Creating an original character name

This is your character, though. It's easy to make one good name, especially when you're plonked right in the middle of the character.

>75% of all names in the setting meaningful through mythological references, odd last names, and obscure etymology
Guilty of doing that.

When I remember it.

Chewbacca method.

What I'm saying, though, is that that's not realistic. If the tone of your game isn't realistic, fine, go for an appropriate and symbolic name. But real people, including real people who do amazing and heroic things, have names appropriate to their era and culture, NOT their role in history.

If you're a batshit-crazy nazi-killing murdersaint, you don't have a name like "Judgement Wolfheart." You have a name like "Audie Murphy" which is the kind of name you have if you're a poor white boy from Texas.

Similarly, I always thought "Marion Kelly" was a cooler name than "John Wayne."

I mean, I barely bother with names meaning anything. The closest I came recently was picking Sabrina as the name for my mage character. The rest, I pick a nation/ethnicity and roll from there.

>your name should fit the character (or your character should fit the name). This doesn't mean it has to represent the character, but it should "sound like" what they are, like in a Charles Dickens novel. Realistic names aren't what you want, normally.
I know that
So far I only have two names: Galanoth and Rygar

Can you guys perhaps help me? What's a good name for a strong hunter who wields a spear to kill huge monsters?
I really liked Rygar but it has been done by a game apparently. If I don't find another name, I'll just settle for Rygar I guess

>What's a good name for a strong hunter who wields a spear to kill huge monsters?
Depends. What was his family like? What ethnic/national background does he have? What does his family do for a living? What kind of environment did he grow up in? Or is he the Spearborn, born of no woman's womb with a spear in his hand and existing only to kill things for money?

>Remember that a character's name doesn't have to sum up what they're about.
>You are not obliged to make 75% of all names in the setting meaningful through mythological references, odd last names, and obscure etymology.

Great writers have done this since time immemorial.

It allows writers to take otherwise-meaningless character strings like names and use them to further the writer's ends.
>romeo, the romantic guy
>benvolio, the nice/benevolent guy
>mercutio, the crazy/mercurial guy
>juliet, name rhymes with last name so you remember what house she's from
>etc etc

>Great writers have done this since time immemorial.

Great writers have also often refrained from doing this. It is a technique, used for a certain effect (hinting at fate and story role.) It is not mandatory, it is not always right to do.

If you want to play a character who is fated to be a great hero, pick a meaningful name. If you want to play a character who is a normal person who achieves greatness, pick a name that's not weighed down by allusion and symbolism.

Daily reminder that Shakespeare did not write Romeo and Juliet. He just plagiarized it and made it popular. People also miss the point by calling it a beautiful doomed romance when it's a couple idiot teens committing suicide over misunderstandings after knowing each other for about a week.

>What was his family like?
Killed. Grew up with an old hunter
What ethnic/national background does he have?
Germanic
What kind of environment did he grow up in?
Harsh and strict. Hunt or be hunted style in the wilderness

Realism for realism's sake is a horrible idea. It doesn't give you any benefit, and it can take away from the game. There's a reason no author ever has chosen names at (near) random, based on whatever happened to be likely.
That seems more difficult. It's easier to semi-randomly travel from one thing to another by connections than it is to completely randomly make names, no?

Romeo fugs a 13 y/o.

If I can't think of a name I like, I pick a trait or single identifying motivation about a certain character, run it through a random translation of some real or fantasy language, and go with something like that.

It is also a technique that can be abused to the point of destroying a character undee the weight of symbolism. See: Half of all actual Mary Sues. The ones named shit like Lilith Ebony Lucretia Dementia Doomchild.

choose a first name that sounds good then invent a two word last name that describes them.
My Teifling Bard was Lilith Half-Song cause she sucked at singing and could only do half a song before being stopped by people.

You could also choose a last name based on a profession or cast that your character might have belonged. My friend from the Punjab region of India has the last name Brar which indicates his status as a low level lord. Or my professor had the last name Cooper because some one in his family a long time ago made barrels for a living. I also knew a man whose last name was Koko because his grandpa used to sail up the mississippi to sell coconuts.

Hans or Rudolf

Well Romeo wasn't much older so eh.

The entire point of the story is that they were dumb teenagers thinking only with their crotches

Correct. But picking a name that is not weighed down by allusion and symbolism is, itself, carefully choosing a fitting name.
I bet you read for the plot. Shakespeare "plagiarised" pretty much everything, but no one reads Holinshed.
>implying

Gunther, Charles, or Dieter. Last name Nimrod, Far-Walker, or Schutze.

Flagonwagon Dragonbaggin
Vanni Flaps
Jammy Mama
Fweder Wickenstein
Mhasta Baits
Licken Dan Alover
Ben Dover
Erny Fitzbert
Bert FitzErnie
Shwole Bro Manscapereau
Asta Sta Lavi
Trinidad Vinibago
Panny Ammy
Chaika Von Defrontpaige.
Numen Era
Gnoss Tick-Tock
Manny Hughs
Hugh Undswol
Quad Sitty
Nicé Traps
Penny Dreadnought
Gunga Nin Framplesquat
La'Le'Li'Lo Lilirariroru
Ruhroh Les Gogh
Smashmut Alistar
Guldar Frankensens-Undmir

>I bet you read for the plot
Actually, yes. That and all the old-timey pussy jokes.

>Creating an original character name
>original

Just don't. That way you end up with an enormous cringy special snowflake vibe.

Just give him a fairly normal, perhaps even common name (relative to the setting, that is). Your character becomes remarkable due to his experience and actions, not his name.

pdf related, use it to pick a name fitting for the setting.

Depending on where you're taking the character: Hal of Howl's Hall. Oscariot Max. Grossguts.
P L E B

>Creating an original character name
Why would anyone even bother? There's nothing to gain from it, even if your GM's a raging fucktard who demands an "original" name for some reason, all you need is a name he doesn't recognize.

>There's a reason no author ever has chosen names at (near) random, based on whatever happened to be likely.

Many, many, many authors have done this. It's a standard technique for more realistic works.

>Realism for realism's sake is a horrible idea. It doesn't give you any benefit, and it can take away from the game.

Realism is not always the right way to go. Fantasy and symbolism are not always the right way to go.

It's like Musashi says: only wield your blade in one hand when you need to, for speed. Only wield your blade in two hands when you need to, for power. It's not that there's a right way and a wrong way; it's that you should use the technique necessary for your current needs.

Only the uberrealists. And they don't count as authors :^)

I'm not talking about fantasy or symbolism.

Was he old enough to remember his given name when his parents died, did he have to make his own name later, or was he given a new one by the hunter who raised him? Do folks in the region generally have last names?

>Why would anyone even bother?
It looks bad when you have a party consisting of Luna Maria Kasnova Verenus, Malvolio Santino Cammilio Aurelius, Remus Rolandus Apius Scavo Secundus, and John Smith.

Its true. John Smith is the only legit name there

Another pdf for you.

Another thing:
Keep in mind that many well-known, remarkable people even in the modern day have fairly common names.
If you think about it, does Dwayne Johnson sound like an odd name? It doesn't, hell it sounds like a very ordinary name, yet damn near everyone knows the guy.
What about Margaret Thatcher? That's a damn common name combined with a bloody profession as surname. Another example is Will Smith
What about Bill & Hilary Clinton? Their surname refers to a place their ancestors lived, namely Glympton (or Glimton)

Yet you know all these people. Hell, it probably even eludes you that these names aren't anything special. They became so well-known that their names somehow became unique-sounding, while in truth it's far from it.

Not if you're spess-nobles doing piracy in spess.

It's a very good name for a character. The others are hamfisted.

John Smith is the only one anyone would even remember

If you are a Noble doing Piracy then you are not going to use your real name unless you want to fuck over your whole family.

Also John Smith can easily fit in that party. What is the point of playing a Noble if you don't have any non-nobles with you?

If you want to go older German

Agilaz
Aigilaz
Alaweniz
Alugodaz
Ansugisalaz
Ansuharjaz
Ansulausaz
Aragisalaz
Athawulfaz
Audagisalaz
Balthakwesiz
Balthaz
Bergawulfaz
Bidawarjaz
Blithagaizaz
Blothawulfaz
Blothabrandaz
Brandawulfaz
Brandafusaz
Dagamerjaz
Erilaz
Hadaz
Hagaradaz
Hailablotham
Hailathewaz
Hailaz
Harjabergaz
Harjagaizaz
Harjawulfaz
Harjaz
Harkilaz
Harjungaz
Hathawulfaz
Hauhaz
Hermalausaz
Heruwulfaz
Heruhrabnaz
Hlewagastiz
Hludaz
Hrabnaz

Names aren't a big deal. Just think of like a nickname or title you imagine goes with the character and figure it out from there.

Like, if I'm making a scummy, city-born thief for an RPG I'm not going to start off by trying to find some latin form of Sneaky and anglicize it or whatever. I'm gonna think of what his nickname might be. Maybe they call him Rat Tail. Rat Tail Pete. Maybe Pete is short for Petemandius. Maybe I can fuck with the name Pete and sneak in some literary bullshit. But maybe not, Rat Tail Pete is good enough for like any RPG.

Nantes with meanings have their place. Regular names have their place. Either works. If he's a hunter, perhaps something relayed to a diety of the hunt?

>Party of poncy space nobles from deadly decadent pseudo-Roman culture full of scheming, where your names are massively important and knowing every ancestor you had for five generations is important
>They accidentally kidnap a modern American, to mutual cultural misunderstandings
I'd play it. Pic somewhat related.

Just take a real life name that isn't all that common and then fuck some of the letters around and add a couple and boom new name that sounds pretty familiar.

I googled "uncommon first names," scrolled through a list, and "Kermit" caught my eye. While checking Google, I changed the K to a G, played around with the vowels, then finally added an h to the end.

Came up with Gormunth, which has two results (one is a site that adds letters to the beginning or ends of words, the other is a dead link).

New name achieved.

because we are dorks
Names should be unique, they are what differentiate you from the next guy

Picking the same name as someone else's is a pretty stupid tradition

Reminds me of this.

e-hobo.com/hoboes/list/
youtube.com/watch?v=Ld9aV-tjH0c

And yes I've used a few of those in my games.

I fucking love titles. That's usually where I cram in my stupid naming boner. Unless your character changed their name later in life, or their parents are really good at naming and love deep meaning, your name shouldn't be too reflective of what you do.
"My parents knew I would grow up to fight with a spear, so they named me Spear King!"
It's odd to me. That should be a title earned later in life.
"I was really good with a spear, so they call me Spear King. My real name is Dustin."

Dustin sounds relatively hard, rough, down-to-earth. Leslie does not. If you name your tough-as-nails noir hired muscle Leslie, it's going to have a different impact on his character than calling him Dustin.

Lars, Styrbjörn, Ulrik, Leif, Torbjörn, Folke, Hjalmar and Siv.

Those are just a few of many old-timey swedish names. Added points for using Torbjörn in a setting inspirera by norse mythology as its litterally just a combination of Tor (the thunder god) and the swedish word for bear.

I named a barbarian Riddance Redskin because he was shunted off from multiple giant colonies who were usually glad to be rid of him, and because he got kidnapped by ogres while on the way to one colony and boiled alive before being saved by his escort party.

The hired muscle could be even tougher by having the name Leslie.

youtube.com/watch?v=WOHPuY88Ry4

Is going to make him punch a lot of people for making fun of his name, which is in character.

Exactly.

Of he's worried about using names that are known, Torbjorn is out. Overwatch.

Then the name matters, but it informs the character's actions to some extent, not acting as a foreshadowing. Unless that's a thing you want to play with, I guess. I'd actually like to see more characters with names that indicate they're good at something like hunting, but they stick at that thing.
"Her name is Artemis, but she can't hunt for shit."
It just comes off as improbable that every parent named their child something that would reflect their future character. It would be interesting if the community had a seer who named the children.

Johnson, son of John.

Seriously, look at the origins of names and like half of them are just "my dad was cool, yo"

>the community had a seer who named the children.
Her name is Cassandra Sybil Tyresius. Turns out, she sucks at her job and hasn't made a successful prediction in decades.

Nah, it's more "shit, we've got two Johns in this army, how do we differentiate them?" --> "let's go to the next name in their line, the fathers', so we have John Johnson and John Tomson".

Symbolic names along that line of heavy-handedness are a bit much in most contexts, yeah. But that doesn't mean you can't tailor names in a way which isn't literally "this affected their life in some way".

Here you go OP, remember being derivative is bad.

In sweden we have a tendency to make last names out of seemingly random and non connected things. Some exemples would be: Strandquist (Beach twig), Forsberg (Stream mountain), Friberg (Free mountain) and Edsjö (Oath lake).

I kinda appreciate the idea of a given name ending up inappropriate. Like, my name literally means "Bearer of Christ", but my thoughts are basically Fuck Religion.

The Seer idea is neat too. I imagine in lots of fantasy settings a village elder or other important person is likely going to pay a visit to parents of a newborn, it could be a legit tradition that some asshole tries to assess what they'll do later in life from a glance.

> Penny Dreadnought
Perfect

>La'Le'Li'Lo Lilirariroru
If you name something that, you're an asshole. How the would you say that without stuttering and stumbling like a fuckwit?

I was going to post that book if nobody else did.

LOOK AT IT. Holy fuck it's literally the best name creation resource I've ever seen. Generate a name based on the culture you are emulating, or by syllables and the theme you want to represent.

Most of the names I use are either Germanic in some form (Heinrich, Beatrix, Bernhardt), based off Celtic deities (Artaius), or just nicknames (Socks, Scrapper.)

It's fairly easy for me to pick a theme and roll with it. And while isn't necessary, it's kinda neat if you use it sparingly.

Christopher?

Imagine an asian trying to say that shit.

Meant for

Blame Hawaiians

rahrehrihroh ririlalilolu.

The best approach to take with a name like that is just to completely mangle it in a way that has the rhythym of the name so "lalalalo lilirawroh" and dare everyone else to call you on it and thus risking having to themselves try to pronounce it.

For reference, this is a japanese VA trying to pronounce "Carol"

youtube.com/watch?v=oYk-1Fr-F8E

>spent hours creating a character with the perfect name, backstory and overall "feel" I wanted
>dies from an arrow through the heart, near the end of the second session

As others have stated, just use a name generator or look for common baby names from a suitable culture. You could also look around you for inspiration.

One of my longest running NPCs is a sorceress named Allina Covek...I was inspired, while drinking a vanilla coke.

holy shit, now that's just fantastic

Thanks a lot guys for all your help. This is a truly wonderful thread!
I think I've found a name now using this

Really appreciate it

It probably isn't as important a decision as it feels like. In real life, both the names chosen for a person and their meanings can seem pretty dumb/uncreative. The name Kofi, like former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan, actually means born on a Friday.

Here some fantasy names
D'misan Arse
Opisa Fagè
Wewuz Kang

>Wewuz Kang
10/10

It's pronounced "The Patriots," Snake.

It's hard as fuck to start with but a good piece of advice I got out of a creative writing course was to make 10 names per day then read them aloud.

First few times it takes ages and they sound terrible, but it eventually improves.

Good for him. Living the dream.

>Torbjörn
Only if this gets to be his theme music.
youtube.com/watch?v=ejDDOpLStXg

>just mash together [race]ish names until it sounds/looks good
>tfw you accidentally shape the character to match their name

You realize that's Wakamoto doing the voice acting, who is memetic for his accent?

>my name literally means "Bearer of Christ", but my thoughts are basically Fuck Religion.
Jesus Christ.

You mean Cipher?

Alice
Brian
Clair
David
Emily

Never needed more than that, but you get the pattern.

Just use names from another country, ones that are similar to your setting.

ie: typical fantasy setting, use less popular european names.

Anderszj
Borje
Edit
Franc

and so on

I knew it wasn't an accurate representation of how japanese pronounce things, because I've seen plenty of Asians who speak english quite well. I just thought it would be kind of funny.

when in doubt, Hiro Protagonist

/r/ing the Mass Effect random name generator image

There are only so many different combinations of letters for a name of any given length, and most of those are unpronounceable or sound retarded.

Honestly I tend to assume that names, like everything else, have all been done before somewhere by someone. Just find one you like that hasn't already been used for a really iconic character with notable similarities and you're good (so no laser sword wielding farmboy named Luke, for example).

should have read the thread

>There are only so many different combinations of letters for a name of any given length, and most of those are unpronounceable or sound retarded.
Sure, but you don't give dudes one name. Plus, there's tonnes of people called Dave and Scott and Bill, and they do fine.

But even regarding alien-ish names, it's pretty easy to make ones which have never been done before.

Armislac, Tarc, Cosvo, Tamberat, Gozgut, Harunte, Bossad, Ossiat, Calembrata, &c.

Just slap syllables together for alien stuff