Submit a character name...

[Sion]

In my game evryone you talk to, has a name... because of this i need names for townsfolk.. and col people you may fight.. i just need names tho... so please submit some... ^_^

[Tinbok]

Like, any name? If so, you can always use some of the names of real people on this forum given in the [ftp]http://doansdomain.proboards27.com/index.cgi?board=Everything&action=display&thread=1102456204[/ftp] (or "Member Profiles" forum.) Just an idea.

[NASH7777]

okay try this:
www.babynamesworld.com/

Yeah, it's for baby names but you can also scroll through names and what they mean, or search for I meaning you want. This could help name characters apropriatly (*why can't I spell that?). Like the name Neo means "new" :-) Brock means badger, I already new all this long ago though.
Here's a few:
Malory
French
Bad Luck

Jerica
American
Strong, a gifted ruler

Zebina
Greek
one who is gifted

[WarDragon]

Xerxes, Darius, Metalic maniac, Psycho Majimbo.

[Sion]

Thanx keep em coming! thats enough to help me for a couple days maybe, Note: I'm making Eutrope Castle, has a bunch of residents inside..

[Deleted]

It's important that the names fit where they're placed, so putting names from everyone seemingly randomly is bad since Kumo Shinagi'd probably give names like Kumo and Shinagi where I'd say Nick and Justin (for example). The other thing to consider is: How does the main character know every townsperson's name? Does every townsperson tell him their name? Does the main character think it's important to learn every townsperson's name (while tons of people are dying elsewhere)? How does your game benefit from giving every townsperson a name? Where else should you otherwise focus this time/effort in your game? I could understand if it was the main character's hometown/city and he knew a lot of people there by name, but even then, is it worth doing? And, am I a rabid critic? Yes.

[Sion]

your right about the Rabid thing ;D
Anyway, naww, I only put their names in just to make it look good.. i think its efficent when you talk to someone and they have a name... Like in my screenshots...
Look em over u'll see what I mean.... thanx to all who gave names, And i know , I never give villagers Real cool names, i lieave it at Bobby, George, Lanny, Ace, stuff like that..

[Neo Samurai]

I agree with Will.

You could be doing a lot better things than giving names to all the characters in the game.

Unless, of course, all of those characters are main (or minor), I'd just not even bother.

[Sion]

I see, i geuss if u see it that way, than its true... ah well, i dont take naming is much of a hard task... thanx for the comments tho.. the names given before helped me alot, if anyone else has any, i thank you all the way! ^_^

[Deleted]

Mine would probably considered lame by most. haha

I say you make four dudes that are friends named Jim, Tom, Rick, and Zach.

[WarDragon]

Jim the Giant, Milly the mullet, Boxy the box

[vespuleth]

that icon is hilarious. anyways, will presents some interesting points. even if it looks good, does it fit into the story? why does this guy know everyones name?

names can be found everywhere. get out a phonebook, yearbook, baby books, novels, street signs, business cards.

if your borrowing names, be sure to mix and match them, or scramble them some how, so they arent readily recognizable.

a good example of recognizable names that you shouldnt use are the ones that taizon suggested.

[Nje]

Here's a handy fantasy name generator:

rinkworks.com/namegen/

[islandjack]

"Stosh"

(nick-name or shortened from "Stanislas")

Only because I can't figure out how you would spell something pronounced as "Stosh-uuu."

I'm going to get beat with a stick next Dyngus for that.

[Nje]

In my game, I'm just soloing one main character with the hero graphic.

Right now I'm going with the name "Leef".

Does anyone else have a suggestion for his name?

[Hedrum]

Um, something better?

[Doan the Nado]

Leef is cool, although I don't much like the spelling. I'm not good at giving out names, though. I think that is something which is best left up to the creator.

[Hedrum]

Well, okay, it isn't bad. I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings. But, what would a leaf symbolize?

[Deleted]

If you're naming him leef because of the word leaf, I recommend you find a english-to-latin or english-to-greek translator through google.com , or even better find a mythology story related to your story ( google: wikipedia ) and name him after a character from it. Your names can still have meaning, but I think it's better that the reason for the name be harder to decipher so that there's less chance it doesn't give away the plot.

Anyways, in my opinion there are four important things to consider when naming people, places, etc. in a story. They're listed in order of most important to least important:

1 - easy to say, easy to read, easy to remember
Simply put, you want your player to be able to remember the names of things so that they don't get lost in the story down the road, you don't want it to seem awkward when the characters say the name of the person, place, etc., and you want the player to be able to read it smoothly - there by not distracting him from the dialogue at hand.

2 - fits in with other names in your story
Basically, you want it to fit in with the other names you've used. I don't think this needs explaining.

3 - interesting enough
This one varies greatly and isn't at all necessary - for example, "Great Expectations" used 'Joe' as the name of a main character because he represented the common man, and so that at first he would seem kind of boring. Usually with games though, people don't want to see really plain/boring names like Bob, Joe, Fred, Bill, etc. all over. The other aspect is that somewhat Bizarre names like Castor, Balder, Cierra, etc. will stand out more, and are more likely to be remembered by the player (at least, I think so).

4 - meaning behind name
This would be the meaning behind the name: such as it being from a latin/greek/etc. word for something having to with the person/place, or being from a mythology story person/place similar to yours in some way. This is nice to have, but I don't think it's as important as the other three because this is more of an extra bonus the player may or may not learn after playing the game, and won't directly influence the story in any way (unless it's too easy to decipher and gives away the plot beforehand).

[Nje]

Leef doesn't symbolize anything, it's just a short, blunt, original name for a more/less simple character that embarks on a quest.

Kinda like your typical Van/Cloud/Ike characters.

..but I don't really like the spelling, either, and can't think of a way around that other than using a completely different name.

As for name meaning, I don't care all that much about that. I'm only concerned with how it sounds/looks, and it being short, original, and suiting the character.

[Dungeon Warden]

Leef

[leef]and Lifthrasir [leefthrahser] In Norse mythology, the mother and father of the new race of human beings after Ragnarök (the last battle). The names presumably mean ‘life’ and ‘strong life’.

Looks like Leef meets all your considerations, Solemn Truth.

I agree that a name is just a name (see My Wii discussion). It might seem strange at first but you get used to it the more you use it.

I also think the name should be short (or at least have a short form that most people use), be similar to other people from the same culture (people from different areas can have different sounding names though), and shouldn't be too bland or weird. Having a name that fits the character is aways a good thing to do.

One other tip is to avoid giving characters names that start with the same letter, especially if the names have a similar number of letters. When using fantasy names especially, it's easy to get similar looking names mixed up.

[The Smurf]

you could do Leif or Laef if you want a different spelling.

anyway, i almost always either generate a name from a generator or look up a word in another language that has a general similaroty to the character. for example, one of Seraphim's antagonists is named Igel, which is...uh...something for "leech". he is a villain that you meet early on and he never quite goes away until...

anyway, my point is that if you're going to name your characters interesting names (like not Billy Bob Joe) then you have a lot of options. you can use a name generator or you can look up words that symbolize your character from another language.

you can always go the all-Japanese sounding names route, too. but anime abuses that already.

good luck to uh...whoever it is i'm helping...


-the smurf

[tuah]

Add me! I'm Tuah, I like to weild swords and magic, and I often wear black.

[Doan the Nado]

Um... Sion hasn't been here in a while, so if you're looking to get your name added to his game, you're probably out of luck. This topic has kind of shifted from a specific "give me names to put in my game" topic to more of a discussion of names in general.