How does Veeky Forums usually go about making names? Are you lazy and just go with a pre-written name from a list in the book, or do you think of your own? How well are you able to make your own OC donut names that work with the setting?
Right now I'm trying to work out a decent name for an upcoming WoD vampire game that isn't pretentiously gothic but not generically modern.
If I'm using an existing name, then its meaning will be directly related to the importance to the character. Usually in a vague way.
When making up fake names a similar formula goes for phonemes. More important characters will have named made of meaningful phonemes, while unimportant ones will just have whatever sounds good.
When you have to name a fuck-load of NPC's, there's no shame in taking the easy route.
Assuming we're not talking about a modern, real-world (or close to it) setting, I find a real-world name I like then change a letter, add a syllaboe, etc.
So, if I like the name Emily (and I do), I'll mold and change it until I might come up with Emberleigh. Kevin might become Kerevin.
Then I do the dick test. my players are dicks and will invariably try to twist names into juvenile jokes. Renci Rosh (from a 3rd party Star Wars adventure) was forever referred to as Rancid Tusch, for example. So I try to predict and avoid that shit when I can.
I usually think my characters' names out in advance. I've had to back off on using languages I've studied in linguistics classes to represent the languages I use for their names. My group can usually pronounce "Kenneth" but "Xochitl" can be a bit difficult.
'Zoh-Chee-Tul'?
I take two words that would maybe sound like an English name if you didn't know English and slap them together, sometimes changing one or both words slightly.
names are probably the thing I'm the worst at and they end up being pretty generic fantasy crap
The x makes a sh sound, and the tl is funky. It's like Sid the Sloth saying a ch sound, sorta. Combine a voiceless alveolar stop with a voiceless alveolar lateral fricative. If that means anything to you.
This actually sounds like a neat idea.
That's all greek to me, and I don't get greek, either.
I google names from the area/era of inspiration and randomly write them down. Usually I have a giant list I just mark names off when I use them
If they are going to make the leap from Renci Rosh to Rancid Tusch I don't think there's anything you can do.
For first names I take syllables I like and smash them together until I get a sound I find appropriate to the character concept, then decide on the spelling based upon the setting. Medieval fantasy is more likely to have e's at the end of double consonants, for example, such as -ocke or -este.
For last names, I keep a notepad with me and write down names and word combinations I take a shine to when I encounter them.
donjon.bin.sh
Find some sample names (20-50) for your era/area, and mash them. Way more useful than full random approach, easy to customize, and works with non-Latin scripts.
This is great, I use donjon resources all the time but had never noticed this.
I like elven, I use Tolkien elven names choosing the meaning, my thief is shadow related, my ranger's name was woods related
Modern name?
John Thompson or Katherine Williams
for one, i'm building some lists of random, mostly ordinary names (initially created for homestuck characters, coincidentally) that i can use for NPCs and player characters i make
it's proved helpful a few times already.
i've also made heavy use of the donjon name generators, which are pretty good for coming up with a little more of a weird name on the spot.
Depends on the setting for a more Gothic stetting I often use Germanic names such as Heydrich, Georg, or Heinrich (Look up names of WW2 Nazi war criminals they are a great source of inspiration (for names I mean)).
Get on IMDB and look up a movie that fits your genre. Go down the cast list and pick and choose names that sound good. Make a list on a tablet and as your game goes on, and the players meet "the sheriff" or whatever, make a label of "sheriff" next to a name as you introduce him.
I got a pretty big list of names associated with characters I've made, the info isn't very extensive mostly just the classes they typically are, gender, elemental affinities, preferred weapon, and societal rank. I'm thinking of putting in more info like typical race, including low fantasy and high, and one or two traits that mostly define in my mind the character.
Mostly setup for fantasy adventures and shit, so I get stumped trying to convert a character into a cyberpunk or future setting. Like how do I convert Drasko the twohand warrior Orc with an impulsive personality into something appropriate for cyberpunk?
Brilliant.
If you ask me, best way of naming is to take common names
In fantasy settings, I often like to take names that seem to 'sound' normal and common for the setting
Another pdf coming
...
I thought the x was a uvualar "kh" fricative.
Come up with a few names (15 or so at least) that fit the naming conventions you want. They don't need to be good names, they just have to be generally the sort of thing that fits the culture and feel you are looking for. They could even be horrible cliches that you'd never use, or names you've already used in the game, or names that you like from fiction that are too recognizable to use.
It doesn't matter because you are going to plug them into a Markov process name generator, like this: samcodes.co.uk
For that particular one, just click "Settings", and replace the "current data" field with your list of names. Then you can tweak the other settings until you are getting some names you like. I use this for a homebrew setting when I need to quickly generate an NPC with a culturally appropriate name.
I'll usually just go with something that sounds good by rattling off a bunch of names and seeing what sticks.
If it's a weird fantasy kind of name though, I like to go into google translate, start translating words I associate with the character, and then messing with the translated words until they sound like proper fantasy names instead of something in swedish or korean.
Not in Nahuatl's orthography it isn't.
The chi character that stringy Greek x is the voiceless uvular fricative in the International Phonetic Alphabet, which is the sound you're probably describing. Or it could be slightly forward in the mouth and be the x character representing a voiceless velar fricative. They're rather similar and not easy to tell apart unless you know what you're looking for.
I suck at giving names, especially for fantasy. I usually go for the "common name with unusual spelling" like in GoT, but I generally grow bored in a few sessions. Even worse when I try to give names with a meaning. It's better for modern games because I can just go on wikipedia and hit random pages until I find someone who sounds good.
I have a few basic ways i do this:
1, take regular names that I know and use a weird spelling, then I take that weird spelling and change a few letters so that is a whole new name. Allison becomes Ylisen.
2: take regular common names and chop them up and rearrange them, or take two chopped up names and mash them together. Thomas becomes Shomat, or Stephen and Greg becomes Fenreg.
3: take a regular common names and just change the first letter. Braden to Graden.
4: historical names. Ferdinand, etc, just google these really.
I name everything Bill
I use a few different methods but my two favourite names have come from taking a first name and surname from two different sources (an animu and a vidya) and mixing them together or a portmanteau of a couple of words vaguely associated with the character, along with a normal first name.
Lotte Chivay and Lucius Domira, if anyone cares to figure out which was which.
If they're mysterious or uncivilized, I name them single words. Usually nouns, occasionally verbs.
If they're fancy nobles or the like, I think of fancy complicated names.
A normal man needs a normal name. Just as an extraordinary man needs an extraordinary one.
Depends on setting and race, I go for descriptive terms.
So for example, I use old english translators for human's and half-lings, I'll use Tolkien Orcish for Orcs and Tolkien Elvish (Quenya) for Elves etc.
I had a ranger-esque charactrer for a low-fantasy homebrew setting called Elin Holt. Which translated roughly into 'Forest Walker'.
A BBEG I had was a Dragon called Bani-Bruni which was old Norse for 'Death-Fire'.
I find this way of making up names a lot easier and it makes me remember things a lot more as I've started using this example for when I world build to create towns and places. Such as the Orc homelands in my campaign was called 'Nixi-Uzg' which translates into 'Black Lands' (as the Orcs were evil).
I randomize everything to prevent nomen est omen.
To be fair, before this, I would mash the keyboard and throw in some vowels and apostrophes.
Then my friend, who is a Language expert, explained to me the convention of naming things, why words, places and names have the names they do and it really fascinated me.
To the point where I now use the style for naming I do now.
I'm terrible with making names.
I usually want to make a name like "bub-man," but it never gets off the ground.
