What Do You Name Your RPG Characters?

[Skeleon]

I have a couple of names I use that have no particular meaning but I think are nice, like Leon for fantasy and Clyde for SciFi. There are a few more like that.
Another way to go about it, is to use one of my own names and modify it in some way, add or subtract stuff, switch letters out or form anagrams that sound like a name. Adding a title or a rank can also be good.
Lastly, if it's going to be a particular "build", I may use a Greek or Latin dictionary to find a fitting name. For instance, I named a blood magic-focused character Haimos. "Haimos" just means "blood" in Greek.
Similarily, I may use other languages' dictionaries to look up suitable names, like for a character called "Farlig Smedson", the Dwarven prospector ("dangerous" the first name, "smith's son" the last name)! Yeah, like in that example, just add -son or -dottir to something topical, that also often works nicely.
I think that's about it.
EDIT: Forgot one. Sometimes I use the scientific names of aimals, plants or germs when they seem fitting.

 

[Adventurer2626]

Medieval warrior: Beogar or sometimes Herugrim. If I get pissed and can't come up with a name that's not taken I choose Darron or some lore modification of it. Other than that I usually come up with a name on the spot, especially if it's not a usual archetype for me, which can be pretty fun.

 

[TheHomelessHero]

Just depends on what kind of character I'm going for.

In Fallout: NV I decided to go with an insane doctor character and called him Dr. Destroy

In Skyrim I went with an Argonian mage focused around ice magic and called him Blizzard da Lizard

In most MMOs I just go with the most ott name possible such as Spitzle Melfar, or really hard to pronounce names like Jargenspolzvagen Roffenheimer...if it fits

In JRPGs where you really can't customize your play style, I go for childish names such as C More Butts, or PoopConductor

 

[RJ 17]

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back in the day, I used to name characters after myself and all my friends. These days I generally name them after game or book characters that I particularly liked.

There was an old webcomic (can't even remember the name of it) that always had a little joke line underneath each comic, kinda like how Critical Miss does (a recent example would be "Corey and Grey are going to live their lives to destroy your world"). One of them said "The next time you play FF7, try naming Cloud "Dildo"...it's fun!" So I gave it a shot, and it did turn out to be pretty fun. :3

 

[chozo_hybrid]

I like taking names of characters I like then doing them backwards, I started playing Skyrim again after getting into Game of Thrones and named my character Dradde Krats, so Eddard Stark backwards. The names spelt backwards still have to sound pretty cool to me though, so not all of them work.

 

[George Learmonth]

I always call my RPG characters first name 'Leiwaan', followed by the name of a mythalogical creature such as bruxa.

 

[ThatLankyBastard]

I have lots of names stored up (and subsequent personalities that go with the name), just for the occasion that I need to make a character.

Right now, my current fave is Scales-For-Brains; the headstrong, overconfident, bit-of-an-asshole Argonian Rogue who is an incredibly competent thief who simply has extremely bad luck. Also: as another trait of the character, I am obliged to attack and kill every Khajiit I see...

"I'm not racist, I'm just careful... and don't like cats"
-Scales-For-Brains

[sub][sub]Yeah... I'm that one guy that puts waaaay too much thought into their RP characters...[/sub][/sub]

 

[WhiteFangofWhoa]

When I played FF6 for the first time I was heavily into Animorphs, so I tried naming all party members after characters in that series, trying to match up personalities as much as possible:

Terra = Cassie
Locke = Jake
Edgar = Arbat
Sabin = Alloran
Celes = Rachel
Setzer = Marco
Cyan = Ax
Shadow = Tobias
Gogo = Erek
Mog = Toomin

In any MMORPG I've played I always want to have a unique name instead of just adding a bunch of numbers at the end of a word (pleased to see some of them don't let you do that anymore).

For WoW:
Diesirae (Blood Elf Mage)
Nothung (Dwarf Warrior)
Kattos (Pronounced like Kratos without the R, Orc Shaman)
Heresius (Undead Priest, and probably my best-geared character)

For SWTOR:
(Firebringer Legacy)
Fanha'Tryst (Twi'lek Jedi Sage)
Genj (Zabrak Imperial Operative)
Staven (Cyborg Sith Juggernaut)
Darth Odessa (Human Sith Sorcerer, and certainly my best-geared character)

 

[Trasch17]

I usually give my characters names that can go for both male and female. Maybe I'm just lazy...
Anyway, the top 3 are:

Raven
Sam (Either for Samantha or Samuel)
Alex (Either for Alexandra or Alexander)

I don't use last names by the way.

The only exception was my female Khajiit rouge. I named her Ra'nkat. One day it just came to my mind and I thought it was a fitting name.

 

[Maevine]

I name all of my men Spiderman. It's a tradition I started with Fable, for reasons I no longer remember. As for the women, it depends on whether I see them as an avatar or not. If so, I've been using Maevine since my first W.o.W. character. If not, I just name them something at random. My last non-avatars were two khajiits named Fluffums and Foofybottom on Skyrim.

IMPORTANT EDIT: I'm also one of those immature lassies who found it appropriate to name Epona "my penis" and laughed hysterically throughout the entire game.

 

[armcheesus]

Well ever since I came up with Adren Vrath for KotOR I have been using that name.

 

[BodomBeachChild]

I always use my real name or a variant. In EVE and most fantasy games I use "Mathias" as my first name. I started using that... years ago. On comms it makes my life easier when they call "Hey, Matt, can you ". In SP games I do it because 1) I hate coming up with names 2) I like playing pretend =D

 

[Something Amyss]

Bob. Tim. Lisa.

No, but I don't have a fixed pattern. Well, not most of the time, anyway. I tend to be fairly random.

Hell, I named my Mass Effect character Miranda. After a planet in Serenity. Why? Because tat's what tickled my fancy that particular day I first played ME.

It's also a little awkward since there was a Miranda in ME2, but I stuck with it!

 

[Agow95]

Halbarad for my warriors (name of a ranger from LOTR)
Nailo for mages (Elven surname from D&D 3.5)
Arvaken for third character I make regardless of class (Norweigan for vigilant)

 

[Patrick Buck]

I normally make up a name, one I like...
But just recently I've been going with swearwords with random words tacked onto the end. Like ****whistle or something.

It's funny when someone says your name.

....well, if you're as immature as me.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Gotthew. I came up with it when I tried to imagine a name for a hypothetical fusion between me and Goku. Although such a fusion would no doubt only be detrimental.

Anyway, I don't always use that name, I may use something else depending on my mood and what the game is. For example I have a female Nord in Skyrim named Bianca Four Star. Named after Bianca from Dragon Quest V and the 4 star dragon ball.

 

[Rblade]

Remus (the after the guy from unreal tournament which I played alot because I thought the name and origin of the name was awsome)
Asharian, one of my most long lived D&D characters. Almost every elf, or elf like, character will get that name.

 

[Idlemessiah]

For human characters I tend to go for normal names. In RPG's I try to get similar to NPC names to be more lore friendly. And in driving games I recently started using the name "Rick Dangerous" just for giggles.

 

[Akytalusia]

if there's a default name, i'll use it. if not, Akashicin, Akytalusia, Argonia, Anagastice, Cambian, Damashi, Diaseraph, Mitsukai, Serah, Ta'Kemia.
all of these names are important to me for different reasons, some more than others. except Argonia. my skyrim character's named that because she's an argonian and i'm uncreative. no special history.

 

[Adeptus Aspartem]

Depends on what i play. Shadowrun Characters usualy have "normal" names, since they're normal humans, only their streetname is something fancy, that either fits their background or their style.

And for medieval i either use a name that fits the character symbolicaly (often in strange languages) or something really silly and over-stereotypical.

Some examples:

In Shadowrun i currently use Averyn "Eidolon" McGrath and Jason "Red Dragon" Smith.
While in D&D my current character is the overzealous female Paladin Lux Well.

In Vidya games it's diffrent though. In pokemon i usualy make fun of the way they use your name with stuff like "oh fuck!", which leads to "Oh fuck! Nice to see you."
Aaaand i named Shepard "Sheep". Yep. Sheep Shepard saving the galaxy!