The name game...Follow

Mine are all based on names of piercings.

I have 2 methods. First, I try and pick at least semi-original fantasy names. Then, for alts, I often anagram the names of other characters that I like to make names for my mules or vendors or crafters.

I despise names that don't fit the genre, it really takes away from the game for me, to run into "Anthraxx" or "Serverlag".

Good thread.

I usually try to pick names that fit with the Norathian culture of the race I'm playing. If you run aroud town, there are some great names of npc's, so you can get a feel for what they are like.

I agree with gossamer. Names like Eldee MacLagmeister or Hitum Andsmashum really throw me. Or any derrivation of a fantasy literary character like Drizzzzttt Dourdennnn for that matter.

Naming can be really hard to do. It ususally defines the intitial reaction other players will have for you when you meet them.

((Bites))

I also try to pull from the local environement or culture, although with some races, they dont seem to have a real grasp of any cultural convention at all. Take the Trolls. Spinkit was the bankers name, but they also had a few with names that maxed the character threshold. I just settled for whay the name would be after translation and RP'd a troll speaking native language.
Swamp Talk
Always had great fun with that.

If it's the series I'm thinking about, it was Stephen R. Donaldson.

You're right, Piers Anthony wrote the Xanth series.

Now THAT was a while ago. :)

My names are either pretty-sounding fantasy names (I have an alt named Estarria, loosely based on the name Estarriol from "A Wizard of Earthsea") or names from books that aren't super popular. Attolia is named after the title character from "The Queen of Attolia", but I have yet to run into someone else who has read that book. Morganna is pretty obvious, but oh well...I've always though Morgana Le Fay was cool. :)

The exception to the rule is Lierta, which I made up out of nowhere. /shrug

OldBlue, I think Moriarty is a cool name. I've always liked that character too (in my experience, lawful villains are generally interesting). That's an interesting idea to name a good character that.

Isn't Piers Anthony still writing Xanth stuff? Or am I wrong? I haven't read that series in a long time.

Bodhi, is my dog's name and I looked down at him while I was creating my character. Wish I was a bit more creative than that, but oh well. Oluf, is my berserker and any one who has seen the movie "Clerks" should understand that.

Naming the toons is very important. The name totally decides what kind of character I'm going to make. I try to name my toons with either original or fun names, with inspiration from anywhere and everywhere. In EQ, I made a frog pally named Shlampur, because I was watching an episode of some dating show, where this weird german dude kept calling the women on the show "Shlampur! Dirty Shlampur!" which apparently means ***** in german. Sounded like a great name for a frog.

So far, my EQ2 toons have been the result of all the names I wanted being taken. I make a list of names, some from the fiction I write, and keep trying one after the other till I find one that isn't taken. Octavio sounded like a great name for a bard, so that's what he'll be. Scrapple came from being shot down about 10 times. My friend and I were brainstorming, and I thought Scrapple would be a good name for a troll who took to magic instead of fighting. The last names will be the most difficult, I think.

On a side note, I got to sign an urn in the graveyard yesterday. Felt great to have a weird little urn say "Scrapple was here". Now I know how these random things in the game get signed...