Have you ever gotten stuck on naming a character? And if so, how did you get through it?

When I start a campaign my DM always has a list of maybe 20-30 common names from the regions our characters are from. It's pretty easy to make one up if you have the general feeling down.

If all else fails, just chop letters off from real names or swap them out.
Hank and Katherine stand out like a sore thumb in a fantasy setting, but Hanu and Katra feel suitably exotic while still sounding like actual names, and not some tongue-twisters with a lot of apostrophes.

I kinda hate references in fantasy.
I can never decide which is worse, someone not getting them, making them pointless, or someone getting them, making them feel cheap and gimmicky.

>You named your guy after (thing), wow, you're so clever.

>when the UN asks what happened to all the nukes

To the topic at hand, Dwarf Fortress name generator has some nice stuff for generic fantasy

I always begin with a name, I never progress further than it until I have one. I think the name of the character is the most important rp thing you can do.

A well picked name can completely reshape a character.

>I always begin with a name, I never progress further than it until I have one.

Because that's the first thing they make you pick in videogames?

I asked a friend. He usually comes up with stupid but this time I quite liked what he came up with.

Thus, Robyn Banks the bank robber is born.

That sounds like something out of a bad comic book, or an old Dick Tracy style detective story.

>Go to behind the name or babynames.com or something along those lines
>Pick a culture to draw from based on the campaign setting/what I know about the character (For example, my most recent character was royalty, so I made sure her and all her family had Roman/Latin names)
>Very carefully look for the exact meaning I want to convey/or something that sounds neat.
>End up playing them completely different to my intial vision so the name I picked out doesn't really fit any more

Just about EVERY FRIGGIN TIME!
And I use the list of names most books have. Roll the names randomly.

>stuck on naming

Never. How? There are only 26 fucking letters, after lal. Only the chromosomally challenged would even have to ask such a monumentally stu- .... oh. Sorry, OP.

The answer is 'no.'

bait/kek

>"Only" 26 fucking letters
>26^length number of combinations
Pre-school math should be mandatory again

Better to use one of those fantasy name generators. Like the ones in Dwarf Fortress. It's just to good to pass up, imho.

Except the list of actually usable combinations gets pretty short when you ignore the ones that sound daft and the ones that are unpronounceable, doesn't it?

>This is my character, Tkssss Hh

>This is my character, Tkssss Hh
He's a snakeman sorcerer. Apply yourself

Just remember, not every mother/father knew their child would be an adventurer. Many a character have been named things such as Keith, John, and Mildred.

Greetins, mortals. I am the eternal king, ruler of the 12 holy domains. You can call me Steven.

Well in that case the pool of sensible names is even smaller, isn't it? Since it rules out everything that doesn't sound like spattering water on hot rocks.

WHY would you just use straight up normal people names in fantasy settings? It's not rocket surgery to just tweak them until they sound a bit exotic, having a party that consists entirely of people named straight up after bible protagonists is a little on the nose.

I suck at names so just steal names from 80s action heroes or pick something that sounds like it or just use a reference.

That gnome rogue? Hardcastle. The troll shaman? McCormick. The concealment specialized imperial agent? Fairbairn, named the legacy Sykes. Pretty sure I had a barbarian named John Matrix too once.

You got a problem with Steve Rogers?
A problem with AMERICA?

Don't you feel kinda shitty doing that? Like your DM has made a whole world full of interesting people for you, and you couldn't spend a few minutes extra to think of a name that won't make half the group roll their eyes because it's an obvious reference?

When I wanted to learn coding, I made a name generator

bitbucket.org/mdgts/namegenerator/

pls no bully regarding the quality of the source code, i know it's shit

This is mostly for MMO's, I don't get the chance to play tabletop RPGs that often. The most thought I have put into a characters name for an actual game was an online Halo game where I made a largely anonymous UNSC marine. I joined basically out of the blue and had to suddenly come up with a character in a couple of minutes and came up short. So I just rolled with having no idea, and just kept the helmet/balaclava on and made the LMG lugging androgynous marine Sasha, because it's an unisex name like that. Any kind of actual character would just have to come as natural character development. Sasha the became the rookie marine on the team that was discontent with never getting to kill anything or even getting shot at, because most rest of the team were Spartans, Elites, ODSTs and even a Hunter. Earned the OOC nickname Trombley.

You ever see MST3K? just make a name with minimum 3 syllables and you got yourself a character. like Blast Hardcheese. Peck Squatthrust. Big Mc'Largehuge...

hail hydra

I draw inspiration from unusual phonemes, catchy gibberish, or by combining names I like (I named a John Rhys-Davies expy after an obscure character he played).

My current goal is to name a different character starting with each letter of the alphabet. If you're totally lost, you could start there.

There's no shame in using supplied names--some notable party members put a unique spin on them--but speaking as a DM and a player, putting in the extra effort is always appreciated.

I usually just use my steam name, I use that everywhere since its never taken. As for singleplayer rpg's, the name never matters so I might just name my characters "ass" or "homo"