PDA

View Full Version : Bad Naming Conventions



KnotKnormal
2016-11-05, 09:22 PM
We've all come across names of characters that have made us cringe, or made us laugh, some that stick with us forever and some we wish we could forget.

Off the top of my head I can think of quite a few. Come share some of the terr-ible and terr-iffic names you've heard over the years.

Tink Tink: the gnome tinkered
Chuck the Stuff Thrower: The Hulking Hurler
Buck Fantastic
Jack Rabbit
('Thć 'Răn•gĕrr) Spelled: The Ranger

Âmesang
2016-11-06, 08:52 AM
WORLD OF GREYHAWK® has a character named Melf ("male elf"). All other names invalidated.

(Though to be fair, I believe the character was made by one of Gygax's children who was quite young at the time.)

quinron
2016-11-06, 09:13 AM
Played once with a guy whose warforged had a synthetic skin and didn't realize it was a warforged. Name: Hugh Mann.

JAL_1138
2016-11-06, 09:27 AM
WORLD OF GREYHAWK® has a character named Melf ("male elf"). All other names invalidated.

(Though to be fair, I believe the character was made by one of Gygax's children who was quite young at the time.)

Rary was named because one of the level-titles for wizards was "Medium," and Brian Blume (co-owner of TSR and one of Gygax's regular players) wanted to get to that level just so he could introduce the character as "Medium Rary."

Bohandas
2016-11-06, 10:06 AM
Rary was named because one of the level-titles for wizards was "Medium," and Brian Blume (co-owner of TSR and one of Gygax's regular players) wanted to get to that level just so he could introduce the character as "Medium Rary."

There was a "Medium Rary" in an old Firesign Theater skit (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CW_l25G33Co#t=01m48s) from 1968

MesiDoomstalker
2016-11-06, 10:39 AM
I played with a Bruce the Spruce Oakling. In my group, if you don't have a name, your dubbeed Bob until you come up with a real name.

Mastikator
2016-11-06, 10:47 AM
Played once with a guy whose warforged had a synthetic skin and didn't realize it was a warforged. Name: Hugh Mann.

https://i.imgflip.com/19wz9s.jpg

Hugh Man huh? Now that's a name I can trust.

MrStabby
2016-11-06, 10:51 AM
Any over the top cliche. Names with a X in, or rather more z in them than would be normal.

Any character with no great achievements, but still has a little too much grandeur and have given them selves a title: Bob the destroyer, Brian the Vile, Kevin Blackheart and so on.

These make me groan.

D+1
2016-11-06, 11:31 AM
When it comes to naming PC's and giving them "unearned" titles I try to remember Krull:

-------------------

Ergo: I am Ergo the magnificent. Short in stature, tall in power, narrow of purpose and wide of vision.

Titch: That's very impressive. I'm Titch.

Ergo: That's not impressive, but adequate. Adequate.

...

Ergo: My name is no jest, beanpole. It's all very well to have a short name when you're twenty feet tall, but small people need large names to give them weight.

Rell the Cyclops: Your actions give you weight, my friend.

------------------------

Basically, if PC's are giving their PC's silly names then there's two possibilities. One is they're just feeling silly at that moment and are more interested in FUN than in going all, "Why So SERIOUS?" about the game. The other is that they can't think of a good name or they are always really bad at it and would rather the other players laugh WITH them than AT them. It's the DM who needs to either embrace the silly or make it clear that at SOME point the gameplay will NOT be silly but will be taken somewhat seriously and having stupid, goofball names for PC's is a surefire way to ensure that disbelief is never, EVER suspended. I'd rather have PC's named Bob or Harold or Emily than joke names that get one laugh and then get tedious for the remainder of the entire freakin' game.

I had a halfling thief once that I named Baron Fyzo Jet Danoran Spatch Treenofferbodiddity. I just wanted to suggest a long family history without having to detail it. He never used any of that full name and title however and initially just went by Fyzo - didn't even care to be called Baron. But one of the other PC's kept referring to him as "The Duke", which concerned Fyzo because it might suggest to others he was claiming titles he didn't have. So "The Duke" became "The Duck". Which was obviously silly (just as would have been if I'd been insisting on using his full name), but then it had a REASON within the game for being silly, and was not a meta-game joke at any point by not taking anything seriously.

Character names need some due consideration and to be taken somewhat seriously if the game is intended to run for any length of time and to be taken seriously at any point in that run.

JAL_1138
2016-11-06, 11:39 AM
The old-school AD&D thing where we'd just tack on a number after the character's name after we'd gone through a stack of character sheets in the meatgrinder of low-level play, e.g., Alastair Stronginthearm VII, preceded by his six now-deceased identical brothers Alastair Stronginthearm, Alastair Stronginthearm II, Alastair Stronginthearm III, Alastair Stronginthearm IV, Alastair Stronginthearm V, and Alastair Stronginthearm VI.

Bohandas
2016-11-06, 03:28 PM
WORLD OF GREYHAWK® has a character named Melf ("male elf"). All other names invalidated.

(Though to be fair, I believe the character was made by one of Gygax's children who was quite young at the time.)

It also has about a dozen characters with names formed by rearranging some subset of the letters in "Ernest Gary Gygax"

JAL_1138
2016-11-06, 03:50 PM
Any over the top cliche. Names with a X in, or rather more z in them than would be normal.

Any character with no great achievements, but still has a little too much grandeur and have given them selves a title: Bob the destroyer, Brian the Vile, Kevin Blackheart and so on.

These make me groan.

This naming trend can work out quite well if a key part of the character's personality is their pompousness/vanity/inflated ego/delusions of grandeur/scam. Like, the person playing the character intends the character to be full of s***.

Inevitability
2016-11-06, 04:07 PM
I once had a player make a warforged barbarian named Spectrum Nipplehammer.

In the same campaign, a player named his monk Inton Dator, after the intimidate skill (which he ended up swapping out later on).

JAL_1138
2016-11-06, 04:52 PM
Since I started playing Dwarf Fortress, a disproportionate number of my dwarf characters have been named Urist [surname derived from a combination of two words in DF's dwarf language]. Urist Beldurad (Greybearded), Urist Subetnil (Swifthammer), Urist Tosideshtân (Armorsmith), etc., etc.

VoxRationis
2016-11-06, 05:03 PM
An elf named Cotton Shortz was named by a player at my table. Twerpy little punk (both the player and character).

As far as bad naming conventions go, I'm going to throw the X-Blade and War-X naming pattern that WotC got up to when coming up with stuff for 3.5.

Grac
2016-11-06, 10:28 PM
The game I'm in now had a series of elf thieves from the morningwood family, who all had first names related to masturbation somehow. Was great
:D

I had a character who I had not named, and who was well known for splashing gold around in various villages we went through. This was likened to then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd who was known for throwing money at things to deal with the GFC, and the character was nicknamed Rudd the Munificent.
:D

Now I randomly generate names using the holmesian name generator from the Zenopus Archives blog.

Batou1976
2016-11-07, 01:00 AM
One sort of PC name that makes me cringe is when the namer is trying too hard to be Fantasy™, and comes up with something that is just... overwrought, for lack of a better word. Names like-

Constrono Tortertil (Who was shortly christened "Dung" because Constrono-> Constipation-> Dung)

Arnach Stromliv

a ranger's wolf companion he named "Bloodfang" (seriously)

Then there's my first AD&D 2E character- Sir Targan Redblade (he's up there in my avatar, on the left). I was 14 at the time, and I thought it was cool... for some damn reason. He's the protagonist in my current novel-in-progress; I lampshade how bad his name is in an early scene where someone has thrown a gravy-soaked biscuit at him and derided his name as "being from a cheap bard's tale".

Poor Targan gets no love. :smallfrown:

comk59
2016-11-07, 03:23 AM
Well, before you judge me, remember that no one in our group was good at coming up with names on the spot. so...

Big Buffman
No-Good Nick
Deadeye Duncan
George
Silver
Silvie
Silkie
Toothy
Adrian's Character

That last one lasted through a significant chunk of the campaign before being replaced by Adrian's Character the second.

hymer
2016-11-07, 04:46 AM
Either with an innocense beyond belief or deadpan I wouldn't credit him with, a player once announced he'd be calling his halfling 'Dildo'. just imagine how impossible it would have been to do anything remotely serious in that campaign...

Altair_the_Vexed
2016-11-07, 05:16 AM
I'm just going to drop a few of my mate Mike's character names over the years here (cause I don't think he's a Playgrounder):


Ooja Nikabollokoff - cleric, possibly with an extra-testicle
Fitt Ed - elf fighter-magic-user
Heppity Blomflart - gnome druid and cook


This is in a series of game setting with far more sensibly named people and places - The Holy City of Sudbar, Arch-duke Steffan, Lord Togarmah, Bethany Everwhite, etc, etc.

JAL_1138
2016-11-07, 05:17 AM
One sort of PC name that makes me cringe is when the namer is trying too hard to be Fantasy™, and comes up with something that is just... overwrought, for lack of a better word.

This is one of the reasons why I've never really liked Forgotten Realms much. Almost the whole setting seems like that to me, particularly place names. I recognize, given the setting's popularity, that I'm likely in quite a minority in that view, but I can't stand the names.

Sir Chuckles
2016-11-07, 06:45 AM
Gnod Elbaraiv the PsyWar who specialized in using Expansion.

Phoenixguard09
2016-11-07, 08:14 AM
I named an innkeeper in my game Aurel, due to his golden hair.

Of course I didn't say it out loud until the game day.

Promptly had Aurel die due to awful-****ing-name-itosis. One player suggested he be replaced by his cousin, Anel.

Zalabim
2016-11-07, 08:35 AM
I understand the worst name I've come up with is Albert Ross (albatross), for the archer specialized in using the biggest bow possible. That was actually vetoed, so he's named Atross.

Possibly really bad is Thos Tanner, the medicine man/leatherworker. He's a barbarian who'll rage in battle and save your hides afterwards. Thos (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/thos), to make it clear how bad this pun is.

ComradeBear
2016-11-07, 09:11 AM
Gnod Elbaraiv the PsyWar who specialized in using Expansion.

You'd think they'd be named Gnod Dnapxe....

Some of my favorites come from Rollplay over on Twitch/Youtube (Geoff in particular) and my dad/younger friends. I'll list some of these names now.

Spec Person III
Careless Firm
(Both from Geoff of Rollplay fame)
Tahc, also of Rollplay fame.

From my own experiences:
Magic Bob the sorceror, and his familiar: Jack Squat, the Mighty "It."
Bucket, the cleric of Pelor (or Pail-or, to help get the joke)
Rip, the other cleric of a death god.
Clark, the Warforged (because he was a man of steel)
Tiny the half-giant
Holy Hannah the Cleric
And for a guest appearance we had a druid with a polar bear companion. They were known as:
"Nature Boy and Bi-polar Bear."

That was for my first campaign ever, which I ran at 13 for 4 people over the age of 40 and two or three of my teenage friends, depending on the evening. It was a good time.

Inevitability
2016-11-07, 09:29 AM
Same campaign: Jin the changeling rogue, brother/sister of Bin and Lin.

Karl Aegis
2016-11-07, 09:43 AM
Any name with [death], [implement] or [job] in it. Seriously, you probably weren't born an armorsmith bent on killing people with over-sized sporks.

kraftcheese
2016-11-07, 09:58 AM
I named a half-orc librarian character Durak Dustjacket...

JAL_1138
2016-11-07, 10:21 AM
Any name with [death], [implement] or [job] in it. Seriously, you probably weren't born an armorsmith bent on killing people with over-sized sporks.

[Job] is really, really common IRL for surnames (and often, less-obviously through archaic forms, given names), though. Smith, Cooper, Thatcher, Fisher, Carter, Baker, Archer, Gardener, Farmer, Fletcher, Carpenter, Tailor (often spelled "Taylor" in surnames), Weaver, Cook...and that's just a few of the obvious ones in English.

Heck, "Shakespeare" is derived from exactly what it sounds like--"shake (i.e. brandish) spear" (well, Middle English "shakken speer," which means the same thing).

You weren't born an armorsmith, but your great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather might have been a really good armorsmith and it ended up as the family name. And surnames have a way of making their way into given names, such as Taylor.

Edit: Karl Aegis, btw, means "Strongman (or possibly freeman) Shield."

Sith_Happens
2016-11-07, 10:28 AM
By far the dumbest character name I've encountered so far was my own doing: I made a Warblade specifically by mashing as many shonen anime and JRPG character tropes together as possible, and in a stroke of genius named him... Shonen Seinenson. I have no regrets.:smalltongue:

Runners-up, both from the same other player in my group:

1. The tibbit named... Kat.

2. The gray elf named... Elphinna. Though that one's explicitly not her "real" name because she's an unseelie fey gray elf and they take that sort of thing seriously.

Keltest
2016-11-07, 10:32 AM
I think my favorite character name in a campaign I have played would be 'Giggles the Stone Giant". Son of the chief of a stone giant tribe. He was roleplayed beautifully, except for being named Giggles The Stone Giant, which made it all the better.

Stealth Marmot
2016-11-07, 12:06 PM
I played in a game where people talked of the legendary "Big Jim." Basically it was a powergamer who always played eccentric or weird characters and was asked to play something normal, so he made a behemoth of a regular human fighter, whose AC and hit points were off the wall.

The player had a tendency to say "If Big Jim were here" and tell everyone how his beatstick strength would solve the current situation. So that became the running gag "If Big Jim were here" became the group's Chuck Norris.

As for me, I had a history of some dumb names, or amazing depending on your view.

My first D&D character ever was for a short one off. We wwere doing a weird stat rolling which involved rolling each stat 3 times and taking the best of those. I ended up with EVERY stat being 15 or higher, and having 2 18s and most of the rest 17s.

I decided to name the character Rosamagus. Basically I named him after Red Mage from 8 Bit Theatre, since his stats were so insane.

My first Thief was named Atheles, because he was so Athletic.

I think my favorite name though goes to my gnome artificer, whom I named:

Brimbleflock Saldog

It was a gnome, I went for as silly a name I could get without being vulgar.

Joe the Rat
2016-11-07, 12:51 PM
The worst names are the ones that don't mesh with the tone of the group. Not game, group. You can be playing a deep serious horror game, but if everyone is doing "Butsplosion the Flatulent," and "Aladdin the Paladdin," you're fine.

Watch out or secondary meanings and references. My goto quick name for (male) NPCs not of note is "Gary." Cue freakout from my grognards expecting him to be an insanely dangerous or powerful wizard/warlord/demigod lich by reference. I mean really. Gary is harmless. It's Gigas you have to watch out for.


By far the dumbest character name I've encountered so far was my own doing: I made a Warblade specifically by mashing as many shonen anime and JRPG character tropes together as possible, and in a stroke of genius named him... Shonen Seinenson. I have no regrets.:smalltongue:You should have none. It's a beautiful name.
If I ever do that Monk-Warlock or Sun Soul, I am totally stealing it.

SethoMarkus
2016-11-07, 01:25 PM
I once had a Gnome Bard named Dimble Aleslosh Vimswick Inksmudge Daergle.

D. A. V. I. D. the Gnome

Jay R
2016-11-07, 05:25 PM
I had an original D&D bard. Two of his followers were dwarves named Felix and Doli. They started following the bard in hopes that they could eventually defeat the dragon who had killed their five brothers.

It takes a little linguistic knowledge to recognize "Felix" and "Doli" as "Happy" and "Grumpy".

Grim Portent
2016-11-07, 06:02 PM
A lot of people like to say names like [Blank] the [Blank] or [Blank] of [Blank] are unrealistic or too fantasy to be taken seriously, but such names were actually not uncommon among noteworthy people in the past.

Examples being the Black Prince, Eric the Red, Norman the Conqueror, Philip the Bold, Pliny the Elder, Pliny the Younger :smalltongue:, Richard Lionheart, Albert the Lion, Albert of the Long Hair. You get the picture. Pretty sure there was a viking called Wake-Dog for some reason.

Some of these names were used after the person had died, others were used while they still lived, either to mock or praise, or even simply to distinguish them.

Keltest
2016-11-07, 06:15 PM
A lot of people like to say names like [Blank] the [Blank] or [Blank] of [Blank] are unrealistic or too fantasy to be taken seriously, but such names were actually not uncommon among noteworthy people in the past.

Examples being the Black Prince, Eric the Red, Norman the Conqueror, Philip the Bold, Pliny the Elder, Pliny the Younger :smalltongue:, Richard Lionheart, Albert the Lion, Albert of the Long Hair. You get the picture. Pretty sure there was a viking called Wake-Dog for some reason.

Some of these names were used after the person had died, others were used while they still lived, either to mock or praise, or even simply to distinguish them.

Indeed. When you have sixteen people in your family line all with the same name, youre going to need something to stand out.

Anonymouswizard
2016-11-07, 06:49 PM
I played with a Bruce the Spruce Oakling. In my group, if you don't have a name, your dubbeed Bob until you come up with a real name.

One of my groups uses Steve. We had an entire campaign where a character had a name (Rowan) from the start, but because we were never told it we assumed that the player hadn't come up with one out of character and so nicknamed her Steve. Led to a scene where my character literally failed the spot check to notice the girl meeting us was Steve.


Since I started playing Dwarf Fortress, a disproportionate number of my dwarf characters have been named Urist [surname derived from a combination of two words in DF's dwarf language]. Urist Beldurad (Greybearded), Urist Subetnil (Swifthammer), Urist Tosideshtân (Armorsmith), etc., etc.

My current dwarf character in a GURPS game is called Urist son of Dain. I'm still considering his surname, he's a warhammer-using mercenary so I'm considering something like Swifthammer, but less obvious.

For my 'bad naming conventions', anything with an apostrophe is banned in my games as I need to be able to pronounce it. I have a gag where I pretend that elven is just English with all the vowels replaced by apostrophes, and in some settings I'm not far off the mark. It's mainly elves where players fall into this trap, apparently it makes the names sound more exotic. It annoys me more than names with extra Xs or Zs, because at least those I can pronounce.

For one I plan to use when I run my next game, is replacing cs with qs in actual names. It doesn't make a major difference to the pronunciation, but I prefer q of the three 'kuh' letters. Also, it's so I can use real-world names for nonhuman races without it being too obvious (where I'll also employ other letter switches).

MrStabby
2016-11-07, 07:26 PM
A lot of people like to say names like [Blank] the [Blank] or [Blank] of [Blank] are unrealistic or too fantasy to be taken seriously, but such names were actually not uncommon among noteworthy people in the past.

Examples being the Black Prince, Eric the Red, Norman the Conqueror, Philip the Bold, Pliny the Elder, Pliny the Younger :smalltongue:, Richard Lionheart, Albert the Lion, Albert of the Long Hair. You get the picture. Pretty sure there was a viking called Wake-Dog for some reason.

Some of these names were used after the person had died, others were used while they still lived, either to mock or praise, or even simply to distinguish them.

Yeah, my problem wasn't with characters ending up with these names - it was characters starting with them. Back when Eric the Red was young, I am pretty sure he was just called Eric.

On the other hand, throw in examples like Pippin the short, Henry the Impotent and so on and it seems less self aggrandising.

Tanarii
2016-11-07, 08:28 PM
For my 'bad naming conventions', anything with an apostrophe is banned in my games as I need to be able to pronounce it. I have a gag where I pretend that elven is just English with all the vowels replaced by apostrophes, and in some settings I'm not far off the mark. It's mainly elves where players fall into this trap, apparently it makes the names sound more exotic. It annoys me more than names with extra Xs or Zs, because at least those I can pronounce.
I've played an AD&D 1e Drow Assassin named Zz'tan. Magically enchanted to LG alignment.

In my defense I neither designed nor named the character. The DM gave us all characters he'd designed, named, and written the personalities for at the first session.

SethoMarkus
2016-11-07, 08:38 PM
For my 'bad naming conventions', anything with an apostrophe is banned in my games as I need to be able to pronounce it. I have a gag where I pretend that elven is just English with all the vowels replaced by apostrophes, and in some settings I'm not far off the mark. It's mainly elves where players fall into this trap, apparently it makes the names sound more exotic. It annoys me more than names with extra Xs or Zs, because at least those I can pronounce.


I always interpret an apostrophe in a name as signifying a slight pause or stop between then portions of the name. So "Co'nuhn" would be spoken as "Co - Nuhn" rather than "Conuhn". Something similar to a glottal stop in English.

I definitely agree that apostrophes are overused and often just a lazy method of creating an "exotic" sounding/looking name. I do think that it can be done well, though, and add depth to cultures.

Here's a neat explanation (http://englishfocused.blogspot.com/2011/01/glottal-stop-clipping-and-elision.html?m=1) I just found about different uses of apostrophes in writing, which goes into the technicals better than I could.

eru001
2016-11-07, 08:41 PM
Beardhammer Hammerbeard (Dwarf fighter)

Bueno Doszapatos (Paladin)

Dirk Florentine (Human Rogue)

Ivanna Danse (Bard)

Tanarii
2016-11-07, 09:01 PM
Here's a neat explanation (http://englishfocused.blogspot.com/2011/01/glottal-stop-clipping-and-elision.html?m=1) I just found about different uses of apostrophes in writing, which goes into the technicals better than I could.
Interesting. Reads like if you're an English speaker, the best / most natural sounding use of ' is right before a t, p or k, replacing what would otherwise be a vowel.

VoxRationis
2016-11-07, 09:18 PM
One of my groups uses Steve. We had an entire campaign where a character had a name (Rowan) from the start, but because we were never told it we assumed that the player hadn't come up with one out of character and so nicknamed her Steve. Led to a scene where my character literally failed the spot check to notice the girl meeting us was Steve.



My current dwarf character in a GURPS game is called Urist son of Dain. I'm still considering his surname, he's a warhammer-using mercenary so I'm considering something like Swifthammer, but less obvious.

For my 'bad naming conventions', anything with an apostrophe is banned in my games as I need to be able to pronounce it. I have a gag where I pretend that elven is just English with all the vowels replaced by apostrophes, and in some settings I'm not far off the mark. It's mainly elves where players fall into this trap, apparently it makes the names sound more exotic. It annoys me more than names with extra Xs or Zs, because at least those I can pronounce.

For one I plan to use when I run my next game, is replacing cs with qs in actual names. It doesn't make a major difference to the pronunciation, but I prefer q of the three 'kuh' letters. Also, it's so I can use real-world names for nonhuman races without it being too obvious (where I'll also employ other letter switches).

I use apostrophes as stress markers in my elven names and words—the apostrophe comes right after the syllable carrying primary stress. It's consistent and serves a purpose which increases legibility.

Cluedrew
2016-11-07, 09:30 PM
The worst name I have seen would be the blaster wizard that was drafted but was never used: Joe Fireball. The character of Austin Fizbang was used instead.

Another funny one is in the same game I decided my warforaged didn't have a name and would get a nickname. One was Ratchet and it took a minute to realize they meant Clank.

Of titles, I find that [NAME] of [HOME-TOWN] is the least pretentious form generally. Although others can come across naturally as well, such as "the second" if you are named after a parent.

Tanarii
2016-11-07, 09:56 PM
The worst name I have seen would be the blaster wizard that was drafted but was never used: Joe Fireball. Was the plan to yell out 'Yous bah-stads, I got Joe Fireball right here!' :smallbiggrin:

Âmesang
2016-11-07, 10:34 PM
Going back to GREYHAWK®, I think it was the Player's Guide that had some fun little info regarding naming conventions for various kinds of characters, such as nobles, mages, and priests; so while my noble-born sorceress has a long-winded, aristocratic name, being a powerful archmage means it's also acceptable for her to go by just her first name, akin to Mordenkainen or Elminster (how often does El's surname pop up?).

I'm also reminded of some silly character name/ideas that have come to mind over the years; a druid named Wynona who's animal companion is a big, brown beaver, and a Pathfinder pixie magus who knows the arcana, wave of mutilation. :smalltongue:

Kane0
2016-11-07, 10:42 PM
I have a nasty habit of copying character names from campaign journals.

I've played a Paddock, a Marilus, a Kemen, a Murdoc, a Vardon...
and that's not counting the names taken from other games like Aribeth, Griswold, and Kerensky. I'm just glad my group hasn't picked up on my lack of naming imagination.

Batou1976
2016-11-08, 01:12 AM
This is one of the reasons why I've never really liked Forgotten Realms much. Almost the whole setting seems like that to me, particularly place names. I recognize, given the setting's popularity, that I'm likely in quite a minority in that view, but I can't stand the names.

Interesting. I definitely don't share the sentiment, but to each their own. :smallsmile: What bugs me about FR is things like Elminster's Marty Stu-ness.

How do you feel about the naming in Dragonlance?


Also, I guess most folks aren't bothered by it, but every time I read or hear the title "Lord Captain Commander" from Wheel of Time, I die a little inside. :smallsigh:

Kami2awa
2016-11-08, 01:25 AM
Well, we live in a world where Tokyo Sexwale and Baron Andrew Adonis are real people, so bad naming isn't so unrealistic :) and I live in a country where we have The Right Honourable the Lords Spiritual and Temporal.

JAL_1138
2016-11-08, 10:14 AM
Interesting. I definitely don't share the sentiment, but to each their own. :smallsmile: What bugs me about FR is things like Elminster's Marty Stu-ness.

How do you feel about the naming in Dragonlance?


Also, I guess most folks aren't bothered by it, but every time I read or hear the title "Lord Captain Commander" from Wheel of Time, I die a little inside. :smallsigh:

Dragonlance had its share of stinkers for names, particularly the regions around the Blood Sea (which itself doesn't bother me, because it's a very apt description of what it looks like. If there were a region of red water where a tremendous cataclysm happened on Earth, that'd be a reasonable name). Some of those regions' names apparently changed later after I stopped following Dragonlance, from a quick glance at Wikipedia.

But at least it didn't stick "moon" into every place name it possibly could like FR, and Krynn has three of them. :smalltongue:


EDIT: My problem with FR names is thst they feel like they're trying too hard. Candlekeep, Waterdeep, Silverymoon, the Moonsea, the Moonshae Isles, Moonwood, Neverwinter, Icewind Dale, Fane of Shadows, High Forest, Sword Coast, Castle Darkhold, etc...

Although, really, I shouldn't complain much about place names. I'm originally from Kentucky, a state with such place names as Monkey's Eyebrow, Oddville, Blandville, Fearville, Lynch, Vortex, Viper, Dwarf, Paint Lick, Black Gnat, Thousandsticks, Cutshin, Possum Trot, Tyewhoppety, Marrow Bone, and Hell-for-Certain.

Anonymouswizard
2016-11-08, 10:21 AM
Dragonlance had its share of stinkers for names, particularly the regions around the Blood Sea (which itself doesn't bother me, because it's a very apt description of what it looks like. If there were a region of red water where a tremendous cataclysm happened on Earth, that'd be a reasonable name). Some of those regions' names apparently changed later after I stopped following Dragonlance, from a quick glance at Wikipedia.

But at least it didn't stick "moon" into every place name it possibly could like FR, and Krynn has three of them. :smalltongue:

I'm considering running the Fate setting The Aether Sea, just so I can have an elven colony on the moon of a gas giant called Moonmoon.

I must say, out of the 'standard' settings for D&D, Dragonlance is the one I'm the most interested in, as not only is there a decent explanation for where a wizard's magic comes from, there's also a decent reason for why they would be specialists (the three moons are aligned with different schools).

JAL_1138
2016-11-08, 12:38 PM
I'm considering running the Fate setting The Aether Sea, just so I can have an elven colony on the moon of a gas giant called Moonmoon.

I must say, out of the 'standard' settings for D&D, Dragonlance is the one I'm the most interested in, as not only is there a decent explanation for where a wizard's magic comes from, there's also a decent reason for why they would be specialists (the three moons are aligned with different schools).

"Moonmoon"...the most Elvish place name ever. :smalltongue:

Also, I swear I didn't make up any of the Kentucky place names in the edit to my previous post. Those are all real.

I've always been bothered by D&D's insistence on having gods of arcane magic...because then what separates it from divine magic? Are wizards just clerics of the gods of magic with bad memories (since they have to write everything down) who can't heal people for some inexplicable reason? I'd rather arcane magic be a force of nature independent of the gods, like in Discworld. Where does it come from? Same place as spacetime does--it's just part of the world.

Krynn's wizards also have a bit of a problem with the system of color-coded robes. White robes = good, red = neutral, black = evil. Who advertises that they're evil? Like, you go to lunch at the Tower of High Sorcery's cafeteria and there's a bunch of wizards over there with the equivalent of a flashing neon sign saying "WE ARE EVIL, DO NOT TRUST US" on. If you were a back-robe, wouldn't you, like, start wearing a white, red, or brown robe as soon as you got out, so people would actually trust you, and so you could do your evil with less suspicion and possibly the element of surprise? And the red-robes are even weirder, essentially announcing "no, we don't particularly care if the black-robes eat babies, as long as you goody-two-shoes guys in white robes go build an orphanage to balance it out. But if you start building too many orphanages, we have to stop you, because we can't let there be too much good in the world."

Inevitability
2016-11-08, 12:43 PM
Hell-for-Certain.

Ironically, Google Earth implies the only building there is a church. :smalltongue:

JAL_1138
2016-11-08, 01:02 PM
Ironically, Google Earth implies the only building there is a church. :smalltongue:

It's the area around Hell-for-Certain Creek, mostly consisting of a little unincorporated township called Dryhill by the post office and Hell for Certain by everyone else, although HfC is arguably a little broader than the township. There are some houses in it; the old Grace Bretheren church is at the mouth of the creek, at one end of the township if memory serves. Not many houses, though. No place to put them.

Allegedly it was inadvertently named by a visiting missionary preacher. When he came back from it, his friends asked him where he'd been; his response was "I don't know, but it was Hell for certain."

Velaryon
2016-11-08, 02:11 PM
One of the PCs in my first game was named Milo Redapple. Sounds like a perfectly normal halfling name, but one of the other players spoke Greek and informed him that his name was basically Apple Redapple. So the next game, he built a character named Chymos (Juice) to poke fun at him.



Any name with [death], [implement] or [job] in it. Seriously, you probably weren't born an armorsmith bent on killing people with over-sized sporks.

And I've found my next character.

ComaVision
2016-11-08, 02:26 PM
Any name with [death], [implement] or [job] in it. Seriously, you probably weren't born an armorsmith bent on killing people with over-sized sporks.

I can't wait to play Death Sporksmith.

Inevitability
2016-11-08, 02:55 PM
I can't wait to play Death Sporksmith.

How about Expiration PointystickDoctor?

ComaVision
2016-11-08, 02:59 PM
How about Expiration PointystickDoctor?

Demise PunchinggloveTaxidermist?

Inevitability
2016-11-08, 03:35 PM
Demise PunchinggloveTaxidermist?

Perishment TrowelChef? I can keep doing this all day.

Grim Portent
2016-11-08, 03:44 PM
Yeah, my problem wasn't with characters ending up with these names - it was characters starting with them. Back when Eric the Red was young, I am pretty sure he was just called Eric.

On the other hand, throw in examples like Pippin the short, Henry the Impotent and so on and it seems less self aggrandising.

Given he was named after his hair I daresay Eric was probably called the Red shortly after he became a warrior and his fellow warriors needed something to call him, which would have been in his mid to late teens.

Such names are usually things people acquire quickly if they get them in life rather than posthumously. You don't name a 40 year old king 'the Fair', you name a 16 year old prince that even if he hasn't done anything.

GungHo
2016-11-09, 02:51 PM
I take my character names from the Car Talk staff credits.

I also include The Horseshoe Road Inn in every world, and it is always run by Ulysses Up and his wife Condoleeza B. Broken with Natasha D'Merchandise waiting tables.

Lord Torath
2016-11-09, 05:07 PM
My first ranger had the imaginative name "Tracker," and my thief was named "Lightfoot."

Regarding apostrophes, my Dark Sun Thri-Kreen is named E'Chick. Pronounced EE-chick.

I have an elf named Anglarua Baequimitore ("Glitter-Shine-Star Blessed by the Moon" according to the Elven Name Generator I found), shortened to to "Angel". What do you mean that's Pretentious?

TheFamilarRaven
2016-11-09, 05:20 PM
So by far the worst name I've ever used was when I had to come up with an oriental name on the fly. I went with Bei, which in and of itself isn't terrible. However, he was the leader of a shugenja order, and thus was referred to a "master". Thus he was introduced as "Master Bei". I've also used Mitsubishi, and Suzuki.

One player I know's firs character was a female elf named Arwen. This raised a few eyebrows as it took the player awhile before they realized that a certain fantasy author already used the name for a certain female elf in a trilogy about a ring of some sorts. They eventually changed the name to Eswen, becasue 'S' comes after 'R'.

In my current game I'm running. One player has a character named Kriegwar, (war-war), and another character (a gunslinger) is named Rooty Tooty McShooty.

As far as apostrophes are concerned, I limit them to otherworldly names (usually demonic names, which also tend to include a lot of Xs and Zs) and dark elven surnames, where the apostrophe comes before the family name, and the sound proceeding it represents the family's "alliance" so to speak.

Lemmy
2016-11-10, 01:05 AM
Dude... We live in a world where there's a guy whose full name and title are Lt. Max Fightmaster.

Nothing is too over-the-top to be real... :biggrin:

Âmesang
2016-11-10, 08:59 AM
Now I'm reminded of wanting an adamantine katana named "Ginsu." :smalltongue:

Stealth Marmot
2016-11-10, 09:06 AM
Dude... We live in a world where there's a guy whose full name and title are Lt. Max Fightmaster.

Nothing is too over-the-top to be real... :biggrin:

I thought he was a Staff Sergeant

hymer
2016-11-10, 09:38 AM
Dude... We live in a world where there's a guy whose full name and title are Lt. Max Fightmaster.

Nothing is too over-the-top to be real... :biggrin:

In fiction, the impossible is less likely to ruin suspension of disbelief than the improbable.
In real life, I could live with serving under Lt. Fightmaster. But if I was in the platoon with Ray Gunn, Anna Conda and Frank N. Stein in addition, I'd put in for a transfer.

digiman619
2016-11-10, 09:43 AM
There's a term for when a word is used only once in a given work, and I think it would be an amazing name for a Gnomish Sorcerer: Hapax Legomenon.

Jay R
2016-11-10, 10:18 AM
I once had a Hobbit Thief. His name was both a truly Shire-appropriate hobbit name (both the first and last names come from Tolkien), and a clear allusion to his D&D profession.

He was Robin Banks.

Raimun
2016-11-10, 12:13 PM
Conan the Terminator.

... What? I was playing a cyborg barbarian.

Joe the Rat
2016-11-10, 12:30 PM
So by far the worst name I've ever used was when I had to come up with an oriental name on the fly. I went with Bei, which in and of itself isn't terrible. However, he was the leader of a shugenja order, and thus was referred to a "master". Thus he was introduced as "Master Bei". I've also used Mitsubishi, and Suzuki.
"Whaddaya Mean, Jack the Samurai?" Dragon #121 (May 1987, for you Tartakovsky fans). To combat the likes of Sushi the Bushi and a study of variations on Toshiro and Mifune, They gave us tables of Japanese family and given names. (d100 tables, of course. This was 1st ed territory. Everything was random tables.)

The whole issue was an Oriental Adventures special.

Winter_Wolf
2016-11-10, 01:45 PM
"Whaddaya Mean, Jack the Samurai?" Dragon #121 (May 1987, for you Tartakovsky fans). To combat the likes of Sushi the Bushi and a study of variations on Toshiro and Mifune, They gave us tables of Japanese family and given names. (d100 tables, of course. This was 1st ed territory. Everything was random tables.)

The whole issue was an Oriental Adventures special.

Two words for ya: Samurai Jack. I never watched the show, but my roommate sophomore year of college was a fan.

In other strangeness, the grizzled elderly Druid named Knick Knack who kept a dog as an animal companion.

My thri kreen were all nightmares of glottal stops. For others, anyway; I grew up in a Yupik community and the Yupik language is check full of glottal stops.

Rakasta (old D&D cat folk not to be confused with rakshasa) with names like Mittens or Socks.

Jay R
2016-11-10, 02:22 PM
My D&D/Toon character.

Ragnar Rabbit, the Hanna-Barbarian.

Joe the Rat
2016-11-10, 03:16 PM
Two words for ya: Samurai Jack.


"Whaddaya Mean, Jack the Samurai?" Dragon #121 (May 1987, for you Tartakovsky fans).
Like I said, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genndy_Tartakovsky) I got that Jack beat by a few years. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samurai_Jack)

Awesome show, though. Mixed feelings about the revival.

Lemmy
2016-11-10, 04:06 PM
I have a dwarf Stonelord Paladin named Rocky Balboulder.

I barely resisted thr temptation of making him fight unarmed...

Max_Killjoy
2016-11-10, 04:26 PM
This is one of the reasons why I've never really liked Forgotten Realms much. Almost the whole setting seems like that to me, particularly place names. I recognize, given the setting's popularity, that I'm likely in quite a minority in that view, but I can't stand the names.

See also, the various names of official D&D pantheon deities over the years. Most of them look like they came out of a random syllable generator.

ComaVision
2016-11-10, 04:34 PM
See also, the various names of official D&D pantheon deities over the years. Most of them look like they came out of a random syllable generator.

You better not be making fun of Blibdoolpoolp.

Flickerdart
2016-11-10, 04:37 PM
The worst (by which I mean best) name I've ever seen was the barbarian Strongvolio (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?282709-Warrior-vs-Monk-vs-Barbarian/page5).

the_david
2016-11-10, 04:45 PM
Albert the Halberdier.
My own name backwards.
Eryn Fury, a shifter (Spheres of Power class) possessed by an Erinyes.

SethoMarkus
2016-11-10, 04:57 PM
My own name backwards.


My aforementioned DAVID the Gnome character was in the same group as a another PC using the same convention. Yeroc, the rogue/ranger, who would inexplicably fly into a mad rage anytime his little gnome buddy was injured. (The player somehow managed to roll criticals on his first attack against any monster that hurt my gnome, it was quite incredible.)

illyahr
2016-11-10, 05:06 PM
Helga von Snu-Snu, half-orc barbarian. Specialized in orc shot puts. She could crush men's heads like sparrow egg between thighs.

Âmesang
2016-11-12, 12:50 PM
I once had a Hobbit Thief. His name was both a truly Shire-appropriate hobbit name (both the first and last names come from Tolkien), and a clear allusion to his D&D profession.

He was Robin Banks.
For an extra dash of British influence, you can partner him with the dwarf, "Maxwell Silverhammer." :smallbiggrin:

Jay R
2016-11-13, 10:03 AM
For an extra dash of British influence, you can partner him with the dwarf, "Maxwell Silverhammer." :smallbiggrin:

I'm impressed by coincidence. In fact, at the same time I had created a fool named Maxwell, and he carried a silver hammer.

2D8HP
2016-11-13, 11:29 AM
I use apostrophes as stress markers in my elven names and words
Sadly when I've played my elf PC Rolen d'Crits I've never rolled a nat 20.
:frown:
[QUOTE=Âmesang;21377175]Going back to GREYHAWK® Didn't they have such PC names as Erak, Erak's cousin, Yaarg the Fighter, and Murlynd?

GloatingSwine
2016-11-13, 11:39 AM
You get one apostrophe.

Ever.

Use it wisely.

D+1
2016-11-13, 11:49 AM
I've had bad days too for character names.
Casio. Overpowered munchkin NPC named after the calculator I had on the table next to me. Yeah, I wasn't really even TRYING at that point.
Nikoteen. Another player had a pack of cigarettes on the table next to him.
Kilowatt the Eveready. Electric powers PC from a supers game. See, it's like the battery? Get it? Yeah, I know it was lame but I just couldn't think of anything better. He was a fun PC tho.
Cutter John. A dwarf. Yeah, really. THAT was the name I came up with for a dwarf PC.

Knaight
2016-11-13, 12:14 PM
I've seen much more of these as a GM from players (although if enough players do this I start doing it with the NPCs) than that I've done, but there have been a few. Notables that I've either made or seen:

Lun Qin (made)
B'Dassin (seen)
Vanilla Ice, Hanky Cheeseburger, etc. (seen, responded to with similar NPCs)

Joe the Rat
2016-11-14, 03:29 PM
I'm impressed by coincidence. In fact, at the same time I had created a fool named Maxwell, and he carried a silver hammer.
I have a player with a Cleric alchemist/herbalist, who is majoring in Medicine... I tried to give him a silver warhammer to start, and he refused. Kids these days.

Jay R
2016-11-14, 11:03 PM
I use apostrophes as stress markers in my elven names and words—the apostrophe comes right after the syllable carrying primary stress. It's consistent and serves a purpose which increases legibility.

Regarding apostrophes, my Dark Sun Thri-Kreen is named E'Chick. Pronounced EE-chick.

These aren't apostrophes. They're accents typed on a keyboard. The real name is Échick.

theasl
2016-11-15, 12:55 AM
I've also used Mitsubishi, and Suzuki.

Don't feel too bad about Suzuki. It's a legitimate and somewhat common Japanese surname; the company was named after the dude who started it.

Berenger
2016-11-15, 10:44 AM
Amevil. Yesi Amevil.

Stealth Marmot
2016-11-15, 11:00 AM
Amevil. Yesi Amevil.

And suddenly I need to write down the names of EVERY Ace attorney character ever.

Anonymouswizard
2016-11-15, 11:30 AM
Amevil. Yesi Amevil.

I have a strange urge to name my dwarf Murr daHobo.

Vinyadan
2016-11-15, 12:27 PM
I have a nasty habit of copying character names from campaign journals.

I've played a Paddock, a Marilus, a Kemen, a Murdoc, a Vardon...
and that's not counting the names taken from other games like Aribeth, Griswold, and Kerensky. I'm just glad my group hasn't picked up on my lack of naming imagination.

Kerensky made me die :biggrin:


WORLD OF GREYHAWK® has a character named Melf ("male elf"). All other names invalidated.

(Though to be fair, I believe the character was made by one of Gygax's children who was quite young at the time.)

Wait, is that where Melf's acid arrow comes from?

Anyway, we had a ranger named Power. A player also accepted the PH tip to use Enkyl as his dwarf's name. It meant "up the ***" in the local dialect.

JAL_1138
2016-11-15, 03:16 PM
Enzin Red-Chert
Yxpin Däble
Kanone Phoderr
Mia Tzschield

Stealth Marmot
2016-11-15, 03:37 PM
Played in a game once where there was a fighter named Marvin Mcguy. He was an NPC.

Oddly enough, we used nothing but having him use a Bastard Sword and a Tower shield and have him be a 10th level fighter, and just using the feats from core and Complete Warrior, he was a surprisingly effective character.

GungHo
2016-11-16, 01:29 PM
Wait, is that where Melf's acid arrow comes from?
Yes.

The named spells were characters and members of the Circle of Eight (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circle_of_Eight). Melf, Bigby, Nystul, Mordenkainen, Tenser, Otto, Otiluke, Drawmij, Rary. Same goes for a lot of the "named" items.

Beleriphon
2016-11-16, 02:21 PM
Perishment TrowelChef? I can keep doing this all day.


Oblivion SpoonHatter

Cluedrew
2016-11-16, 02:59 PM
It is not quite an RPG thing but I would like to give due to one...

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2408/3546317402_13ed5b0ba8.jpg

D+1
2016-11-17, 03:40 PM
It is not quite an RPG thing but I would like to give due to one...

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2408/3546317402_13ed5b0ba8.jpg

I want that book as a movie RIGHT FREAKIN' NOW.

Anonymouswizard
2016-11-17, 04:02 PM
I want that book as a movie RIGHT FREAKIN' NOW.

Who's going to play the main character? I mean he's a black Asian man, it's not like there are any African-American or Asian actors.

In all seriousness, I love the book (and as this thread shows, Hiro Protagonist makes some sense as a taken name), but this is the main problem I can see there being for a film. I was actually okay with the casting in GitS (seeing as the Major is in a full replacement body), my problems with that are they seem to have gone for a rather generic plot and so had to change the Major's character (she knew who she was, as far as I understood it the pondering was 'am I literally the same person'). I have half a feeling Takeshi Kovacs is only getting a TV series because he spends the entirety of Altered Carbon (an awesome book) in a white body.

HidesHisEyes
2016-11-17, 05:24 PM
This naming trend can work out quite well if a key part of the character's personality is their pompousness/vanity/inflated ego/delusions of grandeur/scam. Like, the person playing the character intends the character to be full of s***.

My current character: Kadal Sandford aka Kadal the Hunter, aka Kadal Monstersbane, aka Old Deadye, aka the Hawk of Darromar. All self-applied, naturally.

A game I used to play in had a halfling cleric called Randy Inappropriate Goblinsqueezer. Little badass, that guy.

HidesHisEyes
2016-11-17, 05:30 PM
And in the solo campaign I'm running now I came up, on the spot, with the name Jones for a caravan guard on the same caravan as the hero.

Later the hero opened an ancient magical glass bottle that summoned a shadow version of herself from the plane of shadow, which I put in as a potential main plot hook for the campaign. She had Jones with her at the time and she tried to persuade Jones to open the bottle for her. She failed her persuasion check; if she hadn't then the BBEG of the campaign would have been the shadow version of Jones the caravan guard.

Wardog
2016-11-18, 05:04 PM
[Job] is really, really common IRL for surnames (and often, less-obviously through archaic forms, given names), though. Smith, Cooper, Thatcher, Fisher, Carter, Baker, Archer, Gardener, Farmer, Fletcher, Carpenter, Tailor (often spelled "Taylor" in surnames), Weaver, Cook...and that's just a few of the obvious ones in English.

Apparently in Britain, 8% of surnames are occupations, 19% nicknames, 23% relationships, and 50% placenames.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-38003201



You weren't born an armorsmith, but your great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather might have been a really good armorsmith and it ended up as the family name. And surnames have a way of making their way into given names, such as Taylor.
And there's a good chance the smithy was a family business, so you may well have been born to be an armoursmith.



The worst name I have seen would be the blaster wizard that was drafted but was never used: Joe Fireball. The character of Austin Fizbang was used instead.

On flip it round though, and ''Fireball Joe'' sounds like exactly the sort of nickname someone would get if they used that spell excessively.




EDIT: My problem with FR names is thst they feel like they're trying too hard. Candlekeep, Waterdeep, Silverymoon, the Moonsea, the Moonshae Isles, Moonwood, Neverwinter, Icewind Dale, Fane of Shadows, High Forest, Sword Coast, Castle Darkhold, etc...

Although, really, I shouldn't complain much about place names. I'm originally from Kentucky, a state with such place names as Monkey's Eyebrow, Oddville, Blandville, Fearville, Lynch, Vortex, Viper, Dwarf, Paint Lick, Black Gnat, Thousandsticks, Cutshin, Possum Trot, Tyewhoppety, Marrow Bone, and Hell-for-Certain.
http://mentalfloss.com/article/69445/43-charmingly-odd-british-town-names
Including Westward Ho! (And yes, the exclamation mark is part of the name)
And even the normal names sound like a cheesy fantasy setting when translated into modern English:
http://www.omnimap.com/cgi/graphic.pl?images/for-road/67-1081GBd.jpg
http://www.omnimap.com/cgi/graphic.pl?images/for-road/67-1081Ed.jpg
http://www.omnimap.com/cgi/graphic.pl?images/for-road/67-1081GBd1.jpg

Madokar
2016-11-18, 07:17 PM
I'm fairly solid when it comes to giving my PCs reasonable first names. It's when we get into surnames that I have my doubts. Like my first paladin, the half-orc paladin Madokar Valortouched. So called because he was born with a birthmark in the shape of Iomedae's holy symbol, the Sword of Valor.

raygun goth
2016-11-18, 11:41 PM
You get one apostrophe.

Ever.

Use it wisely.

But I run/play a lot of things set in the fantasy equivalent of the Americas or the Pacific Islands >_>

On that note, I have a character right now named 'Opae. It's literal for "shrimp." She is not short. At all.

Anonymouswizard
2016-11-19, 05:44 AM
So I'm currently in a supers game, and my character is likely going to prison for at least a few sessions. As this is a setting with heroes like 'Mister Strong' and, I kid you not, Captain Awesome (the local Superman expy), I was considering that my next character would be a hyperintelligent uplifted orang-utan who knows Kung Fu and has a load of skill ranks.

The name I've decided to use?

Skillmonkey :smallbiggrin:

It fits the setting, and works for the character.

Lord Torath
2016-11-19, 09:37 AM
But I run/play a lot of things set in the fantasy equivalent of the Americas or the Pacific Islands >_>

On that note, I have a character right now named 'Opae. It's literal for "shrimp." She is not short. At all.I've got a half-giant gladiator named Ayanna, which roughly translates to "flower".

Arbane
2016-11-20, 01:20 AM
An elf named Cotton Shortz was named by a player at my table. Twerpy little punk (both the player and character).

As far as bad naming conventions go, I'm going to throw the X-Blade and War-X naming pattern that WotC got up to when coming up with stuff for 3.5.

Don't forget all the Noun of Verbing magic items. That one goes back to at least 1st edition AD&D.



For my 'bad naming conventions', anything with an apostrophe is banned in my games as I need to be able to pronounce it. I have a gag where I pretend that elven is just English with all the vowels replaced by apostrophes, and in some settings I'm not far off the mark. It's mainly elves where players fall into this trap, apparently it makes the names sound more exotic. It annoys me more than names with extra Xs or Zs, because at least those I can pronounce.

"New rule: All apostrophes in fantasy names are now pronounced 'boing'." - Evil Overlady Issendai.


See also, the various names of official D&D pantheon deities over the years. Most of them look like they came out of a random syllable generator.

ISTR one D&D setting int he 1980s had a goddess of luck named "Arenji". I wonder if the author was an early computer geek?


So I'm currently in a supers game, and my character is likely going to prison for at least a few sessions. As this is a setting with heroes like 'Mister Strong' and, I kid you not, Captain Awesome (the local Superman expy), I was considering that my next character would be a hyperintelligent uplifted orang-utan who knows Kung Fu and has a load of skill ranks.

The name I've decided to use?

Skillmonkey :smallbiggrin:

It fits the setting, and works for the character.

I've made supers characters based entirely on a turn of phrase I thought was funny. (For City of Heroes, but I think still applies.)

From a name in Astro City, I made a short, rodentine humanoid with a large mallet - the Sledgehamster!
A bitter teen mad scientist was Nerd Rage.
A bro-ish pyrokinetic with a poorly-hidden geeky side was Burning Hans. (His sister, Scorching Raye, never got to show up.) He only avoided calling himself "Chuck Roast" because it had already been taken. (A bit of luck, that.)
A killer robot disguised as a stuffed doll was the Shreddy Bear.

And I've seen more variations on "Icy Hot" for characters with thermal powers than I can count.
One amusing team was a pair of women with revealing outfits and bladed weapons: Excessive Cleavage and Gratuitious Cleavage.

Knaight
2016-11-20, 03:36 AM
I've made supers characters based entirely on a turn of phrase I thought was funny. (For City of Heroes, but I think still applies.)

From a name in Astro City, I made a short, rodentine humanoid with a large mallet - the Sledgehamster!
A bitter teen mad scientist was Nerd Rage.
A bro-ish pyrokinetic with a poorly-hidden geeky side was Burning Hans. (His sister, Scorching Raye, never got to show up.) He only avoided calling himself "Chuck Roast" because it had already been taken. (A bit of luck, that.)
A killer robot disguised as a stuffed doll was the Shreddy Bear.

I ran a game with a few of these. Particularly notable was an electricity based superhero who's alter ego was of a waifish teenager - name of Short Circuit.

LooseCannoneer
2016-11-20, 09:19 PM
Oblivion SpoonHatter

Null AugerAuger

I regret nothing.

One of my players is using Jeremy Kool. His excuse? "We know a guy who's last name is Kool, so it's a viable surname?"

Beleriphon
2016-11-21, 09:19 AM
Null AugerAuger

I regret nothing.

One of my players is using Jeremy Kool. His excuse? "We know a guy who's last name is Kool, so it's a viable surname?"

I had Gong Lee Master of the Flying Cow Kick in one of my M&M games. That was a fun character, the Master of bit was "borrowed" from a Hong Kong kung fu movie we all watched with really bad subtitles.

Inevitability
2016-11-21, 10:00 AM
One of my players is using Jeremy Kool. His excuse? "We know a guy who's last name is Kool, so it's a viable surname?"

Fun fact: 'kool' is Dutch for 'cabbage'. Just something that made this even funnier to me.

Beleriphon
2016-11-21, 10:58 AM
Fun fact: 'kool' is Dutch for 'cabbage'. Just something that made this even funnier to me.

Jeremy Dutch-Cabbage. There's an interesting name.

JAL_1138
2016-11-23, 02:01 PM
Something fun is to string together the most posh/pompous/upper-crust sounding names possible. E.g., "Chauncey Percival St. John Billingsworth-Smythe IV, Esq."

Flickerdart
2016-11-23, 03:19 PM
"Chauncey Percival St. John Billingsworth-Smythe IV, Esq."
Lord of the Privy Seal, First Baron Lancaster-upon-Lancaster, O.B.E., Ph.D., K.G., Q.E.D.

Stealth Marmot
2016-11-25, 02:44 PM
Valentinez Alkalinella Xifax Sicidabohertz Gombigobilla Blue Stradivari Talentrent Pierre Andri Charton-Haymoss Ivanovici Baldeus George Doitzel Kaiser III.

Don't hesitate to call.

Cluedrew
2016-11-25, 07:03 PM
Reginald Mortimer Humphrey Fairchild Delafontaine III

At Your Service. I managed to get "Mortimer Humphrey Delifontain Fairchild the III" from memory + spell check.


Also Stealth Marmot... correct me if I'm wrong but is it Vash for short?

Stealth Marmot
2016-11-25, 10:00 PM
also stealth marmot... Correct me if i'm wrong but is it vash for short?

i hate it when you call me by my real naaaaaame!

Shinn
2016-11-26, 08:47 AM
Our group had a TON of horrible names, with usually a huge amount of terrible puns.

For example, our group in a D&D Campaign was constitued of Cho Kleith, a Ranger Drow ; Jack Einghöff, a Monk Aasimar, and Aya Xeppt, an Aristocrat (PC version) Human.

During another AD&D campaign, we had the good old Cho, but also Haw Somm, a Paladin ; Father Hendsom, a Cleric/Monk ; and Phil Tirich, a noble Fighter.

None of us regret anything :smallsmile:

Inevitability
2016-11-26, 09:05 AM
One of my players, when new to the game, wanted to play a 'face' character. Said character was named Soc Ial.

Âmesang
2016-11-26, 03:18 PM
Reginald Mortimer Humphrey Fairchild Delafontaine III

At Your Service. I managed to get "Mortimer Humphrey Delifontain Fairchild the III" from memory + spell check.
A (now deceased) thief of mine went by "Ichabod Mortimer Aloisius Swinder" (pronounced something like "Svyndler//Svaɪŋdlə").

Not as elegant as "Robin Banks," but worked well enough for a pompous oaf. :smalltongue:

Bohandas
2016-11-28, 12:59 AM
I made a character in a computer game one time named Som Dood. I want to say it was in Dark Queen of Krynn, but I'm pretty sure it was sometime before I aquired my current copy off of GOG (and yet also some time long after the decline of floppy disks stopped me playing my old copy)

ComradeBear
2016-11-28, 09:47 AM
A recent addition from my dad:
Henry Sutton Finch III, who is fat and lost his boot.

Professor Chimp
2016-11-29, 05:56 AM
I once had a player at my table who couldn't decide on a name for her female elf rogue character. So everyone just started calling her 'Namy'.

She actually liked it, but that doesn't make it any less of a cringeworthy ILP.

CrazyYanmega
2016-11-29, 09:41 AM
Pft, funny I decide to come to GitP Forums and find this.

I made a character for my first a Rogue Trader game, and the game started yesterday and he still didn't have a name. After messing around with some ideas, I decided "screw it" and named him Dominacies.

In latin, Dominus means Lord. Acies means Edge.

I'm wondering how long it's gonna take for someone to notice how bad his name is.

hymer
2016-11-29, 09:52 AM
Pft, funny I decide to come to GitP Forums and find this.

I made a character for my first a Rogue Trader game, and the game started yesterday and he still didn't have a name. After messing around with some ideas, I decided "screw it" and named him Dominacies.

In latin, Dominus means Lord. Acies means Edge.

I'm wondering how long it's gonna take for someone to notice how bad his name is.

Shouldn't that be genitive of dominus to make sense? So Domini Acies.
My predicition is that nobody's going to notice the details unless you draw attention to it somehow.

Inevitability
2016-11-29, 10:41 AM
Pft, funny I decide to come to GitP Forums and find this.

I made a character for my first a Rogue Trader game, and the game started yesterday and he still didn't have a name. After messing around with some ideas, I decided "screw it" and named him Dominacies.

In latin, Dominus means Lord. Acies means Edge.

I'm wondering how long it's gonna take for someone to notice how bad his name is.

How many Latin majors do you game with?

CrazyYanmega
2016-11-29, 10:42 AM
How many Latin majors do you game with?

Possibly one. He knows a LOT of random stuff.

Also, the character hails from a Deathworld, if that matters. Also hates nobles.

Lord Torath
2016-11-29, 01:23 PM
Pft, funny I decide to come to GitP Forums and find this.

I made a character for my first a Rogue Trader game, and the game started yesterday and he still didn't have a name. After messing around with some ideas, I decided "screw it" and named him Dominacies.

In latin, Dominus means Lord. Acies means Edge.

I'm wondering how long it's gonna take for someone to notice how bad his name is.Katana? Trench Coat? Different-colored eyes? If you avoid those, it might take a while.

Inevitability
2016-11-29, 01:50 PM
Katana? Trench Coat? Different-colored eyes? If you avoid those, it might take a while.

Don't forget the shining hair draped over his eye, complementing his shadowy majesty while still letting him be dark and rad and stuff.

Velaryon
2016-11-30, 03:28 AM
One friend that I've played with in recent years has named several characters after body parts. His current character is a sorcerer named Pectoralis Minor. Before that he was Sternocleidomastoid (Clyde for short), a human Fighter.



Something fun is to string together the most posh/pompous/upper-crust sounding names possible. E.g., "Chauncey Percival St. John Billingsworth-Smythe IV, Esq."

Once a long time ago, we "adopted" an NPC named Rusty into our group, and he just kept getting more names added to him. I think by the end he was known as "J. Edgar Rusty Shackleford McMonster IV, proud owner of the Hoover vacuum." It makes no damn sense, but that was the point, I suppose.

Flickerdart
2016-11-30, 10:58 AM
Reminds me of a character I had once named Basil (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basileus) August (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustus).

Bohandas
2016-11-30, 06:27 PM
I played an argonian in Skyrim named Sells-Auto-Insurance

Malimar
2016-11-30, 08:45 PM
Does "Jack Jackson, Attorney at Law, Specializing in Interspecies Law, Also an Adventurer" count as good or bad?


Shouldn't that be genitive of dominus to make sense? So Domini Acies.
My predicition is that nobody's going to notice the details unless you draw attention to it somehow.

Pretty sure "edgelord" is supposed to indicate the lord of the edge, not the edge of the lord. "Dominus Aciēī" is the phrasing you seek.

Stealth Marmot
2016-12-01, 11:11 AM
Does "Jack Jackson, Attorney at Law, Specializing in Interspecies Law, Also an Adventurer" count as good or bad?



Is he related to Bob Loblaw?

Anonymouswizard
2016-12-01, 02:02 PM
As a place name example, my current group is a team of superheroes who hang out at the Glorious PC Gaming Master Base (a temporary name we've never bothered replace).

malachi
2016-12-01, 03:46 PM
Braggsonson, the son of Braggson, the son of Bragg.

Of course, I have since found a few similar named characters in books with Norse inspirations, so maybe its not so crazy?

Flickerdart
2016-12-01, 04:19 PM
Braggsonson, the son of Braggson, the son of Bragg.

Of course, I have since found a few similar named characters in books with Norse inspirations, so maybe its not so crazy?

It's completely crazy, because that's not how patronymics work. Braggson by itself is not a name, he needs a first name. Braggson's son would have a patronymic based on that first name.

Ceiling_Squid
2016-12-01, 07:27 PM
Bah, all the "High Gothic" in 40k is just intentionally-mangled Latin, anyway. Dominacies doesn't need to be gramatically-correct to fit right in.

Our first one-off game of Dark Heresy, the GM had us working for Inquisitor Underscorius. Because everything had to be Dramatic!

arclance
2016-12-02, 11:37 AM
I once played a 5th edition D&D Barbarian for a year without deciding on a name.
The party dubbed him "The Wood Elf Barbarian With No Name" after about 8 months.
The other party barbarian was named "Huggs".

I am playing a superhero whose Hero name was given by another player (I had a real name for this one but had not decided on a Hero identity yet).
He was dubbed "Midas" because he makes gold with alchemy when we need money away from other sources of income.

Midas has many undercover names including "Max Greenwall, EPA Investigator", "Highstick (Hockey Themed Hero)", "Bob Oldenson, OHSHA Investigator", "Smokey (Former OSS agent and information broker)", "Doctor Goldfinger (Purchaser of Power Armor)", and "Doctor McLuchador (Mysterious Hero)" (http://drmcninja.com/archives/comic/23p28/).
Doctor Goldfinger was not my idea.

Kami2awa
2016-12-03, 03:29 PM
How many Latin majors do you game with?

Romanes eunt domum.

Cealocanth
2016-12-03, 04:34 PM
Well, there's Brom the Strong. Big, dumb, brutish, illiterate, and ridiculously strong. His catchphrase is "Brom is Stromg".

eru001
2016-12-04, 09:00 AM
One of the villians from a campaign I ran

Duke Earl Knightsby, Lord of Kingsbury


A dwarf ranger run by one of my players, from a very non-serious campaign I ran:

Beardhammer Hammmerbeard, (he triple wields hammers, one in each hand one in his beard.)


Other gems from various campaigns

Sir Mark of Arth, who shall not forswear himself

The brave samurai: Nowarren Basingsei

Aunt Agonis

Damien Character (pronounced Da-Mane Character)

Sir Nye Tusayni

JAL_1138
2016-12-05, 10:59 AM
Romanes eunt domum.

"People called the Romanes they go the house"...?