What are the playground's favorite character names?

[Prince Zahn]

Simple questions, answer any that apply - what names are you drawn to most as a gamer? what are some of the character names you like to use the most? what kind of names do you or your DM love to keep in your name repertoire? alternatively what are the names of your most recurring characters(if you have any)?

Alternatively, what are some names you saw or heard that you thought "I have to use this one for a character"?

some names I like to base my character names on are Timothy, Sieger, Claus, Seth, Miguel, or Raul. For girls I like Alice/ia, Penelope, Odette, Rosemary, Merriam, or Shianne. I like to fiddle with those names when I want to use a nonhuman race.

for less common NPC races I sometimes mix and match syllables or base it on character motifs - Lyandis, Venoma, N'nilus, Flickie, Kroff, Nuurp.

what are some of yours? don't be shy.

[Mastikator]

I don't think I've ever used a character name twice.

[orbispelagium]

I have fond memories of an obnoxious Tiefling rogue named Akkad.

Someday, I really wanna make a Warforged Bard (resembling Daft Punk more than a little) named 808.

Alternatively, name someone Obshchak Delirium and act like that's the most normal name in the world.

[lylsyly]

I've used Keera more than once (both times were sort of the same character though, different builds of a Female Half Orc Barbarian/Ranger type).
I've used Lylsyly several times for female fey characters (yeah, lil' silly).

Other than these, I can't ever remember using the same name twice (going all the way back to 1976) ... dang I'm getting old ;)

[Prince Zahn]

those are good too :) the question is most about names you like/liked most than the rest of it. I'll clarify that in the OP now.

[hymer]

dang I'm getting old ;)

Beats the alternative!

I've used the name 'Sunshine' for a druid character a few times (two or three times, I think), but then, those characters were virtually the same, just transplanted to different campaigns.
For NPCs I've used the name 'Vanariel' a few times, but always for quite minor characters.
I like the name 'Edl' for strict but reasonable nobles, and though I'd have to look it up, I must've used it more than once for NPCs over the years.

I guess in general I don't use the same names very often, unless it's a family name and several characters have it because they're related.

[Stealth Marmot]

For a time I made some of my favorite characters with alliterative double D names. I had a Darius Daymont and temporarily had a character I completely stole the name Dominic Deegan for. I later kept the name Dominic and applied it as Dominic Daymont for another character.

I have a naming convention for my paladins: I name them after Roman Emperors. My first was named Julius, my second Augustus, and one I think I named either Claudius or Marcus, and I believe I had a one shot named Octavius.

[theasl]

I've noticed that I tend to name female characters after place names, especially Eastern European ones. Not really sure why, but it works for me.

[Honest Tiefling]

I don't think I've ever used a character name twice.

Same. What works in one setting isn't going to fly in another, especially if based on various fantasy counterpart cultures. I sometimes feel that the name must be chosen after character creation, to really give the thing a fresh start, even if it's my 50th time playing a wizard.

[Sajiri]

I guess I must like my latest character's name, Novia. Was a name I used in several games and MMOs, often recreating the character's appearance as best I could, until I realised she'd be a perfect fit for the latest campaign we were preparing to play. In fact, it's who my current avatar is

[Flickerdart]

Old Slavic names are some of the most metal proper nouns known to man, since they are easy to compound out of pretty great words.

For example, take Vladimir. It means world-ruler (from vladet' - to own, to possess, to rule - and mir - the world), and Vsevolod means much the same thing (vse - all, volod from the same root as vladet'). Mstislav (much less common name these days) means glorious avenger (from mest' - vengeance, and slava - fame, glory).

But then you can combine them and have Vladislav (fame-ruler) Some more words: Dobro- (good, right), Bori- or -bor (struggle), Brani- (cursing), Broni- or Gradi- (defender), Voi- (warrior), -mysl (thinker), -gnev (wrath), -polk (military leader).

There are a few of names that mean more famous/most famous/all-famous, in case you wanted to have a character who was a glory hound from birth - Vyacheslav, Vseslav, Boleslav, Vysheslav.

[Knaight]

Most names I use don't stand out - much the way most real names don't stand out, so it works out. Occasionally though the campaign has a tone where one can pick a name that's a bit odd but has some humor to it, and those tend to be more memorable. For instance, there was my fanatical anti-hero nature priest, Brother Hemlock. There was a player's monk from a bizarre order in a game I GMed, Silent Gecko Hunts Quietly. There was Qaelynaria, a name mostly notable because the name was picked to have an almost elven, elegant sound to it for a character who was very much not that and shortened it to "Nar".

[lylsyly]

those are good too :) the question is most about names you like/liked most than the rest of it. I'll clarify that in the OP now.

Okay, and I'll clarify my answer ;)

Keera was 2 different builds of a Barbarian/Ranger type destined to be a Queen by Prophecy, one Gestalt/one Straight both used to amplify my reasoning on the protagonist of a fantasy novel I am working on.

Lylsyly (lil' silly), is my favorite fey personality for when I play a female fey, only twice with that name (you'll see why in a minute), whom I also have been toying with using for the novel. I have played the personality for a long time off and on, but have just decided recently to name it for what it is. When she went out scouting, she comes back and tells you about the flowers, animals she talked to, blah . blah . blech. All before telling you that there is a war party of ogres coming this way (usually instants before the ogres crest the hill :bigevilgrin:.

Last time I played Lylsyly she was a half pixie/half faerie dragon Gestalt with a very wrong number of Racial class on one side and Rogue alternating with Scout on the other, going into the swift ambusher role. She was the party scout and trap finder/breaker, and a pretty damn good archer as well. It was then that I fell in love with the name.

Next?

[thirdkingdom]

Yolo Swaggins, halfling.

[Ninjaxenomorph]

One of my favorite names I've come up with for a PC has been Wreave, a human mercenary spellsword. I'm also sitting on an android character named Radius, after the character in R.U.R.

[Potato_Priest]

My personal favorite was a paladin named Ho Lee, but the DM hated it. Most of my others are also pun names. The one exception to this rule was a charlatan monk named Emilio Aguinaldo (Aguinaldo was the leader of the Filipino army in the Philippine-american war. He has no thematic association with the monk, but I liked the name.)

[Mastikator]

Same. What works in one setting isn't going to fly in another, especially if based on various fantasy counterpart cultures. I sometimes feel that the name must be chosen after character creation, to really give the thing a fresh start, even if it's my 50th time playing a wizard.

Same, and even if it is another wizard it's not gonna be a similar wizard to one I've done before. Character ideas are easy and cheap, chances to enact them are expensive.

[2D8HP]

Years ago The Dragon Magazine had a list of names from different cultures, and from that list I'd usually pick Irish names like: Conall or Cormac, but I can remember omce picking the Slavic name of Andrik.

Now I pick Rolen d'Crits.

[oudeis]

Some of my favorites:

• Praxagos Eudaemeis, Paladin: I decided to go with pseudo-Greek instead of pseudo-Latin or pseudo-medieval. It's a combination of praxis (doing/action), agon (struggle/contest), and eudaemon (good/benevolent spirit) and was constructed to reflect his quest to redeem his terrible past through good deeds and become a better man.
• Wolfhame, Ranger: born with amber-colored eyes and gray-shot hair that resembled a wolf's pelt.
• Finieous Fingers, Thief: borrowed from the comic strip of the same name, which I loved as a teenage gamer.
• Sidereon, Ranger/Druid: from the Latin word meaning 'of or belonging to the stars' to reflect his nocturnal ramblings. I first used the name for my Night Elf Hunter in WoW and liked it so much I reused for my first 5E character. A complete social dunce, but as friendly and good-hearted as they come. Spoke with an incredibly broad English country accent like Daniel Hagman from the Sharpe TV movies.

[Rerem115]

I've always had a thing for Scandinavian names. Names that stand out include Lars, Baldur, Karl, Sigmund, and Rolf. For when they've had surnames, I've used '--son' and Norddahl a couple times.

[Âmesang]

I've mentioned this before but I've grown quite enamored towards the name of my current drow antipaladin/assassin, Variolus Baenre—her given name being taken from a species of black widow called the latrodectus variolus. To me it sounded sufficiently "elvish" and it fit their spider-themed matriarchy.

My favorite character, the human sorceress/archmage, Quintessa, was originally named after the Quintesson homeworld from the old Transformers cartoon—not very flattering to be named after a planet, but I thought it sounded elegant with a bit of mystery. As it turns out, the name also has a partial connection to alchemy (of which she's trained in) as well as physics, so that turned out to be an appropriate coincidence. Also thought the following quote was very fitting with regards to her vain, conceited, selfish, self-centered, egotistical personality:

"A pure or perfect example of a substance or entity."

…on a related note I find the name, "Mordenkainen," very fun to say.

[GungHo]

I merge the Car Talk and Dave Ryder name lists.

[daniel_ream]

Same. What works in one setting isn't going to fly in another, especially if based on various fantasy counterpart cultures..

I have a player in my current campaign that uses the same character name for every character he plays in every campaign he plays. Regardless of setting, culture, time period.

[theasl]

I guess I must like my latest character's name, Novia. Was a name I used in several games and MMOs, often recreating the character's appearance as best I could, until I realised she'd be a perfect fit for the latest campaign we were preparing to play. In fact, it's who my current avatar is

Novia means girlfriend in spanish

[oudeis]

I merge the Car Talk and Dave Ryder name lists.

The many names of Space Mutiny have particular utility if you are going to run a combat scene against a large band of mooks.

[Sajiri]

Novia means girlfriend in spanish

It does, and I have learned that multiple times in PSO2 when teenage boys come up to me and say that spanish phrase asking me to be their girlfriend and think they're oh so funny.

However, it's also a Latin name that means Young :p

[Honest Tiefling]

If you have not played Dr. Novia, a deep voiced evil doctor from South America I am severely disappointed in you.

[Astofel]

I often try to look at the suggested names for a race and try to make one that sounds like that, unless I have a name that is also a pun, like my evil monk named Antem Iyagi (anti Miyagi).

Of course, I will never top the name I once gave to a bard NPC, Fellarius Bombasto.

[Sariel Vailo]

sophie uphelia moonscar. half elf
my own poster name as drow
victor/victoria aasimar
orc thok crash and TUMEME for tumeme dont care
human whatever i want.
dwarf ive never bee a dwarf. i had some names to try tho

[Samzat]

Yrdonsygg syggtryggvyrsedd
Fake old english is simply the best