How do you name your RPG characters?

When playing a female character in any given RPG I tend to name her after my girlfriend.

Otherwise, I'll scan my DVD collection until I fall upon something great like Pootie Tang.

How do you guys decide on a name for your characters?

I have a specific name for each archetype I like to play.

All my paladins in various games are named Relas Kertum for example.

I play it by feel.

I used to just make up names for my MMO characters by putting together letters I think work well together. "Lanja", for example. Now I'll take words I find interesting. Some are last names of real people or fictional characters like Starkey (Ringo Starr's real last name) or (Egon) Spengler. Sometimes I might take old fashioned words I find fun like Coolerator, Flatcap, Spondoolicks.

In a single player RPG all player characters are to be named Link regardless of gender.

Just take names from other books or video games that I enjoyed. Most names come from the Silmarillions for me.

@fattony12000:

That's fantastic. I try to be as vulgar as possible playing any nintendo property.

It's pretty great for a boy named Fuckface to save all of Hyrule.

Also, Poopship Destroyer is always my go-to for any space ship I'm allowed to name.

I called all my male RPG characters Duggwin for ages. Now I go the GRRM route of tweaking a real name to make it fantasy-ish. Ozmond, for example, or Morghanna.

http://www.behindthename.com/

@fattony12000: I love Shitnerd. Something about two insults that aren't normally combined coming together really tickles me pink.

Anyways for me it depends on how serious I think I will take the game.
If I intend to take it very seriously and put as much of myself into the character I'm playing as I will do Zol Royce which is enough of my real name to take it seriously and enough of my online handle that I can still go "Yeah I'm just playing some game I'm a space commander so I'm still going to have fun with it."

If it is a lady character that I also intend to take seriously then usually just the name of a lady I like or something but never personally know, just like a celebrity or something like Emma Watson. I find if I use someone I know and then things go sour one day or something then I don't like playing that character anymore due to the bad feelings associated with the name.

If I am not taking it very seriously then I'll find a defining trait of the character model or world or game or something and apply it to them in a very unimaginative way, my female warrior for an RPG recently was good with physical strength so I named her like "Fistpunch Facecrusher"

I either keep the stock name or reference an old RPG classic. My Conception II duder was named Makoto Narukami because combining those names is like summoning a god.

And as for Western RPGs, I name them after rappers. My Skyrim guy was ODB.

Random name generators never let me down. I usually default to "Atlas" for male characters though.

Default/stock name if applicable. Otherwise, I just go with BabyChooChoo or Choo or something. On rare occasions, I'll actually put some time into trying to come up with a name that I fill fits the universe the game is set in.

In general I give people either really simple (Will, Serah) or really stupid (Elflady, Von Hildebrand, Prissy) names, with emphasis on the latter.

@bboymaestro:

Imagine the possibilities of wutang if ODB was dragonborn!

@bigmess: He kind of already Dragon shouts in his songs all the time. But yeah, now I really want a picture of the entire Wu-Tang Clan (Cappadonna can come too, I guess) sitting around the Companions table.

Depends. First time through always just 'Zevvion'. Second or further runs I tend to name them by how I play them. For example, in Dark Souls I did a faith build so named it Lightbringer, a bleed pyro build named it BrutalWarrior, a fast blue sentinel named it Shadow Vanguard and so on. But if I'm playing Zelda or Final Fantasy it's usually something like this:

I always call my RPG characters "Mariel" from the Redwall series. Loved those books! They always made me hungry; they really went in-depth about the foodstuffs.

@helvetica: Someone who knows the brilliance of Brian Jacques! Matthias is the shit!

Salamandastrong is soooo good.

When I'm naming my entire party (I've been playing Icewind Dale recently, for example) I use random name generation.

Otherwise, if it's just a main character with no default option, I'll name my female characters Fox (after an old friend who liked foxes) and my male characters Takuma (randomly generated name for my Persona 4 character, that I got super attached to)

If it's something other people are gonna see, like in Dark Souls, it's usually gibberish, like Phlorb or asdjlask.

I like to fill it in with the longest version of WASSSSSAP?! I can fit.

On super lazy days I just put in guy.

@zirilius: Yeah he is great! Salamandastron was one of my favorites. The rabbit characters were so feisty and cheeky!

I named Cloud Ichirou and Squall Jirou and Zidane Tarou and Tidus Sabutarou. I couldn't change Lightning's name but she'll always be 'Bimbo' to me anyway.

Depending on how clear the game is about it's inspirations (having characters named after ancient Greece, Rome, Egypt, Norse mythology or stuff like that), I may google around a bit for setting/era appropriate names. If it's set in some viking inspired setting, or set in the modern world, I tend to name my character Allena, which is just a name I like, and I suppose also has some additional meaning in how I tend to play these games and MMO's in particular, as it's an old Swedish word for "alone" (derived from the Germanic Allein).

If it's a character I create, then she'll almost always be a really tall African girl like my sister in law, who is fucking fascinating. So I'll pick a name like Njeri or Oyeyemi. Because those are really the only African names I know. Otherwise, default. Link will always be Link. Except when it's really funny.

The usual.

Mike Rotch

Seymour Butts

Amanda Hugandkiss

Captain Chipmunks

You could call her Ichirou because she's just a female version of Cloud.

Whatever's appropriate. For some reason in BioWare games I tend to like to make tough-girl redheads with short hair and name them either Catherine or something that sounds roughly Irish or Welsh in origin.

Commander Catherine Shepard was a soldier with cropped red hair in Mass Effect.

Major Catherine Huxley was a trooper with short red hair slicked back in SWTOR.

Elissa Cousland was the Arlessa of Amaranthine, Hero of Fereldan and a warrior with shoulder length red hair.

Champion of Kirkwall Rebekah Hawke was a warrior with an auburn crew cut.

If it's something I'm streaming I usually name the character or file ASSHOLE for some reason.

I usually play as female characters and pull from a stable of names including "Risty","Musubi","Momiji" and "Mithraka" as well as a few others. Last names vary on the game. For instance my Final Fantasy XIV character is "Musubi Azeyma" Azeyma being one of the Deity's in the lore of FFXIV.

I sometimes go with Greek mythology, or other mythological character names.

My characters are always women so I usually get names from my books on women warriors through the ages, or from websites about the origin and meaning of names from all around the world. Either that or I just stare at the screen till a name comes to me. If the game has a name generator I'll usually use it. I still remember my Neverwinter Nights character's name. Tonia Yana, which was randomly generated. My Skyrim character is called Elizabeth Ravenscroft, which was one of those 'stare at the screen for half an hour' names.

I take RPG's way too seriously...

I usually use names from books or films. For female characters my go to at the moment is Arya Stark. For male characters its Bela Lugosi.

If I have to name a group of people then its usually bands. That works great for games like FTL. Sometimes that can be based on what I name my ship. I once called my ship Goldfinger and filled it with all of the actors who have played Bond.

When playing X-Com I brought in the Giant Bomb crew. Vinny turned out to be one hell of a sniper. Plus with the nicknames in that game I could refer to Jeff as Dr. Tracksuit.

I feel like I need to use Dicknuts when I get to FFX.

I always name my characters either Batman or Sinatra. I'm a simple man.

My default male hero name is "Zeik", but I usually prefer to find a name that I think suits the character, so I don't actually use it that often. If there's a default name then I will almost always use it, because thinking up names is often of the hardest parts of a game for me. If I'm not satisfied with a name it can ruin my whole experience, so I can spend hours trying to think up a name.

Random name generators are one of my favorite quality of life featues in games for that reason. I wish all games had them.

If there is a default name (like most early FF games), I don't touch it. If there isn't a default name but it's still a JRPG (such as Persona), I usually pick something that suits the character, such as a Japanese name in the case of Persona (or the actual protagonist's name after they picked a canonical one). In other games like Skyrim or MMOs where the name doesn't really matter, I have a group of names I usually pick from such as Mirabelle and Ellie. On rare occasion, I choose something else that pops into my head.

All my characters are named Tungsten, because it is my favourite element. When Tungsten doesn't fit, I take out the vowels and go with TNGSTN.

Usually after another character in some other media I recently enjoyed.

Every time I start an RPG I always feel like I need to come up with a name that I could use for all games. For some reason the name that always pops up first is Carter. Not a clue why.

I used to try and put real cool names for my characters, but they turn out shit. These days I roll with Tahi for any character.

I usually use Victoire or Sicilyia, but if I haaaave to play as a guy I usually just call the character VeeCee.

Name generators always help, especially when you're playing a game that constantly throws your name choice in your face. Princess Maker 3 and Persona 3 both forced me to find good names, and they've stuck for a few good years now. Nothing like being stuck for a first and last name when characters are constantly using both when they talk to you.

Relkin if a man, Rina or Sarah if a woman. If I have to make a whole party(like Icewind Dale or something) then I branch out and make up some stuff. Also sometimes I call a character The Judge, especially if they're a silent protagonist.

Suikoden, 108 stars over what 7 games, right now I'm partial to Varkas

I tend to make the name something lore friendly. In Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion my first character was a wood elf named Kinderfeld. That just sounded right. In stuff that's more contemporary (or futuristic) I tend to use regular human names. Commander John Shepard for instance. In a fantasy setting, again, whatever is appropriate. I tend to go for something Scottish for dwarves, and Gaelic for elves (yes I know Kinderfeld is German shut up). As far as regular ass human names go, I have a couple I tend to rotate through based on what I'm feeling at the time. Names like Connor or Marcus, Garrett or Roland. Not sure why. I just like those names. Strong, manly names, those names.

In SWTOR my names are all over the place, though. I've got a Sith Warrior named Darth Yolo and a Trooper named Juicebox (everyone else in the squad had a dumb nickname). Maybe I just don't take MMO names quite as seriously. I had the same problem with City of Heroes and Champions Online.

As a weird aside, Dragon Age: Inquisition is going to make me stretch outside of my comfort zone a bit since my first character will be a Qunari Warrior. I think I'll have to dig around for some Turkish names to see what strikes my fancy (the Qunari do seem loosely based on the Ottomans in some ways).

Variations of my own name or variations of names, titles, and places from history, mythology, film, and other various fiction. Sometimes a round-about play on words that still somehow remains consistent with the canonical context of said game if something clever springs to mind (usually not though!). Sometimes an oblique reference to a character, catchphrase, location, etc. from some other underrated or lesser known video game that holds a special place in my heart.

And all sorts of other idiosyncratic minutiae in between. The only consistency really is that I have no consistency with naming conventions. I have no "go to" prime candidates that I've been using since I was kid or anything like that but sometimes feel it would be nice to have that so I don't have to spend time wasting nearly 3 hours over-thinking the whole damn thing (ahem, Dark Souls II) just to come up with something that's significantly boring or mundane in proportion to the time I put into even bothering (sometimes quite counter-productively) with the entire freaking endeavor.

I usually just stick with the default names. I feel like I'm missing something from the story if I change the names if they let me.

But if it's a blank name I kinda go buck wild but still make it sound normal so I'm not just looking at a character named "bonerwad" the whole time or something.

I often use names from comic books. Barda is a name I use a lot because I usually create a female character.

Crusader Kings II/common/cultures/00_cultures.txt

it's pretty much perfect.

The best description I heard, I think was actually from BioWare, and it's 'Viking Islamic Borg'.