apparently you also cant use names that resemble ingame characters etc closely. so not sure if 'Molagg Ball' would work?

I go to a site like this one, then riff a name.

https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Bosmer_Names

That’s for bosmer names. But the have alternative sites for all of the races.

UESP has complete lists of every character of a given race in each game, divided by sex, and if that's not enough for inspiration you can look up 'elder scrolls name generator' to get an idea of the usual prefixes and suffixes.

Make up one's own lore? This game supposedly occurs on a continent, not in a gated neighborhood.

All of this one's khajiits are named with names that seemed feasible and favorable to pronounce for a feline palate and dentition.

This one's argonian, Driven by Remorse, was named after his most defining personality trait.

I do some research on UESP, sometimes in conjunction with this name generator:

https://www.fantasynamegenerators.com/elder-scrolls.php

I have yet to use a name verbatim from a name generator, but instead use it for ideas to formulate my own.
And, depending on race, what I typically glean from UESP with regard to character names is an obscure family name that might fit my character.
(I come up with my Nord names in my brain completely from scratch.)

Like most here, I use UESP as a reference. I'll scroll through the lists, read the general rules for racial naming conventions, and if I don't feel like using one of the names there I'll try to dismantle a few a put them together in ways that sound appropriate for the given race.

Occasionally, I'll ignore racial naming conventions entirely if I have a good reason. There's one thing to remember--just because races and cultures have general naming rules and traditions doesn't mean an individual has to follow them. There are also people who just straight up change their name or identity for various reasons outside of personal choice.

Usually I’d place a prefix or suffix that fits the lore around a name on my mind.

But if I come across a name in-game that I really like, I’ll look up a different family name from the lore names from the UESP list already linked above.

Dark elves are easiest for me - most of my characters have a variation of Lilly so I throw in a double "L" at the start. Surnames are more tricky but I will either look for something along the same lines as existing in-game names or use something that describes the class, like a sorc called Stormborn or Flamedancer for a DK, things like that. I figure something that could be a descriptive title gives you more leeway to fit with lore.

It backfired for Necro, spent ages thinking of names when it was announced and settled on Shadecaller only for it to be used for mobs in an Elsweyr delve - I'm stuck with it now but still think it's a good name!

Being the huge roleplaying and lore nerd that I am with most mmos I've played, I often get the feel of the setting's naming conventions after awhile, and having been a fan of TES for many years I'm quite familiar with them.

So I just make something up using that. Sometimes I use UESP to get a little inspiration or refreshen my memory of the races/culture I'm not very familiar with. Checking what synonyms and and letters are commonly used etc. If the naming conventions got a real life inspiration, like latin for imperials, then I sometimes check some of those names up to get the creativity going.

Still remember from my WoW days how they added a couple of npcs which either had identical or very similar names to some existing characters of mine.
So far that has not happed in ESO yet to my notice. I only found a lore/Morrowind character I did not know of when naming, who is very closely named to one of my dunmer. Both first and last name. There's like 1 or 2 letter differences between them. Which made it feel like I had really nailed a dunmer name.

RaddlemanNumber7 wrote: »

I like my character names to mean something - Thunderous Light, Frozen Beauty, Silent Blade, Legend, Runaway Wizard, Ecstatic War Serpent. I use UESP language pages to translate them. Imperial names are translated into Latin(ish).

The exceptions are Bretons and Dunmer, where I use TESIII NPC names, forename off one, family name off another, e.g. Simine Belette, Malan Favel.

I prefer when my characters’ names can mean something too. I think this works for some of the human cultures as you said and I named my Khajiit templar Yerah-do, referencing the Hebrew word for a full cycle of the moon and the Khajiiti suffix for a renowned warrior.

I hadn’t found the language info on UESP before — thank you! I think I will combine this info with the reference of names as I create my new characters!

NotaDaedraWorshipper wrote: »

Still remember from my WoW days how they added a couple of npcs which either had identical or very similar names to some existing characters of mine.
So far that has not happed in ESO yet to my notice. I only found a lore/Morrowind character I did not know of when naming, who is very closely named to one of my dunmer. Both first and last name. There's like 1 or 2 letter differences between them. Which made it feel like I had really nailed a dunmer name.

It's happened to me a couple of times. Oddly enough both are names I've used in multiple games for years, not ones created specifically for ESO. There's a character in the Covenant camp in Cyrodiil whose first name is very close to my warden's last name. I've also got a nord character called Ember. (It doesn't come up often, but Ember is actually her nickname, her real name is Eleanora but that was also her mother's name so she doesn't like using it.)