The Name Game

Today's article is meant to help players come up with names for their characters, but these basic principles also apply to Dungeon Masters when naming NPCs.

Names are important. They not only identify the characters in your adventures, but they serve as an impression of your character that will hopefully stick in the group's memory and become iconic. Not all names are created equal though, especially when you factor in the variety of names that can be invented purely from a player's imagination. The goal of any name should be something that invokes a certain tone for your character as well as something that will be easy to remember and say. Darth Vader, Gandalf the Gray, James Bond, and Lord Voldemort are just a few examples of iconic monikers that are both memorable and suggestive of the kind of character to which they belong. Names should be able to conjure an impression of the character's basic essence, a feel for who or what they might be.

Finding a Name That Fits

The name should also be consistent with the tone and setting of your campaign. You don't want to have a bunch of player characters with names like Ser Davos Stronghelm II, Trooper Number Five, Princess Elendel and Bob unless you are clear that you are playing a silly hodepodge of the serious and silly. It's better to at least set a consistent tone that will provide guidelines as to how silly the character names should get, and what kind of sounds and spelling would be appropriate for the languages of the setting (Using real-world languages as examples and base-lines is a really easy way to do this.) And always make sure it fits with the genre, setting and time period.

Test the memorability of your fantasy names. Like a good melody, there are some combinations of syllables that are catchier than others... and some names that just won't stick with your fellow players. Consonant-heavy names are a big red flag to avoid. Long-winded names of more than three syllables are impractical.  Names that make people laugh or crude names have a finite life expectancy before the joke wears thin. This also applies to names that are deliberately difficult to pronounce.

Number one rule for player characters: nicknames are great! They add character and give you a more personal way to relate to fellow party members. Having a name that can be shortened into a nickname is a good way to make it so that your teammates have something easy and memorable to identify with you. Elves with names like Elethebriam are going to be annoyances unless they have something catchier to go by. This is also why audiences call the character from Assassin's Creed 3 Connor instead of his Mohawk name Ratonhnhaké:ton.

And never ever use something like this

Good Names Roll Off the Tongue

The sound of a name is important, and can really make the difference of how a character is perceived. One of my more whimsical NPC creations was a tiefling named Devox Abraxas. Devox was a showman and illusionist known for his voice, so the inclusion of the word "vox" in his name also had meaning. His surname is a Greek word related to Gnostic mysticism. The result was a catchy name that with old-latin roots that sounded like it was based off actual language, so it stuck more easily than a name made by smashing vowels and consonants together. That's why I recommend looking into real-life names and getting a sense of how the sounds go together, just to get a sense of what makes the more common names from around the world so appealing.

Another good way to make a character memorable is by a very distinct naming convention. Some cultures will have ways of naming their people besides a unique phonetic combination. Once again, it has to be consistent with the setting and with the approval of the DM, but this provides a lot of interesting new possibilities. A character from a society without sentimentality or individuality might have a number for a name. High fantasy characters often have surnames that are descriptive combinations of adjective and noun, like Quickfoot or Strongheart. Distinctive titles serve as an interesting alternative to surnames, like Ivan the Bold, or Thatch of Many Fingers. Names can be made from real world phrases as well, like the famous real-world Indian chiefs Red Cloud and Sitting Bull.  These types of designations can add some unique flair to your character, and make them stand out from characters with standard phonetic names. And remember, it always helps if your game group adopts name tags or character standees to remind everybody who you are playing as!

Happy ventures!