I am currently GMing a group and I really enjoy doing it but I have a bit of a problem. I am terrible coming up with names. God forbid the players ask for the name of an NPC that I didn't expect because I just draw a blank. I have the same problem for town names or even names for NPCs that I want them to talk to.
Do you have any resources that you use to come up with names. Do you have a list of names that you keep just to pull out one on short notice. What about place names etc.
I go here for names and use it's meaning to either foreshadow something, or use it to give a hint of something about them.
I also build the NPCs from the ground up, with randomised race, class archetype, gender etc..
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When in doubt, look towards Video Games!
Seriously, some of the best names come from either the Bible or a video game. There are enough characters to modify or adjust to whatever the situation.
Since everyone knows the Bible, some good video games for names are Fire Emblem, Star Ocean, and Halo are some good series for picking names. Examples are Hector, Peppita, and Jerome.
I use Treasue Trove Software's Storybook utility. It is free to download and then runs in any capable browser. If you just need a name and no stats to fill in some story fluff it is a great place to go.
thanks this has been helpful
Real people's last names many times work well as fantasy people's first names. The Bible is also a good source, as well as english to (insert language) dictionaries. Oh, and porn stars, they have pretty cool names sometimes.
Gary Gygax's Book of Extraordinary Names from Troll Lord Games was pretty cool, but they pulled the pdf out of circulation so it's hard to find now.
Ok, I mostly just popped in to say thanks to Cosmo for the link. I'm going to use the owlbear out of it. Anyway, I should probably contribute something, so you could always just use one of the many online translators.
I like to go with English to Armenian for unique, meaningful names that no one suspects are anything less than original.