Naming a character: why character names matter

[The Elusive Trout]

Does anyone else remember the thread-relevant part of the preview for Gentlemen Broncos?

[nosig]

I knew someone who named her (female) Barbarian "Uncle Phydeaux" -
she explained she was named after her Uncle... Yeah, Uncle Herman (or something)... She had a twin brother named after her Uncles wife... you guessed it right? "Aunt Phydeaux" (and male) was named after their Aunt.

and heck, it's easy to pronounce Phydeaux...

[Zandari]

Here are mine:

Estragon al'Godot - Qadiran Dwarf Barbarian 14 - Estragon is one of the two principals from the Samuel Beckett play "Waiting for Godot" - I suppose I need to go ahead and make his cousin, Vladimir, at some point

Grayson - Halfling Cavalier 15 - I had just been re-reading The Dark Knight Returns

Zeffan - Sylph Bard 10 - This is one of the names from the original D&D module B1 - In Search of the Unknown - Zeffan is a dwarf in the original, but I just always liked the sound of it

Sage - Tiefling Fighter 6 - just liked the sound of this, as well

Bannoc - Nagaji Druid 6 - had just re-read Chronicles of Thomas Covenant and didn't want to completely rip off the name of the Bloodguard

Virgil Maystack 3 - GM credit blob - random name generator from somewhere

[Knuckles Jarvis]

Minmux of the Raptorscale tribe not sure why people always call him "Minmax." That not his name!

[Bigrin da Troll]

I have a GM credit-baby I've never played named Avon.

I've never played him because A) he's not stupid, B) he's not expendable, and C) he's not going.

[Matthew Pittard]

lol Bigrin. I get that and now you have me thinking about making a Human Rogue Burglar who dosnt like to volunteer for anything. Vila Restall!

[BigNorseWolf]

Azhi Dahaka Redeemer PallyDragondisciple. NOT named after the Starcraft character, but after the devouring dragon from middle eastern myth.

Doyle Taghuer Has a pet velociraptor named Conan (or rather Conan has a pet druid named Doyle) Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote The Lost World. Taghuer is a brand of watch. The character is from hermea and comes from a family of clockmakers.

Shamus Woodgear Irish name for the fey flavor.

Corvus Cailean Tengu archer inquisitor of Cayden Cailean. First name is the genus for crows, and his clergy often replace their last name with his.

Fabrizio de Chevalierof the Oppara Chevaliers. A ridiculously good looking, buff sorcerer that's as dumb as a post. His Thrush sidekick Munin is the brains of the opperation (norse mythology reference)

Reynard de' Bonaire A lump of DM protoplasm I'm trying to turn into a kitsune ninja with a pimp hat. Reynard is the archetypical trickster from french folklore (his name either means fox, or the french named the word fox after HIM depending on who you ask). The last name is fake but describes him well.

Pyrite Felsic and his ankylosaurus nugget. Pyrite is fools gold, he's an assimar that's firmly neutral.

Flutter a female wild empathy focused druid. Someone complained Doyles name was too puny...

Joey Jirra Gnome Riding in a kangaroo pouch with a lance. Joey= young kangaroo. Jirra= kangaroo. The kangaroo is named Nesaisquois, which might be funny if you know how the kangaroo supposedly got its name and speak french.

[thistledown]

Hmm. Some new ones for my list.

Luca Boromi - Sczarni magus with scatterguns. Might be an elf, human, or half-orc (probably an elf). Whatever name he had before, it became varisian after he joined up with his nephew Guaril. Luca (Light) Boromi is from actualy Roma names, and I then had to use Luca to honor the Godfather's Luca Brasi.

Urshia al-Lirgen - Sylph from what is now the Sodden Lands. There used to be a country there named Lirgen. When the hurricane hit, her family fled to Qadira (by way of tien...) and went with arabic naming practices. Urshia translates as "One who belongs to the skies"

Notkira Razín - Negative energy channeling Cleric of Hanspur. Aasimar, plan to go into the Force Channel feat path. When people expect him to heal them like Kyra, he just responds that he's "not that type of cleric." I think Razin came from the racial splat books, but I wanted an accent on it.

Working on a name for a teamwork feats guy. Likely a Paladin/Inquisitor. Likely cheliaxian. Kind of a drill sergeant.

[Saint Caleth]

I love naming characters, here are some I am using right now:

Belisarius d'Vostrozha: Inquisitor from Cheliax. Belisarius is possibly my favorite first name from late antiquity and his last name sound appropriately sinister for an inquisitor working for the Chelaxian court and rolls off the tongue nicely.

Sargon mar Quradu al-Ahaz:Qadiran Ranger with some gunslinger to get a firearm. His middle and last names could plausibly mean "Son of the hero" and "the flame" respectively in Akkadian. The whole thing has an appropriately Qadiran flavor. His animal companion is an eagle creatively named Aranish, which is just Akkadian for eagle.

Cao Li:Tian Summoner. His family name is one of my favorite looking Chinese characters (曹) and also is his summoner glyph since his eidolon is the gestalt spirit of his ancestors.

Anthea Karilla Ezil I haven't actually done anything with this name, but it has a kind of Roman flavor to it although Anthea probably means eagle in Etruscan. I'm thinking Taldor for where this name fits in Golarion.

Suryani Agnivali: Has got the Sanskrit words for "sun" and "fire" in it, so I am thinking about a Vudran Fire-themed Sorcerer/Paladin/Dragon Disciple.

Ahmose Setenheb: Osirion Bard on indefinite hold at 3 XP until I can get an Undine Race boon to apply to him. This one means something like "He is born of the moon, the spirits rejoice" in Ancient Egyptian. As a super special bonus, he can also write his name in heiroglyphics

My favorite character name I have ever come up with is probably Gaius Virgillius Varrax just for the rhythm and awesome alliteration of it. I might use it for a PFS character at some point in the future. who knows.

[Kyra Clone #3,785]

Ronwe Leroung is my Tiefling Wizard, born in Cheliax to the Leroung family. Shunned for being a Tiefling, exploited for his intellect and ability to learn magic, he eventually decided "screw you guys" and he went off to join the Osirions and peruse ancient tomes of lore and forgotten tombs. Ronwe is the name of a mythological Demon of Knowledge, Leroung is a Cheliaxian house with many prominent academics.

Karnak is a cleric of Sarenrae, named after the Egyptian temple complex.

Glimmertooth is a gnome with a riding dinosaur and a predilection for fire, Glimmertooth just seemed like a good name for a gnome.

Furou is an Inquisitor of Pharasma I play in a homebrew game where we got to create our own 20-point custom races from the ARG. I named his race the Tūjiù (chinese for vulture), a race of humanoid vultures given sentience by Pharasma and tasked with destroying the undead who wander the desert inhabited by the vultures. Fǔròu is Chinese for Carrion, and he has a tendency to eat things killed by the party.

[Seamus Luckleaf]

BigNorseWolf wrote:

Shamus Woodgear Irish name for the fey flavor.

Ah hate ta b' tha one ta tell ya, but ye spelt yer firs' name wrong, lad!

[Aristophanes]

My latest character is a Dual-Cursed Oracle of lore. Lame/Tongues.
He has a pronounced limp, he stammers, and his head twitches.
His name is Claudius.

I also have a Bear Shaman Druid named Inkara. His AC is Ditka. Inkara means 'bear' in some language, from the balkans, i think.

[Luthril]

BigNorseWolf wrote:

Azhi Dahaka Redeemer PallyDragondisciple. NOT named after the Starcraft character, but after the devouring dragon from middle eastern myth.

Doyle Taghuer Has a pet velociraptor named Conan (or rather Conan has a pet druid named Doyle) Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote The Lost World. Taghuer is a brand of watch. The character is from hermea and comes from a family of clockmakers.

Shamus Woodgear Irish name for the fey flavor.

Corvus Cailean Tengu archer inquisitor of Cayden Cailean. First name is the genus for crows, and his clergy often replace their last name with his.

Fabrizio de Chevalierof the Oppara Chevaliers. A ridiculously good looking, buff sorcerer that's as dumb as a post. His Thrush sidekick Munin is the brains of the opperation (norse mythology reference)

Reynard de' Bonaire A lump of DM protoplasm I'm trying to turn into a kitsune ninja with a pimp hat. Reynard is the archetypical trickster from french folklore (his name either means fox, or the french named the word fox after HIM depending on who you ask). The last name is fake but describes him well.

Pyrite Felsic and his ankylosaurus nugget. Pyrite is fools gold, he's an assimar that's firmly neutral.

Flutter a female wild empathy focused druid. Someone complained Doyles name was too puny...

Joey Jirra Gnome Riding in a kangaroo pouch with a lance. Joey= young kangaroo. Jirra= kangaroo. The kangaroo is named Nesaisquois, which might be funny if you know how the kangaroo supposedly got its name and speak french.

BNW, not that it really matters but Shamus is Scottish, the original Gaelic spelling, ie the right way, is Seamus and this is the Irish spelling. I'd know it is my son's name. Cheers

[Luthril]

Seamus Luckleaf wrote:

BigNorseWolf wrote:

Shamus Woodgear Irish name for the fey flavor.

Ah hate ta b' tha one ta tell ya, but ye spelt yer firs' name wrong, lad!

Lol. Should have scrolled down before hitting reply. Well played sir, well played.

[BigNorseWolf]

Seamus Luckleaf wrote:

BigNorseWolf wrote:

Shamus Woodgear Irish name for the fey flavor.

Ah hate ta b' tha one ta tell ya, but ye spelt yer firs' name wrong, lad!

Its gnomish spelling, you expect it to be standardized?

[Rei]

After some debate on whether I should post about my character names or not, I figured why not.

Nefertari: Was named after one of the wives of Ramesses II in a hurry. Never did come up with a surname for her.
Tyraxor: Named after one of the goblin heroes in Heroes of Might and Magic III. Later, I expanded his name into Tyraxor ibn Randa el-Amin al-Duhayriyya; Randa el-Amin is his mother's name (Randa is Arabic for "scented tree" to refer to her son's eventual occupation as a druid, Amin means "trustworthy" and is her surname through her father - I can no longer remember if I referenced this name off someone or not), and al-Duhayriyya is the name of his hometown, which is also the name of a former town in Palestine.
Jarlael Emberheart: First name was the middle name of a friend of mine. Surname is just something I thought would fit an Infernal bloodline sorcerer.
Lorgara Silverstream: Lorgara is a name I came up with a few years ago and have reused for many characters. Silverstream is after one of the characters in the young adult fantasy series Warriors.
Arashi Itonokogiri: Named after two different characters: Arashi Kishu from the anime/manga X/1999, and Keisuke Itonokogiri from the Ace Attorney series, known in the West as Dick Gumshoe. (Additional reference: her ancestral weapon is a nodachi named Ikusaba - Japanese for "corpse blade" - which would be a spoiler if I mentioned what it was from, but some might recognize the name Mukuro Ikusaba.)
Skad: Another one of those names I've reused over the years. Later expanded into Escadreil Songwalker Acheron, where the first two are just stuff I made up, and the surname is that of Gol and Maia Acheron from Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy.
Kaiku: Finnish for "echo", and also a terrible Finnish in-joke - there's a famous old comic in Finland called Kieku ja Kaiku (lit. Kieku and Kaiku - "kiekua" is the Finnish verb for "to crow" as in a rooster's crow) about the adventures of two baby roosters, one white and one black.
Jalisco Olemaun: The original iteration of this character was made for a First Steps series we intended to play drunk. Only ever played FSII, though. Jalisco is the Mexican state from which tequila originates, and Olemaun is the surname of a character from 30 Days of Night - this is from when he was an Aberrant/Sanguine sorcerer, and still works now that he's an albino elf who likes to pretend he's a ghoul.
Pêlakouél Malcha-Betharsism-hed-Beruah-Schehalim: Both of these are names of angels from Judeo-Christian occultism/esotericism. She goes by Kou.
Roskva Ljótrmundardottir: Roskva is the name of one of Thor's two human servants (technically in the myths it's spelled Röskva, which is pronounced differently, but due to nostalgia reasons I preferred Roskva as a spelling and pronunciation). Ljótrmundardottir means "daughter of Ljótrmund", which in turn should translate to "ugly protector".
Merrean Grace-Under-Pressure: First name is from a list of Pilgrim names, which I thought was fitting for a paladin. Surname is after a song by the band Elbow... and apparently a lot of other things, but the Elbow song is the intended source.
Josei Kilojarrah: There's a bit of a running joke about nagaji names in my local PFS after we played Red Harvest, which contains a named NPC called Yesmoro. "Moro" is a local colloquialism which translates to "'sup" or "bye". I originally meant to name this character Yosei (Japanese for "fairy, spirit") but typoed it... and figured why not, because "jos ei" is Finnish for roughly "if not" or "how about no". Kilojarrah is after Kilojara from the great webcomic Monster's Garden.

[Vheod]

While I'm the worst ever at coming up with names (I have a guy I go to) some of the ones I've heard have made me want to slam my head into the table. One player I know has a cleric named... Smurfberry. Yes, Smurfberry. And its not a joke. He wears blue armor (even though smurfberries are red) and he expects you to take his name seriously and gets PISSED if you dis his name in any way. The same guy shows up to the table with a female druid named Justine Timberlake. (I hit my head on the table twice for that one). He has more, but I'll spare you the pain! ;)

[Calybos1]

Got a halfling monk named Fiorello Sharp. "Call me F."

[Diego Rossi]

I have read only the first 50 posts and then skipped to the end, so something can have already said what I am going to say, but I want to point out that goofy names or nicknames are and were common.

To cite a few names of medieval historical figures:

Catruccio Castracani would be translated in English as Littlefort [if we use castrum as the orgigin or Castruccio] Doggelder
or, if we go for the sound of Castruccio, Littlegelder Doggelder

Cangrande della Scala: Bigdog of the Ladder

and just to end the series of dog themed names:

Mastino della Scala -> Mastiff of the Ladder.

[Ghost1776]

I don't have a standard way that I name each character. That said I often try to use historical names if I think one would be appropriate. Unfortunately just because a name is historical and hundreds (if not thousands) of years old doesn’t mean the name sounds exotic (or "fantastic").
I'm always getting strange looks when I introduce myself as one of my PFS Ulfen clerics Harald (Wulfgarson (named after Harald Fairhair (c. 850 to c.932 1st king of Norway)) and Marc (Smithson (named after Mark of Aleppo - 4th century monk, theologian, and mystic)) probably should have named them Egill, and Njal.

[Severed Ronin]

Most hilarious name I've seen was the outcast elf named Ron (short for something) that a player of mine had. He was a wizard...

[R2D2TS]

For Pathfinder I usually use the naming suggestions they give in the related race section from the ISWG. It may either be as a guide or sometimes even a specific name from the list.
My current list of PFS character names are:

Sorilus Taurinor (Male Human Chelaxian)Cleric of Sarenrae
Ormkuya "Trip" (Male Human Keleshite) Sorcerer
Aula Wintrish (Female Human Chelaxian) Witch
Oz of Backar Forest (Male Human Unknown) Fighter
Shalaye Roiat (Female Human Varisian+) ???
Narast "Charging Beast" (Male Human Shoanti, Shriikirri Quah) Dragoon
Ticaria Sapaulo (Female Human Varisian) Oracle
Andes Junket (Male Halfling) Seperatist of Desna(Travel,Fur)
Jalsit (Female Human Qadiran) Rogue
Tryam (Male Half-Elf) Pistolero

"Trip" and Oz are the only ones with special stories for their names. "Trip" got his from his fascination with cantrips. At level 4 he currently knows 11 plus 2 more as 1/day(Sp). Oz had no name until he was about 13 years old. He lived in Backar Forest since he was about 7. The person that gave him the name was a woman that was aiming to become a Knight of Ozem.

Other than these I have a home game character by the name of Zeronia. She is a female Varisian human. Cleric of Desna/Sarenrae.(I actually have a PFS version set up as Desnan Seperatist but I have neither played nor given her gm credit yet.)

[Tumskunde]

I've had a few interesting names run in both my games, and the games I've played.
Unfortunately all of them have been home games, as PFS was not a popular option where I played.
The last campaign my crew and I finished before I moved was epic, and amusing at the same time. While not set in Golarion, the setting was adapted from Golarion and Game of Thrones.

Sylvan, the Half Elf Storm Druid, noted for turning into random animals and role playing how he would tell us things as he never took Wild Speech.

Johnny Walker was our Human Cleric/Inquisitor of Cayden Cailean, whose departure left my Sorcerer sharing Healing duties with the Druid (Infernal Healing, a wand of False Life and wands/potions of various cure spells).

Nigel was a Half Ogre Fighter, who was noted for being a classy gent and for collecting titles. His Full name went like Colonel Sir Nigel Kalum-Saver Barrel-Slain Stair-Historian Dragon-Shaker Orc-Welder Chess-Master the Third, Lord of Fitzwizzle Tower and Proprieter of the Classy Gentlman's Club and Fine Dining Establishment, by the end of the campaign.

Kalum, also know as Prince Kharak of House Orm, second in line to the Imperial Succession. He was a Sorcerer/DragonDisciple i played, who masqueraded as a wandering bard. I managed to keep the other identity a secret for about 12 months(50 odd sessions) when plot determined that we head to the Capitol and Kalum secret was ousted at the city gates by his older brother. Fun times, he also somehow got reincarnated female for a time, the GM said he'd give credit for someone pulling off a sarcastic "We'll, excuse me Princess." routine as he was a Zelda fan.

Then finally the GM's brother had a particularly 'awe inspiring' character, both how he played him and how he named him. He had a laterally thinking Human Fighter specializing in Polearms. He had everything set but the name, and the GM refused to let him play with the name he usually plays using. In picking it, he asked me to hand him my bag of chips, staring at it a second, he snagged a few and wrote down Ondulées, proceeding to play him like an immortal québécois murderhobo, until he was 'redeemed' by a Dwarven Smith monk that made him his Adamantine Fullplate.
After his redemption, our group ended up calling ourselves Ondulées and Associates.

Other lesser characters include
Tinkerer Niobe Gearmaiden of house Brassdprocket, a gnome rogue who took out a Mindflayer in a single round using Chakrams, Drow Poison and an angry Nigel.
Tyge Ulriksen of the Tenth-street Tailors, A human Urban invulnerable Rager, who became victim to a Mohrg attack while guiding the group into the city's catacombs.

[Mekkis]

Regarding names, I recently had a player ask if it was permissible to have a character with the same name as the player. I responded that it was permitted, but Not Recommended.

My reasons were:
- it blurs character-player separation, especially when the GM is trying to address one of them
- it breaks suspension of disbelief
- it displays lazyness on the player's part; and
- it may be impossible to register it on Paizo.

What are your thoughts on this issue?

[Saiman]

I mostly used the DnD name generator when race and class could match up to do so.

Human ninja: Davidenthas Fletcher (putting in letters to my real name DE G)

Human Sorceress: Lady Araella Arroway

Human Ranger: Belaros Gladomain

Gnome Sorcerer (illusionist)(not played yet): Norlamin Graveltoes

Human Cleric, Deity: Cayden Cailean: Janella Chorster

Human Fighter: Breaga Urthadar She was in the military, disguised as a male and people called her Bregs.

[Saiman]

Mekkis wrote:

Regarding names, I recently had a player ask if it was permissible to have a character with the same name as the player. I responded that it was permitted, but Not Recommended.

My reasons were:
- it blurs character-player separation, especially when the GM is trying to address one of them
- it breaks suspension of disbelief
- it displays lazyness on the player's part; and
- it may be impossible to register it on Paizo.

What are your thoughts on this issue?

I agree...

Reminds me of Chris Hardwick playing on Wil Wheaton's web show "TableTop" when they played an RPG game... Chris was a sorcerer/wizard and the character was named Fonzor (Fonzie from Happy Days)

[Tumskunde]

Mekkis wrote:

Regarding names, I recently had a player ask if it was permissible to have a character with the same name as the player. I responded that it was permitted, but Not Recommended.

My reasons were:
- it blurs character-player separation, especially when the GM is trying to address one of them
- it breaks suspension of disbelief
- it displays lazyness on the player's part; and
- it may be impossible to register it on Paizo.

What are your thoughts on this issue?

I think it should really depend on the situation too, I've managed to play with a few that used thier own name while still convincingly seperating player and PC.

One gent, Caius played a roman styled gentleman soldier by the name Caius Quintus, and all of us referred to his character by his surname more than not.

And I found out my friend Ozzy's actual name was Duncan Foster, but only after we'd been playing for 2 months.

But I also realize that it can be both confusing and disruptive. Not everyone can pull it off, and those that can't, shouldn't.

[Deussu]

melferburque wrote:

human dim-bulb fighter: farmer ted (aka rube)

Death Rally reference or just a coincidence?

[Choas009]

My list of PFS character names:

Genzan Frier = Half-elf Fighter (Two-weapon fighting); Genzan is usually one of the default fantasy names that I come up with while playing games. It comes from a short story I wrote as a kid. I also made Genzan's father in a home game and used my other default fantasy name for him: Kalell Frier.

Doudon = Dwarven Druid; So normally when I play RPGs I always make a beatstick/fighter character then follow it up with a healer/support character. The next default name I normally chose was Doudon which is a play off of Drizzt Do'Urden's last name. Not very original I know but I was like 12.

Vidinia Thorasent (AKA Vid the Wanderer) = Human Bard (Court Bard); This time I got creative and came up with the background for my character BEFORE I made the character unlike my first two guys. Her name I kind of just pulled out of thin air but I did want her to have another identity for espionage purposes.

Imedia Cronarant = Aasimar Inquisitor (Spellbreaker); This character was fun to build all around. I hadn't had a bow/ranged person yet and I wanted to make someone to play exclusively with my brother. Her name however was a play on the God she venerates, Iomedae. The first table I played with her a couple of the people got the reference.

Gru'Thal = Half-orc Barbarian Fighter (Drunken Brute/Two-handed fighter); This guy was a PFS legal version of Kalell Frier but also wanted to make him to be pretty orcish. I looked up some orcish names and came up with an amalgamation of a couple but the way I introduce him at tables is that I almost grunt the name at people. I think it sells the orc in him.

Tukka Lightfeather = Human Barbarian Oracle (War Oracle); This came after playing a lot of the Curse of the Crimson Thrown AP and falling in love with the Shoanti people. This is where I started making last names that are more like tittles or given monikers.

Elorin Shadowcloud = Half-elf Cavalier; Fighter plus horse was a no-brainer for me. I couldn't for the life of me come up with a name for this character so I did the same thing I did with Gru'Thal and took an amalgamation of elven names to come up with Elorin. Shadowcloud I came up with as some cutesy way to allude to his deity, Shelyn. Needless to say, no one picked up on this one.

Juerrak Ironblood = Dwarven Paladin; So I had been playing for a while now and hadn't checked out one of the classic martial classes and wanted to dip my toes in. I just always feel like Dwarves had the hard "K" sound in their names and threw some syllables together. Ironblood came from his background, he's a salt of the earth miner who venerates the creator Torag.

Burrak StoneRender = Dwarven Barbarian (Armored Hulk); This character was made exclusively for the Emerald Spire Superdungeon. I did a mix up of Gru'Thal and Juerrak to come up with this character. I wanted a mean combatant and got one.

Eshilla Vincarlo = Human Psychic; I went back to my time in Korvosa and picked up the other culture other than Shoanti, Varisian. I tried to come up with a name that had an Italian and/or Romanie flavor to it.

Kennard Multan = Dwarven Brawler; Trying to stray away from my usual formula for naming Dwarves so I looked up names for Druman merchants to fit with his backstory.

Genrith of Oakenstream = Hal-elf Slayer; During this period in my life I was on my second play through of The Witcher 3 and wanted to make a character as an homage to Geralt of Rivia. This character was originally a ranger in a 5th edition game of D&D that fell through so I remade him in PFS.

[Jayson MF Kip]

Man, missed this thread the first time around. Reasonable necro.

Here's my rule for naming: Do what makes you (the player) happy. Whether that's in-jokes, puns, historical references, anagrams, randomly pounding the keyboard, the notes in the melody of your favorite song, spilling a box of Scrabble onto the ground, getting deep into linguistics, getting names directly from the "suggested names" in the ISWG or Dragon Empires Primer, whatever.

I'm up to 30.

I've got references to real people whose names I liked:

Elf Barbarian: Borel (a mathematician) Bloodbraid
Tian Halfling Rogue: Sawa Hasegawa (Japanese baseball player)
Viskanya Sorcerer: Luon (skateboarder Luon Olivera)
Chelish Bard: Violetta (an opera singer) la Traviatta (an opera)

Jokes:

Frailleaf- -5 CON Elf
Chomm Skee- -a gnome, of course
Mangela- -cleric of Urgathoa
Jack Pott- -7/7/7 Mental Stats, winning at slot machines
Lehnæighyah Variyah- -did a run of Red Harvest with three Lini pregens. I was "Lini-A." Then I became an elf.

Names pulled from the ISWG/Dragon Empires Primer:

Myo Jae-Wha (from Hwanggot)
Jorven Sandergard (dwarf)

Names loosely referencing things:

Ellie Doubledown (a cardsharp/swindler)
Avan Chanzel (named after a dungeon in Skyrim)
Evora and Daytona (named after cars)
Fata Morgana (a type of mirage)

Names referencing other characters:

Saba (protege of Sawa, above)
Mister Dash (We have a local player who names characters "dash <number>". This was my attempt at counter-trolling.)

Gnome Females (who have short first names and long last names, as per the ISWG. Usually made by typing syllables until the name is too long to be taken seriously):

Gant Thicketsnicker
Diri Lizzenbettolze
Jag Koszonommonsk
Nivi Dinovadarana

"The Four Daves":

Human Dave
Dwarf Dave
Orc Dave
Smidgen Dave

Miscellany:

Jillia Tennille (I was on a big "start every name with a 'J' kick at the time (across more than just PFS)
Sees-Far-Ahead (Wanted a tribal-sounding name for a psychic)
Zero (named after a number, then shortened, then reduced to just the first digit)

[zefig]

Ooh, I've come up with plenty more terrible names since the last time this came around. Wow, there's been a lot of references in these.

Gunnar Osbjörnsson - Dirge Bard, lead singer of DYRE WÜLF, Absalom's hardest adamantine metal band. Who's son?

Yoshimi, a magus from Starfall who battles robots. Particularly pink ones.

Battle Brother Tycho, a heavily armored raging meta-human (aasimar) who seeks information on his progenitor Aroden, the God-Emperor of Mankind, who is not dead but surely lost and sitting upon his Golden Throne.

Zenon Morgannan, a crazy jadwiga telekinetic. That's almost normallish.
Along with Bria Starhammer, oread warpriest of the Black Butterfly.

Delaney, my first core character, was a long stretch of logic from my time living on the east side of Washington. Through a series of in-game events, she became Delaney Jawesome.

Falcor Hogwart, half-orc sorcerer, who's considering going into education.

Dreggory "Dreg" Alesbane, dwarven rager of Cayden Cailean.

H'k, ratfolk arcanist.

And Lord Haywood of House Blakros, love/lust specialist wizard. The less said about that one, the better.

[DebugAMP]

I shall commit an evil act and contribute to the art of thread necromancy.

I have a tendency to pick a real life or fiction name that exists and dredge up greek/latin/fake greek/fake latin/any other language roots of the name, then proceed to mash them up until the name no longer resembles the original. Often this begins with an inspiration or just a bad joke and goes from there. Usually I try to use languages that reflect the origin of the character.

Searlas Savy - Searlas, pronounces shar-lass, is an irish form of the name Charles. Savy is apparently, through a few hops, akin to the name Xavier. When all is said and done, including a few deliberate mispronunciations, I've named my psychic after the first pop culture psychic that came to mind, but when I introduce myself nobody is the wiser.

Steffen Kastastein - Named after a real life friend, by carving up his name, dredging up a few equivalents and gluing them back together. I decided I wanted to make a tank character, and he ALWAYS plays tanks, so the first thing that came to mind was his name.

Malum Rognvald - See if you can figure that one out.

One character that does not share this naming scheme...
Sarsczek - He's a bit feral, so I decided his name should be an animalistic sound. His backstory is that the name was originally impossible to write, being a hiss, a growl, tongue click, and a sharp inhale ending with another clicking of his tongue. Like Sss-rrr-k-shhk. As he integrated with people more he wrote it as Sarsczek, pronounced as Sarz-chek, with the 'e' as short as possible. Most people just say sar-zek, he answers to that too.

[Dave Setty]

Peenkee wrote:

Does a rose by any other name not smell as sweet?

In a recent session we used speak with plants to question several rose bushes and discovered that "Florinda", "Horatio", and "Steve" had very similar fragrance profiles overall.

[Jay's Wing]

My best names include: Seoni V2.0 the Sorcerer, Danny the Hunter, Dean the Cleric, Bob the Monk, Joe the Rogue, Steve the Wizard, and Toby the other Wizard.

[Grrr De'Bonaire]

Grr.

He is a fox.

[Athos710]

DebugAMP wrote:

Malum Rognvald - See if you can figure that one out.

All I see is Molly Ringwald

My own personal shame turned into one of my favorite PCs to play. I was going to a convention the next day, and had decided to try out Core campaign and build towards Dragon Disciple. As I was starting out my level 1 Barbarian, I got stumped on his name, only to think back to the movie playing in the bar the night before: Ghostbusters.
And so was born my Dragon Disciple, Zhuul.

[Derek Dalton]

Our group has never placed a huge emphasis on names but we have come up with interesting names. Other times our names are like Bob, Tom and Jane. Something I have noticed is in most cases the player with the simplest names are the most boring characters. I'm talking when RP comes around there response is sit in a corner saying and doing nothing.
I've used and varied racial names with some success. Other times something that sounds cool. Some names stick with you. Had a player who named his character Shiv. A double bladed sword nightmare.

[Thacomin Maximus]

My name is perfect in every way.

[Kahel Stormbender]

I usually apply the standard naming conventions from the middle/dark ages when naming my characters. If playing an elf, I try for something that sounds elvish for a first name. If playing a dwarf I go with something which sounds plausable for dwarf. But in general last names use real world conventions. Namely that last names in Europe tended to be based on profession (Cooper, Cobbler, Smith), parents (Smithson, literally son of the smith), or description of where they live. Colin Overdale for example is called such because he lives (or lived) Over the Dale. This differentiated him from the other Colins who lived in his village.

My PFS spiritualist is Marak Cobbler because that's his profession, he makes boots.

That said, I do occasionally do punnish names such as Flo Ry'Vir, a hydrokineticist. Or a pyrokineticist named Flyre Blazefist. Or a Ghost Rider cavalier I made using occult adventures named... You guessed it... John Lee Glaze.

[J. Wilfong]

Kahel Stormbender wrote:

That said, I do occasionally do punnish names such as Flo Ry'Vir, a hydrokineticist. Or a pyrokineticist named Flyre Blazefist. Or a Ghost Rider cavalier I made using occult adventures named... You guessed it... John Lee Glaze.

Is that anything like a monk named Bruce Leeroy?

[Belabras]

J. Wilfong wrote:

Kahel Stormbender wrote:

That said, I do occasionally do punnish names such as Flo Ry'Vir, a hydrokineticist. Or a pyrokineticist named Flyre Blazefist. Or a Ghost Rider cavalier I made using occult adventures named... You guessed it... John Lee Glaze.

Is that anything like a monk named Bruce Leeroy?

He is no match for the Shogun of Harlem.

[Tamec]

J. Wilfong wrote:

Kahel Stormbender wrote:

That said, I do occasionally do punnish names such as Flo Ry'Vir, a hydrokineticist. Or a pyrokineticist named Flyre Blazefist. Or a Ghost Rider cavalier I made using occult adventures named... You guessed it... John Lee Glaze.

Is that anything like a monk named Bruce Leeroy?

I'm fine as long as it isn't Bruce Leeroy Jenkins...

[Keirine, Human Rogue]

Belabras wrote:

J. Wilfong wrote:

Kahel Stormbender wrote:

That said, I do occasionally do punnish names such as Flo Ry'Vir, a hydrokineticist. Or a pyrokineticist named Flyre Blazefist. Or a Ghost Rider cavalier I made using occult adventures named... You guessed it... John Lee Glaze.

Is that anything like a monk named Bruce Leeroy?

He is no match for the Shogun of Harlem.

SHONUFF!

Off the top of my head, only one of my characters have a punny name. My Bloodrager is named Hemo. Aside from him, most of my other characters are me just crashing phonemes around until I find something I like. A few are named after comic characters I like, or characters I played in other systems, but most are just me crunching sounds into arrangements that I like.

[Bruce Leeroy Jenkins]

Tamec wrote:

J. Wilfong wrote:

Kahel Stormbender wrote:

That said, I do occasionally do punnish names such as Flo Ry'Vir, a hydrokineticist. Or a pyrokineticist named Flyre Blazefist. Or a Ghost Rider cavalier I made using occult adventures named... You guessed it... John Lee Glaze.

Is that anything like a monk named Bruce Leeroy?

I'm fine as long as it isn't Bruce Leeroy Jenkins...

And I have a new alias.

[Tamec]

Bruce Leeroy Jenkins wrote:

Tamec wrote:

J. Wilfong wrote:

Kahel Stormbender wrote:

That said, I do occasionally do punnish names such as Flo Ry'Vir, a hydrokineticist. Or a pyrokineticist named Flyre Blazefist. Or a Ghost Rider cavalier I made using occult adventures named... You guessed it... John Lee Glaze.

Is that anything like a monk named Bruce Leeroy?

I'm fine as long as it isn't Bruce Leeroy Jenkins...

And I have a new alias.

Oh God, we're all gonna die. *curls into fetal position*

[J. Wilfong]

Bruce Leeroy Jenkins wrote:

Tamec wrote:

J. Wilfong wrote:

Kahel Stormbender wrote:

That said, I do occasionally do punnish names such as Flo Ry'Vir, a hydrokineticist. Or a pyrokineticist named Flyre Blazefist. Or a Ghost Rider cavalier I made using occult adventures named... You guessed it... John Lee Glaze.

Is that anything like a monk named Bruce Leeroy?

I'm fine as long as it isn't Bruce Leeroy Jenkins...

And I have a new alias.

Your eyes - they've got the glow!

[The Man Behind the Curtain]

Athos710 wrote:

DebugAMP wrote:

Malum Rognvald - See if you can figure that one out.

All I see is Molly Ringwald

My own personal shame turned into one of my favorite PCs to play. I was going to a convention the next day, and had decided to try out Core campaign and build towards Dragon Disciple. As I was starting out my level 1 Barbarian, I got stumped on his name, only to think back to the movie playing in the bar the night before: Ghostbusters.
And so was born my Dragon Disciple, Zhuul.

Rognvald is an old norse name whose english equivalent would be Reynold or Reynolds. Mal(colm) Reynolds.

[Bruce Leeroy Jenkins]

It could actually work just a human named Bruce Jenkins. No need to break out the Leeroy until its too late to stop the pain train.

Would Bruce Leeroy Jethro Gibbs work better?

[Wei Ji the Learner]

Bruce Leeroy Jenkins wrote:

It could actually work just a human named Bruce Jenkins. No need to break out the Leeroy until its too late to stop the pain train.

Would Bruce Leeroy Jethro Gibbs work better?

Bruce Leeroy Jethro Tull?

[Kahel Stormbender]

Haven't had a chance to play John Lee Glaze yet. Kinda feel ashamed of the name, but it was almost a case of me having to do that name if I'm making a ghost rider. I mean, really. I had to.