Character naming issues

[kicking jay]

It's always felt weird to my chairs to state their name as soon as they spawn - especially with last names. Several of my chars don't know what their name is, instead adopting whatever the community gives them. Many of my chars either have taken a place's name or a special other's name as their 'last name', or will do so when they feel some loyalty to a location or person. Some don't ever take one, so they're known more as "Joe the Tailor", for example. Otherwise, it's really odd to have a bunch of people running about with different last names that don't really mean anything about where they come from, what they do, or who they are. Also, a lot of people have these very... ornate, I guess, names which are slightly strange, when you think of it. This is totally going to reveal who I am, but one of my chars in Klojt nicknames everybody, regardless of whether they know what others call that person, based upon what they look like or how they behave, which makes the people screen look something like this to that char:

Jasper (?)
Greenskin (Amelia Greene)
Steeleyes (Emerald)
Rye (Evangeline)
Bones (?)
Willowy (Charly)
Tallman (Ryan)
Peanut (Malia)
Ironhead (?)
Pink (Coventina)
Fluteman (?)
Tulip (Amy Ginnie)
Salmon (July)
Bubbles (Annalise)
Little Butterfly (Amy)
Phoebe (Phoebe)
Potatoes (Allen)
Hempface (Kashmirae Covak)
Silver (Cain Black)
Hawk (?)
Dog (?)

I don't know, it just feels more interesting that way, somehow. Anybody else had similar thoughts?

[SekoETC]

I only did this like the first day of playing.

[Rugila]

*Opens the encyclopedia from the pages 'Names' and points out at a random name and surname for his characters upon spawning them.*

[JsWill]

I've considered this, but then thought me naming my own character would bode better. I mean honestly I just don't trust some people to name my character, no offense to anyone. :p

[Melodianme13]

I always have a name chosen for my character with an image in mind. I usually have the picture or image first, usually by googling people to find a face and then a personality and a name that fits. Sometimes with a last name but usually without. And when my character gives their name, they rarely give a last name, even if they have one. I think only two of my characters with last names have shared their last name.

Also, naming others... I only do this if there are multiple people of the same age and only one is hurt and hungry and needs food. I will usually name them "Hungry" so I can feed them. Though once i called someone what they were wearing. My character was mute, his name was never given to her and she couldn't ask so when she wrote him a letter, she addressed it to the man wearing blah and blah. I thought he would get the hint and give her his name but he didn't...

[Wolfsong]

Spawned a new character, without a name. Not too long after, a PC dies. Thumb at the corpse, "Hey, who was that?" "So and so." "Oh, I guess you need a new one of them, huh?" "What's your name?" "My name's So and so."

[AniCator]

I just come up with random names.

[NostalgicMelody7]

Generally, I start with a vision of my character, personality-wise. Then I actually create the character, without thinking about the appearance that much. I look at the physical strength of the character, and then test out fighting skill by dragging silently. Those two attributes, coupled with the personality that I decided on, give me a picture of the character's actual appearance. Finally, I look for a word that sums them up the best in my mind, and then that is the name that I choose.

[ObsessedWithCats]

I picked names pretty much just from random names I liked, and stick with the one I chose when they spawned. My first character I used something a bit strange but which I knew I'd recognise to respond to because the last thing I wanted was to struggle with a completely new name to me on top of being new to the game. After that I always picked names I wouldn't think unusual if I encountered them in real life. None of my characters have surnames - they might pick them up as they live their lives, but I feel that for my characters a surname should either be taken from someone they're close to like family or it should reflect something they're doing with their lives.

I've leant somewhat towards the short side with most of my characters' names, so they're not too much trouble to type, but I've since discovered I have real trouble capitalising the first letter of one :/

[AniCator]

Just to clarify, by saying I come up with 'random names' I don't mean to say that I don't put any thought into it. :3

[NostalgicMelody7]

Just to clarify, by saying I come up with 'random names' I don't mean to say that I don't put any thought into it. :3

It's alright, I assumed as much.

[Chris]

Being around several characters who are active and have no names would be very annoying. Unless I change the default, I wouldn't be able to tell the different women in their twenties from each other and the different men in their twenties from each other. In order to keep them straight, I have to come up with some label like Retardedmale4321. Then when the character finally does come up with a name, the new name and my old label will be different, so searching my reports to refresh my memory becomes more difficult.

Just imagine if most people in your school or workplace had no names. There are reasons that's not tolerated.

[NostalgicMelody7]

*Pounds head against desk* I just realized what this thread was actually about. Ugh.

[hyrle]

Many of my characters literally have random names. I used an online random name generator to generate many of my character's names, and then shaped their looks and personalities around what I thought would fit with that name. (Also what fits with their strength/skills as well.) I will say that all my most recent spawns were names I picked, so really only about 50% of my characters were random name-generated. And I didn't always pick the first name the generator spit out... I had to like the name too.

[SekoETC]

One of my characters has a name that means happy or something like that, but he's anything but. It would be even funnier if it was like Merry or something, because he's like grumpy cat. Now it's like an inside joke for only me.

Also one of my characters' name means little dark one, and he's pretty short, although it's funny there are legends spread about him describing him as a freakishly strong beefcake who can drag anybody single-handedly, when in fact he's only stronger than average and not much stronger.