What's in a name?
by Amanda Rivera 
May 11th 2007 at 4:51PM
Last night over guild chat the subject of naming our characters arose. Someone asked exactly how we chose our character names. It's a pretty personal question, at least it is for me. Being a writer pretty much all my life, my player character names are mostly names from my writing. There are also those characters that have been created out of jokes, or as representations of their jobs like Donations. I've built character names out of thin air as well, mostly because I love character creation beyond all other things. Most of my characters' names are fantasy in nature since being a fantasy writer I tend to be a stickler on that sort of thing. But some of my characters have looser based names. My priest is named Mandie, for obvious reasons. My paladin I've called Vashlyra, which is a combination of my dogs' names. I once even had a gnome rogue named Runnt.
Perhaps that is part of why I love creating new characters so much. I get to give them a name, and infuse them with personality and back story. Every new character is a chance to rewrite the story, and each name is so important to me. But I am just one player in millions. I know my guild mates choose names differently. We have one player whose characters are all named variations of the same word. We have another who picks all his names from the random name generator. And yes, we are a guild populated mostly by alts, if you must know, so there are plenty of characters to name.
On the other hand, I have seen many, many names that I cannot stand. I have actually found a correlation between horrible players and those who named their characters by picking a cool word they like and tacking on the letter X at the end (CipherX, you know who you are.) On our server I have run into Linksys, Pallyman and my personal favorite Ooitsahamster. I have even seen some I cannot believe haven't been reported. Now while I am more of a name snob, I can see why people choose to have fun with their character's names. What I cannot see is playing a character with a ridiculous name until 70.
How do you choose your character names? Is it something tied to characters you have always played, or do you close your eyes and hit 'random?' What makes you connect with a name, or do you have no connection to it at all?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Virtual selves
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
cynthias May 11th 2007 4:55PM
"Linksys, Pallyman and my personal favorite Ooitsahamster"--Elune?
Nectarine369 May 11th 2007 4:59PM
I name all my characters in everything I play after my favorite fruits.
Mango = Hunter types
Nectarine = Rogue types
Orange = Warlock types
Apple = Warrior types
Kiwi = Mage types
Blackberry = Paladin types
Strawberry = Druid types
Sylvina May 11th 2007 5:01PM
Sometimes I let the name generator do it's job, but here are some of my names:
Kirkis (Blood Elf Warlock) & Sylvina (Blood Elf Paladin) are two elf characters from the console RPG 'Suikoden'.
Zelkrah - I threw this together for an orc female
Valkors - My default character name for all my rogues, it just kind of happened.
Salt - A gnome warlock, I have plans on making a guild of female gnome rappers called 'The Spice Girls', we had a bunch of spice named Gnome alts we made for fun...
Capoeira (Male Troll Shaman) & Janeiro (Female Troll Rogue) were both named after the cool dance styles.
Mournhavon the undead warrior.
Ludwig the undead warrior (he's a bank alt)
I know some people who put the word 'mahalic' at the end of their names, and another guy who puts 'weasel' in all of his names.
I completely share your love of naming things, in every game I've ever played I try to come up with witty and creative names for all of the characters/creatures I have. It's one of the reasons I wanted to roll a Hunter so bad, just to name pets!
Brian Byrdsong May 11th 2007 5:04PM
My character's name is Korrupshun. It is a nickname of his real name Bob Zul'Lauwski. Could you guess his class? Rogue of course and how bout his race being of the Zul nation... I get a lot of compliments on the name and I'm thankful but I will gank your ass, hince he's Korrupshun...
deveric May 11th 2007 5:06PM
surprisingly, both of my mains names are randomly generated, least they were during the open beta. and i stuck with them
Run - troll hunter
Mana - troll mage
Afroloop May 11th 2007 5:13PM
My main is named "Loro" and that's after one of the song names from the guitarist John McLaughlin.
Murray May 11th 2007 5:17PM
My undead warlock is named Murray because the Monkey Island series is awesome and the most awesome part of it is Murray the undead talking demonic skull.
Sadly nobody ever has gotten this name. Even when I hang out with my friend who named his hunter LeChuk.
Nevets May 11th 2007 5:20PM
haha, My main's name is from a couple of years ago when me and my buds starting playing DnD. Couldn't think of a name, so i just spelled my name backwards, and WHALLA! Steven becomes Nevets!
It's stuck with me ever since.
my alts just have goofy names like Gneecapz the rogue.
Khelben May 11th 2007 5:21PM
I normally chose character names from book series that over the years I have really enjoyed reading.
Mainman May 11th 2007 5:23PM
My main in any game is always Mainman or DaMainman, but I like to plan ahead and create names for any alts I might make in the future. Here's what I've come up with so far:
Malpractice (Druid - A term used to describe when a medical professional's actions are unethical or otherwise damaging to themselves and others)
Benefactor (Priest - As in, the one who benefits, but in this case it would work the other way)
Gateway (Mage - Probably used for portals and little else)
Placeholder (Rogue - A salute to The Captain, and strangely witty when the class is considered)
Alba (Tauren Warrior - A Scottish term meaning a high chieftain or tribe leader)
Machall (Dwarf - Referencing machall.com)
It seems that I always give my alts a practical and/or witty name, and WoW is no exception to the rule.
Seth May 11th 2007 5:25PM
I named my Nelf after a character from mythology, Schylla.
Venetia of Silver Hand May 11th 2007 5:29PM
I was searching through Celtic names for my very first character, a NE Priestess. I came across Venetia which means blessed and felt an immediate connection to it. I now use it for almost every other online game I play.
Nails May 11th 2007 5:37PM
56 undead rogue - Nails - i don't know why, sounded tough
16 blood elf priest - Veyron - unbelievably kickass car, and sounds like it could be a blood elf-type name
Newchron May 11th 2007 5:41PM
I pick names that match my characters as well.
Ragebull - tauren warrior
Newchron - undead rogue (favorite beer and smoke)
Rottenapple - undead shadow priest
Cabron - blood elf warlock (means a-hole in spanish)
Peggybanky - female blood elf warlock with big, red hair(bank alt)
Jaimey May 11th 2007 5:57PM
I get annoyed when people announce their character is a twink.... those are annoying. (ex: Twinkzilla, Twinkerella, etc)
Or after gangsta rappers. (ex: Xzhibit, TooPac, etc)
Baluki May 11th 2007 6:00PM
I always give my characters original names, though sometimes I take an existing word (usually latin) and modify it.
Baluki - It starts with the same first letter as my real name, and sounds pretty "trollish".
Inebrius - Comes from the word "inebriated", which is funnier if you know that I don't drink. I also wanted to have him wield a Mug O' Hurt and one of the numerous off-hand Steins, but I didn't realize that Hunters can't use maces. Maybe I'll try for a Shanker instead, but frankly I don't care that much anymore.
Eviscera - From "eviscerate". Would've been a better name for a rogue (she's an undead warlock) but oh well.
Abscondius - From the latin "absconditus" (meaning "to steal") or just "abscond". Rogue, of course.
Spamfire - I thought this was hilarious, but the joke takes too much setup for most people to get. You know how people say that druids "spam moonfire"? I thought this would prompt people to "moon Spamfire". I haven't been mooned once.
Sallas - I thought it'd be cool to have a palindrome name.
Oroc - I just liked the sound of it. It later occurred to me that it's just "orc" with an extra O. And he IS an orc.
Ammon Lauritzen May 11th 2007 6:04PM
I have a standard list of names that I have accumulated over the years from different MMO's. The names have come from random generators, bad puns, inside jokes, and 15-year-old D&D characters (the origin of whose names I _really_ don't remember). But they've stuck with me.
Allaryin - My first attempt at a main character on any game. Typically a healer or summoner type. Ideally a green-haired dwarven male or the game's equivalent.
Kyaneos - Generally my first alt once I get annoyed that Al's useless at soloing ;) Typically a female melee dps type. Ideally with red hair.
Adryn - Usually my first caster type. Also usually female with dark hair. Frequently evil.
Arbor - Big and violent. Likes to pick flowers. This time around is a Tauren warrior/herbalist.
Stabbums - Belf rogue. To go with group of similarly silly-named guild members who all rolled at the same time.
Kikichikki - Puny support type. Was originally an FFXI taru WHM, name provided by the random name generator. No WoW equivalent.
Llammedos - Druid. A Terry Pratchett reference, the place where druids come from.
Omnia - Priest. Another Pratchett reference, an overly zealous religious empire.
Chokuretsu - Japanese transliteration of 'chocolate'. Adorable little gnomish warlock.
Zuraljinoo - Troll shaman. Clicked the random button until I got something I could scream at people in melee as a sort of half-drunken warcry.
Tetris - Name comes from when I played super heroes as a little kid. I was Tetris, I could materialize things out of blocks. CoH main, an illusion/kinetics controller.
Columns - Direct response to Tetris, my CoV main.
etc...
Freehugz May 11th 2007 6:08PM
freehugz
freehugs
hugzz
hufs
nohugsfuryou
freehealz
freefood
tungstenHead May 11th 2007 7:30PM
Druidlol. You can guess what class. It's a level 17 alt at the moment, but it's the only name more interesting than the usual fantasty-stylin's in my roster.
The name arose from a little kick that a rogue in my guild and I were on about stuffing "LOL" into every proper noun we could (Thousand Needlols, Silolthus, etc.); this kick began after we spent some time playing Counter-Strike. I'm under the understanding that Druidlol's been reported a few times by some other guildies, but the name still survives.
Otherwise, my primary characters' names are simply perpetual ones that I repeatedly use and that have lost all innate personality. WoW didn't really challenge me to define myself and my characters before stepping into the game-world and I've played long past the point where I'd bother creating any story. Not havin' any impact, y'know?
Oomfoofoo May 11th 2007 6:17PM
My personl fave:
Oomfoofoo (Troll Hunter, Destromath)
Why? 'cause of Eddie Murphy (need I say more?). "Oom" for short. Whispers and lol's galore. Funny as hell. Ability to tame a hyena named Eddie Murphy :)
/em check.
My runners up:
Quepasa (Dwarf Rogue, Lothar)
Why? 1st toon waiting in queues to play. "Que pasa" is spanish for ... What's up? What's happening? What's going on? All fit the wait in a que to play. All in one name when loging in. "Que" for short.
Eljunque (NE Hunter, Lothar)
Why? Mispelled name of a rain forrest in Puerto Rico: El Yunque. Hunters like forrests no? The "Que" ending ... see above.