Your video game naming conventions

We all have them - little rules we follow when naming video game characters. What're yours?

Mine are as follows:

• I never rename characters if a canon name is given.
• In games where you HAVE to name people...
  • I always give my main characters in Atlus games Japanese names. For example, my Persona 3 hero was Gunpei Yokoi.
    • The one exception to this is Strange Journey, where the protagonist is an American in the U.S. version - I give him an English name based on which path I'm taking (my Law character was Cecil St. John).
  • In the original Final Fantasy, I name fighters Talon, red mages Isaac, white mages Gwen, thieves Fafnir, and black mages Faust. I have yet to use monks.
  • I have a fondness for naming Mons heroes Tybalt.

I haven't known true fear in a very, very long time.

I always pick the canon name if there's any. I name my Pokemon stuff that nobody else finds funny. And when playing a sci-fi or fantasy game I pick names that are thematically appropriate because I'm one boring motherfucker.

Dopants: He meant what he said and he said what he meant, a Ninety is faithful 100%.

I also prefer canon names. But when it's open...I have a real hard time choosing names. When I play games for the Ultimate RPG Challenge, I sometimes use names of my fellow Challenge-participants, slightly modified to fit the setting.

Join us in our quest to play all RPG video games! Moving on to disc 2 of Grandia!

I usually name characters after other characters in fiction, or things in real ilfe. Like my Pokémon White team-

• Samurott- Samurai
• Excadrill- Knuckles
• Golurk- Gurren
• Braviary- Ike
• Chandelure- Raven
• Mienshao- Fei-Long

Bit like others have said, I stick to canon names if they have it.

edited 24th Jun '13 6:48:51 PM by Vgm3

Now's it's Shulk Time!

I have some traditions I follow with Pokemon.

• I always name Magnemites "Qwerty".
• I always name Staryus "Light".
• Going back to when I bought them from the Game Center due to terrible luck in catching them, Abras are always named after some form of gambling game.
• Articuno, Moltres, and Zapdos are named after gods of their respective elements.
• Shuckles are always named "Cici".

I know a guy who always names Gyrados Mr. Fish these days.

I haven't known true fear in a very, very long time.

Fantasy protagonists tend to be Mukora for the first playthrough, and then for subsequent playthroughs I just put random syllables together till something sounds good.

If my character is a human in a non-fantasy setting, I usually go with my real name, and after that the first name that comes to my head.

Pokemon usually get named something completely random (I had a Gyarados named Table once. No idea why.)

"It's so hard to be humble, knowing how great I am."

I just come up with random names.

Example: Mech Warrior 4: Mercenaries:

Profile/commander name: Roland

Unit name: Iron Badgers

"Hipsters: the most dangerous gang in the US." - Pacific Mackerel

The very first time I play a particular Zelda game, I always keep the canon name for Link. On the second playthrough, I'll name him T, after me/my story character.

For every Pokemon game where a Female protag can be chosen, I name them after female story characters, and I try not to use the same one twice. And since Gen 4, I name every Buneary I breed for the next new game Cotton, after the talking bunny in said story. I will be doing this for X as well.

And for pretty much every other game where the protag can be renamed, T is the go to name for the male lead and such.

When you wish upon a side of beef, soon will come an end to all your grief

The name I use for my characters the most is Mas Basdofo regardless of setting, unless the game is online then I just use Naspah, Naspagh, Naskah, Nasbah and any variation of it you can think.

edited 24th Jun '13 7:55:54 PM by Naspah

I always name my character Evii or Hiro. Usually first playthrough is Evii.

Also, almost all my Pokemon names are usually done via taking an obscure reference either from their appearance or a part of their name.

"Evii is right though" -Saturn "I didn't know you were a bitch Evii." -Lior Val

• I don't name characters after myself anymore, unless it's Pokemon or Animal Crossing. It just started to feel weird after a while. In the case of Pokemon, I've been doing so with that series for so long that it feels weird if I don't.
  • If I'm on a second run of a particular Pokemon game, I'll use the canon name. Mainly to distinguish Pokemon from the first run from Pokemon from the second run.
  • Lately, I've been using Temporal Theme Naming, Mythological Figures, and Names using sections of the mon's names. (Litwick became Itwi, Roselia became Seli...)

• I usually use the Canon name or something similar to it in most cases. I haven't come across any games without one in a while unless MMO's count.

• Speaking of MMO's, I've been using names whose meanings have to do with celestial bodies or light due to most of my online handles having the word "Star" in them someplace. I don't like running around with username looking names on my characters.

edited 24th Jun '13 8:25:46 PM by stargirl93

I just use the usual range of names:

Of course, don't you know anything about ALCHEMY?!- Twin clones of Ivan the Great

Canon if possible, then random if possible, and then I have a list of formerly random names from games like FFT and Disgaea that I've grown attached to and will use for characters who seem appropriate (ie: female mage name, female warrior name, male thief name, etc).

Goddammit, I was going to post that!

Though, I do have a fondness for Crunch Buttsteak.

edited 24th Jun '13 8:47:40 PM by MachineMan1992

MIND BULLETS

I only really get creative with names when playing Pokemon. Usually I create gibberish names that sound like something you would name a demon. But if they're cute enough, I might give them real names or something weird, like Squeaky the Wailord.

I don't tend to nickname my characters often.

In Pokemon, I don't usually nickname my mons, unless they're special. Like Simon for Excadrill, or Solaria for Volcarona. Oh, and HM Slaves are named "HM SLAVE 1" and "HM SLAVE 2"

...eheh

I usually goes with whatever sounds approprate or references to other things. For example, my Soul Calibur V customs are all named after Six Samurai/Legendary Six Samurai and most of my pokémon on Showdown carry name references to songs or bands (Golem - "We Built This City", Skarmory - "Eagle Eye Cherry", Garchomp - "DragonForce", etc.)

Curse the ill fortune that led you to me.

When I need to come up with a name for a female PC, I usually default to Portia. Other than that, no patterns that leap to mind. Pokemon names run the gamut from character references to regular person names to over-the-top abstract nouns to silliness (Currently running around with Aquageddon, Thing 1, Thing 2, and Smackdaddy).

Panhandling sign glued to hands. Need $5 for solvent.

I tend to prefer canon names, with one caveat:

I do the opposite of this, not using "Link" until I'm on my second playthrough, which means, no longer playing like a fool.^note  Unfortunately, with free time making itself scarce, the last "second playthrough" I finished was in Wind Waker: I have not finished my second playthrough of Phantom Hourglass, not even attempted one in Minish Cap, Twilight Princess, Spirit Tracks or Skyward Sword.

edited 25th Jun '13 2:50:17 AM by Medinoc

"And as long as a sack of shit is not a good thing to be, chivalry will never die."

In the Bethesda Fallout games, I tend to go with the default names as they seem to suit the games better than anything I come up with. Reasons? Well, as soon as the character from Fallout 3 has been booted out of his Vault for something that wasn't his or her doing, he or she is pretty much on their lonesome, so Lone Wanderer fits ideally. As for New Vegas? Well, considering the whole game is about delivering messages, of one form or another, Courier is the only thing that does for me.

Most other games, given the choice, I roll with a female called Aeryn or Aeryn Sun if I get to use surnames. Claudia Black is just that badass in that role.

I try to give ridiculous but creative names to everything nowadays. For example, in Persona 4 Golden, I called the protagonist Wigwam Longhut because it entered my head on the way home from buying the game. If I do another playthrough, I'll call him Bingbong Octopus. In FES, the protagonist is Moglar, and he will continue to be Moglar to me unless or until he appears in another game with a canon name like Yu did. In Pokemon Black 2, my name is Longhut. Devil Survivor Overclocked has Alanos. There are any number of other examples I could give. Point is that I want a name that's memorable and somewhat original.

Flyer than an ostrich, moshin' in a tar pit...

Almost all of my player characters in games (as well as most of my online profiles) are named msPaint. This is somewhat because the name is hardly ever taken, and somewhat because it amuses me. My naming conventions for Pokemon are about the same as the other's that have posted in this thread- I just name them whatever pops into my head at the time, be it random nonsense or some sort of reference (I have a Gyrados named Stevenson, a Rattata named Charles, and a Lapras named Can't Stop to name a few).

Generally, I use what's canon unless I dislike the canon name for some reason(and for some reason I keep renaming everyone in Chrono Trigger, even though that's not really normal for me.) If I use a different name, then I just pick what seems to fit their personality/appearance, though I do have a few I use frequently:

-Seth, Adrian, Roy, or Icarus for male protagonists

-Rosalina (if it fits with the game's length limit) or some variant, or Sarah, for female protagonists

I mostly choose names that phonetically fit with my characters' appearance, but I don't think much beforehand and pick them very spontaneously.

For example, I named my Alchemist in Torchlight "Hiram", because, well, he just looked to me like someone called Hiram. Also instinctively gave him the ferret as a pet and called it "Sweet Potato". It just rolls well with the character.

Sometimes I choose names from pop culture, but just because they sound nice; I don't care about being in character with the original. Named one of my last characters in Demon's Souls "Kureel", after the Elf Quest character of the same name - but, unlike the comic book original, my player character was a female and didn't share any similarities in appearance whatsoever. Name just rang nice with a female. And she still looked like a Kureel to me .

edited 28th Jun '13 3:35:04 PM by TAPETRVE

Fear the cinnamon sugar swirl. By the Gods, fear it, Laurence.

I have an habit of naming faction leaders in RTS and TBS games after corresponding Battle Schoolers.

The Revolution Will Not Be Tropeable