How do you name your characters?

How do you name your characters?

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Posted by: Danikat.8537

Danikat.8537

I recently got around to creating my final 3 permanent characters and spent what my husband tells me is an absurd amount of time coming up with names for them. But to me the name is at least as important as their appearance and I want to make absolutely sure I get something I’m going to be happy with.

But it did make me curious about how much thought other people put into this and what kind of things you consider when choosing a name.

For me the most important factors are:

1) It should mean something, reflect the characters appearance or personality, even if no one else will understand that without me telling them.

For example my asuran necromancer is called Ambage. Which is an archaic English word that means a long-winded and overly complicated description. I stumbled across it while looking up Latin words (more on this below) and decided it was perfect for an asura, and especially the one I was planning.

It can be a lot simpler than that though. My yellow/orange themed sylvari warrior is called Aurhedyn which means ‘gold seed’.

2) It should look interesting. Which to me usually means not using English words. English isn’t the prettiest language and it’s also my 1st language so it’s a bit dull to me.

For example I wanted to call a GW1 character Holly but it didn’t suit her. I remembered liking the Latin word – Ilex. I added the Latin for ivy (Hedera) and got a name I liked so much I reused it in GW2.

3) Ideally it should be lore-appropriate.

At least it shouldn’t stand out too much, but I’m willing to be flexible. Like the above example of Ambage for an asura. It’s longer than most asura names, but inline with ones like Batanga or Hrouda.

But sometimes sticking to the lore can help. I was really struggling to name my norn revenant until I looked up norse names. Then after a bit of debate over my favourite I picked Vanirar Corvusson (‘spirit warrior’ ‘raven son’).

So that’s me. How do you do it?

Danielle Aurorel, Dear Dragon We Got Your Cookies [Nom], Desolation (EU).

“Life’s a journey, not a destination.”

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Posted by: Donari.5237

Donari.5237

Pretty much the same way, though I’ll go for simple names if they fit. Like my male human guardian, commoner background, he’s David Raffino which is just from me mumbling a lot of names while looking at how I’d designed him. I also use http://www.behindthename.com/random/?number=4&gender=f&surname=&all=no&usage_mac=1 to generate long lists of names to inspire me, or http://philriley.tripod.com/otngarthur.html when naming sylvari (generally I get a feel for syllables that tend to appear then mash them together to suit my aesthetics). If I go for a “joke” name I tweak it a lot to be also real sounding.

In high school I thought I was super clever to name a ninja character Sosumi Idongishi for instance. Probably I wasn’t. I am pleased with my norn Engineer Altdragg Splitstack, though. My other norns are named out of http://www.vikingsofbjornstad.com/Old_Norse_Dictionary_E2N.shtm — not directly but by looking for descriptive words with Old Norse terms that I don’t have to use special characters to type and that sound nice to me.

I often keep Edgar Allen Poe’s essay in mind, the one where he talks about melodic sounds in the English language with Annabel Lee as his sample subject.

And I try to follow the NPC naming conventions without directly copying any names.

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Posted by: Celtic Lady.3729

Celtic Lady.3729

For my asura, sylvari, charr, and norn, I used their lore conventions in choosing my names for them.

For my humans, I named them each an elemental name that had to do with their class. For instance, my human Engineer is Ember Wilde.

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Posted by: Just a flesh wound.3589

Just a flesh wound.3589

I’m one of the crowd that doesn’t make meaningful, lore appropriate names for my chars. Since I’m not a role player at all I find them boring, at least for my own chars. I chose names that are a pun (usually bad) or amuse me in some way. That doesn’t mean I don’t take a long time to find the “right name.” Just that my criteria for choosing a name is different from yours. For example, when the Revenant was announced I debated names for a couple of months before I settled on one. (I named her Smallmedium Atlarge).

Be careful what you ask for
ANet may give it to you.

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Posted by: Figlilly.3907

Figlilly.3907

I wish I could claim to put as much thought into mine. I have a baby name book on my computer desk and usually I just thumb through that when I need a name.

My favourites though, are names that popped into my head at the time and did not come from the book. They don’t follow any particular lore but I like them. I have a Sylvari named Raindrops on Roses. At the time she was created the song from the Sound of Music was stuck in my head and it seemed a pretty name for a little leaf person. I also have a Norn I named Frozen Sunlight because I figured it might seem to a Norn parent that everything else can freeze so why not a ray of sunshine.

However, I am not happy with the majority of my characters’ names especially the ones from my first year of playing. They were often named with a ’that’ll do’ attitude and none of them follow any sort of theme. I would rename them all if it wasn’t so expensive.

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Posted by: Randulf.7614

Randulf.7614

I often use myths or characters from literature I like. Sometimes mixing it with historical refernces

Latronius Wolfe – named after Latro in the Mist (book) and Gene Wolfe (author)
Titus Augustine – a purple eyed noble (ala Titus Groan from Gormenghast)
Orpheus Argonaut – (should be self explanatory)
Viktor Belmont – inspired by Castlevania
Prothero Dragonhide – my Dragon Warrior. The first name came when googling suitable dragon names. I believe I based it off a myth, but I forget.

Sometimes the name just pops in my head. The below existed during GW1 and were imported across and existed in other MMO’s too.
Randulf Rawhide (a fusion of my enjoyment of both fantasy and westerns)
Goliath Bill (no my name is not Bill so I don’t know…)
Voice of Heston (OK I like his films…)

(edited by Randulf.7614)

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Posted by: Redenaz.8631

Redenaz.8631

I do have one character with a name taken directly from a book/movie. I was pretty surprised when it actually went through, since I just did it on a whim, but it’s a name I really like, so strike one up to lucky chance.

Some of my characters just have normal-ish first name, last name combos. There’s not a whole lot to say about them.

My favorite of my character names, however, are epithets.

*The Storyteller <—My main, an old man elementalist. People sometimes ask him for stories in game, so I improvise, which is a lot of fun.

*The Young Coward <— A norn guardian with a permanently fearful look on his face. Props to the character editor for pulling that look off.

*The Grinning Willow <— A sylvari engineer with a bit of a weird smile

*The Faultfinder <— A cranky asuran warrior

Those names let me tell people a lot about a character in very little space, and it’s usually not too hard to find one that’s available.

~The Storyteller – Elementalist – Jade Quarry~

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Posted by: Danikat.8537

Danikat.8537

I am pleased with my norn Engineer Altdragg Splitstack, though.

That was you! I remember reading ages ago that someone called a character that so they’d remember how to split stacks of items and I think of it every time I’m trying to remember which button to push (and apologising for spamming chat because I tried shift first).

I’m one of the crowd that doesn’t make meaningful, lore appropriate names for my chars. Since I’m not a role player at all I find them boring, at least for my own chars. I chose names that are a pun (usually bad) or amuse me in some way. That doesn’t mean I don’t take a long time to find the “right name.” Just that my criteria for choosing a name is different from yours. For example, when the Revenant was announced I debated names for a couple of months before I settled on one. (I named her Smallmedium Atlarge).

Oh I do that too sometimes. I have an old, heavily scared Imperial Dragonknight in Elder Scrolls Online called Sagittam Ad Genu, which means Arrow to the Knee. (I thought a tied old joke was an appropriate fit for a tired old knight.)

My personal favourite in GW2 was Necrodent the asuran necromancer.

I think Smallmedium Atlarge is brilliant though. Genuinely made me laugh out loud.

Danielle Aurorel, Dear Dragon We Got Your Cookies [Nom], Desolation (EU).

“Life’s a journey, not a destination.”

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Posted by: Neural.1824

Neural.1824

Step 1: I choose a name I like via inventing one, or using a random name generator until my mind finds one it likes.
Step 2: I create a last name that flows well phonetically with the first name I chose, in order to greatly increase the chance that what I have chosen is not taken.

Odds and ends: Sometimes I use alliteration. Sometimes I aim for humor (my crazy engineer is an Asura named Batty Belfry). By the time I get to the name screen, I’ve usually got an idea in my mind of how I want a name to sound or what thoughts/feelings I want to invoke with the name.
Example of how names can evoke feelings/affinity, etc.: Tybalt’s name fit his character and personality really well. He’d have been just as popular if his name was Razor Throatripper, but the name would exactly fit his lovable personality.

edit for clarification, I do not have a character named Tybalt.

Where are my gem sales? I want gem sales! Nerf EVERYTHING!

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Posted by: Rauderi.8706

Rauderi.8706

Ah, I love Charr names, because they make a creator think. Each one is a story in itself.

Not that I’m immune to making pun names. Two of my three oldest characters were puns. I’ve since deleted/recreated one, and I love his fluffiness all the more for it, and I keep needling myself about a name-change contract for my very first baby.

But lesse..
Humans: More or less humany names with some veiled meaning to their purpose. There’s also a quasi self-insert guardian with an old LARP name. :P

Norn: Typical norning snorning names, usually incorporating some element of their role or spirit animal.

Asura: These are hard to be lore appropriate with, and there’s at least one or two puns in my not-a-gnome set. One decided that she would “invent” the concept of “secondary identification nomenclatures” so her research wouldn’t be confused with the thousand other Lummi-named magigophers in existence. The other, Fhorrz, has a fairly typical-ish name, and his academic specialty is consecrating fields. He calls them, obviously, Fhorrz’s Fields. (If I reached any farther for that, my arm’d fall off. :P)

Sylvari: I’ve managed to make it so far by cheating with Welsh or fantasy-esque names, some with a title. Then there’s the poe necromancer: Venus Nightshade. Bask in her hardcore emo (and splatter-pastel Wintersday dress).

Charr: Personality and backstory in three words. I take some time to get those just right, though of late I’ve been working them into their own little warband collections: Malus (Blood), Thunder (Blood), Stride (Iron), Dragon (Iron), Mist (Ash). I swear, at the time, I hadn’t seen Mist as such a popular word. :P And then I ran into another Mistherald and I had to throw myself off a cliff. (Don’t worry, gliders were involved.)

Many alts; handle it!
“I’m finding companies should sell access to forums,
it seems many like them better than the games they comment on.” -Horrorscope.7632

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Posted by: RoseofGilead.8907

RoseofGilead.8907

Honestly, I choose whatever pops into my brain at that moment. My first character was Weepingus Angelus because I was watching a Weeping Angel episode of Doctor Who around the time I made her. A year and a halfish ago I renamed her Alyssan Targaryen (and changed her hair white and eyes purple) because I was reading A Game of Thrones.

My warrior’s name is Goldilachs because I wanted a blonde warrior, and I figured that name would work well for a blonde.

My first guardian’s name is Out Of Good Names. You can guess why I called her that.

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Posted by: Danikat.8537

Danikat.8537

My first guardian’s name is Out Of Good Names. You can guess why I called her that.

The day the wardrobe came out I made loads of characters to unlock all the starter skins. Which of course meant coming up with lots of random names quickly.

When I got frustrated and tried ‘Alreadyinuse’ I found it highly amusing (and unsurprising) that it was already in use.

Attachments:

Danielle Aurorel, Dear Dragon We Got Your Cookies [Nom], Desolation (EU).

“Life’s a journey, not a destination.”

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Posted by: RoseofGilead.8907

RoseofGilead.8907

When I got frustrated and tried ‘Alreadyinuse’ I found it highly amusing (and unsurprising) that it was already in use.

That made me giggle.

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Posted by: Donari.5237

Donari.5237

Oh I do that too sometimes. I have an old, heavily scared Imperial Dragonknight in Elder Scrolls Online called Sagittam Ad Genu, which means Arrow to the Knee. (I thought a tied old joke was an appropriate fit for a tired old knight.)

Heh, if we’re going to other games — I have an Argonian named Leaf-Over-Ant’s-Nest (she is a nightblade type, quiet on the surface, busy mind below, not that I’ve played her beyond creation because my Redguard Dragonknight is too awesome). Why? Because that is how I hear the name Leif Ove Andsnes every time my radio station plays something with him performing. The curse of never seeing something written down; I had to look it up on their playlist to find out how to actually spell it. I just had to use the name.

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Posted by: Oregon.5673

Oregon.5673

Main account: First name (A names that start with Jen), Last name – Stones (college nickname and the nick name of my GW guild (Stone Polishers).
Alt account: Names from my GW account: no rhyme or reason to the naming. For many of the characters, I pulled out a dictionary, blindly opened it, blindly touched a word… first name… do the same for the last name… had some pretty interesting combinations…. AND named a few for former Girlfriends…

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Posted by: Ariurotl.3718

Ariurotl.3718

I’m trying to make lore-appropriate names. Most of the time my first choices are taken, of course. Failing that, I just pick something that sounds pleasant to me and doesn’t stray too much from the lore.

I’m also addicted to Anglo-Saxon-ish names that end with -ric: my main (Norn guardian) has the first name Wulfric, and I also have a Human warrior whose first name is Rodric.

I struggled for ages with the name for my Sylvari necro, eventually gave up on making it (even vaguely) Celtic and started remembering character names I used to make up in other games… eventually I settled on Erzai, which I was shocked to discover was not taken!

At this point there should be an achievement for finding an unused name that’s less than 6 characters long and at least sounds like something (and not just a jumble of letters).

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Posted by: Chameleon Dude.1564

Chameleon Dude.1564

Often by losing hours upon hours in a Sindarin dictionary.

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Posted by: Belzebu.3912

Belzebu.3912

Things I try to use, my real life last name (Bardy) or my internet ID (Belzebu) and also fit the game name conventions, here is my list:

Bardy Belzebuson – Male Norn (Fit all my criterias)
Valkiria Ravenkin – Female Norn (Fit Norn name convention)
Barddy – Male Asura (My last name and fit Asura name)
Oogah – Female Asura (Fit asura name, kinda of homage to Oola after a few tries)
Baridy – Male Sylvari (My last name and I remember that Barid is Bard is celtic, I just added the “y”, so fit the convention)
Bardyne – Female Sylvari (My last name)
Sir Belzebu – Male Human (My nick and also my GW1 main)
Raquel Bardy – Female Human (My last name)
Belz Ironsoul – Male Charr (My nick and also charr name convention)
Ahiru Darkwing – Male Tengu (Yes, I have a tengu name saved, it fits the name convention and it is a homage to Darkwing Duck )

Charter Vanguard [CV] – HoD
Bardy Belzebuson – Ranger Sir Belzebu – Herald
(and the other 8 elite specs maxed too)

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Posted by: Ampa.2749

Ampa.2749

I use a family name for all my characters, Xilo. Just like that the X sounds like Z.

Older Asuran brother is Moto Xilo. Just like the sound.
Younger Asuran brother is Goss Xilo. Follow the double consonant tradition for Asurans.
Adopted Sylvari sister Fiona Xilo. Separated from the tree at a young age and taken in by Moto and Goss.
Adopted Norn sister Maria Xilo. On Earth, Maria was the name of an early scandanavian princess. Her backstory is tbd.

I want all my characters to reflect a diverse and blended family, much like real life.

I wanted names that sounded good and were short and easy to type into chat by other players.

Guardian, Engineer, Elementalist, Mesmer, Thief, Necro

(edited by Ampa.2749)

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Posted by: EphemeralWallaby.7643

EphemeralWallaby.7643

I do the internet equivalent of throwing darts at a dartboard:

1) I look up the etymology of words thematic to the character concept I want to create.
2) I read lore and search for common names and surnames within the lore to give me ideas for name structure.
3) I babble to myself vowels and consonants to look for combinations I like the sound of (this doesn’t require the internet, but it’s appropriate that I stare at a computer screen when I do it).
4) I do searches for various names in different languages and time periods.
5) I look up old table-top RPG character names I’ve used in the past.

And, after all of that is done and I pick the perfect name….. it’s already taken by someone else and I start the process over.

~EW

(edited by EphemeralWallaby.7643)

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Posted by: Jaina Ashlynn.1043

Jaina Ashlynn.1043

A lot of my character names are “recycled” from one game to another. Most are hold overs from GW1, another spans 3 games. Some develop relatives like a brother or sister sharing the same last name. Other just sort of happen with no rhyme or reason.

Anvil Rock: Beta →Friday 13th 1/13/2017
Crystal Desert: 1/13/2017

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Posted by: Deleena.3406

Deleena.3406

I just kinda use variations of older names i have used in past games (Ragnarok,GW1)
or just run with what sounds good (to me anyway)

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Posted by: Wizler.8192

Wizler.8192

I like to play around with ideas and sounds that fit my character. I’m not happy with a character until it has a good name.

Kiria Jinkies – Human Ranger
She’s all about having fun while exploring!

Abaisser – Norn Guardian
My buddy had a band years ago called Abaisser which is a French word “to lower or to humble”. I thought it fit the mystique of a paladin/guardian/monk.

Grox of War – Charr Warrior
Grox was a family nickname for my bro years ago. To me it sounded like a nice powerful name for an aggressive character.

Fauxx Schnitzel – Asura Elementalist
A play on fo kitten but also trying to capture the double-consonant spelling common to Asura names (for example, Zojja or Tixx).

Reverend Tazo – Asura Revenant

3) I babble to myself vowels and consonants to look for combinations I like the sound of…

I do this too which is how I got reverend from revenant. Reverends preach about being born again which fits the class theme. And I was drinking Tazo tea one day…

Joy and Sorrow – Sylvari Necromancer
I was trying to capture the circle of life and death with this character’s theme. Sylvari are born from the pale tree but she is a master of blood and death magic. As a female she can also give birth to new life.

Tibert the Wizler – Charr Engineer
Tybalt (from Romeo and Juliet) shares the same name as the character Tibert/Tybalt the “Prince of Cats” in Reynard the Fox. Tybalt Leftpaw is one of my favorite characters so this is my tribute. Wizler is a username I thought of years ago. In this case it describes the wizardry of gizmos and gadgets.

Snarky Pants – Asura Mesmer
Cute little smarty pants girl with attitude.

Felonious Punkster – Asura Thief
Inspired by Thelonious Monk. Felon fits nicely with Thief.

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Posted by: Cysgod.8523

Cysgod.8523

Most of my characters names are based off traditional norse given names and mythological names, I’ve always found an attraction to norse mythology so it kinda just made sense to take two things I love and put them together.

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Posted by: Endless Soul.5178

Endless Soul.5178

I don’t really go for joke or clever names (but I do appreciate them on other player’s characters), so I go with what sounds interesting to me.

Zerina In Aeternum – Asura Necromancer – She is my first character, and my main, and I decided that she dropped her original Asura name in favor of something more exotikittentle did I know that I would see several other “Aeternum” names out there. (The censorship is lame: “exotic” and “Little”)

Thorsimund – Charr Warrior – I wanted a strong name, so I used the name of a Visigoth king, and switched a couple letters around. I get a lot of compliments on this name.

Jaxxi Deus – Asura Engineer – I liked Jaxxi, but it was taken so added somethign extra.

Embrace of Midnight – Human mesmer – I don’t play her much, in fact, she’s still only level 44. I do have big plans for her…someday.

Alastrine Aeternum – Human Elementalist – I named her after my Guild Wars 1 main character.

As you can see, I don’t really stick to one naming convention.

Asura characters: Zerina | Myndee | Rissa | Jaxxi | Feyyt | Bekka | Sixx | Akee | Tylee | Nuumy
| Claara
Your skin will wrinkle and your youth will fade, but your soul is endless.

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Posted by: Mea.5491

Mea.5491

My characters’ names start with my real name (Mea). My main is Meamira. I also have Meamara and Meamera. I use these names in every other MMO.

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Posted by: Trafficone.5301

Trafficone.5301

I like my names to be stupid and punny. My oldest character (Sylvari ranger, Boughmaster) originally had a more lore appropriate name, but I eventually got bored of that and so I changed it. Most of my names are somewhat related to the race and profession of each character, but not always. My Charr engineer is named Furfriend, because of a little Charr cub named Kirt who wanted his warband to be called the Furfriend warband. My Asura guardian is named The Rescuer, because Asura kind of remind me of mice, so it’s a bit of a throwback to some of my favorite childhood movies and it also seemed thematically appropriate for a guardian. I’ve had lots of people whisper me about my names and how they induced a chuckle, and that makes me happy! Even though I’ve never gotten a comment about it, the name I’m probably the most proud of is my Sylvari thief, Sapterfuge.

My fiance and I both name our characters like this, and if I’m entirely honest, it takes us a LONG time to come up with names we’re happy with, especially with all the names already in use! His best one, in my opinion, is Purrglar (Charr thief).

Boughmaster – Necromousy – Furfriend – Sapterfuge
The Rescuer – Smoke And Flowers – Nectar Protector – Dhuumwind –
Specter Protector – Pushed Daisies – Imprinted – Die Groundlings

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Posted by: Fjaeldmark.9043

Fjaeldmark.9043

I was going to say I just reuse names from other games but a quick check revealed that only a third of my characters have reused names.

I try too make the names appropriate to both lore and context. For example I gave my iron legion thief the last name siegebreaker. What does the iron legion like? Explosives. How might you combine explosives with stealth? Basically his job is to get behind enemy lines place bombs and bring down the defences so the main force can move in.

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Posted by: Obtena.7952

Obtena.7952

Mostly Polish Pagan Gods/Monsters/Heros/Legends. I appreciate a unique, well thought out name. If I don’t like a name, I will delete the character. It’s that important. Unfortunately, the game doesn’t support many of the letters I need for proper spelling so I have to make due.

Obtena – Sylvari Theif (Name taken from a skill in V:TES for manipulating shadows)
Zoszia – Norn Guardian (Polish for: Sophie)
Dzivozona – Sylvari Necro (some minor mystical figure)
Zdzislawja – Human Necro (just a Female name, no English translation I think)
Wiktorja – Human Engi (Polish for: Victoria)
Wojowniczka – Human Warrior (Female Warrior)
Kolecja – Sylvari Revenant (Related to ‘Thorn’)
Cyganskie – Human Ranger (Name means ‘gyspy’)
Czyrenka – Norn Mesmer (I was going for Szyrenka – Siren)
Polevoi – Norn Ele (some minor mystical figure)
Zadymienie – Norn Theif (some minor mystical figure)

(edited by Obtena.7952)

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Posted by: Ashen.2907

Ashen.2907

I started gaming with a pen and paper group going on thirty years ago. They were experienced players while I was new to roleplaying.

I quickly learned that the single most important element of naming a character, an aspect that can take orders of magnitude longer than actually creating the character, writing his backstory, etc is…

Making sure that there are no obvious or readily researched vulgar references associated with the name (either directly or indirectly). Make sure that it does not rhyme with the name of a body part. Make sure that it is in no way suggestive of a bodily function. And so on.

Basically all of my characters are named Sam…

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Posted by: Just a flesh wound.3589

Just a flesh wound.3589

I started gaming with a pen and paper group going on thirty years ago. They were experienced players while I was new to roleplaying.

I quickly learned that the single most important element of naming a character, an aspect that can take orders of magnitude longer than actually creating the character, writing his backstory, etc is…

Making sure that there are no obvious or readily researched vulgar references associated with the name (either directly or indirectly). Make sure that it does not rhyme with the name of a body part. Make sure that it is in no way suggestive of a bodily function. And so on.

Basically all of my characters are named Sam…

^^

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ANet may give it to you.

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Posted by: rwolf.9571

rwolf.9571

Step 1 – combine/change 1-3 words together that’s descriptive of my character. (from any language that sounds good)
Step 2 – fine tune the pronunciation to what sounds and looks the best text wise.
Step 3 – Google my new name to see if it isn’t referencing something hideous
Step 3b – Back to step 1 if googling has a bad outcome.

Other day a player commenting my character name “Kursuma” was a pretty name. But then I realized I don’t remember how I came up with it.

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Posted by: Figlilly.3907

Figlilly.3907

Too funny, Ashen.

I sort of stumbled a little with one of my characters. I thought a good name for her (a Norn) would be Cold as Charity so I called her Charity Coldas. When I later rejoined my guildies they were all amused and asked about her cold bottom. I honestly didn’t see it when I named her. I am Australian and we don’t use that word for bottoms – well we do but it is spelt differently and pronounced with a long A. I have always hoped I don’t offend any sensitive soul who might see it and think I meant it differently.

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Posted by: Rauderi.8706

Rauderi.8706

Too funny, Ashen.

I sort of stumbled a little with one of my characters. I thought a good name for her (a Norn) would be Cold as Charity so I called her Charity Coldas. When I later rejoined my guildies they were all amused and asked about her cold bottom. I honestly didn’t see it when I named her. I am Australian and we don’t use that word for bottoms – well we do but it is spelt differently and pronounced with a long A. I have always hoped I don’t offend any sensitive soul who might see it and think I meant it differently.

You could just tell them that the other ‘s’ is lost somewhere in Oceana ping times. :P

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How do you name your characters?

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Posted by: Danikat.8537

Danikat.8537

I started gaming with a pen and paper group going on thirty years ago. They were experienced players while I was new to roleplaying.

I quickly learned that the single most important element of naming a character, an aspect that can take orders of magnitude longer than actually creating the character, writing his backstory, etc is…

Making sure that there are no obvious or readily researched vulgar references associated with the name (either directly or indirectly). Make sure that it does not rhyme with the name of a body part. Make sure that it is in no way suggestive of a bodily function. And so on.

Basically all of my characters are named Sam…

Yeah I’ve occasionally made that mistake. It’s even more difficult online I think because there’s so many different languages and cultures with their own ideas of what’s inappropriate and/or funny.

I sometimes worry about it with my asuran guardian: Xexxi after someone pointed out her name sounds like sexy. I originally wanted Xixxi but that was taken (and looked a bit ‘spikey’ to me) so I was looking for something similar sounding but different and settled on that.

But so far only that 1 person has commented on it.

Danielle Aurorel, Dear Dragon We Got Your Cookies [Nom], Desolation (EU).

“Life’s a journey, not a destination.”

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Posted by: penelopehannibal.8947

penelopehannibal.8947

3) Ideally it should be lore-appropriate.

As a Roleplayer, this is my Number 1 priority for naming my character. I can’t say all my characters are lore-friendly, since I was still learning the lore of the other races at the beginning of the game. For example, my first Sylvari is called Zinnia Thorn. But since learning the lore, I have more sylvari but with single-worded names.

Here’s a list of my characters’ names:

Asura
Memp
Mempfí
Spekka
Wintt

Charr
Hannibrawl
Glabe Hexblade
Misha Dreamseeker

Human
Tony Hannibal
Aria Hannibal
Penny Black
Rupert Bonny
Sarah Ceron
Slip Digby

Norn
Robyn Swift
Petre Stalborg
Livia Hjerte

Skritt
Skrittbags

Sylvari
Zinnia Thorn
Craenor
Griffae
Caerven
Cadwalger
Wynnach

I’d like to think I’ve done well for most of them being lore-relevant names. The names in italics are the ones I have used for RP at least once, though Aria Hannibal is my main RP character. Skrittbags is technically an Asura, but I never use him without a [Skritt Tonic] for RP

Blood & Merlot [Wine]

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Posted by: Mostly Harmless.7046

Mostly Harmless.7046

I love naming my girls.

Usually try to pick something lore appropriate, but I failed on my main T.T A silent, pensive, serious Asura Mesmer called Arjain, love the name but it does not fit the race, need name contract to go on sale ASAP.

Then others I’m happy with:

A bright orange furred Charr revenant, looking for warmth and hope in this ruthless world: Rin Dawnseeker

A dark skinned, dark natured sylvari thief: Fanrain

A street rat, savy, adventurous human ranger: Iggy Shot

I have more that haven’t been created yet so I won’t risk it. :p

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Posted by: Traced.3495

Traced.3495

Fast.

I planned for and got some nice names at launch. I like short, simple names the most.
Later I used two first names for some characters. I don’t like even thinking of last names, that’s too formal. Would be tough for me to look at it.
I don’t remember all the logic I used for yet later characters… I have plenty of one word randomness going on. For some characters I reused several names from another game, origins vary from the name generator of the game to modifying gibberish until it looks like something.
There’s the very occasional silliness like Short Norn which happened because I decided that I’m going to do some character height testing. Eventually became a permanent version but not a serious character. Not actually that short either anymore since height is more serious business than a name.

It can also take time. Around a year ago I finally figured out a decent-ish, short enough name for a character I got to like more than expected. Grinded gems for character slots to keep the names (multiple versions!), next grind was name changes. Now just waiting for an epic sale. I want them cheap, I am greedy.
I could not of course buy full price name changes but character slots were fine… logic! Stupid character, being so pretty… grumbles about all the effort

My charr Raala is my favorite character success. <3
And… a level 2. Maybe the fourth birthday has good enough exp scrolls for me to bother.

let the sky fall

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Posted by: GussJr.1643

GussJr.1643

My main, and first character in any MMO is always a female Ranger named Collametta…

It comes from the book Time of The Doves…essentially about the loss of the Catalan culture in Spain…but the name means loosely “little dove”.

My other characters tend to be more lighthearted or funny…

Lil Bit – human female elementalist

Little Ace – asura female warrior/berserker

Lil Marley – sylvari female Mesmer/chrono

Jakefrmstfarm – (because I work for state farm) human male thief…yes he wears khakis

Lola Sugar – human female engi

Tiny Bit O Little – asura female ranger

Small Cub – norn female guardian/dragonhunter

Delvanai – sylvari female necro/reaper

Picolo Cieco (little blind one) – human female revenant

~COLLAMETTA~DELVANAI~

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Posted by: Ardid.7203

Ardid.7203

I mostly try to respect the lore and mix it with a touch of fun. Like my asura lifestealer necro called “Deglutionist Ipp”, or my worn out charr warrior named “Carracido Rustclaw”, or the sylvari thief known as “Reynard Issengrim”.

But I have a problem.

My older, most used and loved character is an asura engie girl. When I created her, I was just thinking on doing a “test character” to try the game, the race and the proff, so I didn’t put too much smarts in the operation. (In fact, she was a “he” at that moment. Eventually make her a girl because I like the female asura voices more than the males, for engie, at least.).

At first I tryed to name the character “Ardid”, but the name was taken. At this point I didn’t knew the lore behind the race, but somehow I figured the proper name should be short, so I tryed different coherent short combinations which were also taken. Of course, neither did I knew I could add a surname to make the name more unique without resorting to odd stuff, so I finally just began to mix weird letters togheter.

The name that finally passed the filters was “Qwytz”. Weird, I know, but fairly asuran, IMHO.

That afternoon I began to play with him, and simply fell in love with the race, proffession, (and all the game, really) and couldn’t stop playing with the character until I reached level 50. It was not a test character anymore. Upon reaching 80, I make her a girl, and designed a full armor set around the “Mad Sciency Girl that Loves to Burns Stuff” concept for her.

Months later, after reading the 3 books and playing the personal story and knowing better all the game lore, I began to dislike the name. Mostly because it could be more asuran, because people don’t know how to pronounce it (me neither, really), and because it sounds close to “quit” which was never my intent (I’m not an english native speaker, that’s my excuse).

So I got a name change contract. And… And now I really don’t know how to name her. I got used to seeing her as “Qwytz”, and my guild usually calls me by this name.

I thought to change the name just a bit (Qwyzz, Wytz, or Wyzz) and adding some title to make her even more asuran themed (Pyroclastic Wyzz, Havocaster Wytz)…

But I just can’t decide. The name change contract has spent months sitting in my bank.

Help?
(Maybe I should just make another thread for this… but where?)

“Only problem with the Engineer is
that it makes every other class in the game boring to play.”
Hawks

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Posted by: Silvatar.5379

Silvatar.5379

I also spend a ludicrous amount of time trying to make names that meet the three criteria that you list. However, I do have several names (like my account name) that I carry with me from one game to the next. I tend to use those names first before I start making new ones even if they are not lore appropriate. Unfortunately, one of my favorite names was “stolen” by someone on the first day. It was not a very common name either so they must have remembered my name from a previous MMO…and if that person is reading this…I hate you lol (j/k)

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Posted by: Rauderi.8706

Rauderi.8706

I mostly try to respect the lore and mix it with a touch of fun. Like my asura lifestealer necro called “Deglutionist Ipp”, or my worn out charr warrior named “Carracido Rustclaw”, or the sylvari thief known as “Reynard Issengrim”.

But I have a problem.

My older, most used and loved character is an asura engie girl. When I created her, I was just thinking on doing a “test character” to try the game, the race and the proff, so I didn’t put too much smarts in the operation. (In fact, she was a “he” at that moment. Eventually make her a girl because I like the female asura voices more than the males, for engie, at least.).

At first I tryed to name the character “Ardid”, but the name was taken. At this point I didn’t knew the lore behind the race, but somehow I figured the proper name should be short, so I tryed different coherent short combinations which were also taken. Of course, neither did I knew I could add a surname to make the name more unique without resorting to odd stuff, so I finally just began to mix weird letters togheter.

The name that finally passed the filters was “Qwytz”. Weird, I know, but fairly asuran, IMHO.

That afternoon I began to play with him, and simply fell in love with the race, proffession, (and all the game, really) and couldn’t stop playing with the character until I reached level 50. It was not a test character anymore. Upon reaching 80, I make her a girl, and designed a full armor set around the “Mad Sciency Girl that Loves to Burns Stuff” concept for her.

Months later, after reading the 3 books and playing the personal story and knowing better all the game lore, I began to dislike the name. Mostly because it could be more asuran, because people don’t know how to pronounce it (me neither, really), and because it sounds close to “quit” which was never my intent (I’m not an english native speaker, that’s my excuse).

So I got a name change contract. And… And now I really don’t know how to name her. I got used to seeing her as “Qwytz”, and my guild usually calls me by this name.

I thought to change the name just a bit (Qwyzz, Wytz, or Wyzz) and adding some title to make her even more asuran themed (Pyroclastic Wyzz, Havocaster Wytz)…

But I just can’t decide. The name change contract has spent months sitting in my bank.

Help?
(Maybe I should just make another thread for this… but where?)

You love her and you just can’t
(•_•) / ( •_•)-o-o / (o_o)
Qwytz her.

Seems like a fine Asura name to me. I’d vote to not change it.

Many alts; handle it!
“I’m finding companies should sell access to forums,
it seems many like them better than the games they comment on.” -Horrorscope.7632

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Posted by: Haleydawn.3764

Haleydawn.3764

I think of names that fit the character I’m creating. Some are pretty obvious and some are just what I liked. I don’t need to explain them to anyone.
For example my first character, a mesmer, I named her Alys Malafaux. It rolls of the tongue and I liked it. Her back story was high born and I think the name fits her well. One of my engineers is called Orion Tinkerpaw. Pretty obviously fitting :P I used Orion because it was the cats name in Men In Black haha. “The universe is around Orion’s belt”
All of my characters are names accordingly and lore appropriate.

In beta I saw a Revenant running around with the name “We Need Weapon Swap”. In the second beta, it was changed to “Thx for Weapon Swap” that tickled me.

Kitten.

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Posted by: Reinthir.1349

Reinthir.1349

I actually have a whole set of names that I’ve used for as long as I can remember and I haven’t strayed from them. It’s not just the same names I use either but I also try to recreate their appearance in each game or get as close as I possibly can too. Having used them for so long I have kind of a personal attachment to them. Things such as lore don’t come into it for me.

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Posted by: Danikat.8537

Danikat.8537

I’m glad I’m not the only one kitten-uses names from older games too. I like doing it but I feel like people might find it a bit weird.

My main character is called Danielle Aurorel which is a name I’ve been using in almost all western RPGs for about 15 years. (Which is why I didn’t mention it in my first post, not really relevant to how I name characters now.)

The first name is obviously just a real-life name I happen to like. The last name is a combination of aurora (latin for dawn) and elen (quenya for star), so ‘dawn star’.

At first it was just another name for just another character, but I ended up liking both so much I kept re-using them and now she’s my main in most games. In GW1 I actually had 3 versions (1 per campaign), one of which was called Danika, which I found highly amusing after I found out that means ‘morning star’. Redundant name is redundant.

Danielle Aurorel, Dear Dragon We Got Your Cookies [Nom], Desolation (EU).

“Life’s a journey, not a destination.”

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Posted by: DeanBB.4268

DeanBB.4268

I collect names. Weird but true. When I run across an interesting name in a book or where ever, I add it to my list. So I have quite a list to choose from with quite a few variations.

So I never have trouble getting good names. 36 characters on 5 accounts.

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Posted by: Sariel V.7024

Sariel V.7024

Being well-read, versed in Latin, a devotee of fantasy and enough other conceited attributes to make you sick, I have no trouble in making names. Most of my current stable of GW2 pcs are named after fancharacters I made years ago for The Legend of Mana, though I also do references to other things.

Example: Tamarind. Tam is a stealth reference to the legend of Tam Lain and also named after a fruit (much like many anime characters are named after food). Tamarind is a faerie in the old sense, which liked to play with people as if they were toys and didn’t care too much if some got broken. She’s 4’5" and a thorough hedonist and sociopath. ANet modeled the Nightmare Court after the same thing I modeled Tam on, so it only makes sense she’d be a Sylvari.

Attachments:

(edited by Sariel V.7024)

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Posted by: VergilDeZaniah.3295

VergilDeZaniah.3295

I choose my names according to the lore convention.

Guild leader of The Nephilim of Elysium.

Son of Elonia.

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Posted by: LanfearShadowflame.3189

LanfearShadowflame.3189

Oh boy… I could fill a book with some of the thought process behind many of my character names. But I’ll try to keep this simple.

Some of my names come from predecessors in GW1 (which has it’s own story behind naming).

Others, I try to take into consideration the lore around the race as well as what the name itself means. So, for example, for a Charr I may spend time perusing old Roman names, while I’d look for something Norse or Gaelic for a Norn.

In some instances, names pay homage to books, shows, or characters I enjoyed of felt connected to. Nhaggi is my newest necro, and an Asura. Her name is a reference to 2 things – a character I liked playing an a console game (I could actually go into more depth about the specific character and why, but we’d be here all day), and a cartoon I adored as a child.

Don’t look at me like that. Whatever you’ve heard, it’s probably not true.

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Posted by: Ellieanna.5027

Ellieanna.5027

Starrr – Named after my warrior priest from Warhammer online, her name came from Starrr CrosssedLover, for Romeo and Juliet

Daventry – Originally my valk from DAOC, taken from King’s Quest 5

Ellieanna – Derived from the little sister’s name of Colossus (from X-Men), it’s a variation on the spelling of her name Ilyana

Crynic – Nikki Nova, and I couldn’t get Nikki Nova so I was sad and thus Cry Nic (most pronounce it as cryn ic) was created.

Those are really my main people.

I’m a Moose, a ginger moose even.