What's in a Name

[lylsyly]

Seeing the Funny Things in 3.5 reminded me of this;

My other half and I were in a Grocery store one fine day (2003) and need to hit the Customer Service Desk to pick up some stamps.

Lo and behold, there stands behind the counter a young women with a name tag that reads "Krynn"

Of course I just had to ask her if her parents played D&D. Of course the answer was yes. She was cool about it too.

Have you seen any other names out there in the Real World that related to games?

[Jormengand]

My name comes from a book character (Trianna, the sorceress from Eragon) so it's not surprising that people would name people after the people in RPGs, really, though I don't know anyone who is named after from an RPG character.

[BWR]

The daughter of one of my players is named Nenya Valeria.
The mother wanted to call her Galadriel, but that was vetoed. Nenya was acceptable
The father wanted to name her Ranya after his cleric in my game. That was vetoed but Valeria (after Valerias, the cleric's patron Immortal) was acceptable.

[Ninja_Prawn]

Have you seen any other names out there in the Real World that related to games?

Not a game specifically, but my financial advisor is called Arwen, middle name Evenstar. She's not geeky at all, so it really embarrasses her.

[Vinyadan]

The fun part is that Ranya is a real world name (Queen Ranya + a Indian female name), unlike Nenya.

Morwyn also might sound tolkienesque, but it's actually a Cornish name (Sea Girl). Arwyn also exists, but it's a Germanic boy's name.

I have seen girls named Luthien.

Related to games in general, a friend of mine was nicknamed Bison because of Mr Bison. And I ended up being called as my Oblivion character during my freshman year.

[danzibr]

I have a nephew named Perrin.

Beyond that... nothing comes to mind, at least not people I've met in real life.

[Spojaz]

I had a work contact in my last job who was named Galadriel. She signed things "G. Lastname". Apparently her parents were hippies. She didn't want to talk about it.

My dad's coworker named their children Dax and Kira after the DS9 characters.

I was in community theater with someone who gave their daughters the middle names "Adventure" and "Danger", so they could say "adventure is my middle name!". I don't know how proud they are going to be of that once they are school age. I guess middle names are always embarrassing to kids, so it shouldn't change much.

[TechnOkami]

My mom's name is Lydia, but she was born way before Skyrim, so I doubt that counts. :smalltongue:

[Stan]

A friend of my daughter is names Willow, after the Buffy character.

[2D8HP]

Not a game specifically, but my financial advisor is called Arwen, middle name Evenstar.I knew a girl named Arwen when I was in High School (Berkeley H. S. class of 1986 represent!), and yes she was very cute, but..
*sigh*
-she did not have pointy ears.
(I also knew a "Rainbow", a "Freedom", and a "Che", parents were um..different once upon a time).

[Fri]

A close friend of mine in real life named his recently born daughter "Zelda."

If it's a boy, he's planning to plan his firstborn "Altair"

[Vinyadan]

How about a child named Ben Hur?

[Cristo Meyers]

A close friend of mine in real life named his recently born daughter "Zelda."

Robin Williams' daughter either has a first or middle name Zelda. Can't remember which.

My nephew's name is Cale, after some character in Forgotten Realms. They were actually thinking of Horus (as in Horus Heresy) at first.

[Ninja_Prawn]

A close friend of mine in real life named his recently born daughter "Zelda."

Robin Williams' daughter either has a first or middle name Zelda. Can't remember which.

You guys know that Zelda (http://www.babynamewizard.com/baby-name/girl/zelda) is a real name with historical provenance, right? 1 girl in every 10,000 born in the US in the 1910s had it.

[Erloas]

Not after a game, but my step-son's name is Ryker, there are other uses of the name, but being named after a TNG character is better than being named after a prison.

Of course it shouldn't be that uncommon, a *lot* of names used in movies and games come from other sources, it is just that most people (at least in the USA) aren't going to know the origin, especially if it has been out of common use for a long time. It is just that the sort of people that tend to go into game development and writing also tend to have eclectic interests that include things like ancient history and mythology.

I think what is worse than unusual names is normal names spelled in stupid ways. I think it was my brother that went to school with someone named: La-a, which is Ladasha. Or Aimee.
I'm never quite sure if the parents were just being too clever for their children's good or if they are just that stupid.

[lylsyly]

My nephew's name is Cale, after some character in Forgotten Realms. They were actually thinking of Horus (as in Horus Heresy) at first.

That would be Erevis Cale, former assassin, now Majordomo to the Uskevren household in Selgaunt. Featured in Sembia, Gateway to the Realms septet.

[Leewei]

You guys know that Zelda (http://www.babynamewizard.com/baby-name/girl/zelda) is a real name with historical provenance, right? 1 girl in every 10,000 born in the US in the 1910s had it.

My take from this is that a girl named Zelda has a small chance of being named after a great-grandmother, and a large chance of being named after Zelda Williams or a video game character. This only matters if being named after something like a fictional character is somehow shameful.

[lylsyly]

Not after a game, but my step-son's name is Ryker, there are other uses of the name, but being named after a TNG character is better than being named after a prison.

Of course it shouldn't be that uncommon, a *lot* of names used in movies and games come from other sources, it is just that most people (at least in the USA) aren't going to know the origin, especially if it has been out of common use for a long time. It is just that the sort of people that tend to go into game development and writing also tend to have eclectic interests that include things like ancient history and mythology.

I think what is worse than unusual names is normal names spelled in stupid ways. I think it was my brother that went to school with someone named: La-a, which is Ladasha. Or Aimee.
I'm never quite sure if the parents were just being too clever for their children's good or if they are just that stupid.

Actually, that's Commander William Riker. http://www.bing.com/search?q=commander+william+riker&src=IE-TopResult&FORM=IE10TR

You want to see some alternate name spelling? Check out David Weber's Safehold series.

[Ninja_Prawn]

I think what is worse than unusual names is normal names spelled in stupid ways... Aimee.
I'm never quite sure if the parents were just being too clever for their children's good or if they are just that stupid.

...but Aimée is the correct, French, spelling of that one!

And I'm fairly sure La-a is an urban legend.

[Cristo Meyers]

You guys know that Zelda (http://www.babynamewizard.com/baby-name/girl/zelda) is a real name with historical provenance, right? 1 girl in every 10,000 born in the US in the 1910s had it.

Yes, but in these two instances they're being explicitly named after Princess Zelda of Hyrule.

[Stan]

(I also knew a "Rainbow", a "Freedom", and a "Che", parents were um..different once upon a time).

I grew up in the same era and that reminds me - a girl in my class was named Happy. Imagine a the confusion when a little girl goes up to people and says, "Hi, I'm Happy."

[Vinyadan]

I know a girl named Panda. She's German.

[lunaticfringe]

I've met a Tanis and someone with the middle name Elrond . Which I just realized both go by Half Elven, weird.

[Ruslan]

I know someone who named her daughter after her old D&D character. However her character's name was Diana, so that's not very exotic.

[Goodkill]

mine is after a neverwinter nights character Goodkill Bloodbeard. he was originally a fighter/wizard or barbarian/wizard, not a smart build but still fun to play. (later he was a weapon master, which was a really good class in 3rd edition, before they fixed the crit stacking that plagued 3rd edition). i would go into stealth mode with his pixie familiar and then pop into the middle of a mob of enemies and get them to move into a denser mob so my wizard could use fireball on them.

[Driderman]

Meta is a very old-fashioned women's name where I live, which I suppose is somewhat humorous .

[CynicalAvocado]

One of my regular customers has a son named Raiden

[lylsyly]

A lot of you wouldn't remember Meatloaf's "Paradise by the Dashboard Lights" video, but that fine co-singer (lip synch actually) was named Karla Devito who married Robby Benson and they named their kids
Lyric & Zephyr Benson.