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Alright, I have to be careful with this one not to point any fingers...

I met someone with a questionable name tonight so I want to know exactly what the policy on names is.

Years ago, in another game, I had a character named Kun Alingas. Very few people "got it" and, truth be told, I rather like it as a name and often forgot what it originally was. I have no intentions of using it as a character name on Amia (and I better not see it anywhere... ), but it's a good example of some of the kinds of names I'm asking about.

I did see, quite some time ago, a character with what I thought was a joke name (it was something like Farkyu) and they appeared quite shocked when I asked them about it and plead ignorance. About ten years ago I also used the name Horemakhet for email and my Diablo II login. I knew it was the name of an Egyptian deity... seems most people thought it was another name for a brothel. So I know that sometimes names can have one meaning to one person and another to another.

Are names like Stinky MacStinkyPants, Smelly Fartsalot, Noespycka, Ohno Notagyn, Nudda Barbidol, Eyal Kilyukwik, Adr'owt O'pwny'u'cu'zy'us'uk, and other joke names, or thinly disguised sentences, acceptable on Amia?

I know how I feel, just want to know what others feel and what the official DM stance on the topic is.

I made those names up, if they are actual character names it's a conicidence.

As long as it's roleplayed that the parents of the character have a strange sense of humour, I believe it's accepted.

There's no blanket stance on this. We evaluate individual cases when and if they're brought to our attention. Personally, I can't be bothered to care much what you name your PC.

Truth be told, I didn't even realize the joke behind most of those examples until I read them out aloud (well, in my mind). Might be different for native speakers, I suppose. It's not always clear whether it's coincidence, either: Myth Adofhaer, for example, is an elven city that was pulled into another dimension to await more hospitable times. While many thought there was a pun, "Out of here", it was just a coincidental combination of previously created Elven words.

There's so much gray zone here that I wouldn't want to say anything definite. For example, Kjetta has an old cleric named Luthor Ultionis. To me, the reference to Martin Luther was much more obvious than the examples listed in the first post, and I thought it was both hilarious and appropriate. Others might not notice, while still some would think it's disruptive. There's only so much of a consensus you can reach in matters of taste between hundreds of people.

Uncle-Opustus wrote:

As long as it's roleplayed that the parents of the character have a strange sense of humour, I believe it's accepted.

Alternatively, as long as NPCs in the module have these kinds of names, the DM team would be hypocritical to persecute PCs for doing the same thing.

O I see what you did there.

I always just make stereotypical sounding Germanic names. 'Verbnoun Nameson' or 'Verbverb Some description of their accomplishments'

Myrklox Odoson or Grimbold Bludsax for example. I are boring.

Name generators, or just whatever I feel like. I don't see the point in a comedy name character, but I have had days where I log in feeling a tad grim, and they cheer me right up.

The names I come up with for characters are never random and meaningless. There is always some kind of sub-context, be it blatant or subtle - and sometimes, multiple layers of complexity.

Diane Arbor, for instance, has one very obvious indicator regarding her class. However, the name is also a less obvious reference to a real life figure. To those of you who have caught the reference, she is less like the person behind the lens than one of the myriad of people in front of it.

For the most part names that are clever and have meaning or references are fine by me, in fact I like some of them.

The character name Damas Custeel comes to mind here.

I have seen one or two names that are blatant and not particularly clever uses of characters from games or figures from history that are, to me at least, obvious and these bother me quite a bit. I won't mention them openly here, don't want to upset anyone, but theres a difference between making a "silly" name that is original and fits (this varies from Damas Custeel to funny surnames like a dwarf I once encountered elsewhere named Kegdrainer) and copying a real or fake personas name in a thinly disguised manner.

Yossarin wrote:

The names I come up with for characters are never random and meaningless. There is always some kind of sub-context, be it blatant or subtle - and sometimes, multiple layers of complexity.

Diane Arbor, for instance, has one very obvious indicator regarding her class. However, the name is also a less obvious reference to a real life figure. To those of you who have caught the reference, she is less like the person behind the lens than one of the myriad of people in front of it.

In contrast, my names tend to be accidentally meaningful at best, and random at their worst: Meaningfulness is derived ove rthe course of RP, and now I can't imagine Torin being anything but Torin.

Yeah, but you have cool characters and don't need to resort to cheap pseudo-intellectual tricks like me, hehe.

I am, in fact, so particular about the naming business that even if I think I have a great character concept, it can sit on the back burner for a looooong time until I am inspired to the right name.

Yossarin wrote:

Diane Arbor, for instance, has one very obvious indicator regarding her class.

AHA. *ding* So that's why she always hangs out in the woods.

I'm a huge name freak too. I wait for something to feel correct. I personal love seeing clever plays on names on the server. I just don't think names like Bustier Hymenopun are particularly clever. >.>

99% of the names i use are stolen from the game I stole the images in my avatar from...

And I like it like that...

I, like Zweij and Laleli, put an extensive amount of weight and value on a name. I cannot create a character - even if I have the concept, the backstory, the persona, the quirks, and the build - without a good name. I've spent many an hour simply thinking, plugging sounds together that I enjoy, switching letters to make the name more aesthetically pleasing, and so on, so forth.

Honestly, I don't care what you name your character. It's your character. Just don't name it after someone else's character, for Pete's sake. I get tired of seeing Dragonlance, Naruto, and even Neverwinter Nights' campaign characters plastered all over my screen. It's not just me being a jerk - I just have difficulty being immersed whenever Tanis Halfelven is HiPSing about, Hellballing me and whatnot.

I think some of my best names have just been something that came to me off the cuff.

Bryce Aldemann for instance.. his name came up before a lot of his eccentricities came out to me.. soon as they did.. well everything fell together for me.

about 98% of my characters just have normal names, and like two of them have pre-gen, those being ones i made when i first joined Amia, i can't stand pre-gen no more, so i usually just make whatever up at creation, or when im planning the characters background and Bio.

for just a little time....a short one, I wanted to make a PC born in shadowscape who had an affinity for shadows since birth as well as was part shadowdragon.

His name?

K'hrt Whag'Nuhr

><;; I swear I won't do that.

For me, it's kind of random. Sometimes it'll have meaning, sometimes it'll be something that rings nicely in my head. Be it because it fits, it just sounds nice, or it's funny, it doesn't matter.

Willow Maynare and Jacob 'Black Jake' Drake both have a hidden message to them. I thought those two out pretty carefully.

Tu'jol Velg'larn is a literal translation of something I, at the time, found appropriate and like the ring it had to it. So it too has meaning, it's just a lot easier to find. I say "at the time", because its meaning was based on her roots, obviously. She's a way different person now so it gives a false impression now.

Benki Darkbrood actually just popped into my head and I liked it so I went with it. I find it to have a nice ring for a Hin. The first name has no meaning and the last name, like many Hin surnames, has a bit of an obvious meaning.

Paws, well, what can I say. I thought it was funny. He may be a little bastard, but he's also silly so it fits.

All the summon names for my characters have meaning also. I thought about them all pretty carefully. All except the most important ones >.> .... Din Dae, Don Dae and Larky were all thought up out of the blue and I went with it because I just liked the ring it had and thought it was a fitting sound. Don Dae is a play off Din Dae since they're related and of course Din Dae II and Don Dae Jr. need no explanation. Larky has no meaning at all. Again, it just had a nice ring to it. Willow's Shimmerstar, Blizzard, Inferno and Muddy all have a more direct meaning and were thought about. Some more than others of course

. Tu'jol's Fea'en Jin'alif has a lot of meaning. It's a play on Elven and Hebrew words. Paws has "Stupid" which really isn't his name, just what he calls the shade

.

As a parent.. Meanings to name well that is a near must. giving to a child at birth. This works the same for characters too with me.

Example is my character Edonil. means Twilight in drow. That is because of who her parent are... sun and darkness. Blindness had nothing to do with it, but it is fitting to her personality as well being between races, alignments and more of the people who play Amia.

for names..I do hunt and peck for the right fitting.. if not i just cant seem to get the character concept or personality right in playing.

Have a few great Barbarian name in head for characters.. just not ready to play them yet.

Personally, I just randomly generate 20-30 names based on race and pick the one I like best.

For the record according to Drow of the Underdark 2nd ed it is extremely rare for a drow to b given a name that is actually made up of drow words (but everyone does it anyway).

Most names I use I've complited from old european languages and have a meaning relating to the character.

Most names I use come from either Latin, Hebrew, Aramaic or some other less common language. The only names I ever see that bother me honestly would have to be obviously bad taste joke names.

That one guy
George Bushy
Me
Chuck Norris

*shrugs* But then again that is my own few.

The only name restrictions are for famous character names, right? No Drizzt's or such.

Like anything else, a very clever and well put together pun name is a wonderful thing. I, personally, don't use them, but if after seeing a character's name I have no response until later that night as I'm getting ready to go to bed and it hits me... that's a good name. The blatant puns and insinuations are just boring to me.

You can actually even be Driz'zt Do'Urden. You are just a SINGULARLY unlucky male who is born with that cursed name. You can be b itter drizzt, ever teased, working away in honest toil.

Now I feel all out of place because of my habit to get two pregenerated names and put then together for my character names.
I do like original names though. I once saw a male drow by the name of jaluk.

Whoever was named Drizz't or any variation of is a very unlucky male.....just poor thing. He deserves a cookie.

Angelicae was opposition of her Tiefling heritage

Altaria was originally Ataria then I realized it was too close to the gaming system. Not that many would remember it.

Melogant was a joke about her father's poor memory. During the naming ceremony he was supposed to say "Melodisiah" but suddenly recalled the word 'Elegant' which he couldn't remember earlier that day and just blurted it out as "Melo...gant. Elegant! That's the word!!"

According to naming customs...Mel's full name is actually "Melogant Elegant! That's the word!! Altaria E'mbrie." XD

You can imagine her mother is still a bit sore over that.

For all the rest....I fully agree. I can have everything about a PC written in stone but without the name...it's just not happening. If a name can't be found, that PC will sit there until the right one -IS- found.

so names like frogo baggins and spamwise gamgee are in the green zone? (damn i luv the two people ic)

colanah wrote:

for just a little time....a short one, I wanted to make a PC born in shadowscape who had an affinity for shadows since birth as well as was part shadowdragon.

His name?

K'hrt Whag'Nuhr

><;; I swear I won't do that.

I would allow it, but only because I would also be 100% biased towards it.

Moridan_X wrote:

so names like frogo baggins and spamwise gamgee are in the green zone? (damn i luv the two people ic)

As far as I know, yes, but you deserve to be hunted down and killed (not that we're allowed to).

For rules on names, see

http://www.amiaworld.net/phpBB2/viewtop ... 697#342697

A lot of you have way too complicated and long names. You need something catchy so I remember you! *Glares at mostly elves and drow.*

Apostrophes are so much better at separating consonants than vowels are. :P

I still want to make a character called "Ludwig van Heetoven" and play him as a pyromancing wizard. "Heetoven" means "Hot Oven", btw.

Doubt the name is up to Amian standards, though.

After a day with mathematics, I'm tempted to make a scientific bookworm wizard by the same of Soh'Cah'Toa. Yes, I don't have a very good sense of humour.

So far:
Shion, on another game, and all the names I make up do i pick the name of a heroine of a videogame that just came out! Urgh *facepalm* That was such bad timing.

Meitan. -> A pun on Maitan (?) or something similiar which means 'The bill please' in an asiatic language. Seriously, I don't even know that language, less how to pronounce it, nor was that intentioned!

Xianxicotl, ah yes, how do we love the 'Divine Snake of thunder'. I just picked some fun sounding words, and figures, its Atztecin. If I'd have knew that I'd have made it a 'Divine trouser snake' instead.

Vith -> A succubus, that pun was fully intended, no one ever got it though.

The rest? Not so special, mostly just normal names without any extra meaning.

Quote:

-Exclamation No famous names from literature, movies, PC games or any other source. If a DM spots the name as being a copyright infringment, as in being exactly like a name such as "Gollum", "Pippi Longstocking", or "Darth Maul", it will be changed.

-No names of famous people in the real world, living or dead. No George Bushes, Clint Eastwoods, Margaret Thatchers, Conan O'Briens, Adolf Hitlers, or any other famous figure from wherever you may be from. This includes questionable variations of famous names, like "Hesus Christus" or "Haddam Sussein"

I bolded the relevant bit. It's not mentioned twice, but I think it's fair to assume it also applies to names from fiction. Spamwise Gamgee isn't alright, I daresay.

Most everything goes if it's witty and in good taste. It's only a problem when you make a bad joke!

Frogo Baggins and Spamwise have already been tested by a player and changed by the DM team. Nuff said

I loved the Bio that was on Frey before *sigh* good times.

While a lot of people certainly recognize his last name, I'm glad the DM's allowed it back in the day. No, he's no relation to Raist. No, he's not Raist.

If you even knew Frey you'd know this.. but did I respond crappily to the IM's I received which were sometimes nice, most of the time rude?

Nope...because I knew it would happen. Using Majere as a last name was more a tribute to the character than an attempt to be him.

While I agree that seeing Tasslehoff Burrfoot would make me want to puke, someone using a last name out of tribute I don't have an issue with.

We play the game for fun.

Be generous, attempt a little communication before swinging your FU hammer and allow others their small tributes.

Regards,

.. and Burfoot 'Dave' Tasslehoff ?

I noticed a long time ago that people are unwilling to type more than five letters when referring to you, so either I make a name short or make sure I'm going to like the abbreviation of it.

Uberuce wrote:

I noticed a long time ago that people are unwilling to type more than five letters when referring to you, so either I make a name short or make sure I'm going to like the abbreviation of it.

I learned that to be called "The LARP Test".

Never make a name that can be shortened to anything you wouldn't want to be called, because 95% of the time you'll only be called the first syllable or two. The solution is a carefully made name, or simply a short name. Two syllables is best, in my experience.

Dev Disco wrote:

.. and Burfoot 'Dave' Tasslehoff ?

I don't generally make silly names and I enjoy taking my time with finding the perfect name for a char. I like stereotypical names more than anything and wouldn't name a dwarf "Rhil'nafaee" or somesuch, although it might sound alright for a drow female.

Signe Johanne wrote:

I don't generally make silly names and I enjoy taking my time with finding the perfect name for a char. I like stereotypical names more than anything and wouldn't name a dwarf "Rhil'nafaee" or somesuch, although it might sound alright for a drow female. :)

I must admit I'd wince to see Bob, Steve and Bruce all walking down the road, maybe accompanied by a Sheila. But that's my personal taste.

Id like to call a meeting of the Bruces, get your hair combs out guys you know who you are..

Generaly i put a lot of thought into my characters names, i try and think what thier parents are like and what and why they would name them what they do.

Then depending on race ill translate the names to Elven or something, for example.

Lipta Cuar.
Lipta meaning "Drop of water" in elven Cuar meaning "Archer"
Drop of water as she is an Elfling so her life is considered a miracle to her parents or a little drop of life, Cuar or Archer being her elven fathers last name a rather common one id wager.

I also have a fairy named "Trixe Dya" which is ment to be along the lines of "Tricked You"

Last edited by Azrael on Mon, May 11 2009, 11:34 AM, edited 1 time in total.

...I usually make my names up out of thin air and based on sounds of the consonants then change them around so the name flows, sometimes they are based on actual words however such as Divinan (Divine).

..exceptions are my drow character, which I took pieces from drow naming websites and put them together, and Kazar's first name which derives from the game Black and White (1), where the friendly ally god's name is Kazar.

Azaire's last name is not original only because he is a half-brother to another pre-existing Amian character

..everything else, thin air.

Shantear Divinan
...Ner'ian
Seliene Zerita
Azaire
Azin

A tip for 'flow' is to have a common letter in both the first and last name.

Shantear Divinan (triple n's)
Kazar Ner'ian (triple a's)
Seliene Zerita (triple e's)(double i's)
Azaire Di'makiir (quadrupole i's)(double a's)(double r's) ..only gets away with it cause he's elven xP

TV Tropes has an article on names:
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/M ... AlienNames

It holds fairly useful.

Oh that reminds me of how i names my Druid "Iakthabas Aklakur"

basicly i mashed the keyboard then took out letters till it sounded good to me

Crowsterf wrote:

Oh that reminds me of how i names my Druid "Iakthabas Aklakur"

basicly i mashed the keyboard then took out letters till it sounded good to me

Five A's, Three K's :wink:

I made a character called Titous, a really grim Hoarite bastard. Everyone just calls him Tits. *cut cut cut*

Almost every one of my names is just whatever randomness I get out on paper. Typically, it starts with 'Mom, pick a letter' and I go from there. Unless I just randomly dream up a name... Like with Koragi. Little did I know that 'Koragi' is actually a surname sometimes used in Africa. And I only found out when I had to slap my brother for meeting a friend named Koragi when he went overseas for Army business, and didn't recognize the name as being exactly the name of my main character [Edit: in my book].

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