It Slices! It Dices!

Of course, we had a hard time finding a name for our son, too, especially given the several hundred perfectly good names that had to be ruled out for already having such strong character connotations. {I don't have the parental hang-up of wanting my child to grow up into a specific career, but I know for a fact that if I named a child Bronwyn, I'd have expectations of personality that just aren't rational.)

I've found place-names are a good place to look for character names. "Damascus" (quotes because I'm referring to the name only, not the character) was originally my suggestion, and has recieved many complements. "Chaska" is a town in...Wyoming, I think it was. Meera recommended "Serengeti" for a character of mine, and it's half the reason I love the character. I picked "Tanzania" largely because "Tanganyika" was a bit awkward, and "Zanzibar" is clearly a boy's name. Some common sense is called for, of course - "The Corner Of Fourth and Main" might be a place, but...

After that, I find myself working from words I like. Aster, Eclaire, Eidolos, Chrysanthemum...if I remember right, "Rhodanthe" came into my head by way of Rhododendron. If Penumbra had been a daughter of Random instead of Caine, I think she'd have been Rhapsody. Even MORE common sense is required here, of course. Guacamole is a fine word, but...no. Chlamydia actually fits a lot of my internal rules for how a cool character name should feel, but still...no.

Of course, Meera had in one game a family with the last name "Lynne". I named my character from it Manda, just so she could be sick of the jokes even before game-start. So cruelty is also a valid way to pick a name.

If all else fails, I suppose there's always the old baby-naming book, but...that can take HOURS. ("Ooh, there's a cool name...too bad it means, `Wussie Pacifist'. Hmm... maybe something from the Southeastern Portion of India, Post-Colonial Era, section...") We had a book of angels that I used briefly, but no one liked poor Mefathiel...*sigh* {Reminds me of a joke I heard from a stand-up comedian once -- no idea who, they called the show "Short Attention Span Theatre" for a reason -- where some friends asked him to name their child, and gave him only the criteria, `something biblical.' "So I was out with little Deuteronomy the other day..." And I always think, "They have NO idea how nice he was being." Afterall, Sodomy is a fine name for a girl...not as nice as Ninja, perhaps, but then again, not as bland as Curate, either. Um.}

And I have now rambled on for FAR too long for a question that started with a perfectly valid one-word answer...

MaBarry: Honestly, I have no problems looking in baby name books, and, in fact, have three different ones depending on how involved I need to be. One is a pocket guide we originally got for Gorto the World King who named characters fairly randomly. I'm sure it was some sort of divination technique, but picking names from the serial numbers of metal chairs, or from HoL ("Princess Captain Wacky") just didn't catch the essential feel, y'know?

I like place names, but there are definite problems when a character name conflicts with a real world location. "Damascus" was all fine and good, but when I used it as the place that Queen Jelica (babyname book for styles from a similar climate + meaning) came from, that kind of intruded on my reality-vs.-fantasy sensors. (Well, that, and one of our fellow adventurers claimed to be from Qatar... So we have two real-world places in our make-believe. It's like peanut butter and mustard. Sometimes a good combination, but it ain't no PB&Chocolate.)

I've created some names simply for the sound. "Charcellet" ("Shar-sell-ay") is a good example for that. It was supposed to sound somewhat romantic, but not too exotic, perhaps a little bit "snooty."

Then there's the completely personally amusing. I like to have fun with words. Charl (Charcellet's son) was partially off of the idea that "Charles" was a plural. "Brae Mouche" was a hint to my players that you couldn't trust the NPC: he was the Queen's fool. (Skara Brae: Scaramouche.)

In Mokuyobi, I used the opportunity to use a lot of first-year Japanese words to add flavour to the universe. (Mokuyobi means "Thursday.") One of the main characters, Muzukashii Ten translates loosely to "Difficult Heaven." His granddaughter was Atarashii Ten, or "New Heaven," and she had the kamikata (again, very loosely "spirit person") of the Phoenix, which in itself led to a feel for adventure.

In G&G, my naming choice has a lot to do with pre-existing mythology. Many of the names are from obscure gods/goddesses, and do hint as to the character's background. I'm drawing heavily from Celtic tradition (not my strong point, but there's plenty to go around) which requires some twisting of the tongue to actually say aloud.

I have business cards for Rinaldo, which include names such as "Rinlu Ka," "Rey Lucas," "Rinaldo de Phoenyx," and others, because, again, I'll play with that concept in Amber. Again, some characters are born with names, others I have to hunt down, but I've got my spear +3 of words.