How do you name your RPG characters?

[Hipolito]

Whenever I play a game that asks me to name my character, I draw a blank. I stare at the screen for minutes trying to come up with something. Sometimes a game will suggest a name, but I usually like to come up with my own. And I usually regret it, especially if the game doesn't let me rename my character.

So I thought I'd make a list of sources of names for the next time this happens.

• Real names of you, your family members, friends, colleagues, and neighbors
• Cool variation of a real name. (e.g., Kimberly -> Qymburrleigh)
• Cool ethnic names (e.g. Siobhan which is Irish, it's pronounced "Shivawn")
• Cool German words (https://www.berlitz.com/blog/longest-co ... rman-words)
• Ethnic foods that could pass as names (e.g., Polenta, Banh Mi, Rasgulla)
• The name of the game backwards (e.g., Miryks, Amitlu)
• Names of people from your favorite band or sports team
• An "everyman" name like Joe or Bob because you're a champion of the downtrodden
• Names of places you live or have visited (e.g., Sheekago, Arjantinah, Lundun)
• Assortment of your favorite superheroes/villains from Marvel and DC who would otherwise never appear together
• Names of celebrities who otherwise aren't seen together
• Famous people from different eras
• Names you've used in previous games, so it's like you're using the same characters from game to game
• A name suggestive of the character's best attribute (e.g., Guudshot, Stonebelly, Charisma)
• Something made-up and ridiculous (e.g. Bloodbucket, Rainbro, Moonicorn, Doondalio)
• Characters from an established story like Star Wars, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, or Lord of the Rings
• Mythological names (like from Greek/Roman, Abrahamic/Karmic religions, Cthulhu mythos)
• A hybrid of the above. (For example, Idris Elba + Luke Skywalker = Idris Skywalker)
• Use a name generator like:
  • https://www.behindthename.com/random/
  • https://www.namegenerator.co/
  • https://www.fantasynamegenerators.com/
• This Reddit thread has many more ideas.

Do you have any go-to naming methods? Any names you're particularly proud of (or embarrassed by)?

[Unagi]

Quite often I will just go with 'Unagi'. (and then I also have one other 'alias' that I've often used)

Have you never gone with Hipolito?

[Jaymann]

I have a few I tend to use repeatedly depending on class:

Wang Chung
Butchy McButch
Bowfinger
Ser Haxalot
Karen
Barbie
Rogue Nation
Balrog
Clerissa

[Blackhawk]

In modern or sci-fi games with humans I usually just go with real names. Other than that, I rarely use of those methods (at least on purpose - I have read thousands of names, and sometimes my subconscious will pull on an existing name by accident.) Existing characters already have stories, personalities, traits, and so on. I don't want my own name - I'm not playing me. That isn't me casting that spell, and if I want to get into that character, I don't want to start with that baggage (likewise friends and family.) I also care a lot about setting, so I don't want something reminding me of the real world. An alien named after a sports team? "Look out, Commander Shephard, it's Golden State Warrior!" WTF? And I certainly don't want my RPG party to include Mr. Immortal and Anti-Lad, nor is my barbarian Hercules, nor is my wizard Rupert Giles. Previous games? Very rarely, mostly because those names carry impressions from their first owner, and this is a new character. Eiken was a good guy, and a tough fighter. I'm sitting down to play a new character who may or may not be like that, so he's not Eiken. He's someone else.

A name suggestive of the character's best attribute (e.g., Guudshot, Stonebelly, Charisma)

That one I absolutely use if the setting makes it appropriate. Them dwarves gotta have their Stonebreakers and Roughelms, and it says something if your barbarian is 'Goral the Fleshrender.' Sometimes I'll translate the description into a race-appropriate language (Raudhauga is approximately old Norse for 'Redeye', for instance, which might work for a dwarf who drinks a bit too much.)

In a fantasy game or for aliens? After more than 40 years of tabletop RPGs, I'm pretty good at making names.

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Method 1: Often I'll start by playing with sounds.

Ok, half-orc character. Something orcish. I'll try some orcish sounding phonemes:

Gor urg blah rall blor gash mor har bag bolg gru

And then I'll play a bit with them.

Gor gash. Gorgash? What about Gorbash? Borgash?

Urg blah. Blech, no. Urglah? That's not bad.

Morgor. Too Tolkien. Morrall? No, sounds like a judgmental mushroom. Needs a hard consonant in there. Mortal? No, English word. Morkal? No, too Robin Williams and Warhammer. Morgal!

Or

Dwarven character. Lots of old Norse sounds, largely thanks to Tolkien. His source material (the Poetic Eddas) list a huge number of dwarves, and gives me a lot of sounds to play with. Dvelin. Skjaldi. Kolgar.

Or

Human character. Commoner? Short name, something that could be a name in our world, but isn't (or at least not commonly - there are billions of us crawling around.) Lesse, we have Brad and Bram. Go through the alphabet until something sticks. Brab, Brac, Brad, Brae, Braf, Brag, Brah (come at me!), Brai, Braj, Brak, Bral, Bram, Bran (gone, thanks to JRRM), Brao, etc. Brac, Brak, Bral, and Brae might work (the latter for a woman.)

Not a commoner? Give 'em a few more syllables, or maybe a surname, nickname, title, lineage ("Brelman, son of Jarnod.")


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Method 2: Play with existing names. Look at the sounds of other characters in (wherever) with a 'feel' that suits me.

One campaign I was running needed a villain. He needed to be both an evil ass, and convincing as a friendly ally before being revealed. He was a spellcaster (secretly a necromancer.) I wanted a classic sounding character. I looked at Tolkien, who used the name (or affix) -gond a few times. I looked at Eddings, who had Belgarion, Belgarath, etc (Bel- was a sort of title for wizards.) I played around and ended up with Balagond.

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Method 3: Working with an established setting. If I'm doing something in a known, established setting (let's say I'm playing Skyrim), I'll do the phoneme dance as in #1, but I'll start with the canon for that world.

So, that Skyrim character? Say they're a Khajiit. It's easy to find Khajiit names, but I don't want to end sharing a name with an NPC, so I'll play with what's there. Here are the male Khajiit NPCs in Oblivion:

Bhisha, Dahlima, Dro'shanji, Hassiri, J'baana, J'Baasha, J'bari, J'Ghasta, J'mhad, J'riska, J'skar, J'zidzo, J'zin-Dar, Ja'Fazir, K'Sharr, M'aiq, Ma'Raska, Ma'zaddha, M'dasha, M'desi, M'dirr, M'raaj-Dar, Ranarr-Jo, R'vanni, Ra'dirsha, Ra'Jahirr, Ra'Jhan, Ra'jhera, Ra'jiradh, Ri'Bassa, Ri'Jirr, Ri'Zakar, S'drassa, S'rathad, S'razirr, S'shani, Urjabhi

Ok, J' S', or Ra' are good places to start. Double Rs and Ss (ss, rr). Lots end in -a or -i. Few Us.

Start with that:

J' _ _ _ _ ss -i J'arissi? Ra'Jissi? Ok, I'll check for those on that page. A quick search shows neither. Do they fit my character? Problem solved.

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It sounds complicated, but in practice it usually only take a few minutes, sometimes less. Not a huge investment when I'm going to spend a hundred hours trying to get a sense of this character. Of course, I've read a ton of fantasy, plus more than my fair share of mythology, legend, folklore, etc. in my life, so I have a substantial amount of material to draw on.

Hidden secret from that: Two of the names I listed there are actually stolen directly from Tolkien and mythology: Skjali and Eiken. Or, rather, Eikenskjaldi. Eikenskjaldi was listed in the Poetic Edda as one of the dwarves, along with (amongst others) Gandalf, Kili, Fili, Thorin, Gloin, Dori, Ori, etc. Tolkien combined two of them - Thorin and Eikenskjali, which translates as 'oaken shield' into 'Thorin Oakenshield.' I chopped it into two different names - a straight lift from mythology with a minor tweak.

[Carpet_pissr]

Tough to beat the aforementioned ‘polenta’ (aka fancy grits), but I’m partial to Joey Jo-Jo Jr. Shabadoo (J5 Shabadoo if you’re into the brevity thing)

Seriously though, I do use ‘Clem Fandango’ quite a bit.

[Madmarcus]

I've got a couple of standards that I reuse over and over again. Other than those I'll create them on the fly without too much rhyme or reason. The exception is ARPGs like Last Epoch or Grim Dawn. For those I have a special short list of name inspired by Devo songs (Mr Kamikazi, Mr DNA, Spud Boy and so forth)

[Scraper]

A lot of the time I will use names from Octopus Overlords. Over the years I've had several Yellowkings, MSDs, DBTs, Drazzils, Mr Feds, to name a few. Mostly I use them if the name fits the character. So naturally if there is an insane chaotic rogue I always call them Hepcat.

[Skinypupy]

My very first D&D character was named Stromos Tharbane, a name entirely at random. He was a huge human Barbarian, so any game I've played since where I'm a male melee fighter is Stromos.

Outside of that, I just make up completely random fantasy-ish names that I think sound cool.

[Dramatist]

I don’t try very hard. My usual names are either Bowie or Ziggy, Futurama character names or sometimes names of friends or family.

The name I have used the most by far is Scruffy.


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[Max Peck]

I generally use the names of friends' characters from when I played Star Wars Galaxies. It's a very specific methodology...

[Jolor]

I typically read speculative fiction so often go to book characters for names; sometimes varying but often not. Will also name characters based on a nickname they would earn - especially if they are the type of character who would need to maintain anonymity when moving through the world - or be a play on their class. And, sometimes, I'll just pick a silly name that makes me smile.

[TheMix]

I generally start with a letter and then just try randomly adding stuff until I like it. But that was then. These days I just reuse my World of Warcraft names. When I have a big list of characters/alts, I like them to have names beginning with different letters so I can easily tell them apart.

(from memory - it's been many years)
Zyria - mage
Yllyni - shaman
Srixx - goblin hunter
Garrokk - orc death knight
Dracknaran (sp?) - night elf druid - this was my first character; these days I use a short version - Drack, Drach, Drakk
Tyrleen - um... hmmm... I don't remember

And a few more that I don't use and have forgotten. I had a 'C', I think.

[YellowKing]

It's easy for me because I use the same three names over and over. I have male and female versions of each:

Chandros/Chandra (or Chandras) - The original name came from one of my favorite books, The List of 7 by Mark Frost. It's the one I've used the longest.

Khephram/Khephra - I think this came from a list of demon names. I *think* I first used it for Anarchy Online, and it's been a staple in MMOs ever since.

Alastor/Alastra - Another demon name, but it's pretty common so I hardly ever use it for multiplayer. Occasionally I'll use it for single player games where I don't have to worry about uniqueness.

In the rare instances none of those will work (or they don't fit the character), I'll generally go with a list of common words that fit the theme of the race/class, then combine them. So for a Necromancer I might come up with words like "grim" or "raven" and stumble across something that sounds cool like "Grimrave."

[Hyena]

I usually try to name them appropriate for either their skillset or abilities. I also have a few that I will stick with, rarely venturing too far from them.
Shadowy rogue/ranger character? Darkbowe (my first WoW character)
Barbarian/Fighter? Gutslasher
Sorc/Wizard? Elemento or Elementia
Necro/Dark Wizard? Gravewalker or Bonefist
Paladin/Crusader? Stonewall
Monk/Unarmed? Hammerhands

When it came to City of Heroes, I have always tried to stick with words related to their abilities, sometimes bordering on ridiculous.
Lights Out (Elec/Dark Brute)
Dr. Chemo (Rad/Rad Defender)
Sinder (Demon/Fire Mastermind)
Fenix (Fire/Fire Blaster)
Eclipse (Dark/Dark anything)

I never pick "silly" names for some reason, names that wouldn't fit in that "world". I have a few fallbacks that serve as first names if I need them, and they are usually alternate spellings of common names:
Daryan
Jakob
Kile

[WYBaugh]

If it's a party RPG I go with Star Trek names.

[Reemul]

I call all my characters Reemul, then Reeemul, then Reemule and then Reeemule. Totally original

[Blackhawk]

When I have a big list of characters/alts, I like them to have names beginning with different letters so I can easily tell them apart.

And so that the auto-fill in the mailbox only requires one letter! I have a bank alt in WoW that I made the mistake of giving a name that shared the first two letters of another character's name. Now when I'm moving stuff around, I have to type for the recipient every mail (and there are sometimes many mails) rather than just smacking the first letter.

[dbt1949]

Mainly I use real names or variants. And for some reason I like using the name The Courier.

[coopasonic]

In Everquest, my first character was a coopasonic because I am really imaginative. I met up with some folks and we decided to restart on a different server and they asked me if I could shorten my name, from then on I was Kupa. I used that in most fantasy games until I switched to playing female characters and it became Kyra. Now I generally use Kyra and if there is a party, then Kupa and then my kids names and possibly my wife's name, but I try to make Kyra look like my wife so it can be confusing.

[Sudy]

I usually spend the better part of an afternoon on ancestry, baby name, and history sites. Character names are extremely important for me. I have some that I like so much that I recycle them for similarly-themed characters in other games, but many I come up with new. Often I'll put a twist on them to be unique or if it's already in use.

I've used names from the ancient Carthaginian Barca dynasty often. I'm frequently inspired by ancient mythology. Often I'll pick a name with specific meaning, but then I'll forget it.

I'll also just pull names out of my imagination and iterate on them to find sounds that suit the character forming in my mind. Then I google them to make sure there's not an unintended connotation.

If it's a universe with in-depth original languages and cultures, I'll look through wikis to make sure I'm following common naming conventions. Elder Scrolls is a good example. When there's less established lore, sometimes I'll combine a name with an adjective describing them, like Duskbeard the dwarf in WoW, or Constance Muddhart, a leaf-person necromancer in Guild Wars 2.

In more superficial/silly games sometimes I just go with a comedic or stereotypical name. E.g. in Diablo 3 my male barbarian's named Krusha.

If it's a game I know I'll be playing a lot with people I've gamed with before, I'll use a variation on my relevant handle(s). But I prefer not to do this as I usually wind up imagining the character as myself to a much greater degree. And I don't usually like myself, so....

In those situations I'll often try to make the avatar look like me. In the rare occasion there's a fat build available I pick it, but then regret it because I see it all the time and it makes me feel like shit about myself in real life.

Gotta be conscious about the first letters or syllable of your name, because that's what people are going to shorten it to! If I'm playing with people I know I try to make the name and shortform (and avatar) my gender. But I often roleplay different genders and races when I'm soloing. I find it helps expand my mind and creativity a little, though it's also easy to fall back on stereotypes. But I like to think that if I ever write a novel this can serve as an exercise to help with writing characters with backgrounds I'm less familiar with.

So pretty similar to Blackhawk really. Now you know!

[Hipolito]

Have you never gone with Hipolito?

I have used Hipólito and similar-sounding names a few times.

I'm enjoying reading everyone's naming schemes. I like Blackhawk's idea of starting with an English description of your character, then translating it into another language and going with that as the name.

And I like Hyena's naming a wizard "Elemento." That sounds Italian to me. I can imagine that when he speaks with his hands, he accidentally fires off spells.

Some notable names of mine:

• In Knights of the Old Republic, I was Tarjun Kurushk. I think it's a good Star Wars name, and it's inspired by names from the Mahabharat. (Tarjun from Arjun, Kurushk from Kurukshetra.)
• In Morrowind, I was Fran Fine from the show The Nanny. I made a character class called Nanny, which had a diverse set of fighting, magic, and thieving skills ('cause a nanny can do anything). I tried to make my character look like Fran Drescher.
• In Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor, I was "hee." So other characters would say "Hi, hee!" or "hee, we need to get out of here!" And it was extra fun to talk with the character Jack Frost, who already begins and ends his sentences with "hee" or "ho."
• In Wizardry 8, you could choose from different Personalities, and each Personality had a few voice options. I gave my Gadgeteer a Spanish name, "El Chiste" (The Joke), and wanted to give him an Eccentric personality. To my luck, one of the Eccentric personalities had a Latino accent, and talked about himself in the third person as if he were narrating his life story.

[Blackhawk]

And I like Hyena's naming a wizard "Elemento." That sounds Italian to me.

It absolutely sounds like a 1960s DC Comics character to me, ala Metamorpho.

[Skinypupy]

I usually spend the better part of an afternoon on ancestry, baby name, and history sites. Character names are extremely important for me. I have some that I like so much that I recycle them for similarly-themed characters in other games, but many I come up with new. Often I'll put a twist on them to be unique or if it's already in use.

I've used names from the ancient Carthaginian Barca dynasty often. I'm frequently inspired by ancient mythology. Often I'll pick a name with specific meaning, but then I'll forget it.

I'll also just pull names out of my imagination and iterate on them to find sounds that suit the character forming in my mind. Then I google them to make sure there's not an unintended connotation.

If it's a universe with in-depth original languages and cultures, I'll look through wikis to make sure I'm following common naming conventions. Elder Scrolls is a good example. When there's less established lore, sometimes I'll combine a name with an adjective describing them, like Duskbeard the dwarf in WoW, or Constance Muddhart, a leaf-person necromancer in Guild Wars 2.

In more superficial/silly games sometimes I just go with a comedic or stereotypical name. E.g. in Diablo 3 my male barbarian's named Krusha.

If it's a game I know I'll be playing a lot with people I've gamed with before, I'll use a variation on my relevant handle(s). But I prefer not to do this as I usually wind up imagining the character as myself to a much greater degree. And I don't usually like myself, so....

In those situations I'll often try to make the avatar look like me. In the rare occasion there's a fat build available I pick it, but then regret it because I see it all the time and it makes me feel like shit about myself in real life.

Gotta be conscious about the first letters or syllable of your name, because that's what people are going to shorten it to! If I'm playing with people I know I try to make the name and shortform (and avatar) my gender. But I often roleplay different genders and races when I'm soloing. I find it helps expand my mind and creativity a little, though it's also easy to fall back on stereotypes. But I like to think that if I ever write a novel this can serve as an exercise to help with writing characters with backgrounds I'm less familiar with.

So pretty similar to Blackhawk really. Now you know!

To put this level of thought and consideration into simply naming a character is fascinating to me.

Guess we’ve all got our different gaming quirks.

[Sudy]

I admit sometimes I just want to play the damn game and pick something I'm less in love with, but that character usually winds up being rerolled. I remember my first City of Heroes character was The Ludicrous Mook and had ridiculous hair. Though that of course was the game that almost everyone spent hours on character design in.

[Blackhawk]

Guess we’ve all got our different gaming quirks.

Absolutely.

Reading the responses in this thread, I was actually amazed at how many people prefer to do the one thing that I absolutely cannot stand: having a non-setting name, be that a real name, a silly name, or a real-world reference. My first thought is to wonder how in the world players actually get into the mind and role of their character. And then I remember that most just don't get into games the same way I do. As with so many other games, a lot (probably a majority) of people play for the mechanical experience, not for the thematic experience (in other words, not for the experience of visiting that world as one of it's inhabitants.) I'm exactly the opposite - I enjoy the mechanical elements and a certain amount of challenge, but I want them there mainly to provide structure to the experience of being in that world.

So for me, "Stabby McSwordface" is a game killer, pulling me right out of the setting, while for a majority it has absolutely no impact. And I'm fine with that (except in multiplayer games, especially thematic MMOs like LotRO, or tabletop RPGs, where their name does negatively impact my experience.)

Here's why I name the way I do:

The name is a big part of designing the character for me, and worth as much attention as anything else. As I'm making a character, I'm looking at the classes and the portraits and finding a combination that inspires me. One that gives me an immediate sense of that character's personality and attitude. If that doesn't happen, I go looking for one that does to import. Here is the one I ended up with for a bard on my Baldur's Gate run a few years ago:



I look at the portrait and think it's cool (and it is that rarity - a woman in fantasy art that isn't armed with pasties and a battle thong.) It immediately makes me think about how much fun a bard like that would be. I can see confidence, competence, but also a smirk smirk full of humor and biting sarcasm - a little bit Rocket Raccoon, a little bit Cyrano de Bergerac. That is the core of my character creation, that initial concept. The mechanical choices are made in service to that concept, not the other way around. I do take into account mechanical function (efficiency, effectiveness, etc), I just don't let it be the deciding factor. Yeah, a bow would be mechanically better, but the concept tells me that she's a melee fighter with some panache and style, so that's the choice I make.

And when I get her in game, her choices will be based on what she would do, not what I would do. That, to me, is what the 'role playing' in an RPG is - inhabiting that character the same way an actor learns to 'become' their character, acting as they would, choosing what they would, making the bad decisions that they would even if it is sub-optimal.

And with that approach to character design in mind, I can't imagine naming that character 'Hepcat', or 'Xena', or 'Sindee Lopper', or 'Mable', or 'Etag Srudlab'. It flies in the face of everything else I do when making a character. I could, however, see her being a... lesse... Varya. Or Belassiz. Or Keela Razortongue.

And yeah, that puts me in the minority, and means that I'm not usually in the target audience for a lot of games. But it's what makes me happy, so it's what I do.

[Blackhawk]

I admit sometimes I just want to play the damn game and pick something I'm less in love with, but that character usually winds up being rerolled. I remember my first City of Heroes character was The Ludicrous Mook and had ridiculous hair. Though that of course was the game that almost everyone spent hours on character design in.

Man, City of Heroes was a blast to create names in - any superhero game was. It was so much fun to embrace the tropes, and I actually used some of the methods in the first post. My lightning blaster was "Drumfire", which is an archaic term for thunder. My cybernetic... something was "Forty-Two". My Italian scrapper with razor sharp claws was "Scorpario." My infamous tanker was "Due Process." He was a disgruntled prosecutor who got sick of corrupt judges letting criminals walk, so he remade himself as Due Process. Why? Because he still believed that all criminals were entitled to Due Process - which mostly involved punching.

Due Process:

Spoiler:

And then there was my science defender, a true peace lover. His name (and catchphrase?)

Spoiler:

Groovy Man!

In Champions Online, I had a magician, complete with black tux, tophat, and a curled moustache. Except that he was skeletal. His name? "The Great Mortini". It worked on multiple levels.

[Sudy]

I'll never forget Due Process!

[Zarathud]

It depends on what I’m doing. If I’m playing a PC Game where the character is “me” and has no outside backstory I’ll use Zara or Zarathud. Otherwise I have a few favorite character archetypes.

If I’m playing a female magic wielding powerful leader, I’ll probably use the name Sethra Lavode from Steven Brust’s Jhereg series. Love the name and backstory of a necromancer mage leading armies in battle.

If it’s a male dwarf or trader, the name is usually Tyrian Ironfist. A Lannister type fellow who knows things and is hard enough to get the job done. Just don’t ask too many questions.

An evil noble who covets power and manipulates others from the shadows would be Lord Derelith (a name from the real life alibi of a criminal defendant claiming they were controlled by this D&D mind flayer and lost their appeal).

A cleric warrior priest would be Cassius Belli. A Roman legionary type who believes divine lessons could be taught by pain in battle, but that his adventurers needed to be healed at the brink of death to truly learn their lessons well. A man who would be willing to betray the tyrant Caesar for the greater good.

Sometimes I’ll use the name Amin from the African dictator for a brutal blood-thirsty warmonger. Sets the mood.

A foppish, swashbuckling bard is Ringlo of the Gales. An old D&D character whose name was stolen from Tolkien footnotes, and was the counterpart to my friend’s brooding axe wielding antihero called Darklon (we were 8-10 at the time).

Or I’ll come up with something new for a character. Usually that happens when something inspires me, and the schtick is usually where I come up with how to create a name. Like Anton for an antiquarian investigating satanic rites at Arkham. Or ScrubBOT for my robotic bubble blaster in City of Heroes.

[Blackhawk]

If I’m playing a female magic wielding powerful leader, I’ll probably use the name Sethra Lavode from Steven Brust’s Jhereg series.

One of my all-time favorite series. I've had a couple of characters based on Vlad over the years.

[coopasonic]

Everquest was the one and only time I personally played a character in a game. I was in a role-playing guild/clan that was in cahoots with a larger group of role playing guilds where I really could be immersed. The role play extended to message boards as well and I even wrote short stories for my character.

That level of immersion doesn't really exist for me anymore. When I'm playing a story-ish RPG I will make character decisions that I think are appropriate for the character, but that character is not me. I am the puppet master, not the character. I think, being a programmer for three decades, the mechanics of the game are generally the main thing I see, which would make immersion pretty unlikely.

[GreenGoo]

Hey Hipolito,

I always enjoy your posts. I wish you were inclined to post more often.

Even if the game or whatever isn't my cup of tea, I enjoy hearing your views on things. Always insightful. And appreciated.

[Fardaza]

I use a combination of many of the methods others have described. Usually I use the same dozen or so names over and over. It's easy to remember what role I want that character to play in the party. For example, Fardaza is always a wizard of some sort. Wynndor (Golden Wind) is always a fighter.

Bollozga is a good orc name if that's all I'm looking for. (Or Boll'ozga or Bolloz'ga) The z is pronounced zh.

My first D&D character was a paladin named Mr. Clean. He was knighted later on and became Sir Clean. He married the high priestess, Saryena the Merciful. I simply won't use Sir Clean ever again because he holds a dear place in my heart. But, Saryena is always a cleric.

Many others that I won't mention, but are usually used for easy remembering of roles.

[Jaymann]

Many others that I won't mention, but are usually used for easy remembering of roles.

This works for me. When I get a message that "Balrog is stunned" I instantly know it is my half-orc fighter.

[LawBeefaroni]

If it's RPG light I go with LawBeefaroni.

If it's more in-depth, I'll make up a name to fit the game's atmosphere.

[Anonymous Bosch]

For me, roleplaying in Stellaris undeniably provides the most fun and rewarding experiences. So creating, naming, and conceptualising my empires is where that fun begins. Your particular alien species name doesn't make a huge amount of difference to the overall experience, so I sometimes randomly generate that or use an online alien species/race name generator.

But naming your space empire is where it becomes more thematic and interesting in roleplaying terms. You typically have to select at least two civics, two different ethics (or Gestalt Consciousness), and a form of government for your empire. So I tend to use this as a base in terms of influence. Sometimes I include some other relevant background detail, intended play-style, or particular conviction that can't be directly expressed in-game. But usually for naming empires, I rely on a simple approach somewhat akin to Blackhawk, as I find it works best when your empire name consists of three segments:

1. An adjective hinting at something your civilisation values based upon their ethics/civics.
2. A noun centered around their activities/ambition.
3. A noun centered around their government/inner workings.

So, an arachnoid criminal heritage focused MegaCorp might get a name like: Black Web Consortium. Or an empire that has…

• Egalitarian ethic
• Merchant Guilds civic
• Oligarchic government

…might get a name like: Free Commerce Council. Sometimes I find it works better to rearrange the name in a way that allows for a preposition to be included, e.g. Council of Free Commerce.

Also, manually naming your planets and ships according to a predetermined theme can be a surprisingly effective way of getting more attached and immersed in your game, too. Generally speaking, to help keep them organised, I name most of my planets in similar fashion, using terms like these to designate their resource specialisations:

[System name] + [resource specialisation related term]

• Energy = Plant (as in Power Plant)
• Minerals = Cavern
• Food = Garden
• Research = Nexus
• General Industrial Districts = Refinery
• Alloys = Forge
• Consumer Goods = Workshop
• Fortress World = Fort
• Bureaucrats = Admin
• Priests = Shrine
• Thrall World = Thrall

For example, a minerals world and alloys world in the Trappist system become: Trappist Cavern and Trappist Forge. Alongside this, I manually rename planets based on how they were acquired. So, for a planet conquered during an epic conflict, I may rename it to [Leader's name]'s + Victory or [Enemy ruler's name] + Defeat.

This may sound like work, but it soon becomes second nature, And playing this way really helps to get inside the head of your empire, and play to their particular traits, ethics, and government type. Which in turn allows a richer, more immersive narrative to unfold in your head, with all the in-game events as a scaffold.

Here's an example of how this factored into a recent game I played: The captain of my original science ship had the event where they discover another ship whose crew had killed themselves. That science ship's crew subsequently all go berserk too, and you lose the ship along with the leader. So, I built a new science ship to continue exploring that sector, and recruited a new scientist who had the psionic expertise trait. When I was ready to research psionic theory, I switched him in as my societal researcher to obtain his research bonus and hasten the process. Around the same time, a belligerent enemy declared war on me. I completed the psionic research and unlocked a new tradition tree just in time for ten years to have passed since the end of the initial war. I stay the course researching psionics and once the truce was up, declared a decisive war to finish off the empire that had previously attacked us, and ultimately prevailed. So, I manually renamed the alien home world after the scientist. Why?

Separately, these were all just random events that happen within the game and could be easily overlooked or clicked past. But seeing them occur in sequence allowed for a more interesting and emergent narrative to unfold: the psionic scientist took command of a ship after his predecessor, a legendary explorer, went insane and was lost along with the rest of his crew. But he starts hearing voices and worries that maybe he's losing his marbles, too. So, he returns to the home world on sabbatical to research his troubles. In the process, he discovers that he has a preternatural talent for psionics just as a hostile enemy declares war. Over time and with his guidance, his entire species learns how to unlock these hidden talents, and uses them to finally defeat the alien threat once and for all. Fittingly, the conquered alien home world was then named in honour of the heroic scientist's victorious efforts that saved his species from a hostile enemy.

[Unagi]

When it came to City of Heroes, I have always tried to stick with words related to their abilities, sometimes bordering on ridiculous.

Oh my, how I had sooooo much fun with CoH. I played a lot originally, and then also more recently on the rebooted servers. And - man - I had a ton of fun with naming heroes (or villains) there.

[Unagi]

Have you never gone with Hipolito?

I have used Hipólito and similar-sounding names a few times.

Unagi has a massive MMORPG nostalgic connection for me.

Unagi was first a female toon on Asheron's Call, back in 1999 (almost a quarter century ago. )
My name for my first toon on SW Galaxies was Unagi... he was a "Wookie BioEngineer/Animal Tamer"... Oh man... Really a fun time with that Unagi. I seriously broke some random girl's heart in that game. She played some other Wookie and our Wookies were in love. Well... She wanted to take it serious with me (IRL) and well -sigh- damn, that part actually sucked in hindsight. I had actually gotten married a year or so before!!! - so I had to gently put that "relationship" to rest, but she was seriously devastated. I make an amazing Wookie partner apparently.

(I believe I also created an Unagi in Anarchy Online but mostly played other toons.)

Somewhere around all then "Unagi" was what I chose as my name for joining OO. And then since it's the name I will pop into a number of random games where it is mostly a lost data point for the rest of that game - or maybe perhaps a game like Sea of Thieves - where I may bump into a fellow OOer.

I'm enjoying reading everyone's naming schemes. I like Blackhawk's idea of starting with an English description of your character, then translating it into another language and going with that as the name.

Me too, and I also do this - but I seem to do it more in a game like Civilization - where I am naming a city. So a place with four really great fish resources locations while I am playing Rome - may end up being called Quattro Pesci.

[Hyena]

When it came to City of Heroes, I have always tried to stick with words related to their abilities, sometimes bordering on ridiculous.

Oh my, how I had sooooo much fun with CoH. I played a lot originally, and then also more recently on the rebooted servers. And - man - I had a ton of fun with naming heroes (or villains) there.

Have you played it recently? Still so much fun, and they have a new archetype, Sentinel. It's a cross between a blaster and a scrapper. Not as populated, of course, but still fun.

[Lassr]

I use nicknames I've had, (Scooter, LaRock) or Jay since my first name starts with a J. I also use Lassr or Laser. I'll combine any of those for first and last names in games.

Sent from my Pixel 6 using Tapatalk

[Hipolito]

Hey Hipolito,

I always enjoy your posts. I wish you were inclined to post more often.

Even if the game or whatever isn't my cup of tea, I enjoy hearing your views on things. Always insightful. And appreciated.

Thanks, GreenGoo, I needed that today! And I'm glad you're posting regularly again. I was worried the government finally got you or something.

City of Heroes has been mentioned ... I never played it, but I remember that someone, I think from our community, got flagged by the developers for naming his character "The Terrorist." They made him choose another name like "The Anti-Terrorist" or "The Error."