Character Names
rai...@cs51.osan.af.mil
Does anyone out there know of any good books or
supplements out there that contain some good names
for player characters.If so,where can I obtain them. This
always seems to cause a problem in my campaigns. Any
suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
E - mail responses to: rai...@cs51.osan.af.mil.
Tom Rainey
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Marc Quattromani
Writer's Digest publishes an excellent naming book titled
something like "Character Name Sourcebook" or the like. It's
a hardback in a pink and blue cover. Contains 20,000 names
sorted by ethnicity.
You can find it in almost any new or used book store. It's
intended for writers but works quite well for D&D.
Marc Quattromani
____________________________________________________________
http://www.concentric.net/~fourhand
New on the page: a map to a shell keep.
rel...@cbus.mindspring.com
ma...@pyramid.com ("Marc Quattromani") wrote:
I run a "celtic", "anglo-saxon" type campaign.
I use two books:
The History of the English Church and People
by Bede the Monk
"I'm embarrassed I cannot remember the name;
something like The Kings of England"
by Geoffery of Monmouth
In the indexes at the end of the book, there are a list of names.
They are very, very helpful.
Aethlered, Penda, Ethelbald, Iril, Germanicus, Greylan, Severus,
Aldwulf, Canute, and Wulfhere.....you know, the usual suspects.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
rel...@mindspring.com
"and we played dungeons and dragons for three hours...
until -sob- I was killed by an elf..."
- Homer Simpson
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
David Knoch
rai...@cs51.osan.af.mil wrote:
>
> Does anyone out there know of any good books or
>
> supplements out there that contain some good names
>
> for player characters.If so,where can I obtain them. This
>
> always seems to cause a problem in my campaigns. Any
>
> suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
>
> E - mail responses to: rai...@cs51.osan.af.mil.
>
> Tom Rainey
Go to ftp://ftp.mpgn.com/Gaming/ADND/Programs/Names/ and download all of
the nnc files there. This is a decent name generator.
Dave
Terry Austin
rel...@cbus.mindspring.com wrote:
> Aethlered, Penda, Ethelbald, Iril, Germanicus, Greylan, Severus,
>Aldwulf, Canute, and Wulfhere.....you know, the usual suspects.
I've seen linguistic books on the origins of names of various
ethnicities, Anglo-Saxon in particular. Try your local library.
Fascinating subject. Until about 50 years or so before the Norman
invasion, in England, it was very rare for two people in the same
location to have the same name, and was considered insulting to name
your child after a famous person.
---------------------------------
-- Terry Austin, Companion of Loyal Order of Chivalry & Sorcery
Hyperbooks Online Bookstore http://www.hyperbooks.com/
Not that I really care. I'm pretty stupid anyway.
---Marius Scipio Magnus (Keith Godwin)
Apathy is not always the correct path. But at this point it's not a half bad idea.
---Sir Luke Skypath (Dave Cook)
Foru...@nycnet.com
rai...@cs51.osan.af.mil wrote:
>Does anyone out there know of any good books or
>supplements out there that contain some good names
>for player characters.If so,where can I obtain them. This
>always seems to cause a problem in my campaigns. Any
>suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
>
Ooh, I love threads like these. Started one myself a few years back.
I can't make up names off the cuff as a GM, but as a player, I like a my character's name to mean
something.
Examples:
My illusionst Bolero - named after my favorite musical piece, composed by Maurice Ravel
My priest of Justice/Revenge Judge Reinhold - named after the actor. Has a best friend Bailiff
Wapner and Judge will soon be married to Jury Box. I plan to name their first son Gavel.
My undead priest Chai - Hebrew for life
My druid Sacapeta Nypirg - acronym for Student Action Coaltion for Animals (a student group at my
college) People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and New York Public Interest Research Group
My priest who changes alignment Jack Hyde - as in Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde
My He-Man character Adric Navar - Named after Adric from Doctor Who and Navar from Ladyhawke
My Ars Magica Merinita Magus Hermione Humperstumper - a funny name I found in a phone book
Her son Hadsil Scumfincor - Acronym of various members of our covenant. Yes, the "scum" is for
Scumminus Dregg if anyone here still remembers him.
Gerald Katz
He-Men characters have a right to exist!
Bridget Farace
Foru...@nycnet.com wrote:
>
> rai...@cs51.osan.af.mil wrote:
>
> >Does anyone out there know of any good books or
> >supplements out there that contain some good names
> >for player characters.If so,where can I obtain them. This
> >always seems to cause a problem in my campaigns. Any
> >suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
> >
>
> Ooh, I love threads like these. Started one myself a few years back.
> I can't make up names off the cuff as a GM, but as a player, I like a my character's name to mean
> something.
Arden Flightwood, elven fighter, AD&D (from an Elizabeth Arden perfume
bottle, last name a variation on Fleetwood,
as in Fleetwood Mac)
Winter Feldspar, human fighter, AD&D (a season and a mineral)
Tyro Skyhart, human spellsinger, SenZar (Tyro is the name of a woman in
a mythology book somewhere. She was somebody
important's mother, I think. I liked the name.)
Jade Stanley, 13th gen. Gangrel, Vampire (hidden character in Mortal
Kombat 2,
and the last name of an ancestor of mine, Henry Stanley)
Dinah, cat pooka, Changeling (Alice's cat from Alice in Wonderland, and
Through the Looking-Glass)
She didn't need a last name, because she never actually told anyone her
real name anyway.
If you can stand a few strange looks from the librarian at your
public library, try checking out a book of baby names, hunt for some of
the stranger ones, and write down whichever ones you like for future
reference.
I found a few names for some other characters that way.
I bet if you searched for baby names on the web, you'd be able to find
a web site or two that have big lists of them.
The mild embarassment of a misunderstanding with a librarian can be
better than the greater embarassment of showing up at yet another
game with yet another character named Bob.
>
> Examples:
<name examples snipped>
> Gerald Katz
>
> He-Men characters have a right to exist!
Bridget
The Amorphous Mass
(Foru...@nycnet.com) wrote:
>Her son Hadsil Scumfincor - Acronym of various members of our covenant.
>Yes, the "scum" is for Scumminus Dregg if anyone here still remembers him.
Yes, in fact I do. Haven't heard from him in ages. You can tell him
that the 'psionics are overpowered' threads have dwindled down to almost
nothing, so it's safe for him to come back. :-)
--
The Amorphous Mass If I knew what I was doing,
amo...@avalon.net it wouldn't be research.
Christopher Pound
In article <5drfja$hl8$1...@bilbo.reference.com>,
<rai...@cs51.osan.af.mil> wrote:
>Does anyone out there know of any good books or
>supplements out there that contain some good names
>for player characters.
I've got a few namelists (Basque, Greek, Hindi, Viking, ...) that
I use as datasets for a random name generator. Take a look at:
--
Christopher Pound (po...@rice.edu)
Dept. of Anthropology, Rice University
Tuan Nguyen
rai...@cs51.osan.af.mil wrote:
>
> Does anyone out there know of any good books or
>
> supplements out there that contain some good names
>
>
> always seems to cause a problem in my campaigns. Any
>
> suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
>
rolling names that I like to use (hey, I'm a silly guy)
It went something like this:
Roll D6:
1-3: this letter is a consonant. Next, roll 1D20 and use that number
consonant (for this system, Y is a vowel
4-5: Vowel: roll D6, with 1 being A, etc. and 6 being Y
6: Name ends.
I've ended up with some good names by rolling on this chart and playing
around with the results.
Names like Xythic sound pretty nice, at least to me.
Steven Taylor
Tuan Nguyen wrote:
> In an April Fools issue of Dragon Magazine, there was a system of
> rolling names that I like to use (hey, I'm a silly guy)
[snip random letter selecting system]
> I've ended up with some good names by rolling on this chart and playing
> around with the results.
> Names like Xythic sound pretty nice, at least to me.
I remember this one. I used it on a character whose name came out
"Uht". What's really sad is that that sounds better than a lot of names
I've come up with on purpose:
Sir Osis of Thelivar (high level NPC named after a hepatic condition)
Maabus Throckwattle Schwartzbart (A dwarven warrior named after a really
boring computer game, an assassin from the first of Robert Asprin's Myth
novels, and, I think, German for black beard). This last got a _really_
disgusted look from my players, but has come to be the style of name for
all dwarves in my campaign, including the most recent, Brockhurst
Grumfelter Schwartzbart.
Some of my less obnoxious names:
Randolph Granner, conjurer (first name and last name of two doctors
where I work)
Lachlan McBane (Slightly altered patient name from where I work)
I generally avoid names from books, because then I tend to try and play
the character like his namesake instead of coming up with my own
personality.
Steven Taylor
Requiem
I've used that too...but my names tend not to end for a long, long
time...
--
/>
\ /< Chris Brown; Putting the D'oh! in Aikido
{\\\\\\\\(0):::<======================================-
/ \< Be not afraid of the night; rather, embrace
\> it, and love it as a friend, for it shall
be the one to hide all your fears...
Pain and pleasure are temporary, but darkness
is forever. And the night shall always return.
Tuan Nguyen
Requiem wrote:
>
> I've used that too...but my names tend not to end for a long, long
> time...
> --
I usually just end it when it gets good, while for those really long
names, I usually save those for dragons, Tinker Gnomes, and noblemen's
titles (it makes as much sense as Miguel Ferraro y Figueroa, y Ibaraa,
etc. You can tell that I've read Voltaire, huh?).
Other names I get by mixing words around.
"Truch the Chaste"
Mixture of Church and State (and you thought it was illegal :) )
"Donul Basters"
Sound Blaster
"Garpald Elanoe"
Edgar Allan Poe
"Ficrom the Sot"
Microsoft
"Dwane Koto"
Tae Kwon Do
You get the idea.
Jason Hatter
rai...@cs51.osan.af.mil wrote:
: Does anyone out there know of any good books or
: supplements out there that contain some good names
: for player characters.If so,where can I obtain them. This
: always seems to cause a problem in my campaigns. Any
: suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
If you don't like any of the other suggestions in this thread, you can
always do what I've done. I've started reading books with a notebook &
pen/pencil handy, and writing down any names that catch my eye. With one
book, I ended up with over a hundred names...(iirc, David Weber's
Armageddon Inheritance...)
--
Jason
http://www.cris.com/~towonder/
RPG stuff at http://www.cris.com/~towonder/rpg.html
featuring Sailor Moon V at http://www.cris.com/~towonder/fanfic.html
Harrald Faessen
Foru...@nycnet.com wrote:
> Ooh, I love threads like these. Started one myself a few years back.
> I can't make up names off the cuff as a GM, but as a player, I like a my character's name to mean
> something.
>
> Examples:
>
> My illusionst Bolero - named after my favorite musical piece, composed by Maurice Ravel
>Maybe i'm to picky, but what does the name Bolero means. OK i know it is a piece
of classical music, but what is the connection between an illusionist and the
music piece.
I do not say the name is no good, but maybe a poor example.
> My priest of Justice/Revenge Judge Reinhold - named after the actor. Has a best friend Bailiff
This is an better example.
> My undead priest Chai - Hebrew for life
>This one i like very much, because one of my characters is an necrmancer. He
definitly does not want anybody to know his real name (he has none) so he is
called Nepomnyattsi (could have made an russian spelling mistake though), wich is
russian for unknown.
> My druid Sacapeta Nypirg - acronym for Student Action Coaltion for Animals (a student group at my
> college) People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and New York Public Interest Research Group
> THis happens a lot (but simpler) to my NPC's: Guard- Druga, Gradu.
Merchant- M. Herctam
etc.
Making name is always a lot of fun and may even take a while. But with me a
character always deserves his name. And a maen this in a singular way, if he wants
a second name (or something simular) he has to earn it. That is why a rogue of
mine is called Sir Midas (the famous ruler who turned everything to gold he
touched) of Northland. He earned a knighthood (long story) and a very large favor
earned him a territory in the upper north of the Empire. This was a price for the
whole group, but (guess what) someone has to be the Baron (yet to come).
>Gerald Katz
>
> He-Men characters have a right to exist!
So do He-Monster, or even He-NPC's.
--
name: Harrald Faessen
email: qh...@oce.nl
Peter Shackleton
On Wed, 19 Feb 1997, Harrald Faessen wrote:
> Foru...@nycnet.com wrote:
> > Ooh, I love threads like these. Started one myself a few years back.
> > I can't make up names off the cuff as a GM, but as a player, I like a
> >my character's name to mean
> > something.
> > My undead priest Chai - Hebrew for life
> This one i like very much, because one of my characters is an
> necrmancer. He definitly does not want anybody to know his real name
> (he has none) so he is called Nepomnyattsi (could have made an russian
> spelling mistake though), which is russian for unknown.
Allowing for spelling mistakes (the m is extraneous, as is the s), a
better translation is "incomprehensible" (Neponyatniy -adj, Neponyatnets -
noun - "the incomprehensible one"). For unknown in Russian, try
"Neizvestniy", which is an adjective. I suppose that "neizvestnets" would
translate as "the unknown one" but you won't find that in a dictionary.
It's a real bugger posting your knowledge of a language - chances are that
someone has a better one. Further corrections in email please! :)
ObjAD&D: I find character names which mean something to be detractory
from the atmosphere of a fantasy campaign, except when suitably obscure
(as the above example, as long as noone else in your group speaks
Russian).
For example, IMC characters have good old bastardised anglo-saxon names.
I had recently a PC playing whose name was "Tim Megawatt" - priest of an
energy god. Good grief.
Let's not start a "bad character name" thread here ...
***
Peter Shackleton (pe...@sans.vuw.ac.nz), Wellington, NEW ZEALAND
Confidence: the feeling you get before you understand the situation.
***
Dave Brohman
Jason Hatter (Towo...@cris.com) wrote:
> rai...@cs51.osan.af.mil wrote:
> : Does anyone out there know of any good books or
> : supplements out there that contain some good names
> : for player characters.If so,where can I obtain them. This
> : always seems to cause a problem in my campaigns. Any
> : suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
The Player's Survival Guide is full of names for characters.
For germanic names, you can't beat the laist that came with the old
Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay Character Pack.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Dave Brohman E-Mail : dbro...@chat.carleton.ca
Carleton University
Featuring Alexi Sayle as the Balowski Family.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Foru...@nycnet.com
Harrald Faessen <qh...@oce.nl> wrote:
>> My illusionst Bolero - named after my favorite musical piece, composed by Maurice Ravel
>>Maybe i'm to picky, but what does the name Bolero means. OK i know it is a piece
>of classical music, but what is the connection between an illusionist and the
>music piece.
>I do not say the name is no good, but maybe a poor example.
>
You're right, no connection to Illusion or magic at all. Bolero just happened to be my very first
roleplaying character, and I needed a name. At the time, I had only recently heard Ravel's "Bolero"
and just loved it.
Mark Hughes
If you are looking for real-world names, there is a Readers Digest book
of names that have been Anglicized from a number of different languages.
I own a copy but it's at home. If you'd like more info (like a title and
author) email me at rpgt...@aol.com.
If you'd like a program that generates random (but decent) names, try
the links on the Random Name Generation page at
http://members.aol.com/rpgtools/rnames/rnames.htm
--
To reply by email to this message, remove "-antarig" from my return
address. This is an attempt to foil email spammers who gather addresses
from news postings. This extension is random. Any resemblance to a
name, real word or another email address is coincidental.
Mark
Martin Handfield
### T'es après chier mon calisse?
####
###
###
###
##
--
BeNfiElD.
http://www.info.polymtl.ca/~benfield
Harrald Faessen
Peter Shackleton wrote:
> > because one of my characters is an
> > necrmancer. He definitly does not want anybody to know his real name
> > (he has none) so he is called Nepomnyattsi (could have made an russian
> > spelling mistake though), which is russian for unknown.
>
> Allowing for spelling mistakes (the m is extraneous, as is the s), a
> better translation is "incomprehensible" (Neponyatniy -adj, Neponyatnets -
> noun - "the incomprehensible one"). For unknown in Russian, try
> "Neizvestniy", which is an adjective. I suppose that "neizvestnets" would
> translate as "the unknown one" but you won't find that in a dictionary.
the people who died at Sachalin Island, The infamous Goelagisland.
Notwithstanding I like your suggestin, thanks.
> It's a real bugger posting your knowledge of a language - chances are that
> someone has a better one. Further corrections in email please! :)
>
> ObjAD&D: I find character names which mean something to be detractory
> from the atmosphere of a fantasy campaign, except when suitably obscure
> (as the above example, as long as noone else in your group speaks
> Russian).
That was one of the reasons.
>
> For example, IMC characters have good old bastardised anglo-saxon names.
> I had recently a PC playing whose name was "Tim Megawatt" - priest of an
> energy god. Good grief.
Why not Tim Alottawatt ;-)
>
> Let's not start a "bad character name" thread here ...
>Not me!
> ***
> Peter Shackleton (pe...@sans.vuw.ac.nz), Wellington, NEW ZEALAND
> Confidence: the feeling you get before you understand the situation.
> ***
--
Harrald Faessen
email: qh...@oce.nl
"If I don't want to see it, I stick my fingers in my ears....."
Eric Tolle
Bridget Farace <jan...@popalex1.linknet.net> wrote:
>> rai...@cs51.osan.af.mil wrote:
>>
>> >Does anyone out there know of any good books or
>> >supplements out there that contain some good names
I may regret this but....I have on my hard drive a list of names I got
of the internet suitable for fantasy RPG's. It includes a list of
names from previous centuris, and a list of some names used by SCA
people.
If anyone is interested, drop me a line and I'll e-mail them.
Eric Tolle unde...@rain.org
"An' then Chi...@little.com, he come scramblin outta the
terminal room screaming "The system's crashing! The system's
crashing!" -Uncle RAMus, 'Tales for Cyberpsychotic Children'
Eric Tolle
Towo...@cris.com (Jason Hatter) wrote:
>rai...@cs51.osan.af.mil wrote:
>: Does anyone out there know of any good books or
>: supplements out there that contain some good name
>If you don't like any of the other suggestions in this thread, you can
>always do what I've done. I've started reading books with a notebook &
I tend to do that to. Recently from a mailing list I combined a first
name from one person, and the last name of another...and came up with
Tericeta Antiquaria- I kid thee not. Now if _that's_ not a mage
name, nothing is.
Also, at a conference for Dyslexia I attended, there was a handout
that was a simple story, written backwards. I found myself
underlining some of the backward words, because they would make neat
names...
Finally, you might want to dig up the old Traveller 'alien'
suplements- which have quite decent name generator systems using the
consenant-vowel-consenent charts...
Nathan Burgoine
I always just make up a few random-name generators with a piece of paper
and some dice... Sound groups... *shrug*
Like: 3 different columns of 1d12 with consonant sounds (T, Th, S, Sh, D,
K, N, M... etc), and 2 columns in the middle with vowells (1d6 or 1d4).
Then just pick how many columns you want to use... and ta-da. You've got
a name like:
Sharn, Kornosta, Thanan, and so forth. It's fairly easy.
'Nathan
+---------------------------------+
| Nathan Burgoine | "You may be able to stop me from being
| Carleton University | happy,
| nbur...@chat.carleton.ca | But you can't stop me from having
| Salter Fan Club Cruise Director | fun."
+---------------------------------+ -- Ani DiFranco
R. Portales
Eric Tolle <unde...@rain.org> wrote in article
<5fafh0$d7s$1...@news.rain.org>...
> Towo...@cris.com (Jason Hatter) wrote:
> Also, at a conference for Dyslexia I attended, there was a handout
> that was a simple story, written backwards. I found myself
> underlining some of the backward words, because they would make neat
> names...
Hehehehehe...My first character was a mage named Leafar Selatrop. What
can I say, I was at a loss for names :)
Rafael Portales
Randy Bowers
Hehe, in one of my campaigns , long ago, we had
a half elf, named Fle Flah. The first name was so silly
sounding we had to have a equally sounding last
name. And while not anything spelled backwards, it
fit just the same. The result?
Fle-Flah Darknards...
heh heh heh... those were the days... (juvenile no?)
Randy Bowers
"Be afeared, be very afeared."
R Walker
> Towo...@cris.com (Jason Hatter) wrote:
>
> >rai...@cs51.osan.af.mil wrote:
> >: Does anyone out there know of any good books or
> >: supplements out there that contain some good name
> >If you don't like any of the other suggestions in this thread, you can
> >always do what I've done. I've started reading books with a notebook
What I have taken to doing is to pick 2 or 3 Kanji (Japanese language
writing characters) that have a meaning I think goes with the character,
and then I take the Chinese origin reading for each and glue them
together.
You aren't likely to end up with a common Japanese name with
this method, but the name ends up sounding uncomplicated, like
a normal name would.