How do you come up with names for your PCs? Do you rattle around syllables in your head until something feels right? Do you use modern day names? Name generators?
Back in the day I did the first one, just tossed around sounds in my head until I found what I liked, though my first character was named Schwartz the Lawless (because I was really into the band WASP and was taking a German class at the time. Schwartz is from the German word for "black". So he was my version of Blackie Lawless).
Nowadays I use the 20000-names.com, pantheon.org, and the "Gary Gygax's Extraordinary Book of Names" from Troll Lord Publishing, using mostly Eastern European and Hindu sounding names (sometimes changing a bit here and there or combining them). I also use a lot of ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian names. It's just gotten to be a chore coming up with neat names anymore. So I have go to sources.
What about the rest of you guys?
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For my character's as a player, I look for inspiration from their backstory. If they're noble, I aim for a more high class name. If they're poor, often one name and their profession (or family profession).
As a GM, I always give my BBEGs a name that is linked to something thematic and thus memorable.
I still "make up" names for some characters when I can't find one suitable. I have a Hobgoblin Inquisitor who's a recurring NPC in my game simply named "Lask".
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The Baby Name Bible, it's not just for naming babies.
Often for me, a name will inspire a character. I'll just have one pop into my head, and I'll get a feel of them, and inspired to write their story &/or create them in an appropriate video game - usually an Elder Scrolls game or Fallout.
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Usually fantasy name generators, though if my character is a human of a particular ethnicity I'll start looking through names that might be found in it's real-world equivalent or close to it; Arabic names for Qadiran characters, Roman names for Cheliaxians, etc.
I too have used "Gary Gygax's Extraordinary Book of Names", and the Judges Guild Treasury of Archaic Names. I have also used several online name generators that I cannot recall just now. Stupid brain fart.
The two that come to mind are Yafnag "Yet Another Fantasy NAme Generator", a random fantasy name generator, and Seventh Sanctum. Just Google Fantasy Name Generators and you will get a lot of links.
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I usually just draw from my imagination and names I've read/heard/liked, or if I'm pressed for time I'll get out my name dictionary.
For me, thinking up a name is part of the background of the character, so it's usually an early step.
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I really hate using real-world English names (and to a certain extent Spanish, French, or Italian names as well) in fantasy games. If I'm playing in a published setting, I'll frequently look at the example names in the core rulebook, and make up a name that has the same "flavor".
Sometimes I also borrow a name from a book or television program or movie that I've read/seen recently, as long as it seems thematically appropriate to the setting.
I also keep in mind my fellow players when choosing a character name. I have to be careful that I don't choose a name they can easily make puns with or turn into an embarrassing nickname, or one that they'll have trouble pronouncing.
No matter what I name my NPCs, my players either forget them nearly immediately and call them something similar or just make up something else for them.
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I'm a fan of coming up with names that vaguely suit their personalities. So my high class swashbuckler is "Isaakios Makedon", while my gutter fighter is simply named "Krusky."
I've been dying to create a character named "Jingling Jim," because I just like that name.
My favorite characyer, Maughtai, is named after a fisherman from Deadliest Catch.
No matter what I name my NPCs, my players either forget them nearly immediately and call them something similar or just make up something else for them.Maybe the NPCs should be insulted by that and refuse to talk to the PCs anymore. ;)
It's happened a few times... LOL
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When I want to use a particular ethnicity, I use Behind the Name (at least to get an idea of what sounds to use). Generally, I rattle around syllables off of a base. Like, I might start with the first word I think of, "rattle", and then tinker with it til I end up with "Rastes". Sometimes, I just go with a word with a good "name" sound (names I've written in the past include Teasel, Ebb and Stickers).
. Generally, I rattle around syllables off of a base. Like, I might start with the first word I think of, "rattle", and then tinker with it til I end up with "Rastes".
I absolutely don't do this and I also don't use vehicle registration numbers to provide a base.
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I used to just keymash and then add in vowels. It's how I got "Skiddifig" the halfling.
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I use Behind the Name about 1/4 of the time, picking names that fit the ethnicity of the character (disregarding race, though I generally picture the various races as certain real world nations. Dwarves being German and rock puns for names and so on).
Another 1/4 I put what my character IS through Google Translate until I find a name that sounds good, but is utterly descriptive. An Indian (he was Vudrani) bastardization of the words "Fire" and "Spirit" for a Pyrokineticist I tried, for example.
The last half I just pull something out of my ass that sounds nice.
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http://www.seventhsanctum.com/index-name.php
http://www.seventhsanctum.com/index-name.php
Yoinked and bookmarked!
Oh, I also learn on Rinkworks when I'm feeling really lazy. Sometimes I think my friends and I get more joke names than real ones out of there, though. Like "Mug" Eggreek, goblin brawler, eaten by a scary dog and ascended to become God of Cute Things Most People Think Are Horrifying.
Linked and yoinked
Sometimes I use a generator, sometimes I use the "three syllable" method. You just say three random syllables over and over again until you come up with something that's not too ridiculous.
Ackss - Irf
Athsh - Eessy
Orr - Therg
Driegh - Etck
Ackck - Mossh
Rhiagh - Swel
Smiek - Choow
What the hell
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No matter what I name my NPCs, my players either forget them nearly immediately and call them something similar or just make up something else for them.
This has happened to me a lot too. The one that still sticks out to me is a sergeant, warrior type character I created named Brazen. The players called him Raisin instead, and I couldn't get them to stop making that association.
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"Ackss! Ackck! Etck! RhiAGH!"
It is a swel day as Therg the cat is coughing up another hairball. Her owner, Athsh, is having an eessy time as he gets ready for work at the railroad.
Choo! Choow!
He looks up, hearing the sound of a train beginning to leave the station. "Oh, smiek!" he curses, taking off running.
It looks like it's going to be a normal day for Athsh—orr is it? Up on the hill overlooking the town, Driegh the orc prepares to send mossh of his forces down to overwhelm the settlement with sheer numbers—what is called a "therg rush". 'Oh, smiek' indeed.
Not even sorry.
For Tammy's first name I just combined tangerine and tambourine together.
Another BehindTheNamer here.
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Last character I was stumped for a name. I rolled a d30 for the first letter, got 22, so wrote down V. Rolled a d6 and got 2 so I went with E. Rolled a d30 and got 24 and wrote X. Rolled a d30 and D6 and got a 20 and a 3, so I decided the d30 would be next for T, then used the d6 for I. I chose to end it with S, for Vextis.
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I often find a theme for the character, find an appropriate language, and find a word that fits the theme.
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I tend to find words that associate with the character and translate them into another language. I often use google translate or words from LOTR languages black speech or their versions of elven and dwarvish. Most recently i made Isolde Akul-Gnyja. The first name is from a Wagner play i found while researching shield madiens, the last name roughly translates from Black Speech (orc/urukai language from LOTR) as Icy Rage. works because she is a bloodrager suli based on ice spells and shield bashing.
I usually just pull them out of thin air, or think of a word and try to find a language where it fits the character and sounds good. The vast majority of the names in my setting were just made up by typing up random letters, combining various names from fantasy books I have read (taking, for example, Gandalf and Frodo and combining them into something like Gando). I have also kinda used name generators in the past, though my experience with them has been they are absolutely worthless, so I tend to skip them.
If I come up with a last name for them, it's typically something like Rockhammer, Blacksand, or other such. Unless it's from a non-English-ish place, then I will translate something like that into a different language and use that.
My favorite one I like to use is Freelang, where you download a program, and then find various word lists to download and install into the program. It is a very nice thing, and has helped me greatly. It's where I came up with the names of my humanoid animal races.
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I've been dying to create a character named "Jingling Jim," because I just like that name.
Excellent, I love Jingling Jim! I'm so using that for a super villain name in my current Mutants and masterminds game I'm GMing.
Back in the day, especially for Elf characters I would make up lengthy multisyllibal names.
That grew tedious and now I'm a fan of one and two syllable names. Sometimes even going by a nick name rather than an actual name. I liberally steal names from books like the black company novels and the Malazan empire books.
Since I mainly GM now and none of my players have read the above books, it's all good. For example, my npcs have names like Quick, Cutter, Skeeze, "The Bull", etc.. I find my players remember those names ;)
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Depends on the character.
Race/Culture is the single biggest factor in selecting a name. So where did she come from? I mean a Drow Inquisitor would NOT be named Marcie ever. BUT I can come up with cool character ideas when naming them. Take a Drow Inquisitor for example. She would have a Drow name. The internet can often give great naming or language information about a lot of fantasy races. So I open up the Drow language site and look over the words. Mercy stands out as an interesting concept for a Drow. Mercy is Ka'Lith in Drow. But who is she merciful toward? I picture her as divinely guided so the chosen of her goddess perhaps. I shorten that to Mercy to the Chosen and get "Ka'Lith ulu l'Detholusin". Now I have a proper name for my character in her own language with real meaning and impact. Something that is more than a simple label and something I can start building background off from.
Usually I start off by closing my eyes and pressing some random keys on my keyboard. From there I drop those letters into random name generators and keep generating names until something "sounds right".
I always make sure that any name I choose can be shortened, as inevitably other players will drop syllables until it's only one or two.
random name generators
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Another of the "kicking-syllables-around-in-my-head" crowd. I'll usually refer to the lists they give for suggested races, then pick a letter or syllable I want included and just start tossing it around for something stylistically similar. When left completely uninfluenced, I tend toward four syllable names with lots of "A"s, "L"s, and "K"s, but often I'll consciously choose a letter I don't commonly start names with in order to create more variety.
I've also been known to poach/modify names from the language a particular setting/area is based on, if I'm really strapped for ideas.
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The last two I remember naming? Well, one was taken from the culture, but she was from Santa Barbara, so there.
Samantha, my PF human barbarian, was named from me not finding the 'common names' section, blanking on what to name a character, and going with something. I also didn't know much of Golarion (mean: anything at all) until we were a little ways in. (Her last name I did take from one of the PF sourcebooks, the one on Cheliax.)
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First, I figure out the character's background, personality, race/ethnicity, and culture where the character was from.
Then, I start thinking about names. I play human characters about 90% of the time, so I usually look to real-world cultures for inspiration. If the campaign world has some kind of naming guidelines (e.g. Inner Sea World Guide) I'll look to that for inspiration.
Examples...
I played a character who was a minor nobleman whose father had squandered the treasury. I figured that a barony would be the right size for such a region. I then decided that his family would have a name that could sound either heroic or menacing and came up with "Stryker." The culture was Germainc, and I wanted him to have a first name that was not from the real world, but had an edge to it. Thus: "Baron Drax von Stryker."
I'm playing a wizard who, by day, is a practicing physician, and by night is a hunter of the undead. I based the character on Dr. Abraham van Helsing from Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula. Hence, "Dr. Stefan von Herzog."
In my Dungeon World group, I'm playing a bard whose family ran out of money, causing her to have to drop out of music school, so she started writing songs praising the exploits of the criminal underworld. The concept was inspired by the real-world Mexican narco-baladeers. The game is set in Parsantium: City at the Crossroads, which is inspired by Byzantium. She plays the oud. I figured a Turkish-sounding name would best, so I went with "Zeharra."
In a Skull and Shackles game, my concept was a gnome sorceress who is spiritually connected to the sea. She's a sorcerer with the elemental (water) bloodline. I went with the typical gnomish naming conventions of havning a one-syllable first name, and a long surname evocative of her calling (water). Hence, "Del Burblesquall"