Breakfast Topic: What's in a name?
by Stephanie Drury 
Jul 20th 2011 at 8:00AM
Back when I first made my main on my server, it was around Halloween and I was looking at costumes. A beer wench costume caught my eye, and it became the inspiration for my name. Much later when achievements and many titles were introduced, I learned of the Salty title and knew I had to get it. Salty just goes so well with a wench name; I always go back to it after wearing a new one for a few days.
Names are a very key part of the game -- from the creation screen, titles, pets, renaming scrolls for pets, guild names, and paid guild/character name changes. You can now even pay gold to change your warlock demon's name, if you wish.
Either I'm not very creative or I just like to honor the beast, but if I tame a rare creature that comes with a name, I rename it back to the original. It would be neat if there were an option to either keep the name or rename it, since some names you can't emulate exactly.
There are some creatures out there that I wish could be named or renamed -- a mage's water elemental, for example. It would be nice if something that is with you from day one could have a unique name, similar to warlock demons and death knight minions.
What was your inspiration for your name? Is there a title that was a perfect fit? Have you renamed any of your pets, demons or mini-pets, or do you keep their original names? Do you wish you could name something but can't yet?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Guest Posts
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 7)
Revnah Jul 20th 2011 8:08AM
This is a little embarrassing.
A lot of thought went into my first characters - some were named for creatures from Irish mythology, some after my best friends... But when it came to naming my now-main Revnah, I had run out of ideas. And so, because she has a ponytail, I named her after an Icelandic pony I once knew, anglicising the name from Hrefna to Revnah.
Clever, huh? I'll go crawl under a rock now...
Mace2k Jul 20th 2011 8:56AM
This is excellent! I love it when some thought and imagination goes into naming a character. I get tired of seeing names like "Omgudied" or "Ikillunow"....
I applaud you!
Noyou Jul 20th 2011 1:09PM
When you take a name you know and alter it, to me shows a lot more thought and creativity than a great deal of names out there. I'm not huge into RP or anything but Healsugood or Roflcopter are insulting to the game. I named one of my toons Oxxo because I couldn't think of anything at the moment and it looked good :P I toyed with Ozzy and variations of that but in the end settled on Oxxo. I was actually amused to find out someone used to have that name on my server before I got there. Lucky me. I am keeping it forever :P
Jordan Jul 21st 2011 4:34PM
Both my Tauren are named from native american sayings. My Warrior's name is "Nodyn" Soux for "Strength" and then my Shaman named "Yazhi" meaning "Little One" - that last one was Ironic, y'all.
AudreyR Jul 20th 2011 8:15AM
When I first came up with the name I use for the majority of my characters, I wanted something short and that seemed more like a nickname than an actual name.
My chacarcters added after that used that name with somethin added to the end to denote either the race, class, or profession. Or a pormanteau of both.
However, I couldn't resist naming my goblin mage "Dailyprofit."
Eadne Jul 20th 2011 8:21AM
I don't understand why we can name hunter pets for free but have to pay to name warlock pets. I've deleted more than one new warlock because I didn't like the name of its imp...
MusedMoose Jul 20th 2011 8:22AM
You don't get to name the demon because it already comes with a name - your warlock has summoned it, not tamed it. Also, in fantasy literature, there's a long history of gaining power over an otherworldly being by knowing its true name. Whereas hunters tame their pets and can name them whatever they want. ^_^
Eadne Jul 20th 2011 8:33AM
Well if a demon *must* come with a name, why not have a database of decent names instead of a random mixture of letters that sounds crap? Nobody wants to run around with a demon with a stupid name. Also, doesn't allowing people to pay to rename their demons kind of go against the rule of demons having a pre-assigned name anyway? If they're allowing some players to rename their demons, everyone should be able to do it, even if it requires an item purchaseable with in-game currency.
mazca13 Jul 20th 2011 8:41AM
Given that you're paying to have a new randomly-generated demon name, I've always assumed the lore behind it was that you're releasing your previously-enslaved demon and conquering a new one, that comes with its own fixed name.
baysaz Jul 20th 2011 9:19AM
You can name your hunter pet for free once. After that if you want to rename it you have to buy 'Certificate of Ownership' made by inscription prof and for sale on AH.
anonymous Jul 20th 2011 9:50AM
There is a set list of names for each demon. Instead of randomly assigning one, just let the player choose from that list when they first summon a given demon. It would fit more with the history of fantasy literature MusedMoose mentioned because we would actually know the name of the demon we're summoning; we would choose it specifically.
As it sits now, we have no idea what demon we're summoning until it shows up beside us. That's confusing both from a gameplay and role playing perspective.
LynMars Jul 20th 2011 1:08PM
Part of the demon renaming comes from a patch where all the warlock demons were renamed automatically--and the warlock players were upset. While they didn't get to name their own pets, many had been running with the same demons for years, and suddenly, there was a new demon answering their call. So there was a patch to revert the demon names, and a way to allow Warlocks to rename their demons if there were still issues, or they did like the new names better, and so on, because hey, hunters could do it!
I'd like to see names for vanity pets and mounts, but for us collectors, that'd be a chore! And also allow for some really crazy names. I do like the idea of naming things like the water elemental, too.
I'd also really like to see more strict filters on any and all name selections, particularly on RP realms.
MusedMoose Jul 20th 2011 8:21AM
I usually look for something clever and/or interesting for a name, or get a reference from somewhere. I've mentioned it on this site more than once, but my night elven fire mage is named after Kefka, from Final Fantasy 6. Slightly adapting that name really seemed to suit a character who messes around with machines and loves blowing the ever-loving #@%& out of everything.
I used to have a rogue named Moulin. And I know I'm not the only one to use that name-class combo. ^_^
Horde-side, I have a marksman hunter named after Lyudmila Pavlichenko, the most successful female sniper in history. I wanted to name the character after a sniper, and after learning about Ms. Pavlichenko, I had to go with it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyudmila_Pavlichenko
Luci Jul 20th 2011 9:07AM
I've never actually seen (or if I have I just didn't think about it) Moulin for a rogue. It KILLS me when people spell it roUGe. Moulin the Rogue is very clever!
gewalt Jul 20th 2011 10:19AM
just so you know Luci, people are spelling it rouge on purpose just to grammar troll you.
(this post also included a grammer troll)
Rhamona Q Jul 20th 2011 10:51PM
I named my rogue Maybelline.
lethian Jul 20th 2011 8:27AM
my dk of this name was just a name i picked for my shammy on my younger bros account, Lethian, they were both Tauren, off and on through wrath people were sayng know what your name means?, to my confusion i might add, i found out a year ago lethia is female greek name for forgetfulness. and im very forgetful lol other than that my hunter Feraleth is named after Faraleth from ut3, and my druid is named Awahara cause i thought eh make it sound native American. oddly the hunter was named first, the leth part was a complete fluke also my bros rogues nickname is Thel, mine being Leth. also my deth'tilac is now lethtilac.
lethian Jul 20th 2011 8:28AM
also this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lethe
Docseuzz Jul 20th 2011 9:39AM
I completely stole my DK name from another one I saw in a battleground. 'SepticTank' was just too good to resist!
Jimson Jul 20th 2011 8:23AM
"You can now even pay gold to change your warlock demon's name, if you wish."
How did I miss this? Not that I would change my imp Azpit's name, because it sounds funny. But my succy "Sywyn" has always driven me nuts.