How do YOU choose a name for your character?

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I find that to be the hardest part for me. I try looking around the room and seeing if anything jumps out as a cool name but that doesn't work.
I'm talking about for a video game, like BG, not PnP. Although I guess in a way they are pretty similar.

 

Why would a video game be any different to PnP when it comes to choosing a name for your character?

Honestly, I'm not that great at coming up with names for characters. But then, my job is infinitely more complicated since I'm a GM and I have to come up with hundreds of them.

One thing that helps me significantly is the random name generator at http://www.behindthename.com/random/. Find some names you like, change a few letters or syllables, and you're done.

 

I like http://donjon.bin.sh/fantasy/name/ myself. it's a name generator specifically for fantasy settings, for when you want names that fit with your elf/orc/halfling/drow/draconic whatever race.

 

Mostly, I do what Tal does. But does name generators don't look too bad either, to use as a base as Keneth does.

 

I also do what Tal does. Like if it's a picture of someone swinging dual daggers I'll probably think of a name with "shhrr" (swinging of a blade sound) plus extra syllables.

 

You can find lists of names from mediaeval city books and other sources online. Those are usually good enough for human characters and in some cases for elves and dwarves. For elves and dwarves there are a lot of name translators online. Whatever the merit of such 'name translation', the result should sound vaguely okay for the race anyway.

 

Wow. Am I the only one who routinely uses his own name

 

I do have a "go-to" name that i frequently use, which is an anagram of my real name. I usually use it for my first character i take for a play through of the games i play.
That said, after I've completed a game, i like to make more role-playing focused characters, and i give them names to go along with their themes.

 

I typically use my family member names and try to make portraits that look like us.

 

Oh the choices we make in RPG's.

Probably mentioned it before, I mostly use Merlanni. When I saw the portrait I use in my avatar it shocked me. A spitting image of the character that I had made in games and used to write stories about. I formed it in my head after a while and saw the picture in NWN.

Now a days I just tap some random keys and add vowels.

 

Still don't recall where I came up with mine when I was a kid but it sure stuck!

 

I tend to go with names that fit the cultural sounds. With fantasy it's easier but real world I'll look into typical names and naming traditions.

 

I use several methods to get names.
Sometimes when it´s only 1 PC I use my own name.
For a party I often use names that give away the characters function, e.g. when playing Pool of Radiance my Ranger was Robin Wood, or resemble examples from myths like my Mage Merlyn.
Playing "Realms of Arkania"/Das Schwarze Auge in german my Druid´s name was Taraxacum
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taraxacum
and my Dwarf´s name was Anthrax (that was when the news were all over with letters containing spores of anthrax and my dwarf had a very poisonous temper).

 

Unless I have a clear idea or an incredible illumination, the name creation gets so much time!
Sometime I mix names. I rarely go for famous characters names (for example I called Garona my Diablo 3 F Barbarian!).

 

I've spent too much time thinking about what to name characters. I take their appearance, personality, and role in the story into account when I choose them. That's why I prefer games where the names are unalterable, so the responsibility of naming characters is out of my hands lol

 

In the past I used to pick names that would math the race of the character and let my "Tolkien-lore" do the rest.

Last years, I usually play females because I think it's more fun to play a female character, probably because I already play a male character most time in my life... ;-) When the Dutch Woman Soccer team became European Champions, I decided to name my characters after them and some of their names do well in an RPG-world. I had characters named Shanice, Vivianne, Sherida, Lieke and Sari and there are lots of them left :-)

 

Hello ! I'm Dreamweaver ! Someone special thought it would be perfect for me.

 

i always just write the first thing that gets in my mind