Choosing a Name

[Jenosavel]

I use that page too, Geszt! I love it, since I also can't help but really stew over my new characters' names. I haven't posted in here since Factions came out though, so I can add my Factions toons now.


Amaya Tsukishta: is a Japanese name meaning "a night rain under the moon."

I wanted a Japanese name for my 'sin to fit the Asian theme of Factions, so I did a little research with the help of google and behindthename.com I decided to keep the name order with the family name second, even though it probably should come first. It's most likely too much anime influence on me here; when they translate names they tend to reverse the name order for our easy understanding.

The first name, Amaya, is simply a girl's name that means "night rain" in Japanese.

For the second name, I actually built myself a Japanese family name. The names tend to be two words, with the first being related to nature/geographical locations and the second part being a relation to said place (for example, Yamamoto is something like "origin in the mountain" with yama = mountain and moto = origin). I could have gone with the standard places, things like mountain, river, rice paddy, etc. but instead, I decided to go with moon. I used the "beneath" for my second word, giving me the family name of Tsukishita. Unfortunately, the swearword filters picked this up and I had to remove the 'i' leaving Tsukishta. It's not too bad of a trade off, though, since the Japanese tend to not pronounce the 'i' anyways.

So, there you have it.
Amaya --> night rain
Tsuki --> moon
Shita --> below

Amaya Tsukishita --> night rain under the moon

I love the serene feeling I get from the thought of a night rain where the clouds are still broken up enough for the moon to be shining.


Fucang Long: I conveniently created my Rt right after doing some Asian mythology research for work. Fucanglong is one of the 9 Chinese dragons, the underworld dragon. It seemed to fit perfectly for a Rt, so I just broke it up into two words for my name.

[Lightfoot]

Originally Posted by Jenosavel

Fucang Long.

Sounds like something I used to say at the end of some of those prophecies missions

[Merklin]

I've not used the same method for choosing a name once yet. I find they are things I can agonise over for ages.

Merklin I chose because it was the name of a mage character I had when I played Warhammer FRP as a boy. Maragor is a place in a book I happen to like.

Angelus Trucido was what I got when I ran Angel Slayer through a latin translator online, I have no idea how accurate the translation is, I just liked the sound so went with it.

Wsc Merklinetta was inspired by Harry Enfield's Wayne and Waynetta, it made me chuckle and so it stuck.

[Kaitrin]

Originally Posted by Merklin

Angelus Trucido was what I got when I ran Angel Slayer through a latin translator online, I have no idea how accurate the translation is, I just liked the sound so went with it.

I'm such a dork, I had to pull my Latin dictionary off the shelf. Trucido litterally translates as "I slaughter" or "I am slaughtering." The literal translation would probably be something like "I, the angel, slaughter."

If you wanted to indicate that you slay angels, you might have gone with "Angelorum Interfector," literally, "slayer of angels." Not that it matters at this point . . . but I do love dusting off my Latin every once and a while!

[Merklin]

Originally Posted by Kaitrin

I'm such a dork, I had to pull my Latin dictionary off the shelf. Trucido litterally translates as "I slaughter" or "I am slaughtering." The literal translation would probably be something like "I, the angel, slaughter."

If you wanted to indicate that you slay angels, you might have gone with "Angelorum Interfector," literally, "slayer of angels." Not that it matters at this point . . . but I do love dusting off my Latin every once and a while!

Wow, I'm quite impressed by that. I didnt actually expect to find someone that spoke Latin on here. I know that the O on Trudido would have indicated a first person verb in spanish, I presume some this is inherrited down from Latin. Thats about the limit of my education tho couple with a little guess work

[Arya Nibelrund]

My toons: the 1st name usually is nature related: Stella (Star in latin), Aurora, Summer. Arya is a little different; she was my first toon, and I wanted a german sounding name... she was a warrior so I was thinking about teutonic knights tradition.. henche a mix from Air and Aryan, and the last name Nybelrund sounds a little like Nibelungs (german mythology).
Lorelai comes from a german divinity as well (Lorelei), Manstein is german sounding as well, Eldalie comes from Tolkien vocabulary.

[Nightsorrow]

Originally Posted by Lightfoot

Sounds like something I used to say at the end of some of those prophecies missions

Quoted for truth

-Nightsorrow

[Rush]

Originally Posted by Lightfoot

Sounds like something I used to say at the end of some of those prophecies missions

I gotta feeling it is pronounced differently though.

On to my new names since my Prophecies names are mentioned somewhere in this thread already...

Jagged Wind - I wanted something to go along with Rushing Wind to keep the name alive. I figured Jagged sounded perfect since its one of many words that I can think of that describes an assassin in one way or another. Sadly, as it has been pointed out, it also sounds like a very painful fart. I did not have that in mind though when I created the name. I've really enjoyed my assassin and hope he sticks around for a long time to come. Me love you long time!!!

Altair Masyaf - (all.tie.ear) is how the first name is pronounced and the last is just as it sounds. I found the name in one of the magazines I read... I believe it was Game Informer. It was a brand new game coming out on PS3 and Xbox360 called Assassin's Creed. Altair is the name of the lead character who eventually becomes an assassin. Masyaf, iirc, is the town/village/whatever that the Assassins' guild is located. Both the names put together sounded pretty cool so thats how I came up with his name. The game, Assassin's Creed, looks like a very intriguing, fun and ultimately different kind of game than any I've seen. Check it out here.

iirc from my reading, Altair stands for Eagle Eye as well. I'll have to double check it but I thought that alone sounded cool for a name if I hadn't used the character's actual name.

[Xan]

Originally Posted by Jenosavel

Amaya --> night rain

I had a dog named Amaya, she was a lab mix. Funny thing is she had streaks of white in her coat so that it looked like she was always soaking wet. We'd named her Amaya because of the meaning, as our black cat was named 'Rajhani' meaning 'midnight' (or other wise known as the tiger from Alaidan


most of my character names are stolen from books or movies, or inspired by book/movie character names.

[bsoltan]

Well, it looks like it is time to resurrect another thread! Thanks to Beqxter for rooting it out. (Now I know where your name comes from!)

So I'd like people to post the reasons behind their character names, just because I'm curious to know where all these names come from.

I'll start with my rather long list to get the ball rolling (in order of creation):

Ben Soltan - This is my name, so used it for my first character (Male Ranger). I've never had a nickname or an online 'identity' so have always just stuck with my own name. ~June 2005

Aereon Vaako - My second character was to be a (Male) Elementalist. Having just watched The Chronicles Of Riddick I picked two names of characters in the movie, and thus began my theme. ~June 2005

Jack Fry - When I created my (Male) Warrior, I decided to go back to the 'Riddick' theme and this time took names from the first movie 'Pitch Black'. This is probably my least favourite name as it is rather boring, but too late now! ~August 2005

Back then it was only 4 character slots to an account, so as my Guild needed another monk I bought a 2nd account. I decided to separate Male and Female characters on each account.

Tammy Lang - I decided to go Female this time with my Monk. I had been watching Smallville and so took Lang as the surname, took me a while to find a suitable firstname but I was happy with Tammy. ~September 2005 Retired

Inara Morena - I wanted a second warrior, to split between Axe and Sword. Jack became my Axe warrior and I created Inara for Sword. Her name comes from a character in Firefly and the name of the actress who plays her. ~May 2005 Retired

Then Factions was released and thus came the need for new characters!

Domino Soltan - A female Ranger, the plan was for her to be a R/A. This time I took inspiration from a film starring Keira Knightley where she was the lead role in the movie 'Domino'. I then attached my surname so people would know this is my 2nd account. ~June 2006 Retired

I created an Assassin and a Dervish on my 2nd Account, but after joining SoF I moved them to my main account, and therefore no longer separated them by gender.

Kurus Vazraka - A male Ritualist, named after the an ancient king of Persia Cyrus the Great. Not sure on the name but haven't played much with him yet. ~December 2006

Arcane Soltan - My Male Mesmer, planning to take him all the way to top tier survivor. I simply took the first name as something 'Mesmery' and again applied my own surname.

Akuma No Kishi - Female Assassin. I wanted something 'oriental' and started Googling translations of things like 'devil' 'shadow' 'hidden'. I wanted something like 'Shadow of the Night' but translated in Japanese. I think I ended up with 'Devil of the Night' or something like that, can't quite remember.

Then came Nightfall!

Danna Galen - Yay get to go back to TV shows. This time the new Battlestar Galactica series and taking the names from two characters for this little Female Dervish.

Soltan Of Fortuna - Yay for Paragons. As you can tell this was made after joining the Guild, so thought I would take some inspiration from the Guild's name and have something to remember it by. ~November 2007

Then I started making doubles of professions....

Kaylee Jurin - Decided to go for another female warrior after wanting to get Female Primeval and Sunspear armours! This firstname comes from Firefly again, and the second from the drummer in my favourite band stellastarr*. ~November 2006

Pre Sear Protector - Does what it says on the tin! For now a Female Ranger and Perma Pre. ~November 2007

Fitz Wallace - A name taken from my favourite TV show The West Wing, Admiral Percy Fitzwallace. For now he is a Male Dervish, but I'm pretty much reserving the name for now as I have no need for a 2nd Dervish at the moment. ~December 2007

Amanda Tannen - This is the name of the bassist from stellastarr*, I had a Mesmer with this name created a while back, but deleted her. I plan to remake her one day.

I then have various storage characters, I originally planned to name them all something different relating to 'storage' or 'bags' etc. However that idea soon stopped. For now: Soltans Storage One, Bens Baggage, Soltans Storage Two, Soltans Storage, Soltans Pre Storage and Soltans Scavenger.

So, the only one left is to find a name for my new monk! Had planned to create her on Christmas Day but couldn't decide on a name. The one show I haven't created a name from yet is Stargate, so that'll be a start.

I look forward to hearing the meaning/background from some other people's names.

[teny10]

Potato Pancake -- named after potato pancake, which is pancake with potatoes.

[Jinx]

Jinx is a handle I'm not too happy with, but had to come up with one that wouldn't really confuse everyone around here (so I made it related to my character name). I used to be Randalf or Gabe on old forums because those 2 were what I played the most, but now one is a pack mule and the other is a farmer. I use Gwen the most, and thought it'd be confusing for a guy to have 'Gwen' as a handle so I went with Jinx.

I had been seriously considering starting another mesmer, male this time around, called "Blink The Enchanter" (NOONE STEAL THAT NAME or I'll slay you), and also request a forum name change to "Blink". But, I decided to leave that for GW2, if I get an internet connection that'd last more than a week with "Persistant Worlds". Now whenever I hear people call my by Jinx, I hope people dont imagine me to be a girl..or a whimsical pixie at that.

As for my character names:

Randalf the Blue: My first character ever. My name in RL starts with an R, I like blue. Also, Gandalf the White is my favorite LotR character.

Gabriel Lightweaver: Gabriel sounded 'monkish' to me so I wanted that. A previous version of him was Pureheart, but I decided he should be bald. I thought since monks are all about holiness, light is associated. Glimmer of Light and Healing Light proved it in the later expansions (wasn't I happy )!

Mistresse Yunalesca: I love FFX and thought I should make a tribute to it by naming my necro after one of the toughest boss battles I've ever fought. However, after my obsession went away (it comes and goes), I started looking at her as a living typo..

Paine Spiritbinder: Named her after Paine in FFX-2. Not that she's my favorite, but she's cool. Doesn't need too much creativity to name a Rt Spiritbinder, but they were new to the game and we didn't know what they did too well yet.

Alex Shadowleaf: Conjured it up myself thought it sounded ranger-y. This character is the only profession I actually deleted and didn't remake. He was a ranger, and to me, he was too boring to remake.

Julius Stormcry: Paragons to me seemed like Roman gladiators, in those tunics and spears. Who better to name after other than Julius Caesar. Stormcry is a composed name I came up with because paragons are all about having strong voices to motivate and command their allies. I think after Gwen gets GWAM, I might remake him so that he's a Legendary Survivor.

Lynette The Zealous: One can say I 'stole' the name of off one of the desperate housewives. I just thought the name felt so right for her, I had to do it. I was very disappointed that a "The Zealous" boss was waiting for me in the Realm of Torment . One can very easily associate Zeal to devout worshippers of the 5 gods (who can also transform into avatars of them).

Gwendolyn The Jinx: My favorite by far ! I'm just so disappointed that it took me 7 characters to find her (she was created April 07 I believe)! Gwen is short for Gwendolyn, or at least one of the formal forms. It sounded so classy it had to stick to a mesmer. As for "The Jinx" part, can't really say why I put it because there wasn't much of a reason. Just now I think I knew at the time that she'd have a tough time getting into groups for stuff, so I thought to myself, let me give them added incentive to not pick me .

In summary, I like to give my characters "The something" that would sum up their job or personality, while at other times I'd come up with a compound last name that reflects their profession. Despite the fact that I do know Arabic very well, I don't seem to use it to name my characters. I suppose I just can't feel the name attaching to the character. Asura or Sylvari, on the otherhand, might very well accept Arabic names.

[Lucky]

Hmm, I guess I can elaborate. My names come from all over,w ith little bias as to their original derivitives.


Jadumba Narantunga- Named after my favorite K-1 Max kickboxer 'Jadumba Narantungalag'. He is currently the only professional fighter to fight out of Mongolia in the past decade. His MMA record is 45-26-5, 36 of his matches have been won by KO. He is my favorite, because he lands flip kicks in actual fights on well trained opponents. Good warrior name eh?

Lucky Glauber- Named after my favorite character from the King of Fighters games eries. He Appeared in 94, 98 and in 2001 (as a striker only). He is part of the game's original team usa, which are all guys who use sports as their moves, Lucky is the basketball player and says really ignorant sounding engRish phrases like 'wehbbaw' and 'pounKihlk', 'slahwduuunk' and WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Too good. His is silly, just as a monk should be.

Venomous Anyi- This is a name I actually made up, originally in Jade Empire, the name was made from two random words in their pre-fix name maker, I liked the sound of it, and it fits the type of character I use it on. Venomous would refer to the disposition of the character and Anyi is the first name. My ele's skin tone really sells the name.

Vex Arcanix- the name of a Magic card 'Vexing Arcanix' shortened because some lousy jerk stoled it before I could. Sounded appropriate for a mes

Saikyo Ice Ice Baby- Another great random engrish sounding name I made up, using the japanese word for 'strongest' place out of context next to a whack ass rap song like Ice Ice Baby. Random.this is my pvp toon.

Akasha the Risen- a referrence to Akasha the vampire queen fromt he lame movie 'Queen of the Damned'. I named my rit this because they dress like Aliyah did in that movie, so I thought it'd be fitting.

Wretched Soliloquy- Just made up a necromancer sounding, yet profound nickname for this character, to set herself apart from her peers in a menacing fashion? Sure...sounds guud.

Volcanic Vyper- Ah ya caught me! paying homage to yet another fighting game. This time its from Guilty Gear. Volcanic Vyper is the signature move of Sol Badguy, the game's main character. All of the other character names were taken in game, so I went with a sweet ass sounding move name. Fitting for a sin? I think so.

....the rest of my names are just random foriegn words I combined into names, or have unsweet origins not worth mentioning.

yeye

[Jinx]

Originally Posted by Lucky

Saikyo Ice Ice Baby

I lol'd. Lucky, you are my hero. From now on, all my PvP characters shall be named in engrish.

[Neo]

Like you might expect, my handle, Neo, is named after the protagonist from The Matrix. I love that movie I probably would pick a different name now, since there are far too many Neo's - but alas, that was the best one I could think of when I started playing, and theres no sense in changing it now since people wont know who I am.

Once I was seriously into pvp and realized that I was rather good, I was looking for character names that delivered an "Im awesome" message, without stooping to stupid things like 'Best Monk In Da World.' One of my favorite character names of all time is from an old [iQ] member, Shinsei, who used the name, 'He Who Rocks.' I was looking something in the same vein. The short version of the story is that now all of my characters share a common naming scheme: "_____ of Uberness," which I think makes my point nicely. The first couple of characters are my favorites, and those names actually have good stories behind them:

Long ago, there was a silly thread on the GSS forums where people were creating silly skills like "Ward Against Noobz." One that I came up with was "Aura of Uberness," which did a ton of imba stuff like "While you are enchanted with this spell, neaby allies cannot recieve damage, suffer from conditions or hexes, or be knocked down. They also attack and cast spells 100% faster, deal 100% extra damage, and inflict Dazed and Deep Wound on every hit." Aura of Uberness became the name of my warrior.

Also once upon a time in GSS, we had a common naming theme for the characters our team used in GvG. It it showed unity and all that jazz, but it was mostly just for fun. The naming pattern was "Facet of ________." GSS was of course affiliated with Glint, and this pattern was a nod to the names of the bosses in the Glint mission. We had everything from "Facet of Smashing" to "Facet of Suffering," but of course I named my monk Facet of Uberness.

Besides those two there arent really any stories, I just try to match up names with appropriate character classes. Aspect of Uberness is a ranger. Shadow of Uberness is an assasin. Spirit of Uberness is a ritualist. Spectre of Uberness is a necro. Avatar of Uberness is a mesmer. Legend of Uberness is an ele. Anthem of Uberness is a paragon.