Character Names

[Drhoz]

How'd you come up with your character name? Any particular significance to it? Here's what I came up with for mine, Vitus, with numerous asides thrown in for good measure (It was compose this or spend 3 hours listening to a Tupperware party)

 

Some thoughts about Vitus's ancestry and naming rules - most of which now existing only in Vitus's memory, given how Samuria and the world of Aura were erased from reality whilst he was unavoidably detained elsewhere

 

Vitus's full name is formally given as Vitus D'rhazz ul Kashrak ur R'rascd, of Clan Scorpion, an ancestry of which he is quite proud, and if slighted causes serious offence - although given the number of things that can offend Vitus, including the weather and arrangement of planets, this is hardly surprising.

 

Samurian gnolls are of course divided into 11 major and 27 minor clans, including, in addition to Clan Scorpion, the Cliffdivers, Phoenix, Cave Fishers and others. Each of these is named after an Auran animal, either real or mythological, but despite this they are not totem animals, per se - gnollish mythology on Aura maintains each clan ancestor was created whole and complete as a gnoll.

 

The clans each hold territory across the Soulwind Desert, coastline, and badlands east of the Blood River. Most of these settlements are small, and often seasonal, although larger ones such as the Phoenix Oasis take advantage of the permanent water supply and thousands of acres of seed palms to support a large mixed-clan population.

 

Whilst gnolls society in Samuria is theoretically patriarchal ( especially in matters of inheritance ) family names are based upon that of the oldest female ancestor at time of birth. Likewise, moiety, the division of related clans into two, or occasionally four, kinship groups across which all marriages must be made, is determined matrilinearly.

 

(Marriages themselves are generally arranged by the parents, and usually within the clan save for politically expedient unions. However, the ceremony itself rarely takes place until both bride and groom are fully adult - 13 or so for gnolls. Exercise and good diet will extend pubertal muscle growth however, until the gnolls, already taller than most humans, rival the legendary Flinds in size and strength )

 

Other personal names are derived from respected ancestors, prefixed with ul- for female ancestors, and ur- for male. In the case of Vitus, these reference a great grandmother who expressed some magical talent, and a grandfather & clan hetman ( a position achieved through merit, not inheritance, in most clans. At the other end of the social ladder, slaves are actually quite rare in most gnollish settlements - but only because of the small size of such. Gnolls living in Samuria's human-dominated cities are generally happy to buy a few, or at least rent some for the duration of their stay. )

 

On an merely player-based level - Vitus because of Vitus Dance, a minor Judge Dredd villain himself named after a medieval medical condition - altho I am aware that Vitus is probably unpronounceable to a creature with a muzzle ; D'rhazz as in yet another variation on Drhoz ; Kashrak because it sounds suitably snappy ; and R'rascd as a nod to the male lead in Paul Kidd's novel Fangs of K'aath - although Raschid there was a wolf-jackal hybrid

[EvilEmpryss]

Re: Character Names

 

I like to pull from historical and ethnic resources. If the the culture has a Romanesque feel, I study Roman naming conventions. The main thing is to pull names from only one culture to give them a feel of a cohesive group.

 

Alliteration is popular in comics (Peter Parker, Clark Kent, Lois Lane, etc.), so it's fun to try to add some of that.

 

Most importantly, I make sure the names are easy to pronounce!

[hfergus]

Re: Character Names

 

Volt is a lightning based super. Name is obvious. Secret Id is Thom Natsby. No real significance, except I saw and liked the name Thom.

 

Olorin is a mage. The name comes from "The Lord of the Rings" by J R R Tolkien. Gandalf at one point says "Olorin was I in the West that is forgotten." Just obscure enough to leave people with no clue unless they are a Tolkien fan. His full name is Olorin Ap'Gath Ap'Uthtas. (Ap is "son of".) The other names have no particular meaning except I like the sound of them. Olorin has no secret ID name, he has no secret ID.

 

Black Tiger's secret id name has no real significance. The hero name is because he dresses in black and greys and uses a modified Tiger style. He "pounces" on people with a takedown manuever as his favorite.

 

Futurian is from the future and thus calls himself that. He has told noone else his name; he doesn't want to call attention to it and have someone kill his ancestor. Someday I will make one up. He has no secret ID to protect.

[Drhoz]

Re: Character Names

 

I like to pull from historical and ethnic resources. If the the culture has a Romanesque feel, I study Roman naming conventions. The main thing is to pull names from only one culture to give them a feel of a cohesive group.

 

Alliteration is popular in comics (Peter Parker, Clark Kent, Lois Lane, etc.), so it's fun to try to add some of that.

 

Most importantly, I make sure the names are easy to pronounce!

 

always useful - it topok a couple of years to get my group to pronounce Vitus's name correrctly - regular chorus of "that's ViTUSSS!" around the table as they eventually caught on

 

re consistency, yes, the actual NAME Vitus does bug me slightly, given I can't see any way he could pronounce it...

[Drhoz]

Re: Character Names

 

I saw and liked the name Thom.

 

Olorin is a mage. The name comes from "The Lord of the Rings" by J R R Tolkien. Gandalf at one point says "Olorin was I in the West that is forgotten." Just obscure enough to leave people with no clue unless they are a Tolkien fan. His full name is Olorin Ap'Gath Ap'Uthtas. (Ap is "son of".) The other names have no particular meaning except I like the sound of them. Olorin has no secret ID name, he has no secret ID.

 

heehee. Why not? And yes, nicely obscure

[BobGreenwade]

Re: Character Names

 

For superhero names, I try to capture something that both describes the character's powers or theme, and his personality or approach to things. My seminal energy projector, Captain Photon, is a light-wielder who's read too many old comic books, leading him to speak in corny cliches, strike dramatic poses, and overreach his abilities as he tries to perform dramatic feats. If his name was Light Master, he might still be the same, but somehow Captain Photon (even >25 years after I first created him) just seems like the right name.

 

Conversely, my recently-created intellectual character operates best at night, and relies most strongly on his powers of observation and analysis. I initially was going to call him the Night Watchman, but I want to publish something with him someday and that name would conflict with Big Bang's Knight Watchman, so I changed it to The Shadow Watcher -- which I actually have come to like better, as it has a less "generic" feel to it.

 

For civilian names, I once just went with whatever ran off the tongue and sounded right; Captain Photon was just Alan Jeffries. These days I use a couple of name references and try to make the meaning fit. If I'd done that I never would have used the name Alan Jeffries, as Alan and Jeffrey both mean "peaceful," which hardly applies to this guy. The Shadow Watcher was more carefully named: Alexander Llewellyn. Alexander means "defender of mankind," and Llewellyn means "lion-like," and that sums up his approach to the job, as he steps out to steadfastly protect his fellow man without even thinking twice.

 

Still, I occasionally come up with a referential name for a character. Laughing Boy, a clown-themed gadgeteer, is really Mark Barnum; Professor Entropy, a man with only limited control over his ever-changing appearance and constant teleporting among and within dimensions, is really Dr. Random Chance.

[Comic]

Re: Character Names

 

I use dead people.

 

Oh, wait, that came out sounding so wrong.

 

Uhm, I mean, I cannibalize.. hrm. No, let me start again.

 

You know how politicians visit cemet.. uhhhh. Scratch that.

 

Mostly, I try something funny.. I mean..

 

What I'm trying to say is I like a little twist...

 

Wow, this is hard to talk about without sounding pervy.

[Maelstrom]

Re: Character Names

 

Wolf: Wolf is okami in Japanese, and O-kami means great spirit. So his name's a pun.

Maelstrom: I just liked the name.

Psi-blade: pretty self-explanatory.

[Radar]

Re: Character Names

 

My longest running character, long since retired, was Radar Rider - named after the kick-ass song from the Heavy Metal movie. Gave him radar screen colors - mostly black with green accoutrements- had him make a flying platform that resembled a a radar screen- phosphorescent concentric rings - voila, Radar Rider. His secret ID was Michael Van Zant - My middle name, plus I was a huge Skynyrd fan at the time and liked the last name.

 

Digging up and old drawing to use as my avatar...

[Wyrm Ouroboros]

Re: Character Names

 

Freedom is called that because of her central theme -- freedom for people, whether herself (from the concentration camps), people who want to throw off an oppressive government, or people who need a boost from the ghetto. A version of her has become M-Proof, since she's the 'proof' of the 'M-Theory' that'll tie all the current physics string and grand unification theories together.

 

Mikael al-Sala'am, Jedi Knight, was named for a) the Archangel Michael, with the flaming sword (Mikael's lightsaber is yellow/gold), and the Arabic for 'Peace' -- therefore Michael of Peace.

 

Shu Ching is a martial artist, a combination of 'Wu Shu' and 'I Ching'. His is the 'Art of Change'.

 

Dimma Darknight was a psionicist drow who became a shade; she later underwent a soul-altering experience and subsequently became Solaria Morningstar Dawndancer -- an avatar of the dawn.

 

Most of my characters have similar backgrounds and meanings...

[Edsel]

Re: Character Names

 

Many and varied ways. Often I just brainstorm until I come-up with something I like.

My Super-Mage in our rarely played Champions game is Enigma. Gee, magic pretty relevant sounding name.

In our Fantasy Hero game my character is a Bard named Torean Norhill, I actually got that one from a list of names the GM provided.

In our current Cyberpunk Hero game my female cyborg is named Trace Synthia Dexter. She has very good computer and cyber-web skills, hence Trace. Only her brain and spinal cord are natural, hence Synthia. She has a 23 DEX (highest among the Player Characters) , hence Dexter.

[Pariah]

Re: Character Names

 

Interesting. My character named Enigma is a former US Air Force Intelligence officer who specialized in linguistics and cryptography. He underwent an experimental procedure to cure a terminal illness and gained superpowers as a result. He was then officially declared dead and recruited into a super-secret group of government black-ops agents as their resident brick and code-cracker.

 

So his name has reference not only to his mysterious identity (a walking dead man) but to his profession as well ('Enigma' was the name of a code used by Germany in WWII, the cracking of which was a major intelligence coup for the Allies).

[MilkmanDan]

Re: Character Names

 

Secret IDs are always named after musicians I like. Richard Keiths, Alex G. Peart, West Paulerberg, things like that.

 

Character names? Depends. I named a character Flatblack because he was a flat black colored shapeshifter and I wanted everyone to mispronounce it and make bacon jokes about him.

[Cancer]

Re: Character Names

 

Mr. Terrific is named for the title character in the one-season late 1960's TV series, who also derived his powers from "power pills" that had a tendency to run out at inconvenient times.

[Shoutybloke]

Re: Character Names

 

I Hate Hate Hate coming up with character names. Worst part of character creation.

[Clonus]

Re: Character Names

 

Real names are just randomly stolen from whatever I'm reading. I generally start with a psuedonym and then figure out a character to go with it.

[BobGreenwade]

Re: Character Names

 

Mr. Terrific is named for the title character in the one-season late 1960's TV series' date=' who also derived his powers from "power pills" that had a tendency to run out at inconvenient times.[/quote']I remember that show... but you may or may not be aware that it's also the name of a hero from the Golden Age of Comics, currently owned by DC (and appropriately updated to the modern age).

[Gideon]

Re: Character Names

 

I have lots of different ways of coming up with character names.

 

Mostly my superhero names have something to do with the character's powers or theme.

 

Mesa is a brick (originally an earth elemental character he lost most of those powers)

 

Cinder is a fire projector

 

Nightingale is a bat-man family style martial artist/ detective

 

Plastron is a fairly obscure word meaning exoskeleton (or dickey, or the shell of a turtle). The character "grows" power armor.

 

Rebound can absorb and redirect energy

 

My character's normal names are generally just names I like. Sometimes though I will pick something thats a reference or based on the character's heritage.

 

Nightingale is half irish (mom)/ half Swedish (dad) so her name is Emily Riedberg

 

Plastron is jewish. However (as a brainy teen hero) I wanted him to have one of the worst "nerdiest" names I could find. So his name is Mervin Spitzner, and as part of the running gag of how bad his name is his father is Yitzak, his mother is Mildred Goldfarb-Spitzner, and his younger brother is Ephraim.

 

When looking for "normal" names for characters I generally look at sites like:

 

20,000 Names.com

 

Behind the Names Random name generator

 

and for last names I often go to:

 

Behind the Names: Surnames

[Guest Major Tom]

Re: Character Names

 

When I was working on Powerstar (my current character), his secret ID

was the last thing I came up with, since I wanted his name to say something

about the kind of person that he is, both as a superhero and as a "normal"

human being. The name that I eventually came up with after going through a

character naming guide was Alexander MacNeill.

 

Alexander, as has been mentioned previously in this thread, means "defender

of mankind" (it can also mean "champion" or "protector", depending on which

country's name list you use), while MacNeill means "son of the champion".

 

 

Major Tom

[Drhoz]

Re: Character Names

 

I use dead people.

 

Oh, wait, that came out sounding so wrong.

 

Uhm, I mean, I cannibalize.. hrm. No, let me start again.

 

You know how politicians visit cemet.. uhhhh. Scratch that.

 

Mostly, I try something funny.. I mean..

 

What I'm trying to say is I like a little twist...

 

Wow, this is hard to talk about without sounding pervy.

 

 

heheehee. repped

[Drhoz]

Re: Character Names

 

I remember that show... but you may or may not be aware that it's also the name of a hero from the Golden Age of Comics' date=' currently owned by DC (and appropriately updated to the modern age).[/quote']

 

and ridiculed as Hyperman in Pat Mills' And Kevin O'Neill's Marshal Law, a Golden Age super who had a power potion-based power, as long as he could find a vein....

[BNakagawa]

Re: Character Names

 

I have a friend who was an editor at an indie comic publisher. She had the task of filtering through submissions, looking for anything that might be publishable.

 

Some of the worst offenders got tucked away in a special place, and sometimes at conventions, we'd end up in her hotel room where she'd have dramatic readings of some pretty wretched scripts.

 

One of them, the author spelled the female lead's name three different ways in the first page (this drove her nuts) so, thereafter, she just changed all future readings of the name to "Mittens".

 

It was so funny, I ended up having to create a character named Mittens. Drawings of her ended up in Champions and a revised version graces the cover of Teen Champions.

[Arkham]

Re: Character Names

 

I almost always come up with a Heroic ID name before designing a character around it. The secret ID name tends to come later, generally based on the cultural identity of the character as I envision them, usually including either alliteration, a reference to something related, or a bad pun ( and rarely a good pun, if that is possible ).

 

This is why I've ended up with a website with almost 300 names, and only 1/2 of them have write-ups so far.

 

Example: Blah, blah, discussion of various gaming related stuff. The word Barrage comes up. I go, "That'd be a great Champions character." Write it down, then a while later look at it and write up the character. With that name, it has to be a fire-type EB with an autofire blast. Once that's done get some random secret ID name. No plan for background yet, so generic American it is. Look around, see books, piece together the name Harlan Clark. Then make a brief history based on the name and disads.

[hfergus]

Re: Character Names

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by hfergus

Olorin is a mage. The name comes from "The Lord of the Rings" by J R R Tolkien. Gandalf at one point says "Olorin was I in the West that is forgotten." Just obscure enough to leave people with no clue unless they are a Tolkien fan. His full name is Olorin Ap'Gath Ap'Uthtas. (Ap is "son of".) The other names have no particular meaning except I like the sound of them. Olorin has no secret ID name, he has no secret ID.

 

 

{ posted by Drhoz:heehee. Why not? And yes, nicely obscure]

 

Actually very obscure, in the sense that noone has ever identified it. The closest I ever got from someone was "That name seems familar. Where have I heard that before?". Other names of Gandalf in the same quote : Mithrandir(elvish), Tharkun(dwarven), Icanus. I've also used the appendix in the LOTR for other names (Marroc; a halfling- Source: Frodo son Drogo son of Marroc)