How do you name them?

[the_antisocial_hermit]

I use various methods.

[joo]

When I started my latest account, I trawled through random name generators to try and come up with suitable names for my first two characters. I ended up using a good first name I found with another name from a Robin Hobb book (I got Thasyl Ringsgold). And for my second character I used a good surname I found with a random word that suited it (i.e. Jett Blackburn). After that I pretty much came up with names on the spot by using random words I thought of or fairly obscure fictional names (another Robin Hobb one was Elliania).

And of course, there are a few of my characters who let other characters name them (even when it's not intentional) or come up with their names after they spawn. I know this can be irritating for some players, but a character named in this fashion will have a name the really reflects who they are, as it was created through the events of their life.

On thing I really dislike is when people use full names from fictional characters or celebrities, like "John Locke" or (even worse) names from the Simpsons or Harry Potter Now those are the kinds of characters who could cause random lynchings by every other character in the location where they spawn.

edit: Arrgh, I've remembered another one: "Austin Powers"

[HoH]

On thing I really dislike is when people use full names from fictional characters or celebrities, like "John Locke"

Though he probably doesn't need or want me to, I'm going to come to nite's defense on this one.

John Locke, in my opinion, was an exceptionally well played character. I think that nite did justice to the philosopher while playing that character. While maybe the character was not in form like the original John Locke, he was a stand up guy and well respected in that community. (I had the opportunity to roleplay with the character quite often as my own character was rather transient in nature and travelled through the region quite steadily.)

So obviously, if you take that name and make the character your own, and play them well, I see no problem using a famous namesake. I wouldn't suggest using more contemporary names, such as names from Harry Potter like you said, but mainly only because of the stigma that can be attatched to those names. People will be expecting certain traits out of them that you may not be willing to attribute to your character.

I, on the other hand, used to use a name generator for the first name and came up with a fairly respectable last name, or I would mix and match names from the latest Census.

[Lyd]

Here are some of my trains of thought when naming Characters:

My first charry was the name I had picked out for a girl baby if I ever had one...but I didn't...so she is it.
My second is a spoonerism of my college boyfriend's name whom if we had had a child together, we had agreed to name him this...but we didn't...so...thus a another character child.
My third is the name of a friend from college whom I also named a calico cat after.
My fourth is the name of my town and the English Translation of the indigenous name of the state that I live in.
The fifth is a combination of two college friends' names.
The sixth is the roman name for a saint and the gaelic name for a gaelic island...
My seventh means spawn of another Euro-Indigenous translation of the state I live in.
My eighth is the name of a favorite patient of mine who walks, runs and drives a GT500 in a better place now.
If I continue...I will be giving too much away...hehe

etc., etc., etc.,

[Tiamo]

Some time ago my friends and i spent a whole day making up names, any names, that we could use for naming characters, locations, countries, rivers, plants, monsters, gods, artifacts, in fact anything nameable within the roleplaying world we were designing.
The list of names then was sorted by 'style', so we would get some local consistency.

I still use (parts of) this list for naming purposes. My forum name is the name of one of the many gods we created.

[ceselb]

edit: Arrgh, I've remembered another one: "Austin Powers"

"Britney Spears"?

"Richard Rahl" living in "D'hara" and at some point I guess making the tandem "The truth cycle", leaving notes everywhere about being the "Seeker of truth".

"Piers Anthony" I'm too new to know exactly where he was, but I suspect Xanth has some relation to that as well.

[SekoETC]

Oh, Piers Anthony was in Alenz hills, that's totally nowhere near New Xanth. But yeah, it annoys me to notice people taking names straight out of books or movies.

There's a Jennsen Dagget's house in Lake Village, another name taken from Sword of Truth series. And there used to be J-Lo's house somewhere. People should be more imaginative.

[nitefyre]

On thing I really dislike is when people use full names from fictional characters or celebrities, like "John Locke" or (even worse) names from the

You might want to check your anachronisms, the Cantr Locke pre-existed the celebrity Locke.

[*Wiro]

And there used to be J-Lo's house somewhere.

One of my characters is in the place with her house.
I think that some names taken from movies and such are ok. But no Jennifer Lopez, harry potter, george bush etc.

[frenchfisher]

For my dead characters,

-The first name amused me and putting it next to a common last name was even more amusing
-Just a stereotypical Portuguese name plus Portuguese ruling family.
-A combination of the two Senators from Maine.
-I think the first name was from a common townie from the Sims 2 and his last name was something he picked up.
-I thought using the hick-like first name and an arrogant-sounding last name would be amusing.
-Meant to be rather bland sounding, but with a 'y'.
-I wanted to use the last name pretty bad and, I dunno, the first name just fit.
-The first name 'John' (which is far underused in Cantr) and a random last name.
-Comes from a stereotypical name for a relative with Mob ties (or just someone from the Mob). I gave him a cooler name to start out so I'm not sure why I changed it; I decided I hated the name from a couple of seconds after I gave it!
-Comes from one of my living characters and a fairly obscure Spanish explorer.
-Comes from the President of a beloved southeast Asian country, a name which amuses me, his wife, and the town in which he spawned. Sorry to his wife: I wasn't expecting him to fulfill his two quests so quickly; I had no idea what to do once he did so!

The ones I have left are:
-A combination of two Byzantine names. (yes, I know they're Greek, but they're borrowed from people in the Byzantine Empire)
-A hoity-toity name for someone who is the opposite of that.
-A first name from a Sims 2 character and the amusing name of a geographic area.
-Two Prime Ministers of the UK for someone who's not very refined.
-A fairly random first name and the name of a Las Vegas hotel.

[ezz]

I am all for charactor referances from obscure novels, I have a few named and based upon charactors from books, I find this useful as I don't always have in mind specific traits when starting a new charactor and it is sometimes easier to RP from the perspective of one that is allready developed until you find the direstion you plan to take him/her.

I am a big fan of names pulled from Dr. Seuss- 'Too many daves' has so many awesome charactor names in just one poem!

[Dudel]

Thanks for the ideas people.I hate when people use names of RL media as well. This goes from TV, Books, Movies. I saw some 'wierd' names mostly, thats one reason I was asking.

Great ideas people. I have a ton of char names now, but no basic formula for them. Gota sit down and write them out.

[ceselb]

Not sure about a formula, but I can specify one of my more successful methods.
First take a random word, first thing that comes to mind. For some reason this was the movie "Manderlay". I google manderlay, and my eye falls one of the top results, a link to that dvd on amazon. That gave no immediate associations, so I click the most annoying link without thinking, the deal of the hour or whatever you call it. It's some kind of lame knife set with a wooden block. I get nothing, until after a few seconds my eye falls on the three metal studs or whatever on the handle that fastens the blade securely to the handle. "Trio" sounds cooler than three, so I choose that.

"Manderlay" + "Trio"

Flip things around until you get a reasonbly sounding name. I got "Latrey Redman".

Do ten or twenty of these. mix and match first names and surnames. Unless I'm lucky and get nice names I usually end up using parts from three or four of them to form the final name.

[ceselb]

You might want to check your anachronisms, the Cantr Locke pre-existed the celebrity Locke.

Huh?!? This John Locke might have come after the cantr one, but I'm fairly sure this John Locke didn't.

[UloDeTero]

I've had *counts on fingers* five characters, I think, including dead ones. I've always had trouble coming up with good names, because I want the name to mean something. My methods for generating names were:

The Esperanto word for 'learner' (my first charrie), reversed. Later, his wife's surname was added.

A short Esperanto phrase meaning 'new and lonely', reversed. The name he was known by was given to him by his fellow citizens.

The scientific name for cod. Just saw it one day, thought it looked good.

A short Spanish phrase meaning 'without name'. The forename also reflected his nature. However, no one ever learned his real name.

A respelled version of Fhqwhgads, a homestar runner cartoon.

I have an idea for another name, which will be a simple play on words.