How did you decide your character name?

EthanolMuffins

Typically name generator to get a lore friendly name I like, sometimes I go for whatever I feel like. Like my necro tank is called Clambassador Muffins cause I wanted it as a title and we are unlikely to ever get it, but I will engage in Clam diplomacy regardless of the restrictions of ZOS.

LuC1ll3atTh3Wh33L

no option for all of the above? i've plenty of alts that have names determined by my mood.

Elsonso

Supreme_Atromancer wrote: »

Lore. Always.

Coming up with a good name is an important part of the process.

I'm not proud to admit that I've lost carefully crafted characters to Inactivity Log-Out because I spent too long coming up with a name.

Unless your character name themselves, I found an easy answer to this is to name them before starting, then make the character match the name.

merpins

I try to do a combination of Something Funny and Lore Friendly.

For example, my main, who is a Khajiit, is named "La'zaanya."
It's far easier to name Argonians and Khajiit funny names while still being lore-friendly, so I tend to gravitate to those races. Imperial can be okay as well since the naming convention could also be made humorous. Other names tend to be more challenging, so I usually just go with something lore friendly.

Lonestryder

Well…

Castagere

Fantasynames.com is a site with all lore-friendly names for many games. The ESO section is a huge list for all races.

Auldwulfe

TaSheen wrote: »

Auldwulfe wrote: »

TaSheen wrote: »

Auldwulfe wrote: »

I've seen some of those... and considering that my Mother is Mohican, and my Father is Oneida / Mohawk ..... I appreciate your naming choices

As for how I name mine.... they come to me and tell me their name, and what and how they should be played.... I've been a GM / DM for over 40 years, and have written fiction.... so, I know there are people out there that would understand what I mean.


Auldwulfe

*raises hand*

Mine appear fully formed in my mind - name, race, how they look, what they wear, what mount they use, who they are entire. And then they push at me until I make and play them!

I started DMing AD&D in the mid 70s, writing scenarios for my daughter and her friends from junior high school. "Graduated" to CRPGs in the mid 80s; have written fantasy for nearly as many years as I've been alive.

They all live in my mind - sometimes it's pretty damn crowded in there!

The NAGGING, when they decide they want to be put together, and played NOW !!!
And crowded doesn't begin to cover it....LOL

Auldwulfe

NO KIDDING! It's so bad sometimes that I toss and turn at night, and husband will say the next morning "Guess you had characters keeping you awake all night". As you might guess, we've been married a long time now - almost 50 years....

At that point, I usually just get up, and figure out what they want.... and I know exactly what you mean with them coming fully formed, outfit, mount, etc....

You know, Robert E Howard once said the same... Conan the Barbarian came to him out of the mist, fully formed .... now, personally, I'd be watching for the other horrors in Ravenloft (yes, a personal love)..... but he also wrote that his writing of the Conan stories was less his creation, and more his recording what Conan told him of his adventures......

David Gemmell once mentioned he wrote the same way..... and sadly, I miss our conversations .... he was an extremely gifted writer, and gets little appreciation in literature. His writing style, and storytelling are not what modern audiences have been told they want......

At the moment, though, I am focused on Imperials... their world has shattered, the empire fallen.... and while some have given to the dispair, others rise and fight, doing what good they can.... the Empire was more than just a political power or structure.... it was an ideal.... it encompassed great trade routes where everyone gained.... it envisioned security, so even the courageous farmers could breathe easy....

And honestly, who has more courage than a farmer... they face plagues, droughts, waves of insects, and the greatest displays of power nature has...... and they do it every day, all day... and no expectation of thanks..... It was the honor, and duty, of the Empire to protect such people.... the true heroes of any race or kingdom.

Sorry about that... letting my characters talk through me, again.

Auldwulfe

Anumaril

My character's first name came from lore. Just a really cool elven name which rolls off the tongue well. My character's surname was decided by myself through bainstorming, and heavy tweaking over months (or years depending on how you look at it).

Liguar

Supreme_Atromancer wrote: »

I'm not proud to admit that I've lost carefully crafted characters to Inactivity Log-Out because I spent too long coming up with a name.

A bit offtopic, sorry, but it would be nice being able to save some kind of character template. I like to take my time and come back to things. It would have also helped when I made some siblings that I wanted to have strong resemblance without being identical.

Even when starting from a name, the character creation process is too rushed imo.

Danikat

Liguar wrote: »

Supreme_Atromancer wrote: »

I'm not proud to admit that I've lost carefully crafted characters to Inactivity Log-Out because I spent too long coming up with a name.

A bit offtopic, sorry, but it would be nice being able to save some kind of character template. I like to take my time and come back to things. It would have also helped when I made some siblings that I wanted to have strong resemblance without being identical.

Even when starting from a name, the character creation process is too rushed imo.

I've always found that as long as I'm clicking things periodically it doesn't time out. It's only when I leave it completely inactive that I get kicked. So if I want to look for or reconsider a name when I've already got it open I just make sure to click between the tabs or change something like their hair style or accessory then change it back every minute or so and that's enough to keep it open.

If I worry that I'm getting too distracted by the search for a name and I'm going to forget or it's just taking too long I take screenshots of the sliders. Although if I'm that unsure of the name I probably don't have the idea of the character clearly worked out so the sliders are subject to change as well.

Gadamlub14_ESO

Azeez-Ij. I went digging deep into the wikis for words from the argonian language to translate "Bright tail" or something close to that into Jel.

SkaraMinoc

Ultima Online, my first MMO in 1997

Finedaible

I try to keep my character names within established, 'lore-friendly', naming conventions in their respective 'languages' though it can be difficult since you cannot use a name another player or ZoS has already used. Some established Elder Scrolls characters have cross-cultural names though, usually because they have been adopted or raised by another race, which is a pretty neat detail, and it opens up more naming options. For example, Brand-Shei from TES V: Skyrim was a Dunmer with an Argonian name because he was orphaned at a young age.

I think the most comical - and perhaps not totally lore-friendly - name I used was "Dovah-Su'um" for an argonian warden which literally translates to Dragon-breath in the Dovah language with the Saxhleel naming convetion.

Saint-Ange

[snip]

Necrotech_Master

my main characters name (same as my forum handle) is actually just a carry over for me, as this is the same name of my main original character in city of villains when i started playing that in like 2006

my alt characters names are more or less just variants of my main name, usually based around whatever class or theme they were going on

FrancisCrawford

Many of my character names are taken from other characters' names. I'm rethinking this strategy, however, as it messes with character identity.

Some names fit as family members for other characters. That has been working quite well.

A few are meant to be humorous, or have their main significance in puns and allusions. E.g., I have a Khajit thief named Grumpy Ex Wood Elf.

Hurbster

Hurbster is the name of my first Rolemaster character that I created and played (it's a TTRPG), I was a student so roughly 32-ish years ago.

Recently changed the name to add Snowdog as a surname as my Neal Peart tribute.

Other characters tend to be Gaelic translations (very rough, changed to make sense as a name sometime). One has the surname of my favourite player for my footie team back in the day.

Sarannah

Really missing the option: "Came up with a name yourself!"

I always try to come up with names myself. And I always make sure they are actual names.

Clyde_BlueSnake

Originally back during first playing the main games & playing ESO the first time back on PS4 my main Argonian name was just "BlueSnake" basically base from my snakesona/OC name. Then about around after when I moved to PC in 2019, I wanted my main Argonian & well some other alts as well, to have a somewhat more lore-friendly names, so Blue-Thuxis came to be. (that basically still is Blue-Snake :P) A name that's half Tamrielic/Cyrodilic & Jel.

Kali_Despoine

Kali: the destroyer of time; hindu
Despoine: mistress to the gods; greek

hence she is my mistress who devours my time

I have a necro named Surma Paak
Surma: beast that guards the gates of hell; fininsh
Paak: Estonian for tank

most call me Dead_Corps

SatanicSister

Kali_Despoine wrote: »

Kali: the destroyer of time; hindu
Despoine: mistress to the gods; greek

hence she is my mistress who devours my time

I have a necro named Surma Paak
Surma: beast that guards the gates of hell; fininsh
Paak: Estonian for tank

most call me Dead_Corps

Surma Paak in all estonian would mean Tank of Death.

Soarora

Lore friendly… name generator.
I can mash letters together to come up with names but researching the naming scheme of all of the races is too much effort for me. And I don’t mind sharing names, it’s realistic.

Stx

I use names that I have used for a long time throughout many games. But I like to keep them lore friendly as well.

Arthur_Spoonfondle

Some moderately lore friendly, others not.

Among others, Argonians: templar, Scales of Justice, dragonknight, Sleeps With the Fishes and a fat bank lurker, Hides Money Under Bed. Khajiit: nightblade, Lurkio of the Shadows. (Lurkio comes from an old British sitcom, Up Pompeii.)

Supreme_Atromancer

Kali_Despoine wrote: »

Kali: the destroyer of time; hindu
Despoine: mistress to the gods; greek

hence she is my mistress who devours my time

In an ontological way, the more she devours your time, the more real she becomes.

Aka_

Every toon I have has to incorporate "A'ka" into it because that's my @ name, so it makes for some creative adaptations of certain words:)

isadoraisacat

I studied the uesp for Khajiit names and combined a name that wasn’t used from a generator and added an honorific that honors my characters skills in magic aka ko. I roleplay as a Khajiit costume wise and everything thing I do. I wanted to make sure my characters name was lore consistent.

Browiseth

it depends on the character

my main, Strikes-with-Arcane, is my character i carry over from game to game, he's an argonian spellsword, so his name is pretty appropriate, while Moonlight Maiden is the name i gave my character in Elden Ring since it relates to that game's lore, and Sinnia Lavellan is a reference to my character from Dragon Age Inquisition.

things tend to get pretty obscure with what i'm referencing with my character names sometimes, with Bolgrog the Sinh essentially being my attempt to incorporate the name of a boss fight from dark souls 2 (Sinh) into an ESO character name, heh

xXCJsniperXx7

Each of my toons have a dragon name. The names are each three words of power that reflect what the character is, the class, the build, and theme. Such as my main, Laasziivur. Laas life, Zii soul, and Vur valor.

RABIDxWOLVERINE

Lore and other pop culture.