Forums » RP Discussion » Character Names

Naming characters is something I sometimes find tricky, so I'm wondering, what does everyone else do when they create a new character or RP or for a story?

90% of the time I build the character around the name. Otherwise, I look through the babynames.com database till I find one that pops for me.

A lot of the times I start with a name in my head which then needs a body and a story. Otherwise im pretty good at naming things on the fly. Or so I've been told.

I have a knack for coming up with strange and random names. I just kinda sit there and think about the character and what name would suit them best. Or sometimes I do google for names, or maybe ask a friend. but more often than not I come up with my own names, just with my imagination.

Behindthename.com is where most of my character names have come from. Although I've also Googled authentic/historically accurate French and Italian Medieval names and looked up census records before now. Their names also, 99% of the time, tie into the character. For example: Laermeluion ("he who sings sweetly") is a half-siren, Aearion ("son of the sea") comes from a family with a military connection to fighting in the Navy and Clemens ("merciful, gentle") is a former novice monk who used to travel around within the parish he was assigned to healing velleins/serfs when he was not a battleside medic/healer.

Nefferduat and Senny, I will take a look at those links, thankyou!

For those of you who can come up with names on your own, I envy that skill! Sometimes I can do it, other times, I have their personality, backstory and what I want to do with them but can't think of a name that fits.

I come up with failnames and use them. They start sounding less fail with usage.

I tend to come up with a character idea first and then I find a well-fitting name. The most important thing for me is the culture the character comes from; if it's at all historical, I look for realistic names. Skallagrim and Isleif are two Viking names. Why did I pick them? I like looking for sounds that blend well together, are easy to pronounce, and are unique. For example, there are a lot of names of the form "(CV)+" where C is consonant and V is vowel. Things like "Kamata" and "Kali" and "Kila" and stuff. There are also certain consonants that people often use together, and rarely are there compound vowels other than sometimes "ae" or "ai." (I would love to run some statistics on this kind of thing, actually.) I picked Skallagrim for my bear-skin character because it sounds like "skull" and "grim" and he's a warrior. I liked the "alla" sound with a male character since normally that's what females get. And it's a Viking name. I picked Isleif because I don't often see names starting with I, and I wanted an homage to Leif Ericsson.

When the character has a more fantastic background, I have more room to play around with, but I still use the above rules. I tend towards two-syllable names for ease of memory and pronunciation. Since Tillik is from a culture of bird-people, and she and her family are seagulls, I wanted something harsh and rattling: hence the T and K sounds. I think that short I is one of the most intense-sounding vowels, kinda high-pitched and frantic, which also fit in. The L sound then softens and feminizes the name, sorta.

Sometimes, like with Mitra, I look into meanings. I believe his named means "golden prince."

Wow, my naming process now seems fail XP

I do agree with you about cultural and historical accuracy though- MASSIVLY IMPORANT!

I used to throw up names that sounded cool or had some form of meaning to them (Draconus -- Draco -- he's all about dragons; that's the obvious one). Now-a-days I go wander my rear to Behind The Name and start looking up stuff; I get an idea in mind of what the character is like (race, upbringing, society norms, etc) and find something that I think fits.

It's how I got "Giovanni Floriano" for my Pokemon headcanon.
>Floriano > Florian > Florus

Flowers grow from the earth, Giovanni uses ground types... it seemed fitting at the time! The Italian name is playing off of that stereotype of Giovanni being a mafia-type boss.

... and then sometimes I throw that to the wind and give something a name just because I like how it sounds. "Johann Malagrav" is my recent example. I like the name Johann, and "Malag" is (if I remember right) a Drow-based name-- tacked rav on the end to make it sound rougher.

Edit: Holy crap, Heim, you really put some awesome consideration into your names.

My characters have a very interesting mix of names. I normally use 20000-names.com and swear by that website (it's greaaaat look at it) but, I also sometimes have names already picked out or will simply name them on characteristics. For example I have a character named Clover. When I first drew him he was a doodle with a four-leaf clover on his shirt. I also name characters after cool words I head like synecdoche and azimuth. Oftentimes before characters are named I have "codenames" my personal favorite codename is Mr. Floaty Hands Guy (come to think of it, I believe he still needs a name).

I've used the exact site as Senny... probably for the last seven years or so! Most of the times I'll look up a name with a meaning I like, or that might sound interesting. For a while I'd use five-letter names as they're short, easy to remember, or were even easy for people to whisper on Furcadia.

Liek Heimdall said, the way some names sound simply fits the character. Especially viking styled or roman style names are good for heavy, strong male characters. An 'a' at the end of the name makes it sound more female.. some names sound more fantasy or mystical, others may sound more sensual or seductive.

It's really interesting to see all the thought people put into names.

Ah, I pull my character names from all sorts of places. Sometimes it's using Behind the Name or similar websites for finding something both appropriate culturally and meaningful - went that route when I was playing an American Gods-styled Ma'at, and found the name Rashida, an Arabic name with 'rightly guided' behind it. Sometimes I do names as homages to other characters or concepts, like Rhaetia and Rydia and Serenne (although Serenne's true name is Hjördis, a Scandinavian name most famously used by the mother of Sigurd/Siegfried). Sometimes, as for Ilsairya and Daelin, I pull them out of thin air.

(...Or at least I thought I pulled Daelin out of thin air. Turns out it was actually the name of some Proudmoore fellow for a few years before I created him. Maybe that was a really indirect homage?)

And then sometimes there's the good ol' "Well, guys, I just made a new character, but I'm having a devil of a time coming up with a good name" to my friends. Whatever works!

If the setting is based on or close to a specific culture, I hit up Behindthename.com most of the time. Since I do play a lot of fantasy without such strong cultural links, I'll also just go with things that "sound right" for the culture of the game. I also have a thing for names that are words (Alkali, Coven, Elide... Lyse...), though only English words. And I have a sort of obsession with having names be "even" in a game--no more than one starting with each letter, and evenly distributed across the alphabet.

I usually pick a name sometime after I've gotten the base concept for the character, but before I start writing things down, because it helps to firm things up to have a name attached. And if I'm skimming around Behindthename, I just look for something that sounds right.... I only go for meaning if the people who named them in-world would have.

Usually, I'm lucky and the name just sort of comes with the character. Whenever something that needs characters presents itself, they just...show up in my head already. If the name isn't quite right, I figure out what root it has, and sift through names of the same or similar origins on babynamesworld.

I usually get an image of what the character looks like first. Then I usually have to think up a name that fits it well.. What's really frustrating is when I think up a name and I can't think of a body to go with it.