How do you name your character?

[Kaelan Corvinus]

All of my characters are named Bob or Jane.

Just kidding, but seriously, I just go with what my imagination gives me and whatever feels right and most of the time, I come up with some cool names.

Example: Draltin(H. Elf), Roderick(Redguard), Darek Blackstone(D. Elf), Mia Frostcrag(Breton), Bolog gro-Molag(Orc), Drianna(H. Elf), Selina Corvinus(Imperial)

[Lord Hirotake]

ROFL, funny.

I used to do that; I came up with the weirdest names. My first ES character was named Etheldir for no reason whatsoever; it just popped into my head. I don't do that often anymore: now, as said, I basically choose Hirotake for everything. Lameness. >.>

[GenocideHeart]

I use a lot of names from Magic: the Gathering, especially the Legends set. Gosta Dirk, Livonya Silone, Tobias Andrion, Xira Arien, Jedit Ojanen... although the last one is a very odd name by Khajiit standards, since they don't usually have family names.

Wikipedia has a massive list of important MtG characters. It goes on forever, but it's an awesome source of names. I'd link to it, but this forum won't allow it, so... you'll have to look for it yourself.

[Josjie]

Sometimes I pick a name from the Official Game Guide (it has a list of names for every race) or search UESP for a NPC with a name that I like.

I once created a High Elf named Sinderion and after 20+ hours of playing time I discovered that there was a NPC with the exact same name. Never heard of Sinderion before, though .

[undead182]

i look aroudn the room and find some weird product with a weird name lol example kardon/harman speakers hah

[Kalthis]

I just use something which i'm interested in or heard at the time
Or variations of something.
Currently liking the name Kalthis
Also used Kalahis (which i got from Kalthis somehow xD)

[Lord Hirotake]

Though I haven't made the character yet, I'm going to make a Dunmer character using my own consideration of the perfect skills to have. I want him to have a good name and history, so, I'm going to ask you guys where you get your history from.

I read all of the things on the UESP that seemed related; Dunmer, Morrowind, Ashlands, etc.
I also read all five volumes of The Real Barenziah and have read the only bits of history I could find.
Currently I'm thinking of a name beginning with Indoril, but I would really like to know where you guys get your history from so I can go there and find some stuff to help. There's not really anything on the UESP that's helped here. Much appreciated.

(I was considering making this an off-topic post, but it's on the topic of names, and it's a character I'm trying to name, so once I name it you'll all know how I came to name it. XD)

[Mattbott]

i usually look at the character and think something up during character creation, or sometimes i'll have the name first from which a character will rise.

i'm an artist an i have found that character names are just as important as titles of art pieces, and i decide them much the same way. A name can sometimes make or break a character/artwork

often i'll use a variation of my own name if the character is in any way based on me


@hirotake
my last dunmer was an albino called Elric (lol). He has conjuration, destruction, longsword, speechcraft, block, alchemy, acrobatics. Blade and destruction are for me the dunmer signature skills, and since they have the ancestral guardian power i usually consider conjuration cos it makes the character's tactics lean towards summoning things so you don't waste your daily power.
I'll probably end up decking him out in daedric armour and a big 2-h sword if i ever play the game again. I get very lazy with my characters sometimes...

my favourite dunmer character was the nerevarine from my morrowind days, reborn in cyrodiil. Dunmer are great to play in Oblivion cos you have a lot of background material to draw from in Morrowind

[Raider numbah 101]

I named my orc Characters Nezgrel hes the Melee Guy and Drek'Thar the Mage Guy both names from characters Warcraft 3

And the only other character i play with are khajiit wich i named Gatto(cat in Spanish) and my Imperial is Raphiel.

[urthdigger]

The nice thing about Khajiit is that you have the little bits of their language up on the site. I recently made a khajiit thief in Arena, Daggerfall, Morrowind, and Oblivion, all named Ri'Jadar, it being a title they are eventually known as rather than their actual names. It roughly means "Great young thief"

[Sir Strider]

Strider is mine, I came up with it with a warrior Imperial. But it depends on the race when I make a name. Like Rah'rahjdar is my Kahjiit and Sarath is my Wood-Elf. If I make an evil charecter I make their name sound evil, like Gareth is my evil charecter

[Dark Spark]

Gareth was the name of an Arthurian knight. He was Sir Gawain's little brother who snuck into Camelot disguised as a kitchen-boy because his mother didn't want him to become a knight. Goes off and does a classic "rescue-the-maiden" quest, too, with the damsel-in-distress' sister as a traveling companion who was supremely ticked-off because a former kitchen-boy was leading the rescue mission.

As such, 'Gareth' doesn't sound evil to me.

[RobotNixon]

I use the first name Drathan followed by a last name that denotes his occupation, race, style, and personality.
I usually play a Breton, so a common name would be "Drathan Dorrelgala"

[Josjie]

Gareth was the name of an Arthurian knight. He was Sir Gawain's little brother who snuck into Camelot disguised as a kitchen-boy because his mother didn't want him to become a knight. Goes off and does a classic "rescue-the-maiden" quest, too, with the damsel-in-distress' sister as a traveling companion who was supremely ticked-off because a former kitchen-boy was leading the rescue mission.

As such, 'Gareth' doesn't sound evil to me.

Gareth does not sound evil to you? It reminds me of Garrett from the Thief series and he's a master thief .

[Dark Spark]

Gareth was the name of an Arthurian knight. He was Sir Gawain's little brother who snuck into Camelot disguised as a kitchen-boy because his mother didn't want him to become a knight. Goes off and does a classic "rescue-the-maiden" quest, too, with the damsel-in-distress' sister as a traveling companion who was supremely ticked-off because a former kitchen-boy was leading the rescue mission.

As such, 'Gareth' doesn't sound evil to me.

Gareth does not sound evil to you? It reminds me of Garrett from the Thief series and he's a master thief .

Hank Morgan called him 'Gary'. Can't get any more un-sinister than that.

[Josjie]

Agreed .

Since I've played Fallout 3 I usually end up naming my female characters (which are always Bretons) Sarah or Lucy .

Of course Casandra is the most evil name that one can think of .

[GenocideHeart]

Agreed .

Since I've played Fallout 3 I usually end up naming my female characters (which are always Bretons) Sarah or Lucy .

Of course Casandra is the most evil name that one can think of .

Uh, why? Cassandra was a sad soul cursed to never be believed when she told the truth - a petty revenge from a god because she had ruined their plans. She was hardly evil - she had no choice in being believed or not - whenever she spread a lie, it was believed, and whenever she said the truth, no one would believe. She wasn't a deceiver by trade, she was forced into the role of one by petty, vengeful deities.

EDIT: Specifically, Apollo granted the gift of prophecy on her in an attempt to get her in his bed. When she made it clear his advances were not appreciated, Apollo, like a good little nice typical spoiled and generally [@#@]-y Greek god (and yes, most Greek gods were the kind whom you'd call [@#@]. Especially Zeus and Hera), cursed her to never, ever be believed when she related her predictions.

[Josjie]

Casandra is Dark Spark's DB character I think.... I'm getting forgetful in my old age .

[GenocideHeart]

Casandra is Dark Spark's DB character I think.... I'm getting forgetful in my old age .

ah. Never mind, then. I thought you were referring to the name itself, whose most well-known bearer was Cassandra of Troy. Tragic story, that.

EDIT: On a totally unrelated note, as amoral and sometimes just plain evil as the Daedric lords can be, they are practically saints compared to the near entirety of the Greek pantheon. I wonder how people in Cyrodiil would react if the Daedric lords were replaced by the Olympians...

...probably start crying and begging for the old Daedra to come back, and they'll even offer them gifts, hahaha.

[Josjie]

Casandra is Dark Spark's DB character I think.... I'm getting forgetful in my old age .

ah. Never mind, then. I thought you were referring to the name itself, whose most well-known bearer was Cassandra of Troy. Tragic story, that.

Yeah she was the one that could predict everything but no one believed her. She also predicted the destruction of Troy in the Aeneid.

[Dark Spark]

I named my DB character 'Casandra' (had to spell it with one 'S' because of the character limit) not for any kind of evil imagery, but because she was the latest (and greatest) character I built.

It was all new when I first played a mage (A Breton Healer, of all things). It was still somewhat fresh when I played around with an longsword and heavy armor. By the time I moved onto the black leather jumpsuit and a bow, I had a very good idea of what was going to happen next.

As such, doing all these seemingly odd actions to anticipate several unavoidable future events (well, 'odd' in the eyes of any NPC who thinks that things are unfolding for the very first time) required a character with the most appropriate of names.

Cassandra of Troy may have been driven mad by her inability to alter the future. Casandra of Tamriel simply doesn't care anymore.

[foodme]

i call all my characters foodme but with something to represent who he is eg,sir foodme.

[Masser]

I name my characters after places, landmarks, or items usually. For example, I am using Addonay's elven weaponry mod, and my current char is a Chimer. I named the Chimer Ithildin after one of the swords with making up a backstory involving his Chimer ancestry, Veloth, and the sword Ithildin.

[Jakarius321]

I started a series of characters who had completely different races, attributes and skills but were linked by their names. I started by roleplaying a Japanese Bosmer called Wana. After Wana I had another Bosmer-Kana an imperial-Dana a Redguard-Tana and an Altmer-Hana. They all seem like a big happy family despite their differences and I think this naming method works quite well and sounds good if you manage to get it right. In the end, character names are only important to the player from a roleplaying perspective as they have no effect on the game itself so the main thing is to name your character in the way that sounds best to YOU.

[Kingslayer]

George R.R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" series is a fantastic name-generator, the appendix at the end of each book contains, well I doubt it's much less than 200 names.