How do you pick your characters name?

UGotBenched91

How do you pick your characters name? So you try and be funny? Serious? Lore friendly? How do you decide?

For me I like to keep it goofy when deciding a characters name. I don’t do this to ruin the experience for lore players it’s just what I prefer in a characters name. It’s how I stand out. So, when picking a race or class I try and think of a meme, pun, or joke to fit in it.

For example, I have a khajit bow gank build PvP character named “This one Ganks Your Mom. I also just made a orc Stamsorc named, “Tim the Orc Man Taylor” because he’s a light skinned orc and will be using electricity skills. It’s a spoof off of home improvement the tv show.

Names aren’t meant to offend anyone just to add some humor out there in Tamriel.

NotaDaedraWorshipper

With a lot of picky agonising, pondering, and debating with myself and the available name checker.

I'm a roleplaying nerd and a stickler for lore. So all of my characters' name are fitting to the lore. Because they are characters with background and personalities of their own, so they deserve a suiting name.

YstradClud

It's the Gaelic name of my bloodline. One of the only Germanic Anglo-Normans that got one as far as I know.

WeerW3ir

Lore and Race friendly way with a bit of an outside source

VaranisArano

Lore and race friendly.

My main, Varanis Arano, has the Arano family surname based on NPCs I liked from Skyrim's Dragonborn DLC. Her first name comes from the Varanis Dolmen in that region of Stonefalls.

tomofhyrule

Absolutely Lore-friendly.

I'm always poring over the UESP list of names when trying to come up with a character name. Bonus points if the name I go for isn't especially a popular character since then you're usually thinking of the original owner of the name and not your playable one.

My main's an Orc, and his name is Garnag gro-Dragol (even though everyone calls him Gar). Garnag was mentioned in a Skyrim lorebook (Cicero's Journal) as one of the last remaining Dark Brotherhood members, and he actually showed up in Legends. Still, pretty obscure. gro-Dragol is from Kurdan gro-Dragol, who was the main enemy of the 'Caught in the Hunt' sidequest in Oblivion.

Funny that both of Gar's namesakes are evil, but he's totally heroic.

Now I won't say no to a name that hasn't been used before as long as it sounds like it fits with the race in question. I want to give my Nord the title 'Wolfhunter,' which hasn't been used but it does sound appropriate.

Having trouble coming up with a good name for my Reachman character-to-be though. I'm scrolling through Gaelic/Scottish baby name lists

sarahthes

Semi lore friendly while still being funny.

For example, Breton magdk - Blaise. Heh.

My necromancer's name is Finnish (with poor grammar) for 'Death Sentence'.

I have a khajiit named 'Ma'khaviti' which sounds authentic but is actually pronounced 'Macavity' as in, from Cats.

Stanx

I pick names from things I've read / like / find funny.

Main is called Abbe Busoni as one of my favourite books is Count of Monte Cristo / healer is named Doc Daneeka from Catch-22.

Favourite jokey name is my Magcro, Icy Deadpeople.

jaws343

My main was just a cool sounding string of letters. Definitely not lore friendly, I think it is probably more GoT lore friendly.

The rest of my characters are a mix of funny, lore (ish) friendly, and role defining.

Like, I have a Kajhit named Son of Bast. I have a mag warden named Frosty McFrostface. My Argonian tank is named Likes to Tank. And many others.

Mindcr0w

Consistency.

Everything based off the gamertag.

Main: Mindcrow
Alt dk: FlameCrow
Alt temp: BrightCrow
Alt necro: DeadCrow

Etc.

L_Nici

My characters all have my first name paired with a fitting surname.

Taleof2Cities

My character names (see signature below) are a mixture of Elven, Ayleid, and lore-friendly derivatives.

Example:

Áhliaselia
- Ayleid (feminine)
Ah ("Sly"/"Crafty") - lia ("Mistress") - seli(A) ("Hall")
"Sly Mistress of the Hall"

Kiralyn2000

Some combination of picking from the pool of names I've used in games before, tweaking letters if it's "in use", and just winging it.

So, random "fantasy-ish" names like Tisiphonae, Khaelani, Aestanya, Aelarian, Therasena, etc...

The only "funny" name I have in ESO is my one mule, Cargo Mistress (who is also wearing a dock-worker appropriate set of civilian clothes.)

Mythreindeer

My main is a burly aging male orc stamDK: Gentle Petal.

I’m leveling a cute little Bosmer bow stamsorc: Sweet Peaches

Nairinhe

I try to keep them lore-friendly. I mean, geographical name is lore-friendly if there's no such place in ESO, right? Are references to Lovecraft and mythology lore-friendly if they sound right? Are Quenya names lore-friendly?
And the only character that I picked name for was my main, all the other started with a name.

GiggleGoat

My characters are usually created and named at 2am after way too much wine 😊

Odovacar

Usually Roman-era warrior figures.

stefan.gustavsonb16_ESO

Mine are a wild mix of attempts at being lore friendly, silly puns and random flirts with human history and culture.

Wimoweh (female Breton, a perky NB created in 2014): silly but kind of lore-friendly name

Lythandriel (female Altmer, a righteous Templar healer, my only serious "endgame" build): lore-friendly name

Zinnibael (female Dunmer, a Sorc with Ashlander ancestry and a penchant for the morbid): lore-friendly name

Rune Holding (male Nord, originally a bank mule storing, yes, runes, before the craft bag): silly Norwegian-sounding pun name

Wyress Magrat (female Breton Warden): Name shamelessly stolen from a different fantasy universe (Terry Pratchett)

Trilliandril (female Bosmer Sorc): lore-friendly name with a wink towards a different lore universe (Douglas Adams)

Hugo Max von Lerchenfeld (male Nord, a balding DK with a mustache): authentic partial name from history. The full original name was "Hugo Maximilian Philippus Ludwig Franziskus Graf von und zu Lerchenfeld auf Köfering und Schönberg", an actual Bavarian politician from the 1920's. Sadly, ESO names are quite restricted in length.

Picks-All-Flowers (female Argonian) lore-friendly and accurate name - she was parked in Hollow City for years, doing nothing but running circles to harvest alchemy nodes. She made a million gold without reaching level 4.

I have more, but those span the gamut.

vestahls

Typically lore friendly, or at least lore consistent (I have one khajiit called Mittens-dar).

I just use the lists from UESP of first and last names used in previous games (just in case it would clash with a name used in ESO). Sometimes it's a reference, like having a Necro called Falanu, after Falanu "do you happen to know what the fine is" Hlaalu from Oblivion.

Tremuto

I make puns out of my character's name, while still being lore-friendly and a bit related to which class they are:

J'Cattathef - Khajiit Stamblade DPS
Nipcatta-ko - Khajiit Magsorc Hybrid DPS/Healer
Heel-Slotus - Argonian Templar Healer
Pogu go-Shrekgamirz - Orc Stamplar DPS

Some races are harder to come up with just because of their structure in previous games. I'm also not very clever.

zaria

All start with Zar*.
Accound is Zaria for an name I wanted for some elf in TES 3 Morrowind.
Main in ESO became Zariba as its more Khajiit, second was Zaria.
9 other also start on Zar because

Yes it has confused some people.

kargen27

I named my Argonians Drunk-Like-Skunk and Swims-Like-Nord. I have one character I named Shirley I Jest.

Most my characters get Hopi names.

bmnoble

Usually its a combination of character names from other games and randomly combining them with the titles of DVD's on my shelf behind my computer chair.

Sylvermynx

Out of my imagination, but with attempts to keep them lore-friendly. I have thousands of names stuck away in files on my computer; when I think up a new character, I start with those files, and tweak from there.

SantieClaws

This one thinks of a word and puts it before Claws.

Puddle, Lucky, Snowstorm, Winkworth, Misti. Words like those.

Yours with paws
Santie Claws

Synthwavius

Usually depends on my mood but it often collides with TOS so they're all kinda meh

Danikat

The most important thing for me is that I like it and it fits or describes the character. Secondary to that is making it look reasonably lore friendly. They may not fit the race's naming conventions exactly, but I think they're close enough that most people wouldn't notice or would have to think about it to realise.

I'm not against joke names if it fits the character, but due to the above process they tend to end up in a format probably no one will get, like calling my Imperial crafter whose backstory is that he's a retired soldier Sagittam Ad Genu.

Oh there's also my wood elf vampire, thief, assassin and all-around horrible person who is called Sayel literally just because at some point the word came into my head, I decided it would be a good name for a wood elf and I kept it. I don't think it means anything.

UntilValhalla13

It's a fictional video game, so I definitely don't take things seriously. I try to make characters from things that I love, or just funny names to make people laugh. They're either geeky things that I'm in to (Avada Kedavra, A Girl Has No Name, etc) or just kinda memey/punny (Do You Even Frag Bro?, Gangsta's Bearadise, etc).

I also named one Unusually Long Load Time. XD

jlmurra2

Mine are always lore friendly. I usually use search engines to find lists of all possible name components, then spend what is likely too much time trying out combinations that sound fitting to the character I have conceived.

Mithgil

For a game like ESO I tend to go for lore-friendly names for my characters. I do enjoy the role-play aspect, even if it just within my head, or with others in organized RP.

As far as how others' name their characters I get a huge kick out of some of the names I see and many leave me giggling quite a bit. I love the humor and imagination many have in this regard!

newtinmpls

lore friendly is a primary consideration (I'm an RPG'er - originally tabletop AND I love the TES world).

I do use the UESP wiki a LOT and tend to start by wandering around in the name lists for Arena and Daggerfall. But there are bits of humor too.

I and a few friends have a loose collection of "friends and family" in-game, and many of those are Orcs. My first orc characters were big bulky fighter types, but then I wanted to do something a little different. Hence the "grandmother" nightblade..

Kalima gra Pasedena

Sort of a combination of a tribute to a very angry/dangerous deity and a bad pun on the song about the "little old lady from Pasadena".