Character Names - Tumblr Posts

Character/Genre Based Names [Vintage]

Writing Resources

Dungeon Master Essentials

I decided to make a list of DM stuff that I personally use or think are important to know when it comes to being a DM. So here’s my list:

Medieval Fantasy City Generator: This generator is now my LIFE. It generates incredibly complex cities with good customization. (Thanks to plantkat for sharing this site in their post here)

Naming Your Towns/Cities: Now that you’ve made your city, time to name it and give it some character! This post contains lots of great information.

Index Cards Rule: Fuckyeahdnd shared a SUPER convenient way of keeping track of turns and HP in combat. I use this system now for every single session I run.

Tricks & Traps: I am AWFUL at coming up with good Dungeon traps and challenges, this PDF includes some incredible ideas. The original poster, Courtney C. Campbell also runs a blog where they share tons of great stuff. (Thanks to we-are-rogue for sharing the PDF in their post here)

Playing Different Types of Characters: Writeinspiration has a masterpost on how to write/play lots of different types of characters.

Unique NPC Jobs: Lauraharrisbooks wrote a list of different Fantasy Jobs which can help populate your world with some unique characters! Another similar post by Thewritershandbook also covers Common Occupations in the Middle Ages. 

Developing Characters by Threes: Monticusrex’s method of creating characters help you really flesh out who they are. Useful for Players and DM’s.

Troublesome Players? Speak Up: Dicebound brings up an incredibly great point. If someone is being a jerk, speak up and call them out. This is especially important and relevant now to crush awful behavior before it even has a chance to show it’s ugly face.

List of D&D Resources: And finally, pretty much anything you might need for D&D.  (Character stuff, spells, online communities/ways to play, etc..) A lot of people contributed to this post but thank you Mushroomancy for posting the original list.

Donjon: And finally, this site is a great resource for looking up Spells and Monsters along with tons of other generators. Not every single Spell or Monster is on here, but most are listed.

(I tried to give credit to the original posters or the actual URL for websites, unless those sites or URLs were no longer active)

Character/Genre Based Names [Vintage]

Writing Resources

Ok… I’m curious: Blue is working on the AFF and we realized there are 2 characters that share a name exactly, and 2 characters that share a name spelling but the name is pronounced differently.

Curious about people’s thoughts because it’s actually something I’m curious about if people would be ok with that in fiction?

(Btw one of the characters has a nickname and Blue is debating about changing the spelling of one of the names to make it more evident that it is pronounced differently. Such as David becoming Daveed so English speakers can better understand the pronunciation of the French name)

-📖

Goddamn coming up with Space Fantasy names is difficult! Trying to pick names that a.) sound good and aren’t stupid b.) don’t associate your character with any particular real world ethnicity and thus imply that they are from Space Mexico or Betelgeusian Poland c.) aren’t already names for medications or handbag companies or d.) have not been used by some obscure Star Wars Expanded Universe novel or a Star Trek comic for some bit character.

Now I understand why two of the most famous Space Fantasy heroes are named “Luke” and “Paul”.

Officially decided on the first and last names for the MCs of my next book, Night Of The Blue Moon! I went with…*Drumroll*

Ariel Gianapoulou

Solana Bellamy

As for why I chose them…Ariel is the name of one of Uranus’ moons, and Uranus is the father of the titans in Greek Mythology. Ariel gets her powers from Phoebe, the titan of prophecy, intellect, and the moon. Gianapoulou is the feminine form of Gianapoulous, which is derived from the Greek form of John, meaning ‘God is gracious’. Ariel is working directly with the titans, as well as Hades and Hecate. Also, she’s half Greek on her father’s side, and it felt wrong for me to write about Greek mythology without a Greek protagonist. When I wrote The Tengu And The Angel, I knew that the only way I could make the tengu imagery work was with a Japanese protagonist, so I applied the same principle here.

As for Solana, Solana means ‘sun’, and Solana’s magical girl name is Red Sun, which she chose just to match Ariel’s magical girl name, Blue Moon. Bellamy is a surname believed to be of Saxon, possibly French origin, which roughly translates to ‘beautiful friend’, which totally describes Solana. She’s known for being very, very naturally beautiful, and she’s a kind soul who wants to make the world a better place.

Ok I’m done ranting about my latest batch of silly gays now bye-

All of the names I choose for my characters fit in one of three categories:

-Names chosen for the meaning (Nathaniel and Solana. Nathaniel means gift of god, because of his angel motif, and Solana means sun, because sun motif)

-Names chosen for the themes or vibes (Ariel and Kunio. Ariel is a moon of Uranus, and Uranus is the father of the titans, befitting Ariel’s moon motif and her titan powers. Kunio was named for Kunio Yanagita, folklorist and author of the Tōno Monogatari, befitting Kunio’s love of folklore and fairytales)

-Names chosen just because I happen to like them (Tama and Layla LMAO)

silly character names

My mom and I's favorite names in the Kingdoms and Empires series that we like to say out loud because they make us giggle:

Snatty Ra-Ra

Ronaldo C. Torrington

Jonathan J. Lanyard

Does anyone know what Gogo, Honey Lemon and Wasabi's real names are? In the movie Hiro is surprised by their names and Tadashi says that Fred is the one who thinks of the nicknames, so then, what are their actual names?

Random question:

Does anyone know how Raz is actually pronounced, or is it another Vi situation where there are multiple ways to pronounce their name?

I pronounce it as RAHZ (I like the way the Ah sounds)

And my brother and friend/other squad mate pronounces it as: RAZZ (Like razzle dazzle)

heyyyy, authors and OC makers!! just got done making a list of some character names for a new project i have, figured i’d share ‘em!! :D

(I’m so benevolent :33)

Giga Saber.... That's straight up a male name

What is your Transformer name?

My best friend guessed Ninjago characters.. (this was made a couple months ago I just remembered it hehe😅)

⚠️⚠️Mine I made thisss❗️❗️ (my water mark poofed??😦😔)

How To Name Your Characters

I am so sorry for the impromptu break! I just wanted to distance myself from social media for a bit but I realized that I don't want to ignore you! Again, my apologies :`3

From @melda0m3 we have: "how to name and why is it so hard? Especially for fantasy"

For our formatting: I am going to be explaining why names are so hard to come up with and then I am going to be giving my methodology combined with some other basic advice!

Why Is Naming So Hard?

Naming is complicated when it comes to characters since names are extremely important. Afterall, a character's title is one of the most repeated words within a story (ignoring obvious ones like "you" and "the")

A character's name has to be simulataneously ordinary enough that it doesn't just look like a random keyboard smash aka "crg xmnj" but also unique to the point where you haven't just written the name "james smith" for the billionth time.

This is especially hard for Fantasy since it lacks the history that tends to inspire most names. Most last names are often associated with occupation or physical characteristics since not everyone arriving into a different country had the same naming system.

It's also just hard to write a fantasy name that doesn't sound like it belongs in Tolkein's novels.

My Methods!

Most of my worlds don't exist in an entirely seperate fantasy land. It's often a lot of Urban Fantasy and, in general, more realism.

Because of this, I can often just steal a name from the real world. Then it comes down to deciding on nationality and heritage.

A character sometimes comes pre-packaged with a certain ethnicity in mind such as with Nariman Nahornyj whose ukrainian and kazakh heritage was due to his past being inspired by the Holodomor. Somtimes, I have an interest in a specific naming convention or I just felt like filling in some diversity that was desperately needed in my stories. For example: Nonkosi Tyali, my first Xhosa character!

When it comes to highly fantastical worlds, I tend to go onto fantasy name generators. Although, if I have a specific image in mind I sometimes just make my own "off the cuff" name. For example: Pronoia which is based off the word "Paranoia"

Then I make a decision based off of how the name sounds.

Is it religious sounding?

Is it playful or more serious?

What is the type of person that comes to mind when this name is said!?! There are cases where a manipulative character has a name that is the complete opposite of their vibe and cases where a name is more reflective of the person naming this character in-world.

If it's a chosen name, then this name will definitely give off a certain impression if the character wants to be perceived in a specific light!

Character Quotes

Here are some out of context quotes ranging from feral to adorable to just down right tragic ^-^

" It seems remarkably simple. So simple, I feel so stupid that I'm truly flabbergasted by how it served as an epiphany. But even so, when I looked into the future, my future, I had one singular thought "I don't deserve this". - Nonkosi Tyali to Yituing

"Whatever you choose to be in the future is fine! When I say I love you, I don't want it to be a rule that means "stay this way forever". If you will be a burden in the future, that's fine. If you will be someone who decides not to love me, that's fine aswell. " - Yuuma Mochizuki to Jukka Virtanen

"I'm not naive darling, desite your unholy misrepresentation of my words. I understand the sins of men. I know all about your own failures to follow the scripture. I choose to be with you because I want my words to be honorable. And using my honorable tongue, I will say I love you because you are so delightfully human. - Gabriel to Claude

"At least the king named it Defense Innovation in Living Faculties (DILF) and not something named after himself!" - Hetrunmeass to Nariman Nahornyj

"If my vow was to fall in love with a virtuous person, then I definitely didn't break it." - Yal'ir to Monday

"If believing in love is all humans can ever do, and if hope for love is the most human of all, then I am purely human." - Verne Lawless to Stansevain

Special Acts Of Love! (Feel Free To Share)

These are moments of affection that are so individual to these characters that no one else casually does this!

Yuuma and Jukka: Whenever Jukka gets an injury that he can't play off like a cast or splint, Yuuma also gets their own fake cast for the fake injury. Then Yuuma pretends that they're the one with the injury and Jukka is just pretending to be injured for dramatic solidarity. Yuuma does this so Jukka won't feel so vulnerable. Whenever Yuuma gets injured, Jukka repays the favor :D

Myroslava and G.R.M.L: Sometimes Gabriel Rosario Moxcir Lumeran likes to pretend that they are just now discovering the fact that they are a no-hand haver. In an act of affection, the usually reserved Myroslava will be a hundred precent dedicated to the bit!

Surryn and Nirali: Surryn likes playing a game with Nirali where the entire point of the game is to get Nirali better into the habit of saying "no" to impossible demands. Whenever Nirali is estatic about refusing to do something, Surryn is always the most celebratory!

Share your own character's affectionate habits

What’s in a Name?

So here I am completely misinterpreting everyone’s names all for the sake of headcanons. This is just for fun so please don’t take this seriously.

House Leaders

Edlegard von Hresvelg - Noble Shield of the Giant Eagle

Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd - Wolf Protector from the Goddess of Life

Claude von Riegan - Stumbling Little King

I love Claude’s name, I think it suits the story

Black Eagles

Bernadetta von Varley - Brave Bear

Caspar von Bergliez - Treasurer

Dorothea Arnold - Gift of God

Ferdinand von Aegir - journey, brave, sea

Hubert von Bestla - Spirit of Bestla (mother of Odin. Unless that’s actually Vestra)

Linhardt von Hevring - Lion Heart 

Petra Macneary - Modest Rock

I don’t know what to do with the Black Eagles, send help!

They’re all mostly Germanic origins

I want to make Ferdinand’s name to mean ‘brave journey on rough seas’ but that would be a stretch

Is Petra a modest rock or is it that she comes from a humble island?

Blue Lions

Annette Fantine Dominique - Graceful Child of the Lord

Ashe Duran - Strength to Endure

Dedeu Molinaro - Guardian of the Mill 

Felix Hugo Fraldarius - Happy Thoughts 

Ingrid Brandol Galatea - Beautiful Man Made Woman

Mercedes von Martlitz - Swift and Elegant Mercy

Sylvain Jose Gautier - A Forest of Trees Will Be Added by God to this Leader of Armies

That’s it. Happy Thoughts Fraldarius is Felix’s new name.

Jose has a long name - this also means that Sylvain’s followers will multiply... so if I’m right and this actually happens, it would make sense why they still have an army

Mill meaning hardworking? Stable?

Ingrid was bred to be perfect - the imagined ideal woman that men make up and fall in love with 

Golden Deer

Hilda Valentin Goneril - Battle Ready 

Ignatz Victor - Fire of Victory

Leonie Pinelli - Lion, Pine? - Strength to Endure 

Lorenz Hermann Gloucester - Laurel Warrior 

Lysithea von Cordelia - Heart of the Water Nymph

Marianne von Edmund - Bitter Grace

Raphael Kirsten - God Has Healed the Followers

Hilda’s is actually ‘battle healthy’ but ready makes more sense

If you take the symbolism of a lion and the symbolism of pine trees, you can get ‘strength’ and ‘longevity’ so...

TL;DR

I tried to make them all sound like fancy titles but...

Happy Thoughts Fraldarius is Felix’s new name.

Petra is comes from a modest rock

Put in a certain way, Ashe and Leoni have the same name

I need help naming the Black Eagles

And now I have to come up with names! :(

Due to writers block I've put my two main projects on pause to begin a new, unrelated one.

Botanical Names Part I

Names you can choose for your characters. Taken from the little signs in a botanical garden. So they are names of plants.

Adoxa

Potentilla

Fraxinus

Stellaria

Valeriana

Iris

Tulipa

Syringa

Danthonia

Avena

Silene

Irsine

Amaranthus

Barbarea

Cleome

Nigella

Erica

Arbutus

Malva

Calluna

Viola

Phyllis

Majorana

Salvia

Morina

Petunia

Calliandra

Veronica

Gilia

Juniper

More names!