Guild Wars 2

I am looking to make my second character, which I plan to be a Sylvari Ranger. However, I am stumped on what to name him.

I understand Sylvari don’t use surnames, which is great, and will be of benefit to me as I can’t even think up the first.

At first, I was thinking elf like names, so was thinking Arawyn, then something welsh like, such as Ardwyn.

I then also looked to Gaelic and Celtic inspiration, and, a few more ideas have come.
Gair, is one option.

Another one I was thinking is Ailm. Researching has lead me to understand Ailm is a Celtic or Gaelic word for Fir, and in accordance with Celtic tree meanings, with it’s evergreen nature, the fir tree is meant to represent resilience and longevity, traits I imagine a Ranger, living off the land, out in the elements, tracking and such, in tune with nature, would possess.

So, I’ve been thinking of a lot about it, and come up with a few names. I’d love some feedback from people on what they think of the names. I know it might seem a strange notion or something to get really particular about, but, want to make sure I get a good name that fits.

Many thanks.

Ardwyn probably sounds the most stereotypically sylvari-like of the bunch, but I think I like Ailm the best. Like Gair, it’s a bit short, but there’re plenty of sylvari with short names, and it feels more unique, and less forgettable, than the other three.

While it is true that Sylvari don’t use surnames (save for Scarlet Briar), it’s possible that they use titles (i.e. Laranthir of the Wild), something that is usually common among sylvari with very knightly personalities.

If you want a suggestion for a good name to try out, I might suggest this for a sylvari ranger: Gillecomgain.

I leave it to you to guess where I got that name from.

Thank you both for your reply. Not sure I’ll use Gillecomgain. Without research I will confess I don’t know where it was taken from.

Aaron, thank you for your input. I think I am now down to picking between Ardwyn and Ailm.

Will welcome any further feedback from anyone else. As soon as I work down to a choice between those two, I can get on with the fun part of making the character.

I like the Myre part of your display name. Ailm Myre?

Just a flesh wound.3589:

I like the Myre part of your display name. Ailm Myre?

Thank you. Nice idea but I already done that with my human thief character. Also, looking to keep to just one given name as Sylvari don’t generally use surnames.

Might as well give this generator a try and see what you think: http://fantasynamegenerators.com/sylvari_names.php

I did try that. Nothing I liked came up surprisingly. Why I broke it down to the two I had.

You can also fudge a surname if, for example, it’s something that might be given to him by others rather than him claiming one himself. I have a Ranger whose name is Linn Shadecaster. The ‘Shadecaster’ was given to him by his friends among the norn as a joke combined with a mark of respect, because he’s a tree who is half their height and his hunting skills ‘put theirs in the shade’. (And to clarify, there are plenty of norn as skilled as he is or better, just not in his friend group! He’s not that special.) He doesn’t really give the ‘Shadecaster’ part to others when he introduces himself, but he answers to it – it’s along the lines of a nickname that got stuck after his name rather than replacing it. He knows his friends wouldn’t have given him the name if they didn’t consider him ‘one of them’, so it’s kind of a badge of pride for him, even if he doesn’t think of himself as it.

You can also append his Cycle – “Noonbloom,” “Of The Dawn,” etc.

Of course, if you can find a single-word name you want to use that isn’t currently in use, there’s no reason to include a surname, but if you’re having troubles with that, there are ways to do it that don’t break lore. (Maybe… bend it a little, but not outright break!)

qarinus.3869:

You can also fudge a surname if, for example, it’s something that might be given to him by others rather than him claiming one himself. I have a Ranger whose name is Linn Shadecaster. The ‘Shadecaster’ was given to him by his friends among the norn as a joke combined with a mark of respect, because he’s a tree who is half their height and his hunting skills ‘put theirs in the shade’. (And to clarify, there are plenty of norn as skilled as he is or better, just not in his friend group! He’s not that special.) He doesn’t really give the ‘Shadecaster’ part to others when he introduces himself, but he answers to it – it’s along the lines of a nickname that got stuck after his name rather than replacing it. He knows his friends wouldn’t have given him the name if they didn’t consider him ‘one of them’, so it’s kind of a badge of pride for him, even if he doesn’t think of himself as it.

You can also append his Cycle – “Noonbloom,” “Of The Dawn,” etc.

Of course, if you can find a single-word name you want to use that isn’t currently in use, there’s no reason to include a surname, but if you’re having troubles with that, there are ways to do it that don’t break lore. (Maybe… bend it a little, but not outright break!)

Thank you for that. I think I might follow that style of naming actually. It would seem weird if the character I have now, and future ones after him have last names, and his name is singular.

Not sure how much this helps you, but my approach to naming Sylvari has always been as follows:

1) Completely ignore Sylvari’s usual lack of surnames, because I am a GW1 vet and I love having a surname on every character.
2) First name is something stereotypically elven that I think sounds nice.
3) Surname is some kind of stupid pun relating to my character class and plant genus.

That sounds like a pretty dumb process when you write it out, but so far I’ve been liking the results it’s gotten me:

Lithrael Drosera – thief. I have been using ‘Lithrael’ for thieves and druids in roguelike games for years, so it seemed like an obvious pick for my first sylvari. ‘Drosera’ is a genus of carnivorous plants known for using traps and occasionally poison.

Amras Opuntia – guardian. In LotR, Amras is a red-headed youngest son of Fëanor, who crafted the Silmarils. He survived most of the War of the Jewels but died later on in the book. I created this character to function primarily as a Mist Warrior, doing all his leveling and play in Edge of the Mists, so naming him after an ultimately dead elf seemed appropriate. Opuntia is a genus of cactus topped with red fruit. I like this for a green-and-red guardian, he’s a plant who defends himself with sharp objects.

I’ve used an Arthurian name generator to get my names for the most part.
http://philriley.tripod.com/otngarthur.html

My four sylvari are Briara (a name I used for a plant-person in DAoC), Briamor (kludging together syllables from the generator and only belatedly realizing how close he is to Briara; it’s a cover name for him, but I won’t say his real pod-name as I’ve not reserved it thus far), Ysethe (from a long ago list of Arthurian names I compiled from actual books, there was no internet then), and Andret (straight up from the generator, a third or fourth try at giving a name to my warrior).

The trick with generators is to just keep hitting them, mouthing the names to yourself, getting a feel for the structure of names of that ilk. Then you can compose your own using typical syllables and get something that sounds lore-appropriate without being indistinguishable from everyone else who used the generator and added an umlaut or a title to get around duplicate name issues.

I gave all of my Sylvari the same surname as they “hatched” at the same time and place and feel a sort of familial bond.

Sylvari have a lot of leeway as there is no “thousands of years of tradition” and their desire to learn about the world around them could cause them to explore the concept of “family”.

You could look at welsh tree names. A lot of the names take from Welsh names and phonetics. You will want to be careful though, a lot of words may be contextual. For example my warriors name:

Caerdu, split it up and you get Caer Du. Literally meaning in context Black Fort or Black Stronghold. On their own though, Caer nowadays is the Welsh name for the City of Chester which mostly is inside a castle. Du still means black though.

My rangers name is Daffydd. A mix between the Welsh name Dafydd (welsh for david) and the national Welsh flower, the Daffodil.

Rules wise if you want to be authentic, do research around older names from Welsh/Celtic religions as the names are already in their proper context, rather than taking it from google translate and thesaurus books.

If authenticity isn’t a big deal, just go with what sounds right to you.

http://www.druidry.org/library/trees

There is a good site with some tree lore and the names in the celtic languages.

Sylvari awaken “knowing” their name. It generally is a quality they have or will have. And it is thus implied the pale tree gives them that name. Also remember that sylvari do not take surnames because they consider themselves to be of the same family. Even sylvari of the same pod do not take surnames to show they bear closer relation. Finally the only sylvari with surname or titles have been soundless, nightmare court, or outcasts. That being said, I would go with ardwyn, it means on a hill and it will give you greater storytelling freedom.

Mulch. It’s a perfect name. Unisex too.

DresdenAllblack.1249:

Mulch. It’s a perfect name. Unisex too.

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“I don’t see why we have to take orders from mice and talking cabbages.” -DresdenAllblack.1249