I hate coming up with NPC names; I have trouble doing it without the names sounding forced, which tends to break the mood. When I try, I come with names like Jandor Ravenwing and Eldar Strombridge or some such. Names like this serve their purpose, but I feel pretty cheesy saying them. When I trying to give my characters common American names like Carl, Lenny, Bob, etc they come across comical rather than serious, which also brings players out of the game.
The Player’s handbook (and the Character Builder) lists about 5 names per gender per race listed in the Player’s Handbooks. This is a good starting point, but who wants a whole elf village where everyone is named Lucan? Also these names imply culture but lack giving anything descriptive to the characters. We want evil characters to have evil sounding names (except in the times when we don’t). Also there’s a distinctive lack of family names (the suggested names appear to be first names). I imagine Warforged might just have one name, but we know most human societies don’t.
In addition to just making something up or picking off a list, there are also a ton of random-name generators that can be used DMs as is or for inspiration. There’s the official Wizards name generator from 3E, and a ton that can be found with a Google search, such as this Fantasy Name Generator.
How do you come up with NPC names?
I google a particular group of names like famous gladiator of male arabian names (for dark sun), etc…
I personally love seventhsanctum.com. Their sheer number of name generators can facilitate most needs, as far as I have experienced. and if the generators on the site itself don’t succeed, there is a list of links to OTHER name sites and generators on the right hand column of every page!
I usually craft names on my own, based on story needs at the time. I use some fluff for inspiration, and maybe some language conventions. For example, I did a Young Black Dragon named Vuthamolik, which literally means, “Black Skin/Hide.”
Chris Perkins (aka “The DM to the Stars”) posted a list of his pregen NPC names awhile back. Pretty good resource for names:
http://community.wizards.com/wiki/Dnd%3AIomandra%2FPregenerated_Names
When coming up with PC names, I usually pick a “real” name and then modify it as appropriate. Peter would sound dumb in a fantasy RPG, but oddly enough Pieter (my FR cleric) fits much better.
For NPC and monstrous names, that’s when I go in search of name generators.
Great links @Jason and @Kato, I’ve added them to my D&D bookmarks.
@Colmarr,
But when you say them aloud do they just sound like regular names? That’s my problem with Dragon Age and George RR Martin stuff.
I downloaded software called the Everlasting Book of Names (EBoN) a while ago. I can’t remember what website it was from, but I absolutely adore it.
It came with several “chapters” of both fictional and real languages. Each chapter would load tons of syllables and you could set parameters (number of names created, how many syllables, consonant heavy, etc) for the names that were generated. It came up with beautiful names such as Syndimairii, Ailodru, Yllith and others that I have been using for years now. If you can find it I could definitely recommend using it for your naming needs.
I tried the EBoN. Cute little program. It helps when you’re having trouble coming up with names.
It’s here:EBoN
The only issue I’ve had is that, even though it’s Shareware, it only allows 5 names at a time before it locks up, and the only way to fix this is to pay $10.
I have multiple ways of figuring out names, myself, with examples.
One, as a writer, I own multiple baby name books, so sometimes I just dive straight into that, starting either with a sound I want to be associated with that character or a meaning, with slight alterations. For example, my current Circus-based Rogue in a Dark Sun campaign, I chose the name Finnian, mentally imagining it with capital “I’s” and a backwards “a” to reflect the fact that he has the literacy of a real-world 6 year old. There’s also the idea that this name can also be spelt with a “Ph” instead of an “F,” and I felt the “F” was more akin to “It’s easier to spell/I can read ‘Dick and Jane’ and that’s about it.” He has no last name, as he comes from a tribe of halflings that are all related (thus the last name is assumed the same and never used), and thus uses his stage name (Finnian the Flexible!) as his full name, exclamation point and all.
Sometimes I look at the names given in the sources, and change them slightly to fit my needs, or look deeper into them. I will get back to this one later, of course.
Then there are my latin dictionaries. I used to know latin excessively well, but in more recent years, I have become much more lax. I coin a phrase that represents a hint of the character, like a major idea, and and use that as a name. I have three characters like this, and I will only go into them slightly. Rimosa Semper Ero (or, “I will always be made full of cracks”) is my Cleric who is not mentally stable. I have an idea of where I want her character development to go, which involves her mental state cracking even more, making the name fit. This really only works with characters who would logically have an elaborate sounding name, and would not have worked with “Finnian the Flexible!”
Sometimes I combine multiple aspects, as well. My Kalashtar Cleric’s name, Nazvakri, is a combination of the Baby Name Book and the Dungeons and Dragons resources. The suffix -vakri is common in female Kalashtar, and I wanted a certain sound to it, so I went through several pages of names, trying out the first syllable of each, until I found a name combination that fit.
This may seem elaborate and over the top, but I feel like a name should say a great deal about a character in between one and three words. Whether the other players know it, a name can show who a character is, how proud he or she is of himself, what emphasis he or she places on family, among other things. It may not be the first thing the party knows about your character, but its still an aspect that shouldn’t be put off until the minute before the game. However, this is just my veiw on the subject of names, and I know I go overboard with the “making the name appropriate both in character and in setting” (as I seem to have with this response). It’s just what I do, and I enjoy every minute of it.