scott is the first one to make their own Simon character, Simon Helpful. I hope to play at a table of All Simons one day. If anyone in the online community would like to make their own Simon, please feel free and let me know. I would be honored!

[The Fox]

I'm thinking of following in GM EndlessForm's tradition of making all of my future PFS characters into halflings. His are all Flaxseeds. Mine are all Berrythwaites. I would be hard pressed to form a lodge of Berrythwaites as prestigious as the Flaxseed Lodge, but I'm working on it.

The thing about Berrythwaites is that they have their own naming convention that goes back generations (or about 12 years, IRL).

Male children of the Berrythwaite family all have names that end in -o. There have been or will be Milo*, Argo, Arno, Keelo, Arlo, Cosmo, Baldo, Bruno, Giorgio and Giacomo (they are twins), Jimbo, Brando, Garbo, Harpo, Lalo (the rogue), Rosco, Sopho, Theo, Xeno, and Leo.

Female children of the Berrythwaite family have looser restrictions in this tradition. Often, they are named after a tree or flower, but not always. Some female Berrythwaites of note are Maple (Milo's wife), Juniper, Pepper, Trixie and Moxie (sisters), and Willow.

*:

Milo was my first Berrythwaite character. He was an orphan who grew up on the street. Life was hard enough as a halfling orphan growing up on the streets without having the name Milo Berrythwaite. Being streetwise as he was, he gave himself a tougher-sounding nickname—"The Fox," by the way—and teamed up with a half-orc orphan with an even tougher-sounding nickname—"Iron-Brow." Thus was born both the Berrythwaite family name, and my alias on here.

[Jayson MF Kip]

All of my characters have names that start with J, except the ones that don't.

[Goddity]

And who could forget the time my players named their characters after countries that end in "stan"? There were many unfortunate quotes in that game, especially after P#*& Stan started breaking laws, and was confronted by the guard.

[Simon Dragonar]

The Fox wrote:

I'm thinking of following in GM EndlessForm's tradition of making all of my future PFS characters into halflings. His are all Flaxseeds. Mine are all Berrythwaites. I would be hard pressed to form a lodge of Berrythwaites as prestigious as the Flaxseed Lodge, but I'm working on it.

The thing about Berrythwaites is that they have their own naming convention that goes back generations (or about 12 years, IRL).

Male children of the Berrythwaite family all have names that end in -o. There have been or will be Milo*, Argo, Arno, Keelo, Arlo, Cosmo, Baldo, Bruno, Giorgio and Giacomo (they are twins), Jimbo, Brando, Garbo, Harpo, Lalo (the rogue), Rosco, Sopho, Theo, Xeno, and Leo.

Female children of the Berrythwaite family have looser restrictions in this tradition. Often, they are named after a tree or flower, but not always. Some female Berrythwaites of note are Maple (Milo's wife), Juniper, Pepper, Trixie and Moxie (sisters), and Willow.

** spoiler omitted **

That sounds wonderful! Berrythwaite reminds me of fresh produce. Flaxseed Oil is good but I cannot ingest Fish Oil as I get severe nosebleeds. My characters usually get along very well with my friends' halfling characters. There are not all that many, but still a few.

Most of San Diego's small characters are gnomes actually. My characters get along with them too! There is a meme going around that I hate gnomes, but please do not believe it. It is slander, or libel in print.

I also love the name Milo because my Mom showed me the movie Milo and Otis when I was very young, and the animals were so cute. I think that is part of the reason I love animals so much now.

Jayson MF Kip wrote:

All of my characters have names that start with J, except the ones that don't.

Is it because your real name starts with J? :) I have been searching for other Pathfinders that name their characters after themselves. No luck so far.

[Nefreet]

I feel that characters become more memorable the more you play with them. Difficult names may become easier to pronounce the more you say them, true, but "Bob" and "Elay'thiel Celeb'loske" are equally easy to remember, or forget, depending on how much you interact with the character itself.

I pick my names based on theme, research, and/or inspiration. Rarely are they whimsical. Often they are only two syllables.

Kal-Yik (Tengu Rogue): Looking at the suggested Tengu names I felt this one had the right sound. I didn't want to go with any Crow- or Raven-themed names because I felt they were being overdone.

Malvos (Tiefling Fighter): "Malo" in Spanish means "bad". I wanted a name that kind of sounded dark or evil, and played around with Malo until I got "Malvos".

Angelica (Aasimar Gunslinger): Innocent. Sweet. Beautiful. Fit an Aasimar perfectly.

Baku Shadescar (Wayang Witch): Wayangs are a Japanese inspired race. "Baku" is Japanese for nightmare. I wanted something simple and creepy, and he's the creepiest of my characters. "Shadescar" because he lives under the bridge in Magnimar.

Brevick Axeflail (Dwarf Magus): Whereas Baku is creepy, Brevick is dark. I'm Norwegian, so when thinking of names to fit this persona Anders Behring Breivik came to mind. "Brevick" is a modification of that.

The Axeflail surname dates back to my MUD days when I belonged to a clan of Axeflail Dwarves. They're in my home campaign as well. All my Dwarf characters are Axeflails by blood.

Urus (Half-orc Inquisitor): I tried sounding out simple names that worked with giant tusks and got "Urus".

Sithis (Nagaji Druid): Sithis is a serpentlike monster you can encounter in the boardgame Tomb. Is sounds delightfully hissy.

Faan (Half-elf Oracle): "Faan" in Elven means "white". Faan has the clouded vision curse. Being very fey-themed (Fey Foundling) the name also sounded like the woodland creature, just different spelling, and Faan is gender-ambiguous and pansexual.

Bear Burning Ashes (Shoanti Warpriest): Every time I sit down and introduce this character people ask if he's Shoanti. I love it. I tried thinking of a name that could have many metaphors attached to it and would let others determine them on their own. I don't even know what his name could mean, and neither does he.

Jaswinder Aniljit (Vudrani Ranger): Okay, I'm not gonna lie, this is the name of one of my clients that I sold a $10,000 watch to. He was Punjabi, and I thought his name was perfect for a Vudrani character.

Blub Blub (Undine Bolt Ace): Blub Blub claims his name got messed up during an Aquan translation error when he registered for the Pathfinder Society, but I roleplay him as a total stoner and surferbum, so there's certainly a double entendre going on there.

Dr. Narsius Blote IV (Taldan Bloatmage): Just like when I sit down with my Shoanti, everyone at the table recognizes that this character is a Taldan. "Blote" because he's a Bloatmage, "Doctor" because of his max ranks in Profession (surgeon).

Azara Emberkin (Ifrit Swashbuckler): The last name is a fire-themed trope, but I roleplay her like Zarta Dralneen, so I wanted a first name that resembled hers enough that players could recognize the similarities.

Valor Axeflail (Oread Cavalier): He's a Dwarf-Blooded Oread born to the Axeflail clan. "Valor" because he's Lawful Good, and I wanted a name that made people make that connection easily. He views himself as blessed by Torag to reunite the Dwarven clans.

Elay Silverhair (Elf Eldritch Knight): This is another name from my MUD days. "Elay" is just "Yale" backwards, and it was inspired after watching Earth 2 and loving the character of the same name. "Silverhair" because of his heritage.

Maelstrom (Ganzi Bloodrager): It might be trope, but I thought this name symbolized chaos well enough while still sounding like a viable name. I haven't played him yet, but I'm looking forward to it when I do.

Dragonfly (Sylph Aerokineticist): "Samantha" is her real name, which is based on a recovering meth addict friend of mine IRL. Dragonfly is a recovering pesh addict. "Dragonfly" is her raver name (the character, not my friend), and the image of her darting around the battlefield reinforces it well.

Viliym (Dhampir Necromancer): heavy Ustalavic accent. Pronounced "Vee-liem". He jokes that his accent is part language, part having fangs that get in the way when speaking.

Bartholomäus (Kitsune Barbarian): he's 90% Barf from Spaceballs. One-liners, comedic value. "Hi! I'm Barth. I'm a Mox! Half man, half fox. I'm my own worst enemy."

Irwin (Gnome Alchemist): He's from Sarusan and speaks with a heavy Australian accent. Most people think I'm saying "Owen". I have a list of Australian slang terms that I toss around during roleplay.

Talib Aguiye Ironsi (Zenj Paladin): His father was the Iron Crocodile ("Aguiye Ironsi"), and "Talib" means "Seeker". He's of the Grand Lodge Faction, and "Seeker" is the term for a high-level Pathfinder.

Grand Banker Nixis (Gnome Cleric of Abadar): I love the Grand Nagus from DS9, and Nixis sounded similar enough.

Inspector Pendergast (Half-elf Investigator): Totally a rip off of Aloysius Pendergast from the Douglas Preston/Lincoln Child books. When someone recognizes the name we totally nerd out.

Giovanni (Taldan Bard): I wanted something that rolled off the tongue during introductions, and saying "Greetings... I... am Giovanni!" just sounds fun.

Russ'K (Half-orc Ranger): The "'K" is homage to his Mwangi ancestry, and he added it to his birthname "Russ". He is the son of Urus, and hence has no surname.

Toujuk (Dwarf Fighter): By birth he's an Axeflail, but he gave up that name long ago to live with Gnomes. He's very Rastafarian, chill, natural, organic, and although I don't recall now how I exactly came to his name, I remember it being related to that persona somehow.

Jötunn Dragonborn (Kellid Paladin): He'll eventually be my CORE Dragon Disciple. "Jötunn" because he was a giant of a baby (and OOC because he wields a large-sized Bastard Sword; he has the Convention Boon that halves the oversized penalty), and "Dragonborn" because of his silver scales.

Darius Militis (Chelaxian Hellknight): Darius was a Persian Emperor that paraded around his wealth, which is easy to imagine a high-ranking Chelaxian doing. Militis is Latin for "military", essentially.

Doragon Feiku (???): Okay, this character is over-the-top silly. His name literally translates to "Fake Dragon". He's a Suli Ninja that disguises himself as a Human Samurai, Order of the Dragon. His entire objective is to sow political chaos against the Imperial Dragon ruler of (I can't recall where now) and help Janni reininstigate control of the country. Like, 99% of his backstory will never be realized during PFS play.

Resolute (Elf Barbarian): In my homegame Elves never give their birth names outside of their home forests. They use aliases like "Fade", "Lizard", and such. One player rolled up an Elf and gave him the name "Resolute", and this character is homage to that one.

Wirt (Grippli Spiritualist): I wanted something single syllable and easy to squeak out quickly, and "Wirt" was available as a forum handle =D.

Jivan (Elf Psychic) and Syuli-ken Deonjineun (Aasimar Warpriest RPing as a Ninja) are still level 1 and I'm not sold on their names, yet.

[Blackbot]

Come to think of it, I really like names in Discworld. While obviously a fantasy setting, most names are easy to remember, the weirdness often applies to last names and many characters have a nickname:
Esmeralda "Granny" Weatherwax
Gytha "Nanny" Ogg
Moist von Lipwig
Samuel Vimes
Carort Ironfoundersson
Susan Sto Helit

Another thing you only find in Germay:
The Dark Eye is the most popular pen&paper in Germany and most players I know started out with it. This leads to some TDE things bleeding over to other role playing games.
EVERY SINGLE DWARF I've seen has a name littered with Xs. Xorbarosch, Xorotosch, Angrax, Xologrim...because that's the way it is in TDE. Which is weird because the Golarion dwarves don't even know the letter.

[BretI]

One mistake I stumbled into is having a name that could easily be mistaken for a different word. There are several tables of PFS where someone got worried when the GM called out "Mist" and they replied "But I thought I hit!"

Mist vs. Missed. Oops! Live and learn.

[Serisan]

BretI wrote:

One mistake I stumbled into is having a name that could easily be mistaken for a different word. There are several tables of PFS where someone got worried when the GM called out "Mist" and they replied "But I thought I hit!"

Mist vs. Missed. Oops! Live and learn.

There's a local guy with a character named Perception Check.

[UndeadMitch]

nosig wrote:

But seriously, think back to your last game... What names do you remember? What ones can you pronounce? If you asked the other players, what would they say?

I'll weigh in on this.

Last player session was yesterday, we had Mr. Fox, Jirelle (pregen), Seelah (pregen), Alden Gyre, and my character Mako. The session before that was one week prior and featured Mr. Dash, Alden Gyre, my character Fred Hayley, Krinn (RIP), Petr, and Amwari. The session before that featured Mr. Dash, Aalim, a pregen I think was Crowe, and my character Chloe.

When it comes to NPC's I don't fare as well, I can remember the names of the NPC's from last night when I played Day of the Demon, the VC was Ambrus Valsin, and for spoilers reasons I won't mention the other names in the scenario except that it mentions a bunch of people that you see all through seasons 4/5. Previous sessions before that get a little fuzzy, I can remember the names of the two mission givers before that (Norden Balentiir and Sheila Heidmarch).

Fact is, I don't try to remember the names of random NPC's past the day I play/run them because they aren't important and it makes it a bit more enjoyable for me if I play/GM a scenario after I GM/play it, it's kind of like experiencing the scenario again for the first time. I do usually take the time to remember the names of major recurring NPC's like Hamaria Blackros, Nigel Aldain, Tancred Desimire, Aya Allahe (hope we get more scenarios featuring her in the future!). I can remeber pretty much all of the Pathfinder Society peoples (VC's, faction leaders, the three masters, and other support staff members).

[UndeadMitch]

And my characters' names:

-1: Mzulft Mzinchaleft is a Tiefling Fighter (Lore Warden) 7 / Duelist 4 whose first and last name are lifted from Skyrim. Mzulft is a member of the Tiefling Deeper Darkness Murder Death Squad (or TDDMDS for short). Named after Mzulft and Mzinchaleft, a pair of dwarven ruins from Skyrim, the other members of the TDDMDS follow this naming scheme with Avanchanzel and Dnatfla (Alftand backwards).

-2: Berric Thorne, the Ladies' Knight, is a Paladin of Damerrich 14. He gets his first name from a Game of Thrones character and Thorne just sounded like a neat generic fantasy name.

-3: Venture-Captain Winnifred Hayley is a Rogue 14 / Fighter (Lore Warden) 2 / Sleepless Detective 1. Her name was lifted from a character I played in a home game, which was in turn lifted from an obscure character from the Scott Pilgrim books.

-4 was played three times before it died. I think I named it Tobias Dawnfeather, it was a Tengu cleric of Sarenrae so Dawnfeather seemed like a decent generic name.

-5 was a joke name in poor taste that I'm not going to mention here that was going to be part of a PFS home game.

-6 is a dead Ifrit wizard named Snowflake that liked to set things on fire.

-7 is [/b]Nevakali Blackros[/b], a Tengu Barbarian 5 / Living Monolith 5. She used to just go by Nevakali, the name of a Dire Corby Cleric from Jade Regent that I thought sounded cool.

-8: Sophie Desmarais is a Tiefling Ninja 7 is named such because I wanted a french sounding name and I found Desmarais on a list.

-9: Chloe Desmarais is a Aasimar Fighter (Rondelero Duelist) 10 and is Sophie's sister.

-10: Adria Thorne is a Tiefling Paladin of Lymnieris and the daughter of Berric, which him having a kid he didn't know about that is old enough to adventure made more sense back when Aasimar had longer lifespans but hey, I'm just going to go with it. I had been wanting to name a character Adria for a while, but I can't remember where I saw the name.

-11: Borthad Mörel is a dwarf barabarian I modeled after two of my friends' characters, Morthad and Börel.

-12 is an unnamed grandfathered Aasimar.

-13: Fred Hayley, Ratfolk Unchained Rogue (Counterfeit Mage) 7, is the adopted son of Winnifred, who she accidentally stole from Round Mountain that she decided to just keep. Named after an occurrence during a scenario where for a brief amount of time Winnifed became a Fred because of a cursed belt.

-14: Mako Kagashime is a Dhampir (Ru-Shi) Magus (Mindblade) 5 / Evangelist of Desna 1. She uses the traditional Inner Sea naming tradition of Personal Name / Family Name to avoid confusing her party members. I lifted the name Mako from the female lead character from Pacific Rim and I got Kagashime by changing some letters from the city Kagoshima in Japan.

[thistledown]

I usually start my name search using this book . It's an amazing resource for names of different cultures and time periods, all in blocks of 20 (like your dice). Since Golarion draws a lot from real-world cultures, I try to make the character names fit well with those cultures, using the Names book and the suggested racial names in the splat books as staring points.

I was up to my 10th character before I realized that they all had names ending in "A", though not always on their primarily name. After noticing, I've tried to uphold it when I can.

Zavorokhina - half-elf from Brevoy. Dervish dancer
Elsi Ambustiana - human from Cheliax (ambustiana means "adopted daughter of the burned one" in Roman naming paterns, her gnome father was an alchemist). Musket Master / Inqusitor of Milani
Natalya - human from Numeria. Pistolero / White-haired witch
Notkira Razin - Aasimar from River Kingdoms. Negative channeling, thus Not-Kyra) cleric of Hanspur. Brother of Leuphira
Urshia al-Lirgen - Sylph orignally from Lirgen (sodden lands) but raised in Qadira. Storm Kindler
Luca Boromi - Elf from Varisia. Sczarni goon (Boromi sounds fun for a gunslinger). Dragonpistol Magus
Makoa Modius Brokus - Half-Orc from Cheliax. Makoa was on the list of half-orc names, Modius Brokus is roughly "Toothy Bushel" - he's an archer with tusks. Inquisitor of Norgorber.
Leuphira Razin - Aasimar from River Kingdoms. Positive channeling cleric of Sarenrae. Sister of Notkira. Was originally Supekira, but that sounded too silly.
Takeda Nugai - Half-Orc from Shokuro, now Daimyo of Takeda clan. "Samurai"
Angela - Aasimar summoner (concept, not really worked on)
Vastra - Lizardwoman (tiefling) from the dawn of time. Investigator
Formorka - Wayang from Daggermark. Sneak-attack specialist.
Duta - Ratfolk of Round Mountain. Gulch Gunner
Kebede - Half-Orc from Mwangi. Rides on Moa (axebeak) I just could not find an african sounding name I liked that ended in "A". At least his mount does. Mounted Rogue
Tessara - Elf from Varisia. Also crossblooded sorcerer (Gold Dragon and Orc)Scorching Ray specialist.
Rocketeer - Placeholder name on GM credit. Real name not decided yet. But has Rocket Pack!

[THUNDERLIPS!]

THUNDERLIPS! FINDS ALL THIS TALK OF NAMES BORING. ALL PATHFINDERS SHOULD BE BLESSED WITH SUCH A NAME AS THUNDERLIPS! SO THAT ONE DAY THEY TO CAN BECOME THE MASTER OF SHOUTING.

[Josef Mentanu]

THUNDERLIPS! wrote:

THUNDERLIPS! FINDS ALL THIS TALK OF NAMES BORING. ALL PATHFINDERS SHOULD BE BLESSED WITH SUCH A NAME AS THUNDERLIPS! SO THAT ONE DAY THEY TO CAN BECOME THE MASTER OF SHOUTING.

I do not quite recall shouting as the primary s-word associated with you. Thankfully, it stayed inside the thong as we entered the Crystal Womb.

[Oceanshieldwolf]

Not in PFS, but I most vociferously disagree with the OP. I wouldn't personally enjoy a game very well if reduced to such naming conventions. I guess a game is about verisimilitude, and the humor comes from the game itself - if the players wish to also make up their own names for folks, then so be it. "Damodaaar!"

Takes me waaaaaaay back to the Dragon magazine article entitled Whaddaya mean, Jack the Samurai.

I have no problem with esoteric, hard to pronounce, so called "foreign" or erudite names. I guess I should have more empathy for those who do not, but sadly I do not.

[Keith Apperson]

We've got around 200 active members in our lodge - I'd say I know at least half of them by name and/or face at least. Now that certainly takes some time, especially when at a table I see at most 7 of them.

Out of the 100 people I know, most have multiple characters I've played with (at least 2). If I'm playing 3 times a week and somehow have a unique composition each time, that's 21 characters a week played by 21 people a week.

With these massive amounts of numbers, do you know which characters I remember? The ones that make me remember.

Whether it's Josef's terrible pun and dedication to Erastil, Lyric's chirpiness, Fizzle and the flying rabbit, DELPHIX GOSTAPHALAGUS (sp?) grappling anything that moves (anything), Mal who likes rocks, Harv Burgleton who comes from a long line of proud burgles, THUNDERLIPS! man of influence, Luscious Lucious, Natuska the puppet-maker...

There is one thing that all of these characters have in common: It usually only takes meeting them once to remember them. Maybe twice and people will have their name down, along with what they do.

I see it with people who know me well (been playing with them for over a year) - some of my characters are known immediately (Oh, the kid who summons? Li. The shark? Slammu. The egotistical mesmerist? Orion) and some people have no idea their name, just their function (The Ranger, the Rogue, the Warpriest).

And there's a reason people know the first three and don't know the last three: I didn't make them memorable enough, I don't make them exciting enough, their names just don't stick.

As far as the adventures go, I think our lodge, for the most part, really likes the lore of PFS, so there are constant references to other characters (by name), suspicions that certain people are involved (Yargos or Nigel), and jokes about VCs, Faction Leaders, and recurring NPCs, ("You are woken in the middle of the night..." the GM begins, "DRENG..." the party groans) all properly named and referenced.

[Josef Mentanu]

Keith Apperson wrote:

We've got around 200 active members in our lodge - I'd say I know at least half of them by name and/or face at least. Now that certainly takes some time, especially when at a table I see at most 7 of them.

Out of the 100 people I know, most have multiple characters I've played with (at least 2). If I'm playing 3 times a week and somehow have a unique composition each time, that's 21 characters a week played by 21 people a week.

With these massive amounts of numbers, do you know which characters I remember? The ones that make me remember.

Whether it's Josef's terrible pun and dedication to Erastil, Lyric's chirpiness, Fizzle and the flying rabbit, DELPHIX GOSTAPHALAGUS (sp?) grappling anything that moves (anything), Mal who likes rocks, Harv Burgleton who comes from a long line of proud burgles, THUNDERLIPS! man of influence, Luscious Lucious, Natuska the puppet-maker...

There is one thing that all of these characters have in common: It usually only takes meeting them once to remember them. Maybe twice and people will have their name down, along with what they do.

I see it with people who know me well (been playing with them for over a year) - some of my characters are known immediately (Oh, the kid who summons? Li. The shark? Slammu. The egotistical mesmerist? Orion) and some people have no idea their name, just their function (The Ranger, the Rogue, the Warpriest).

And there's a reason people know the first three and don't know the last three: I didn't make them memorable enough, I don't make them exciting enough, their names just don't stick.

As far as the adventures go, I think our lodge, for the most part, really likes the lore of PFS, so there are constant references to other characters (by name), suspicions that certain people are involved (Yargos or Nigel), and jokes about VCs, Faction Leaders, and recurring NPCs, ("You are woken in the middle of the night..." the GM begins, "DRENG..." the party groans) all properly named and referenced.

It is a simple fact, my friend, that my skill at archery far exceeds my handiness around the farm. My children handle the latter as I've clearly placed bows before hoes.

[Harv Burgleton]

Keith Apperson wrote:

Whether it's Josef's terrible pun and dedication to Erastil, Lyric's chirpiness, Fizzle and the flying rabbit, DELPHIX GOSTAPHALAGUS (sp?) grappling anything that moves (anything), Mal who likes rocks, Harv Burgleton who comes from a long line of proud burgles, THUNDERLIPS! man of influence, Luscious Lucious, Natuska the puppet-maker...

Allows mes to correct you, bozo--I am a legitimate businessman.

[THUNDERLIPS!]

Josef Mentanu wrote:

THUNDERLIPS! wrote:

THUNDERLIPS! FINDS ALL THIS TALK OF NAMES BORING. ALL PATHFINDERS SHOULD BE BLESSED WITH SUCH A NAME AS THUNDERLIPS! SO THAT ONE DAY THEY TO CAN BECOME THE MASTER OF SHOUTING.

I do not quite recall shouting as the primary s-word associated with you. Thankfully, it stayed inside the thong as we entered the Crystal Womb.

WITH CONTINUAL FLAME AND NEW IOUN STONE IT IS NOW A DISCO BALL OF WONDERMENT. WHEN IT IS IMPLANTED IT WILL BE FOR THE CRYSTAL WOMB'S PLEASURE.

[THUNDERLIPS!]

THUNDERLIPS! REMEMBERS WARPRIEST APPERSON! HE MADE THUNDERLIPS!'S LIGHTHOUSE OF FREEDOM!

[zefig]

I've run the gamut on my character names, from making up names based on cyphered names from inspirational characters, to ripping names from behind the name.com, to picking names from ISWG, to outright jokes.

Lately, I've mostly been enjoying names that contain a joke and are then shortened to something reasonable.

Annie Croakley, or just Annie, the Grippli musket master.
Mea Culpa, the strongest wizard in the society, or just Mea. She's a bard/barbarian/dragon disciple with a fairly cheesed out strength score.
Daine Jazoane, Evocation Specialist.

They work for a quick laugh to keep the tone light, then we move on. But I mean, they tend to run around with such pathfinders like Elvis Priestley.

[Fromper]

BretI wrote:

One mistake I stumbled into is having a name that could easily be mistaken for a different word. There are several tables of PFS where someone got worried when the GM called out "Mist" and they replied "But I thought I hit!"

Mist vs. Missed. Oops! Live and learn.

We have a player around here named Will, who is almost entirely blind. Needless to say, he can't see who people are looking at when they talk, so calls for will saves frequently turn into "Who's on first?" situations.

Back to the original topic, I GMed yesterday, two sessions with the same group for both, and had the PC names written in front of me the whole time, and was frequently calling people by their PC names for over 6 hours. Let's see how many names and other details I can remember 18 hours after the sessions ended.

1. Sam the Witch. Human, I believe. Male. Level 1, first time playing PFS at all.
2. The female Tien human psychic from Goka with a name that I don't remember. It was 6 letters. Something like Dutzen or something. Level 1, experienced player with new PC.
3. Cecilia the female half-orc bard (with both "c"s pronounced like "ch" as in "cheese"). Level 1, experienced player with new PC.
4. Male Tien human samurai from Minkai with another Asian name that I don't remember. Level 1. Not sure if the PC was new.
5. The wizard. Male, elf, I think. I don't remember his name now. Level 2 for the first session, advanced to level 3 between sessions.
6. Female dwarven warpriest of the halfling goddess Chaldira. Her name began with "D", but I don't remember it now. And I admit to looking up the spelling of the goddess's name just now. I remembered it, but not the spelling. I really should remember this one, as it's a friend of mine and I helped her build the character, which is why I remember so clearly which goddesss she worships and why (dwarf raised by halflings). Level 1 for the first session, leveled up to 2nd level between sessions.

[RainyDayNinja]

BretI wrote:

One mistake I stumbled into is having a name that could easily be mistaken for a different word. There are several tables of PFS where someone got worried when the GM called out "Mist" and they replied "But I thought I hit!"

Mist vs. Missed. Oops! Live and learn.

Once, I played a character named "San Xiao" alongside someone named "Sand Shadow." That got confusing.

[Lord Arthur Higgenstrom III]

Joseph Kellogg wrote:

BretI wrote:

One mistake I stumbled into is having a name that could easily be mistaken for a different word. There are several tables of PFS where someone got worried when the GM called out "Mist" and they replied "But I thought I hit!"

Mist vs. Missed. Oops! Live and learn.

Once, I played a character named "San Xiao" alongside someone named "Sand Shadow." That got confusing.

I played a bunch of games with Arthur Perkins GMing. That made things awkward, especially since it was online and so speaking was the only way of grabbing someone's attention. Got the rest of the table to call me Lord Arthur for those sessions.

[Lyric the Singing Paladin]

Keith Apperson wrote:

Lyric's chirpiness

Just wait until I get my thrush! Then you'll see how chirpy I can be!

Of all my characters, this is the one that they most remember -- the deaf happy paladin who sings...

[Nimrandir]

I find I do better on this when I am in the GM chair, since I write down every character's name before the mission briefing. Anyhoo, on Saturday I ran an evergreen scenario for:
1.) Olan, a human from the northern reaches of Avistan who wielded divine powers without the use of a holy symbol;
ii.) Kulavic, a half-orc with massive tusks and a profound lack of understanding of the geography of Kortos;
c.) Moto Rolla, a tengu prone to fits of rage and tearing apart his opponents with his bare hands (and beak);
Four.) Celan, a half-elven sorcerer with a knack for pretending to be someone else;
- Esmay, a sneaky Varisian who had to show Kulavic how to use lockpicks;
and finally, Han Li, a Tien archer who always shoots first and is also an accomplished flautist.

As for my own characters, almost every PFS character I have possesses a name that is an anagram of 'random guy', with the exception to my Core bard (whose name is an anagram of Pat Benatar) and my witch (who shares her first name with a module NPC and uses the surname of another one of my characters' clans).

[nosig]

I have a friend named Bard - and no, I've never seen him play a Bard.

But there are times when two (or more) people try to talk after the judge says "Bard, it's your turn..."

[Nixie Attwater]

Nefreet wrote:

Blub Blub (Undine Bolt Ace): Blub Blub claims his name got messed up during an Aquan translation error when he registered for the Pathfinder Society, but I roleplay him as a total stoner and surferbum, so there's certainly a double entendre going on there.

Nixie has Blub Blub listed as her sponsor into the society!

Which is hilarious, since I totally play her as a fish out of water and completely naive about land-based customs. After a really messed up Knowledge Nature roll she also has a huge fear of pigs... She asked Janira in the Confirmation whether it was better to use cold iron or silver when fighting them. This made poor Janira very confused.