What'd you name your Shepard and why?

[Dr. Paine]

I'd like to hear (even if just through PM). I love hearing about how people characterize their Shepard

Well... you asked for it.

For ease of use, I'll put everything in a spoiler. I woarn you, it's kinda long, so you may wanna grab a snack or something.

If anyone else would like more insight into Erika, feel free to expand and peruse at your leisure. ^^

Spoiler: Erika Shepard (ME) vs Erika Dumonte (Original)

Here, I'm going to detail how ME!Erika differs from Sage!Erika (hereafter referred to as simply "Original"), though there will be a few minute similarities here and there.

Preliminary Notes
Erika Dumonte is one of 20-some odd characters from my own universe, a little something-something I like to call Emerald City, named after a fictional island city out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. As one may surmise by the last sentence, it takes place here on here on Earth, set in the late 2060s.

Basic History
ME - Earthborn. Look up the Mass Effect wiki for exact details.

Original - American, specifically from NYC. The younger of two daughters, Erika was adopted into another family after her parents thought they couldn't handle raising two girls, especially with the significant age gap between the two (Sonja, Erika's sister, is 8 years older).

Unfortunately, Erika's adoptive parents were also preoccupied with their own prodigious daughter. Desperate for attention, she tried numerous hobbies including playing the violin and the flute, but could never reach the level of aptitude of her adoptive sister. Finally, after watching a few classic martial arts films, Erika found her calling (specifically learning Taekkyon). However, this only increased attention gap between Erika and her foster parents since they felt "a lady had no business willfully engaging in fisticuffs", thus leaving Erika to grow up alone and flustered.

Erika's school life was a chaotic one. Her teachers would often deem her a menace for getting into numerous fights; it quickly became a running gag that people would place bets on how long it took before an ambulance arrived, for it seldom became an issue as to whether or not Erika would win, but rather just how bad she curb-stomped her opponent. She was finally expelled and place into an international all-girl boarding school when a fight resulted in a student having a concussion, a broken jaw, and 4 missing teeth (for the record, she basically embarrassed him in front of his friends, and he didn't take lightly to that).

Erika then stayed low-key and eventually caught word that her birth-sister Sonja had just finished a tour with the Marines and was well on her way to obtaining a PhD in bio-genetics. Struck by admiration and inspiration, Erika herself enlisted in the Marines right out of high-school.

Military Career
ME - Ruthless, Active Duty (as the series is still going on )

Original - While originally wanting to go into medicine and jump-start her own path to obtaining a PhD like Sonja, Erika - and various training instructors - noticed she had an impressive knack as a rifleman, she being one of only a handful of Marines to achieve a perfect score on the Rifle Proficiency Examination. She was recruited into sniper school shortly thereafter, and achieved an impressive score in that examination as well. As such, she was deployed to a relatively new base in China as the Chinese government was on the verge of collapse and civil war was just beyond the horizon...

It was there that Erika met one Claire Snowdrop, an orphan hailing from Vancouver. Claire was very similar to Erika; they both were adopted (though Claire's an only child), they both were very accomplished martial artists, and they both grew up violent and resentful of others. And they both were very proficient riflemen. Much to Erika's surprise, the two hit it off quickly and those memories of loneliness and anger quickly faded into the recesses of both girls' minds.

Things took a turn for the worst about a year later, when the military base was hit by rebels in a late night sneak attack and prompting a violent skirmish lasting approximately 15 days. Erika showed her courage - or recklessness, your call - when she deliberately disobeyed orders and manually disarmed an enemy squad, receiving a gunshot wound that narrowly missed heart by just 2 inches.

What could best be called the lowest point in Erika's military life was when she volunteered to search for a scout party that failed to report back at the appointed time. After some time looking, she eventually found what was left of the scout party: Claire, mortally wounded and rapidly losing blood. Erika did her best to treat the wound, and decided to stay with Claire until help arrived. Unfortunately, the damage was worse than Erika initially assumed and Claire eventually passed away in Erika's arms a few hours later.

Eventually the rebellion was quashed, and order had been restored to the Chinese government. After Claire's funeral, Erika got a tattoo of a snowdrop flower over the scar created by the bullet wound in her chest, a reminder of the one true friend she had - and lost.

Erika eventually moved to Japan and finished her tour with Marines there. She now lives in Emerald City with her sister Sonja, living life quietly and still trying to get that PhD in medicine.

Disposition
ME - Paragon, with a bit of Renegade for flavoring (to show that she's a good girl, if vulgar and impatient)

Original - in terms of alignment, Erika is probably best described as a Chaotic Good. Remember, her foster parents cared little for her other than the basic necessities, and she had no friends growing up. This didn't make her a delinquent though, just... resentful of others in a "fuck the world" kind of sense. Besides, she wants to be a doctor just like her sister one day. ^__^

Huh, sounds cool Nice character, I can see how that must have translated pretty well into a Shepard xD

I almost tried making my Adrian like a character of mine (though with a different name, because I feel bad enough that it had to be a holdover from the stupid teenage days), but it... totally failed xD I have had fun working out a backstory, though

 

[Echo136]

I name mine after my girlfriend because her last name is Shephard.

 

[Drake666]

Shepard Shepard, that way all the conversations can play out 2 ways, can remain formal with some, using her last name, or be on first name, intimate basis with others, using her first name.

Ok, that's really clever

 

[AMX58]

my male shep name was Chandler
my fem shep was Jade and Christine

 

[wfpdk]

comandna, i like to think that everyone is just mispronouncing his name since they all call him commander regardless of affiliation or rank.

 

[Drummah]

Jennifer.

My Name.

I'm lame.

 

[ABLb0y]

Alyx for the male, because it's my name with a Y, and Jeanette for a female, because I like that name.

 

[AlphaEcho]

John, Jack, James, Jake, Joe.

I SENSE PATTERN HURR HURR.

 

[Srelun]

Mine is called Aglagl Shepard. The reason behind that is, that I once had to make up a name for a weapon in Patapon 3, it was a Icesword, so I thought about something that reminds me of ice, cold or something chilly. And there came up this useless first boss in Rayman the great escape for the N64, called Aglagl. When I created Shepard, I suddenly had to think about that again, so Aglagl became his name.

 

[Dalek Caan]

Christopher. Same name as me. Best reason really and the fact that its an awesome name. Or so I've heard.

 

[scorptatious]

I named my first Shepard Charlie. Because back then, I like to name my characters after myself in WRPG's.

 

[Viking Incognito]

I went for Shepard Shepard, because it is easier the accept that his parents were twats than everyone he knows, including his lover, calling him by his last name and nothing else.

 

[Con Carne]

I knew nothing about Mass Effect 2. So I had hoped that the game had text at some parts instead of all voice acting. So I named My shep, Fuckin' Shepard. I wanted to see Shepard burst into a room with guns blazing and the bad guys look at and say "Who the hell are you?" My character would reply "I'm Fuckin' Shepard!"

 

[elcamino41383]

Named my female Shepard "Dizzy" after my favorite character in Guilty Gear.

 

[Garret866]

MEh, i just named him "commander" shepard heh, it ticks me off that even in romance sections they still call him/her by the last name.. i mean common!

 

[Pearwood]

Jack. Cause it's my name. And it kind of fits a FemShep if you imagine it's short for Jacqueline.

MEh, i just named him "commander" shepard heh, it ticks me off that even in romance sections they still call him/her by the last name.. i mean common!

Well even if they're shagging s/he's still their commanding officer.

 

[Ironic Pirate]

Commander. So that people call him Commander Commander Shepard. I enjoy making NPCs sound like utter morons.

 

[Burntpopcarn]

I named him Kieran because that's, well, that's my name. he also looks just like me, complete with beady eyes, an awesome 'stache and medium-lenghth hair. what? it's a freakin' RPG, so let's roleplay! it's a damn shame that i can't change the last name, but hey, shepherd already looks like me and has the same first name as me so good enough then!

 

[Faux Furry]

Most of the Commander Shepards that I have played have had names that start with S, be it Solipsis, Seraph, or Soma just for clear consonance (and a bit of a giggle at the main character's initials being SS, especially in the case of Solipsis, a blonde male character).

I broke that trend with German Shepard for obvious reasons as well as Bad Shepard whose name is simple and to the point,more so than calling him Sinister or Sinistar.
He's a bad man and he has an equally bad name to demonstrate said badness,which also suggests that he had bad parents who pigeonholed him into that moral alignment with their choice of name for their baby boy.

 

[MT_Lyngi]

Adam for male and Eve for female.
Real original i know.