Guild Wars 2

As some players likes to name the characters they make “correctly” and not just give them random funny or weird names, I just wanted to give a little info on how the Charr receives their names. Remember, this is just how I interpret what I have seen, so do correct the mistakes I have made.

It would seem that a Charr gets his or her surname not at birth, but during their military training. The name is based on two things, the name of the warband they are part of and the skills, actions or personality of the individual.

The two names are then mixed to help create a natural loyalty and a sense of family between the members of the warband.

Take Pyre Fierceshot. He was an archer, so it’s only natural that he would have received this name after he had proven his skill with a bow. Other members of his warband was Fierceheart, Fiercetongue and Fiercereign.

We also see a lot of cubs have similar names, like the group of cubs you protect from ghosts. They all had the name “Crush” in some way, like one called Crushheart (can’t remember the other names at this time, but they all started with Crush).

But we also see individual Charrs that seems to have unique names, like the soldier Bladeshatterer outside Ebonhawke from the first Guild Wars 2 novel “Ghosts of Ascalon” who was an expert in making the opponent’s blade shatter. I am not sure if this was given much later and how it would reflect on his old warband.

So there you go roleplayers, just some minor ideas for you to make it even harder to figure out a good name for your next character.

yeah I noticed this as well. quite a while ago. so reserved my charr name on my free GW1 character slot. I didn’t see any patern for the first names so I just took something that I thought seemed charry. and then during the betas I find an ingame charr NPC with the same first name as me.
I was like kittenyeah!

A friend and I have done this, our surnames are “Thornpaw” and “Thornclaw” for giving our characters a link to each other as we tend to play a lot together.

ReginaBuenaobra.6953:

Another option for naming your charr is to add something that they’re good at or a characteristic they’re known for. For example:

• Sicaea the Shrouded
• Rhendak the Crazed
• Kaladrian the Greedy

Along these lines: the last time I tried to create a character with a “the” in it, the “the” was automatically capitalized. Would it be possible to allow non-capitalized middle-words (mostly “of” or “the”) in character names? “Rhendak The Crazed” just seems like it’s overdoing it.

My guild has a ‘warband’ of charr, some play them as mains some as alts and we’ve all adopted ‘Feral’ as a common name. So for example my Charr is Titian Feralspur. It makes for a unique little tie to each other when we see other out and about in the world. We also do some roleplay where we get together as a warband and stomp some DEs or something.

That is cool indeed, hence why I gave my Charr surname: Metalhide

I knew that I wanted to play a guardian, but I also wanted to play a Charr. I read somewhere that playing a Charr guardian was “against character”, but I did it anyway. Of course, that needed a fitting name (and I also liked the name “Crush”, but I used Krush). So I ended up with:

Krush Bonemender

I liked how it sounded for a soldier Charr “healer”.

My Charr warrior is “Boss Lionheart.” “Boss” is just a title that I like to use for my mains but “Lionheart” was more of a descriptor.

So, part of the Surname of a Charr is based on their Warband? In that case, could someone tell me what the name of the Warband is your Charr serves in, so I can keep “in character” a bit more?

My engineer is Argateth Solflint, so it’s the Sol Warband – “flint” being the specialty of his guns.

I look to the experts for my manly Charr names…

My charr is named Art Frostspark… he is an ele who likes water/ice/snow magic.

i went with a fat charr warrior called him Bahamut Othman because one Bahamut ! and 2 the last names i wanted to go for were already taken

I went with Roxan Shadowblade. A Thief in the Ash Legion.

I named my 2 charr Tyndir Twinfang and Fenrir Frostmane

Sivarson Greyfur.
I loved the Kilrathi’s war Goddess Sivar in Wing Commander so I had to honor that race with the Charr. Greyfur because I have a fluffy cat at home with grey and white fur. The character creator allowed me to make a cat close to what he looks like too.

Robert Andrews.7168:

So, part of the Surname of a Charr is based on their Warband? In that case, could someone tell me what the name of the Warband is your Charr serves in, so I can keep “in character” a bit more?

occasionally. There are some charr who seem to have surnames that dont reflect a warband at all. This may be because they’re no longer a part of one, or because we never see the others. Some notable warband examples have already been listed (Pyre’s warband all had “fierce” as a surname.) You also have things like bonfaz Burntfur and hierophant burntsoul. Whether these names indicate they were in the same warband, or if perhaps it’s simply a flame legion honorific for high ranking shamans is unknown. (Though, with the addition of Baelfire and his lack of the “burnt” it’s possible that it was the warband rather than simply an honorific, or Baelfire would probably have it too)

I think charr naming isn’t really understood all that well. And being a bit of a charr lore buff, I’ll do my best to clear things up. The problem is is that you have classical charr naming, then you have modern charr naming, sometimes various cultures within the charr mix those up a bit, and then you have the inclusion of titles.

Oh my, it’s like an actual culture. Imagine that. ArenaNet have really achieved something here. Okay, but let me roll back and try to explain how the basic concepts work.

The Basics

The charr are born into a name. This is a name awarded to them by their parents. Once they become part of the fahrar (anywhere between ages one and six/seven), they start working towards a claimed name, and the fahrar ends up with a warband name upon graduation.

Understanding Claimed Names

A claimed name is basically earned from ‘any feat of renown’ within the fahrar. This can be combat, but it can be any number of things. With modern charr thinking, it can even be purely related to one’s talents as an artisan. You can claim a name for an invention, a clever battle plan, for being sneaky, for art, or even for creating a more efficient way of handling agriculture.

Under modern thinking, every charr in a fahrar is allowed to discover and nurture their core talents, with fahrars even being given days off in order to actually pursue these, to try to understand them better. The charr as they are now are a very different beast to the charr under Flame Legion rule.

Originally, claimed names were aimed more towards combat prowess, and for some parts of the Blood Legion this may still be true. But modern conventions allow for so much more.

As an example: A sneaky Ash Legion spy might claim the name shadow in her fahrar for being able to move around unseen.

The Classic Naming Method

Originally, the name a charr was born into tended to be a guttural thing – examples of this wound be Bonwor, Kalla, or Bonfaaz. Other than that, the parents might have named their child after something they liked, in the example of Pyre.

For an old name, you really just need to come up with something guttural. Like Garn or Forzan. That sort of thing. Think orks.

Now, originally the system was that a charr’s claimed name would come after the warband name. For example, Pyre Fierceshot. In this case, the warband is Fierce, and the claimed name is Shot. Shot was taken as Pyre was an archer, and one who prided himself on rarely ever missing. So an elementalist might be burn, burnt, or similar. That sort of thing, you get the idea.

So a classical name is, indeed, something like Pyre Fierceshot.

The Modern Naming Method

This is similar to the classical one, except there are a few changes. Of late, the charr have been acquiring themselves a real culture. As such, their names have begun sounding more refined. Examples like Sicaea and Bhuer come to mind. Often, these are influenced by old Roman names.

For this, you could take examples from Latin and Rome. I’ve used names like Xanthe, Ursula, and Lexus for charr played by friends and I.

Now this next part is interesting. Largely, the system has stayed the same for the last name, but it’s been switched around. Modern charr naming conventions have the claimed name before the warband name.

So a last name might be something like Embermane. This would have the claimed name of Ember (perhaps an engineer or elementalist), and the warband name of Mane. Another example is Bhuer Goreblade himself, with the claimed name being Gore, and the warband name being Blade.

Thus a modern name is something like Bhuer Goreblade.

Titles

Some charr claim titles, this has always been the case. This has been a thing for the charr since time immemorial. If a charr manages to claim a title, it’s due to some amazing feat or other, or being exemplary at a particular thing. And this title is often used instead of the warband name (assuming that the charr even has a warband, still).

The only difference really is that the inclusion of the definite article has become commonplace in modern titles, whereas classical titles tend to exempt that.

Examples of this would be: Smodur the Unflinching, Sicaea the Shrouded, Rytlock Brimstone, and Bonfaaz Burntfur.

In Conclusion

You can build a good name for yourself based upon the knowledge above. You can opt for classical or modern parts of either, to be honest, as the writers have chosen to do so. Some charr simply might prefer to keep the warband name last, but hold onto more guttural names, or vice versa.

Some charr might have a title, and that title may or may not include the definite article. If you want to roleplay, going in understanding all this may be helpful.

Ultimately, that’s about all you need to know.

DrSlek.4675:

I look to the experts for my manly Charr names…

Thick McRunfast. My Charr name has been decided.

Oddly enough, though, a lot of those names actually fit the Charr naming conventions.

Like Hack Blowfist.

Awww mine is just Raengarr =(.

Will there be any name change options in the future?

That was a very good explanation AuldWolf!
I wasn’t entirely sure how the naming actually worked but it seemed like I did a decent job in retrospect. Rawn (guttural) and using the modern naming method were my given name is “Flare” (engineer) and “Spirit” for the warband (meaning well, both the alcohol or the driving force to excel).

If I had known about the roman names I would probably have named him differently, but oh well.

Ingame canon information:

If you’re part of the priory you can read a book titled “the might warband” in it there’s a few lines that give a bit of insight into naming.

One of the charr has a line that basically goes like this “We’ve won our first battle, now we can take our names. I choose mightarm” (or something like that)

The first big note here is that he mentions winning their first battle. This indicates that all surnamed charr are part of a warband that has won at least one battle.

Then another charr mentions that he should get to be mightarm because he’s stronger.

This means that surnames are often based around the warband itself (in this case might warband) and then a characteristic that the charr wanted.

I named my charr guardian Maura Braveclaw…it really seems to fit her, haha.

ReginaBuenaobra.6953:

Another option for naming your charr is to add something that they’re good at or a characteristic they’re known for. For example:

• Sicaea the Shrouded
• Rhendak the Crazed
• Kaladrian the Greedy

Well that’s pretty standard for all fantasy names, but I personally feel like such “titular” names are better fitting for Sylvari, just as say… naming your Asura with “Progenitor” or some other sort of honorific in front of it, really only fits well for the Asura.

There’s good exceptions to this. Such as Smodur the Unflinching. That has a real “charr” feel to it. “Sicaea the Shrouded” however, makes me think of a sylvari.

Auldwolf had a really good post, btw.

i made 2 charr characters
engineer : Brinok Grimshot
warrior : Skaar Razortooth

I found a name generator that’s really good for making Charr last names. It was actually designed for WoW pet names, but it follows the rules for Charr last names very well. http://www.wowpetnames.com/

As a roleplaying character, I brought over my WoW character – translated from a Tauren – into the Charr culture. I kept the name, “Huatar Earthspear.”

Wow this is really interesting. I think I was able to make my engineers name comply with the rules stated without actually having read this forums during character creation.

My engineer’s name is Leonux Steelpride. I guess the first name is kinda modern and the last name is based on my warband “Pride” with “steel” indicating that I have something to do with metal. This is really great!

I actually named my Charr character Khan Grimweave. He was originally Kano Darktower, but Kano didn’t sound guttural enough and ‘Dark Warband’ sounded kind of weird. So I went with ‘Weave Warband,’ which I consider an Ash Legion Warband that specializes in operations planning and intelligence gathering, ‘weaving’ webs and the like. My Charr is also a tiger Charr, so Khan seemed like an appropriate name.

Unfortunately, then I discovered that the leader that’s in control of all of the warbands is call the ‘Khan-Ur.’ So, I accidentally named my character the equivalent of ‘King’ or ‘Prince’ or maybe ‘General/Admiral.’

Which works, I guess. I’m going to make a point of having him get picked on in his youth because of it.

@Zenyatoo.4059

That’s information on its own isn’t entirely true. In fact, to a degree, that’s actually misleading.

The fahrar covers many topics, even farming. It’s become common for the fahrar to let teh cub discover and choose what they’re good at. This is mentioned by charr and cubs in the Black Citadel. Essentially, the claimed name (as I mentioned in my post above), is claimed upon ‘a notable achievement’ within the fahrar within their field of interest.

Now, this can be combat, but it can also be planning, engineering, or anything else that would be useful to the charr. This is what I referred to as ‘claimed names’ in my prior post. I didn’t link it directly to combat because the charr no longer solely derive names from combat.

For example: An Ash Legion fahrar cub might earn a name based upon their ability to move silently. So their claimed name might be ‘shadow.’ If they were part of the ‘Curse’ warband, in a modern culture naming scenario, she’d be named Shadowcurse (as her last name).

You have to consider that there are three legions, and the perspective you saw was Blood Legion only. You need to take into account that there are other perspectives to be understood. And each of those perspectives could inject different ideas as to what a claimed name could be derived from.

As for the rest of you, you seem to have the idea!! It’s not that hard to understand, it’s just that the concepts are more fleshed out than in most MMORPG lore. This actually fascinates me, and it pleases me that there’s so much depth to the naming.

My charr Warrior is Garm Rageclaw, of the Blood Legion. Thought it was fitting

Sounds like a classical name, the charr you’ve been hanging out with are real traditionalists! And hey, it works for the character. I like it!

And don’t forget Bloodcovered Backstabbin’ Blackjack the Blade!
:D

Now I have a Charr Engineer named Melophites Dethklok. I am pleased.

I just made a Charr engineer & used an Ork name from 40k. If I would of saw this first it would of made the name selection more authentic.

My two main characters (I play them roughly equally) are Brax Redreaver (blood legion warrior) and Bathos the Bow (Ash legion ranger).

Rolo.9248:

And don’t forget Bloodcovered Backstabbin’ Blackjack the Blade!
:D

I LOVED that story quest. When he said my name was that, I laughed pretty hard.

The Name I wanted didn’t fit! It was 2 letters 2 long and I didn’t like how it looked or sounded when I made it shorter!

My chars name was supposed to be Karraka Shadowstalker!

I always keep her surname in my mind when I play her though, even they I ended up just going with Karraka.

My two Charr are Fluffy Flintlock and Grotta Battlebrand. The first last name was chosen because she is an engineer and has “two words” but wasn’t very warband friendly. My second’s warband name is Battle (Blood Pride) and brand is because she is missing an eye and tooth.

@AuldWolf where did you get the information about modern and old naming conventions?
In game I see Charrs named one way or the other seemingly withouth rhyme or reason. For example the Night warband, stationed at Bloodsaw mill, all have “Night” as second part of their surname, but the “Faith” warband stationed at Kinar Fort, Blazeridges Steepes put it BEFORE their chosen name.

Night is Iron Legion, Faith is Blood Legion so that might influence on it.

@Volkmar

Yes, you would see it both ways. And I actually explained why. In fact, I even went as far as to say that some mix up parts of both as they like.

As for where I got it from? The games, of course. In the original Guild Wars, the one that preceded this one, there were charr. And the charr we encountered used a warband naming schema which involved the warband name being placed first. There were other examples of this in Guild Wars, too. And wherever you saw a warband name, it was always used first, before the claimed name.

In Guild Wars 2, you see it being done both ways. However, it seems that the more progressive charr are choosing to put their warband name last. In fact, this is by far the most common, these days. So in Guild Wars 1, the only way was putting the warband name first (Fierceshot), but in Guild Wars 2, the most common way is putting the warband name last.

Hence classic and modern. The one was used in Guild Wars 1 (250 years ago), the other is used most commonly in Guild Wars 2 (current day). If you play through the three legions and their storylines, you realise just how common the new naming schema is, because pretty much every charr you meet uses the modern style (warband last).

It’s simply something I picked up after extensive play of Prophecies, Nightfall, Eye of the North, and the charr content within Guild Wars 2. Not to mention Ember Doomforge (of the Forge warband) in Ghosts of Ascalon.

Essentially, outside of the game’s lore, it’s a stylistic shift chosen by the writers. The writers thought that it would be cooler in GW2 to have the warband name last. But if you take it within the context of the world of Tyria, it’s a cultural shift. It’s just how the charr have begun using less guttural names, and more posh or Roman sounding ones (Sicaea, Bhuer, Torga, and so on).

(The cultural shift from guttural to posh/Roman sounding names was also covered in the charr lore week.)

So, basically? I just know my stuff. It’s because I eat, sleep, and breathe charr.

Also, I did forget to note that if the person with their warband name first is Blood Legion, then that’s to be expected. Of the charr, the Blood Legion are the traditionalists. This is why Rytlock Brimstone (a Blood Legion charr) chooses not to have the definitive article in his title, whereas a more modernised charr, like Sicaea the Shrouded, would.

Blood does tend to have more traditionalists, whereas Iron has lion’s share of progressive thinkers. Ash tends to be somewhere in-between. I did explain this in my little post article, too!

AuldWolf.7598:

So, basically? I just know my stuff. It’s because I eat, sleep, and breathe charr.

Isn’t that rather unhealthy? They have a lot of fur… breathing problems and whatnot.

Anyway, Auld, your insight into the charr naming schemes are quite helpful and look well thought out. Thank you!

Sadly, I didn’t look at this thread before naming my charr. Her name is Dakna Sharpnose. By the modern naming convention her warband name is Nose… very unfortunate for the warband there.

That doesn’t need to be the case!

Keep in mind that Rytlock isn’t of the warband Brim or Stone. He’s just using the classical conventions for titles. In other words, his title is Brimstone. So Sharpnose could simply be a title. The fun thing about the charr is that it’s easy to fit one’s name into it, due to the diversity of their culture.

Oh! Alright then! I had it in my mind that is was more of a title. Thanks!

I named my 2 charr Tyndir Twinfang (Tyndir from GW1) & Fenrir Frostmane

SammyIAm.1726:

ReginaBuenaobra.6953:

Another option for naming your charr is to add something that they’re good at or a characteristic they’re known for. For example:

• Sicaea the Shrouded
• Rhendak the Crazed
• Kaladrian the Greedy

Along these lines: the last time I tried to create a character with a “the” in it, the “the” was automatically capitalized. Would it be possible to allow non-capitalized middle-words (mostly “of” or “the”) in character names? “Rhendak The Crazed” just seems like it’s overdoing it.

This please. Strongly.

Thank you.

My Engineer Charr’s name is Grimlocke Felltower. “Fell” being the name of the Warband ( So I’ve paired up with Dinky Fellhammer :p)

My character was Arcbane in the beta (a sort of unintentional pun on arcane, because I’m a Mesmer I guess…) but it became Arc Bane on live because the first name was taken. I’m actually kind of happy about this because it sounds so much more ‘Charr-like’ this way. There are actually several Charr references to ‘Bane’, so that’s cool.