How did you decide your character name?

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TaSheen

All my character names are "lore friendly"; they come into my mind already attached to the character, and that prompts me to make the character so I can play her.

Lauranae

Lore friendly. Their stories first, then the name and then how they will look

Liguar

One of my first chars inherited the name of a beloved pen and paper rpg character I played for awhile, it was fun to translate her into ESO.

The other characters including my main have come from refreshing a name generator in order to find ideas that fit the character I had in mind and is/was (hopefully) lore friendly. But they are what they are now, no backsies.

phaneub17_ESO

My handle is just Fane (temple) with an alternate spelling to Phane. My primary character's name I saw at the end credits of Ogre Battle on SNES, I liked it so much it, I took it, its mine now.

SilverBride

I try to find a name that suits the character's race and class in my mind.

ghastley

Multiple characters with a mixture of reasons.

Unna Bear-Rider started in TES:IV and continued through TES:V to ESO. Nadja the Naked Nord - because naked nords are an Elder Scrolls tradition - is almost lore. Nicholas van Rijn was a Sci-fi character that I felt would fit on Nirn if he landed there. Cat Man Dhou also came up from Skyrim duty.

I haven’t ever used a random generator, but I have taken parts of names from lore, such as the Hlaalu surname. My Orcs all have gro- or gra- patronymics. Bretons get Breton names, Imperials are likely Latin-derived. But do you label Bo Dacius as humor or lore?

M_Volsung

My main's first name is someone I used to RP with in a different game years ago and I miss her dearly... we just kinda drifted apart.

The last name is one I've used for various characters going back to the 1980s... yes, I'm old, deal with it.

Yazrz

In other games I have used variations on some standard names I have, but for ESO I have wanted more lore friendly names, so typically use fantasy name generators but with some manual tuning.

KlauthWarthog

I mix and match names from other games or works of fiction until the "Name already taken" message stops appearing.

emilyhyoyeon

Lore friendly names all the way baby

wilykcat

Named my main elderscrolls character after my main roblox character (which was created in 2013).

It is also a perfect name for a kahjiit.

Note: created my elderscrolls account and main character in 2022.
Hint: my character's name is the same name I use on the forums.

I_killed_Vivec

Coz I did kill Vivec, just not in this game

I have another character called I killed Lexi, because I killed her too

And I would have killed Sotha Silly, but she got there first.

LalMirchi

This is one aspect of the game that I take an inordinate amount of time with.

It's a large part of my enjoyment of the game as I treat each character as an unique personality and their name is very important to my role-playing of the character.

While I try to keep as lore-friendly as I can my main concern is that my character should have a rather unique name and not just another rubber-stamp.

ArchMikem

Random, with a Lore influence. Basically just sounds coming out of my head that could fit the culture theme.

Fun fact, my main, Ka'atali the Stamblade Khajiit, is an elongation of her original name Kat. Way back then my only character was a Sorc, but I wanted to try the other classes, so I picked Nightblade. At the time though I didn't expect to play it seriously, so I jokingly named her "Kat Blade". When I fell in love with the character I decided to give her a proper name.

zaria

Old story, wanted an exotic name for an elf in TES 3 Morrowind, came up with Zaria who I have used as character names for females in many games and is my ESO account name. Yes know its more Arabic / Redguard, it was even an Redguard alchemist in Falcreach in Skyrim.
So I named my main Zariba as it sounds more Khajiit, second is Zaria and rest is Khajiit names from name generator starting on Za..

BlueRaven

My first four characters are named after characters I had in WoW.

I have two characters with names reminiscent of important Warhammer Fantasy personalities.

Many of the rest are are slightly altered lore-ish names I pick up from here.

https://en.m.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Names

For imperial names I try to write down some words based on the characters theme. Go to an English-Latin translator. Then slightly modify the generated words to make them feel natural.

Kiralyn2000

I wing it. A mix of names I've used before, names inspired by the character's theme (if any), changing spelling if the first try is already used, trying to sound "fantasy"-ish, etc.

Tisiphonae, Khaelani, Aestanya, Rensedre, Therasena, Icerya, Aelarian... (well, and Cargo Mistress, my mule. )

AzuraFan

Sometimes I use a name that sounds like it fits the character. I also use names I've used in other games (both single and multiplayer).

Kendaric

All character names I use are lore-friendly, often inspired by NPCs in various TES games.

rpa

I want my character names be as short as possible, pronounceable (to me, english is not my first language), with letters A-z only and not "funny" in any language mods are likely to understand.

SilverBride

I've seen very few "funny" names that actually were.

Blood_again

Most of my EU characters have lore-driven names with at least little quenta. I start from class and role the character would have, seek the race and family they would relate to, then get a lore name that fit to this family.
Almost every character has relatives in Tamriel. It can be smith-wife from Cyrodiil for an Orc, invader miniboss from Glenumbra side quest for an Altmer, the antagonist from Alik'r main quest for a Redguard necromancer.
I also gave some obligations for my characters according to their quenta. Like an Altmer who joined Daggerfall Alliance had to eliminate her brother in Glenumbra as a proof of loyalty. Another example was a Khajiit who joined Dark Brotherhood at early levels as her path "from good family to bad company".

My NA characters are 50/50 lore friendly. Some of them have quenta, some just got names for joke like "Has-Aunt-Dragoness" of "Sister of Belethor".

Eradrann

How about from a Lore Name Generator? But it's stuck and I use it for a lot of my RPG characters now.

I think my Khajiit was the only one I derived by myself (with some help from lore terms like "Ja' "and "-dar").

SkaiFaith

SilverBride wrote: »

I've seen very few "funny" names that actually were.

My argonian alt What-The-Egg salutes you.

Btw, I kinda look at the race typical names and then I try to put my personal touch on them based on the theme I want to give... Or I make them up from IRL references, like my khajiit named Manami, which is a Japanese name, because khajiiti have some oriental traits.

kargen27

I wanted to use names from Celtic mythology but three minutes after launch every name, variance of names and combinations of Celtic names was gone.

I have two joke names 'Shirley I Jest' and 'Skinner Blues'. I don't think anybody but me gets the Skinner Blues reference. He used to be a mule so was named after the song "Mule Skinner Blues". My Argonian names are kind of joke names but fit the lore mostly. Drunk-Like-Skunk and Swims-Like-Nord.

Most the time I look to Hopi mythology and lore to try and find a name. If one doesn't fit then I expand to other Native American lore. If that fails me I mix and match Slavic, Japanese and African mythological names. My main is Miya Tearsong.

I have:
Nayati Nawat (Wrestles Left Handed)
Noega (Godess of Wind)
Nukpana Meda (Evil Prophetess)
Kimi Aiyana (Secret Eternal Flower)
Lenmana Kuwanlelenta (Girl Plays Flute to Make Beautiful Surroundings)
Olathe Tayen (Beautiful New Moon)
Illanipi Tohopka (Amazing Wild Beast)
and many others.

Hapexamendios

Done all 4 at one point or another

Danikat

All of the poll options and more could apply to my characters.

The most important thing is having a name I like and which relates to the character and their backstory, even if no one else will understand it. Secondary is that it could at least pass as lore-friendly even if it doesn't strictly follow the rules. But where exactly I get inspiration and what the end result is varies a lot.

Several are names I've used in other games (one I've been using for a couple of decades) but tweaked to fit the race and backstory of the character. For example Ember (real name Eleanora) started off in Dragon Age Origins, so she was Ember Cousland, now she's a nord so she's Ember Wolfbane. My bosmer necromancer is called Sayel, which is literally just a random name that came into my head one day and later fit the character. My crafter's name is Sagittam Ad Genu which is bad joke concealed in Latin, but also lore appropriate (ish) since he's an Imperial and it fits his backstory.

Carcamongus

It's a mix of trying to fit into the lore, being funny with a touch of random. I only play Imperials, so I'd obviously never name a character something like "Touches-the-beacon". I like the names to sound weird or funny, which adds some uniqueness even if at the cost of aesthetics. Both of my play characters have names with origins that long predate ESO. Carcamongus, whose name was partially derived from "cucamonga", was a count with a tendency towards absurd plans to reach greatness, but I unfortunately never ended up writing his story. Bundelau is just a random word I'd occasionally repeat out loud for no good reason and it only became a name when I created my necro. Now, though, I do have plans to write about them.

AvalonRanger

"war orphan”　When I met this character name in random grouping, I felt something serious emotion.

DreamyLu

All my char names are set up the same (Lu + words), representing something from my real life.

I started to use those names decades ago with my first online game, and use them ever since. In ESO, I have main ones of those I use in my main game. Generally, I use those same names everywhere in all games.