Patch 5.3 interview with Ghostcrawler
Mystery of the Unborn Val'kyr
The latest patch 5.3 news
All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsBreakfast Topic: What's in a name?
by Robin Torres 
Jan 13th 2009 at 8:00AM
Then one day I Googled it. It's the name of a village that some people consider to have been ethnically cleansed [Edited to be more neutral--I had such a kneejerk reaction that I didn't even research it]. I immediately paid to change the name without even spending the time to come up with a good substitute. Robiness is a fun name for an It came from the Blog character, but do I really want it for my new main?
If I had slept on it, rather than changing my name instantly, I may not have changed it. After all, it wasn't my intention to commemorate anything like that. And you can't change it again for 30 days. So now what? Do I keep the name Robiness or do I change it again in a week or so when I am able? Have any of you gone through something similar?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Breakfast Topics
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 11)
Filip83 Jan 13th 2009 8:29AM
My first main was a druid Tauren called Tytanico, I got approached my many Spanish players who thought I was Spanish too. Also, I think it would be funny if I go back to this character and respec him to Resto, bet that would confuse a lot of people .*evil grin*
On my server, there is a retri pala "Tankman", and when he looks for a group on trade channel, always gets the same "But you are a tank" response. *giggle*
Neyssa Jan 13th 2009 9:24AM
We had the same problem with our guild name :)
We had a little friends-only guild called Children of Taigetos
Everone thought we are from Greece, and the worst part is, even the people from Greece didn’t know the mythological background of the name (fyi: Taigetos was the mountain where the Spartans killed the children who were not strong enough / had some defects)
Evan Jan 13th 2009 8:33AM
My main is called Evangeliz and I changed the name of one of my alts to make it easier on my guildies to know it was me and changed to Palevan as it is a paladin and evan from the obvious but after a few minutes I noticed it sounded like "Pale van" and everyone started calling that char Pale.
I have no intention to change it once more.
Neyssa Jan 13th 2009 8:35AM
My two favorite servers are full with little (under lvl 10) alts just because I read a book with a cool name or I came up with something, and then I just HAVE to make a character with that name. I dont really have time to play with them, but I always think I will :)
But once I start playing with a character, I could never change her name (not even if it was free, not to mention paying for it). I can hardly make her sit in the barbershop, and never really changed my characters (only different hairstyle, not even color). However, I spend a looot of time creating one.
Duani Jan 13th 2009 8:39AM
My druids name, Duani, is a name I've used for every druid in every RPG, pen and paper, and computer for as long as I can remember. I just always thought it sounded kind of "druidy."
I never regretted the name until our guild recruited some new members including another Druid named Daunti. I was already 70 when he joined the guild, but for various reasons he leveled very quickly and became one of the core raiders. It always kinda irked me that people in vent and gchat would always confuse us, not the least of which because I was there first.
Now I'm not petty, okay a little ;), but it REALLY bothered me when one of the officers, who I had been playing with for 3 years across two games started doing it at times.
It was at that time I decided to start work on another toon, with a more distinctive name. I am no longer in that guild and Duani is again a more original name for me.
Signed Duanti
--DANGIT--
I mean signed Duani
ChiperSoft Jan 13th 2009 1:11PM
I can relate to that. My resto shammy is named Syrai ( sear-ai). A few months ago we had another shammy join the guild named Asirae (As-er-aye, but a lot of guild members kept calling it A-ser-ai). It didn't take long before we started having direction issues in vent.
Thankfully he has now changed his name to Muzzlok, and all issues vanished.
Kreia Jan 13th 2009 8:42AM
It took me about 3 weeks to name my druid. I played a ton of video games until i landed on KOTOR2. Figured even though druids are good not really evil the name Kreia was awesome lorewise for Star Wars as well as one of the best female video game characters in the last few years.
I've seen a lot of names in wow that were prolly just goofing off and whatnot; but in my opinion a name should bring you personal satisfaction in what you want. Even if its funny, obscure or not knowing if it has any real life qualities. I'd never pay to rename any of my toons. I'm just waiting for WoW to let you do what you can do in EQ2 by skinning your gear (overrides the look of your equipped gear, thats all it does.. for people who never played EQ2 before..) so I can pimp my druid in a Sith Look.. ^_^
Ghoso Jan 13th 2009 8:43AM
Names, oh god. I started out as one toon on a poorly populated server, but I had a recognized name in my guild. The we all (about 30 of us) decided to Xfer to a better server so we could get some content done. problem was my name was taken. But eventually this new replacment name stuck and only a few people still called me by my original name, those who I had played with for a very long time. Then I had an alt which slowly became my new main, and once again had to be address by a new name. Still there are about 5 people in my guild who still call me by my original name from 2 + years ago, and let me tell you, it confuses the hell out of newer members especially when raiding. "omg quick heal Kotaro!" whooooo??! dead.
James Duane Jan 13th 2009 9:03AM
I had a similar problem with my male undead priest named "Lucretia". I only knew it as a Megadeth song. Turns out, Lucretia is the legendary heroine of ancient Rome who is the quintessential virtuous wife and was later raped by a Tarquin prince.
Not the message I wanted to convey so I paid for the change.
I prefer to put some thought into my names and ensure they "sound" appropriate for the genre. My Taureen is "Nullhorn", my warlock is "Brujo", etc. Names like "Tbagu" and "pwn3r" deprive other players of the joy of escape from the idiocracy of RL by injecting it into the game system for the sake of a quick yarn.
CavalierX Jan 13th 2009 11:23AM
See, I would have thought of Lucretia Borgia before either Megadeth or Roman heroines.
Keyra Jan 13th 2009 8:57PM
That is the name of the boss of my first job. The only reason I remember it is that A) it is an unusual name, and B) she was the bitch queen of the multiverse.
Danca Jan 13th 2009 8:44AM
First of all, I would like to give my support to you Robin, for having compassion enough to change your name when you learned about the deeper meaning of the word.
(On an aside, I still find it rather odd WoW 'Twinks' haven't come up with a new term for the , knowing what the term originally means in gay culture)
In choosing my own character's names, I've relied on Tibetan Buddhist culture and heritage - historic figures or terms I know the meaning of, and which hold personal meaning for me. For example, my main is named Tsultrim, which is a Tibetan word meaning discipline (A value I absolutely must cultivate not just as a raider in WoW, but in all areas of life). I also have an alt named Marpa - Marpa the Translator was an important figure in the history of Buddhism, who initiated major lineages. My girlfriend also has a character named Padma, a word which represents the universal feminine principle.
By the way, what armor is your blood elf wearing in your picture? Tres sexy. 8)
Halokon Jan 13th 2009 9:04AM
Y so srs?
Hiwa Jan 13th 2009 9:23AM
Danco asked what outfit Robiness's character is wearing--don't quote me but it looks a lot like the black mageweave set. Which is cute enough on a blood elf but looks absolutely dominatrixesque on a more womanly night elf :D
I have yet to see one on a draenei female, but I might roll one just to try the outfit on.
Robin Torres Jan 13th 2009 11:36AM
Thanks, Danca :)
The armor is made up of random Outland greens. The "trousers" are Wanderer's Stitched Trousers ( http://www.wowhead.com/?item=29928 ). How those can possibly be called trousers, I don't know.
Rosa Jan 13th 2009 8:45AM
I name my wow characters after characters from books I've read or characters they I've written in other stories. Perhaps lazy and derivative, but better than lolpwnz.
Also, my boyfriend has an orc alt named Durotard which is pretty awesome imo.
Jess Q. Jan 13th 2009 9:54AM
Oh man, my boyfriend refuses to make a serious name. He's had Timbersnake, Desposit (originally a bank, now 80), and Oilyduece (yes, spelled like that). Hilarious, but kind of makes my brain melt a little, too.
ninjaflakes Jan 13th 2009 8:47AM
I like my Main's name verymuch its plain, simple and funny. *ninjaflakes*, it was also my first toon,a hunter, and it came off the top of my head. But I had to make my main pet for her Yuri. i get alot of guys on the erver asking me if i knew what her name ment. I wouldnt name ner if i didnt know what the name ment ;)
I think the give me so much beef about it because I AM a girl with a pet name Yuri.../sigh, jealous lonely men. One more wowgirl they can't stalk.
I also Named my Druid alt Ashtryld.
*Astrild* is the original spelling of the Norse god of Erotic Love :P
yea, Im a bad girl.
Prinsw Jan 13th 2009 8:49AM
First caracter name succes cause i was eager to play but my second, took my girflriends name gave it a twist so i could say to my girl look i named a caracter after you, and i still had a cool name.
btw girfrliend comment on that was:does that mean you gonna spend some less time behind the pc?
Meira Jan 13th 2009 8:50AM
My first main char was named Meira (and I still use the nickname in the internet like here)... oh boy, the many times people asked "r u a girl irl?" just because it had an -a suffix... some people just don't think that not every word ended in -a is feminine -.-'
And a plus on misunderstanding is if you're named Meira in a Eastern Europian/Scandinavian dominated server... they'll always confuse with Mera, which can be many things in many languages (like I have learned with the confusions people made): in croatian it means "measures", in slovene "rate", in norwegian "more" and, finally, in polac is "mayor".
I just had to change my name to avoid being stuck in many whispers in languages i don't have a clue (I'm portuguese) just because I'm supposedly the "Mayor" of the server XD