What's in a name

[quozaxx]

I would like help naming my npcs. The thing is; I prefer "real" words that don't get caught by spell check.

 

For instance: Some of my characters have been named: Stonewall, Lady Blue, Brick, and Org. Spell check doesn't see these words as incorrect, and they make decent names.

 

Any ideas on more names? I need about 20. A lot that are Dwarfs, Elves, and Orcs. Which sometimes don't use "normal" names.

[IndianaJoe3]

Re: What's in a name

 

My go-to places for names are Chris Pound's Name Generation Page and 20,000 Names. Of course, many of the foreign real names (and pretty much all of the random ones) will get flagged by spell check.

[brokefang]

Re: What's in a name

 

http://www.seventhsanctum.com has a bunch of different name generators, although not all of those will necessarily be spellchecker friendly.

 

You could also adopt the strategy for your elves/dwarves of having a 'use name', one they find comfortable for talking with humans. Don't know if that interferes with your race backgrounds, but it was a thought to get around that red underlining.

[Lucius]

Re: What's in a name

 

I would like help naming my npcs. The thing is; I prefer "real" words that don't get caught by spell check.

 

 

Not that I question your right to do things however pleases you, but....why?

 

Lucius Alexander

 

I mean, spellcheckers often don't even recognize the word palindromedary!

[quozaxx]

Re: What's in a name

 

Not that I question your right to do things however pleases you, but....why?

 

Lucius Alexander

 

I mean, spellcheckers often don't even recognize the word palindromedary!

 

I don't know. Maybe I have a problem with red underlined words. They ARE out to get you! You do know that right?

[Escafarc]

Re: What's in a name

 

I don't know. Maybe I have a problem with red underlined words. They ARE out to get you! You do know that right?

 

I thought it was because you don't like for anyone tell you that you were wrong, especially some Lite-Brite with pretensions to grandeur:)

[Susano]

Re: What's in a name

 

I bought the Gary Gygax book of 100,000 names and have found it very useful for randomly (by closing my eyes and pointing) picking names. Of course, since most of then are from different non-English languages, they all get tagged in spell check.

[Palmate]

Re: What's in a name

 

one idea I heard several years ago was to select some real world cultures and correlate with your in game cultures, then just get a baby name book (most any will do) and name folks based on the real world area/culture that correlates to the in game location. This lends a sense of continuity to the setting and allows players to begin to relate names to places or at least cultures.

P

[Susano]

Re: What's in a name

 

one idea I heard several years ago was to select some real world cultures and correlate with your in game cultures' date=' then just get a baby name book (most any will do) and name folks based on the real world area/culture that correlates to the in game location. This lends a sense of continuity to the setting and allows players to begin to relate names to places or at least cultures. [/font']

P

 

Which is what I've done with the Well of the Worlds. The first village the PCs came to is an expy of Norse/Viking society. The next one will be English/French middle ages, but the names will be drawn from a list of Indonesian ones I have. Another will be Lakota Souix, another will be Zulu, and so on.

[Susano]

Re: What's in a name

 

I would like help naming my npcs. The thing is; I prefer "real" words that don't get caught by spell check.

 

For instance: Some of my characters have been named: Stonewall, Lady Blue, Brick, and Org. Spell check doesn't see these words as incorrect, and they make decent names.

 

Any ideas on more names? I need about 20. A lot that are Dwarfs, Elves, and Orcs. Which sometimes don't use "normal" names.

 

You'd love the Black Company stories, then. One of the main characters is the Company surgeon—Croaker. Another is the sorceress, "Lady." Two wizards are Goblin and One Eye. Soldiers have names like Big Bucket, Sleepy, the Freak, the Geek, and so on. Cities have names like Weed, Juniper, Beryl... the naming is rather interesting. The odd personal names are due to true names having power, so people in the Black Company tend to use nicknames, most of which are applied by One Eye.