Names

[Cassandra]

After taking 10 minutes to name my Morrowind character, I got to wondering about naming characters in general. So, here's my question: how do you name your character is TES/any game ever? Do you use names from real life? Make up your own? Take names from the world the game is set in? Do you have a certain name you use in every game you play? Do you put a lot of thought into it, or just go with whatever comes to mind first?

I'm quite fond of choosing names that have meaning. As a result, I tend to use real names, though uncommon ones. The style depends on what type of character I'm playing, but old English names are a favourite. I use modern ones on occasion, if I think that they fit especially well. Made-up names are extremely rare.

[The SheoDovah]

I use a mixture of the list of names on the wiki and name generators. Then I modify half of a name with something I come up with.

[Crawldragon]

There are a number of schools of thought when it comes to naming characters. There are a number of pages on UESP devoted to character names organized by race and sex (like this one for Argonians) which I consult sometimes if I need ideas. If I want something more original it's a lot harder to come up with actual name names, so I use what I call "the easy way" by using a word or combination of words (adjective/noun pairs like Brightblade are popular) to give my character a simple name. My current Argonian is named Chase because of his hunter past, which as a bonus is a proper English name.

If I'm extremely desperate I sometimes use one of the many fantasy name generators available for free online, and I say extremely desperate because all of said name generators suck. That is the extent of my advice.

[Dark Spark]

Puns and all-too-clever-for-anyone-to-get inside jokes usually drive my naming of characters.

[Wolfborn]

I tend to make names up as I need them, and the name has to fit the character I'm playing. I hate it when I come up with a good idea for a character and then can't think of/find a good name for him/her. My names tend to run along fantasy lines, although in MW I have used names based on the in-game naming conventions (e.g. I started a Dark Elf character named Ralyn Dralor once). Sometimes I think of/come across a really cool name I want to use first and then build a character around it.

Usually my names are short and simple: Valia (a Bosmer ranger, my first character to finish MW's main quest), Dax (a Dunmer thief), Conor Wolfborn (a Nord hunter and my forum namesake), etc. The most elaborate name I've ever come up with so far is Khal Talifah at-Tariq at-Azul ar-Alakhoum (or Tal for short); I got the idea from a post in this thread.

[MetaCthulhu]

I go with

A. Meta
B. A Romanized version of my real name
C. Whatever class or item I'm basing the character around (It's hard to keep track of saves on a console)

[legoless]

I just pick a name from the wiki that doesn't appear in that particular game. My current Skyrim character is named Holgunn.

[Will Zurmacht]

From a standard cast of personal canon characters that covers various archetypes encountered in RPGs. The names themselves are from favorite fantasy characters or from characters developed over many P&P sessions. The personalities, capabilities, and looks of the characters are set and it's possible to bend the lore and mechanics of most any RPG around them into a plausible backstory.

Any mage is Solmyr (P&P character, named after a genie wizard from Heroes of Might and Magic), a two-handed weapon beefcake with strong senses of compassion and humor is Marcus (P&P character), thief/assassin is Artemis (Forgotten Realms); the beloved sword-and-board female paladin that I play in basically every RPG is Agrias (Final Fantasy Tactics).

Squeezing some of these characters into games that don't have a traditional fantasy/D&D framework can be an interesting meta-game in itself.

[Tingz0r]

It's a mixed bag in my case. Before Skyrim, I just went with whatever sounded good, like Shaal the Argonian (sig) and Bruce Wayfarer the Imperial. Loved Bruce Wayfarer.

I became aware of naming conventions when I bought Skyrim. My claws-only Khajiit is Sha'kalakah, as in "Boomshakalaka!" The Imperial [&@%!] I made to get the vampire lord achievements with was Douchius Maximus.

Totally lore-friendly, for sure.

[BetaB17]

For me, alot of it depends on the race of the character them self along with the general setting of the game <_< But a big thing to me is being lore-friendly. Just look at any of my RP names, original or re-used

Some names I find fairly easy to keep in theme with their real life counterparts, like Imperials(Cyrodilic)) names being similar to Roman trends >_> or Nords generally sounding more Icelandic, Finnish, ECT.

However even with races lacking real world examples, you can still get a general 'theme' just by looking at popular names used for the respective npcs. Also UESP also supports a good selection for names using Khajiit or(if you want) Dragon language >_> since both use compound words and ultimately can lead to a name that is not only 'unique' but lore friendly as well

Ironically so, hardly any of those races I've mentioned do I actually play >_> from Oblivion and so forth, Argonians are my bread and butter. It's only ironic I picked the hardest race to bame while being as true to the lore <_< hence odd names like Kel'nii, Shován, and so forth.

My personal favorite thus far is my main character in Morrowind, by the name of Nesc'Var, the reincarnation of Nerevar. See the resemblance But hey, I'm not the best at naming Dunmer, so it was the best I could come up with

[SarthesArai]

I, for my part, always try to name my characters true to the game's lore, but fitting for their intended role. Most of the time, I combine syllables until it sounds fitting, but sometimes I take existing names as well (like for Sir Alain Amelion, my breton in ESO). Sarthes Arai, for example, was originally created for a morrowind mod (back then when I was playing in german and used the german sounding of names), but became my iconic Jack-of-all-trades character in all ES games ever since - and with Sarthis Idren, bethesda has proofen my choice of first name to not be that off.

It only gets hard when playing a game of a new series for the first time, when I don't have any names for reference...

[Imbalance]

Anything and everything, though I have become a creature of habit, employing the following convention with most games I play:

First character - any throwaway name like Test1, deleteme, or a keyboard mash. In TES, it has become customary that this is a default Orc that I play until death for the sole purpose of being my tutorial introduction to the game and its base mechanics. This started in Morrowind, when my first character (who I intended to be serious about) decided at last to attempt to swim out to an island within sight of the Great Lighthouse after several hours getting acquainted with the folk and surrounding swamp of Seyda Neen. Having slain mudcrabs and kwama, what could he possibly have to fear from the shallow waters?

Second character - I've developed a stable of personalities, let's say, over the years that includes a host of message board handles and carry-over characters of my own invention. They typically carry their own lore about them (having been the stars of a great number of games), and are burnished by their exploits. Suffice to say, I tend to also embue them with a heavy dose of my own conceit, and they generally serve as my main adventurer. Using one of these means I'll almost always play this run to the fullest extent.

Subsequent characters - these will be derived, and heavily influenced by lore, often someone from an in-game book or the descendent or reincarnation of an NPC from a previous entry (or ancestor if I play out of order). They usually have a specific role-based task to carry out, and very seldom take part in much of the main quest. I name a character this way after I've exhausted my main, usually, or have been away from a favorite game for a long time.

Sometimes, though, I mix things up for no good reason. Last time I played Chrono Cross I renamed a number of characters after the cast of Night Court.

[AngryNord]

I respect the Lore enough to use a proper name for the race/sex.

[Secret Magic User]

Generally speaking, I use the wiki to look at a large collection of a race's names at one time, get the phonetic feel or gist of the naming conventions, and then make own up. For my Dunmer, I have two names I use. Tavas Indoril, and Dravin Sarys, and they have generally had the same classes through out the ES games.

For Imperials, I get historical with it and name them either Aetius Colovinus, or Belisarius Nibenus.