For the love of robot raptor jesus, PLEASE less Y when an I would do. and No double S or Z or V...Makes my brain hurt.
That said a good evil name, Malacol. Three sylables, a good sharp end and Mala sounds like malicious.
Kubriel for a good guy's name. Slightly angelic, slightly bad ass.
A lot of the magic the gathering card game planeswalkers are good names too off the top of my head. Jace, Gideon, Chandra, Koth, Ajani, Liliana, Elspeth, Urza and so on.
Generally find a book you like or a game you like and get a name from that.
Xiv (Berserker or Fighter/Necromancer type; if Tieflings were playable in BG she'd be one) Xazzie (Assassin) Neleothesze (elven sorceress; dragon-sounding name to keep with the draconic heritage) Liath Mara (Monk) Zaharra Ahnassi (Cleric/Thief in the past; currently Swashbuckler) Luatha Danaan (Bard) Jareth Danaan (Fighter/Illusionist; twinbrother of Luatha) I wish we could dual into a mage specialization like in BG1 :<
Whilst the name Kholai tends to get attached to many of my characters across various settings, I believe my favourite Charname-name was Aleph Amaia, Half-Elf Ranger/Cleric. As was fitting for the child of a god, he tapped into every divine spell there was and ascended like a Sir.
The main reason I like the name (asides from, of course, that it lacks X's, Z's, V's, K's) is that both names mean something. I'm a big fan of names with a hidden meaning, even if I'm usually the only one that sees the name.
Avii of the South (Wild Mage Human) Grimnor Ironbrew (Fighter) Gronk (Half Orc Barbarian) Zook Goldspring (Gnome Bard) Jalyse Swiftfoot (Halfing Rogue) Sarii Leafdancer (Elf Druid)
All of these guys started off as D&D characters and eventually made their way into my Baldur's Gate/Icewind Dale games over the years. Sarii is the latest and I cannot wait to play her in D&D Next.
With Surnames, where are all the Smiths and Jones and such? Everyone has swift or light feet, is from somewhere else and has to tell everyone so, or dances with leaves because they're an elf and a druid, so it covers both bases.
I had an elven archer called Guillaume, which was sort of a in-joke, as its the French version of William, and then there's the legend of William Tell etc.
Luatha Naan Half-Elf Female Bard (sister of Jareth) Chaotic Neutral Jareth Naan Half-Elf Fighter/Mage (inspired by and named after Jareth from the Labyrinth movie with David Bowie) Chaotic Neutral
You'll be wanting a Chicken Tikka Masala and some poppadoms with those two...
I can't take credit for the name I used for my first and current BG I character. I suppose all the anticipation of waiting for the ever-delayed mac release drained my creative juices. But anyway, I named him (a human swashbuckler) Waymar. Took the name from the minor character who dies within the first few pages of the first book of ASOIAF.
Glad to know I'm not the only one who borrows names from her written stories. Or creates both a first AND last name for her character (even though every single NPC you speak to throughout the game will address your character with BOTH NAMES and it drives you ABSOLUTELY INSANE I DON'T EVEN FDAHI;FJDIA;JFEIO;AJFIO;E).
I love getting a kick out of putting certain characters of mine in the shoes of the protagonist, probably more than I should. But I've created a couple female characters that remain stand-alone heroes specifically for Baldur's Gate: Decane Alucard the human bard, and Elona Wolfmane the fighter/cleric dwarf.
Tengil (the villain from the Brothers Lionheart) -for my evil doers. Although I sometimes mix it up and play Tengil as a goody-two-shoes just for the fun of it
Apart from that I will always have my first char, a hobbit thief named Saxe, (derived from the swedish word of scissors which lay on the desk when I was trying to come up with a name)
Kharic of Candlekeep was my paladin I played thru the trilogy with. It's a twist on the name Caric, which was the name of the protagonist of a "choose your own adventure"book I read as a child.
Aldan is currently my go-to name in fantasy games. I like it because its a loose combination of my brother, dad and my names (Alexander, David, and Anthony). It's also short which I prefer. It's the name of my current playthrough half elf f/m/t
Carthac is a derivation of my last name, and was also the name of my Nord Skyrim character. Has a knight-y feel to it, while still feeling fantasy
Justander was a name I used for a while when I was young that I made up ( combined Justinian with Alexander), but when I got older I disliked its length and it seemed to "try to hard"
Veluthil is my go to elven female name, I can't remember where I got it.
Cahena or Kahina are names I use for warrior maiden characters.
But the best two names for Charname are Charn and Charna for male and female respectively, be ause they are short for Charname
Ladrian of Candlekeep, LG human male paladin of Milil (my current charname)
Valorne, CE half-elf male fighter/mage (a charname I'm planning to play... someday)
Ashalia, TN half-orc female sorceress (via EEKeeper, yet another charname I'm planning to play... someday)
Nymerei du Ignathos, LG human female cavalier of Tyr (the leader of my Black Pits party)
Old One Eye, CE half-orc male barbarian, worships Garagos (Black Pits party member)
Harodrim Murkwood, NG elf male archer of Mielikki (Black Pits party member, but also my canon protagonist for NWN: SoU and HotU)
Gerar Grimforge, LN dwarf male fighter/cleric of Berronar Truesilver (Black Pits party member)
Mizora, CN human female thief/mage, worships the Mad Monkey of Kara-Tur (if that's even possible... if not, uh, Tymora and/or Mystra maybe?) (Black Pits party member)
Valarian the Despoiled, NE half-elf male sorcerer, worships Kossuth (Black Pits party member)
The charnames that have a backstory (either from PnP or short stories):
Treske Aijnissarim - BG2 charname who got his scrabble last name for Edwin's introduction - "...and if that is too syllable heavy, you may refer to me as 'sir'." - "Yeah, yeah, my name is (longer, more complicated to spell/pronounce) and *I* wish to be adressed by full name at all times, thank you very much... 'sir'."
Later, Treske (human, male, assassin) discovered he had a twin sister, Satal Aijnissarim (human, female, assassin, might become a Shadowdancer in the next run), who I play as female charname since the backstory doesn't quite fit with BG1.
My BG1 "canon" charname is a human male Priest of Talos, Kono The Red, named for his red hair and beard and using no last name.
My human male jester's name is Cathigheri, from his PnP background. He usually goes by this last name only, but he has a first name - in German, it's "Nicht" and in English, translated "Not" - so he can confuse people when introducing himself: "I am Not Cathigheri."
Mixture of PnP, IWD names. The name inside ( ) is their lastname, or extra name earned after...something Most of the Calimport names are names for NPCs (some minor, some greater) in my PnP campaign.
IWD 2: Donovan (Whitebeard) - old wizard, human Nimdorn - fighter / dreadmaster of bane, human, male Lleilah - Fighter / Paladin of Helm, human, female Helgroth Bloodbasher - Berserker, dwarf, male
Calimport PnP: Baercrest (the Crescent) - Tiefling, rogue, male ((founded a thieves guild called The Crescent Moon, members were wererats)) El-Amin - local noble (Calimport), human, male Hezmana Ibn-Al'Qharim - Illusionist, human, male (Calimport) Asad Al'Habim - Fighter, human, male (Lieutenant in one Thieves Guild in Calimport) Paddlepoof - Gnome wizard, male Fergrim - Cleric, dwarven, male Mazzy - rogue, half-elf, female Di'ervel - Evoker, human, male Ismael Hhralram - rogue, human, male Caer (Dovan) - figther, dwarf, male
(Lord) Belfire - noble efreet
---bunch of random names I would throw for random npcs the PCs encounter in random stuff--- Rashir Bashir Rashid Akhbar Abaddon Salathihel Azaziah Rafael Azrael Amnon El'azar Ashur Ber-Sheba Abel-main Ramathaim Dabarath Pomab Ak'Azmhir (from IWD1 since he is from Calimport) Nassir Ibn'Neshar --------
I suppose thats enough names for now... Though I didn't list the one I almost always use for my main character when it comes to RP.....
I like this chap, I see him as a bit of a rogue-ish dandy. He uses the posh British voice set (Male5) and has the Cat as his familiar. I've used the French spelling of Sebastien to give a hint that he's an impoverished exile from a noble house over seas, with pretensions to grandeur :-)
BTW this is him after the Con and Cha tomes and Algernon's Cloak.
Depends how serious I'm feeling. If I'm trying to role-play a little, I'll go with:
Sorek (Male thief) Adrilimos (Male wizard) Haer'auna Half-Elven (Female ranger, second name pinched from Tanis Half-Elven)
If I'm feeling more comical, I'll use names like:
Evil Harry Dread (Borrowed from Discworld, normally used for a wizard) Shortarse Shinkicker (Dwarf warrior) Joe the Barbarian (He's going to make it big in barbarianing one of these days!)
Comments
That said a good evil name, Malacol. Three sylables, a good sharp end and Mala sounds like malicious.
Kubriel for a good guy's name. Slightly angelic, slightly bad ass.
A lot of the magic the gathering card game planeswalkers are good names too off the top of my head. Jace, Gideon, Chandra, Koth, Ajani, Liliana, Elspeth, Urza and so on.
Generally find a book you like or a game you like and get a name from that.
Or have one like "Is a disguised beholder".
Xazzie (Assassin)
Neleothesze (elven sorceress; dragon-sounding name to keep with the draconic heritage)
Liath Mara (Monk)
Zaharra Ahnassi (Cleric/Thief in the past; currently Swashbuckler)
Luatha Danaan (Bard)
Jareth Danaan (Fighter/Illusionist; twinbrother of Luatha)
I wish we could dual into a mage specialization like in BG1 :<
- Risvel Iceglare (F/M/C)
- Hildor Fairbeard (F/M)
- Malon Greenwood (C/R)
- Garael Lonewulf (C/F)
- Erza Shadylock (T>M)
- Laewyn Elvensong (B)
The main reason I like the name (asides from, of course, that it lacks X's, Z's, V's, K's) is that both names mean something. I'm a big fan of names with a hidden meaning, even if I'm usually the only one that sees the name.
Plus who doesn't love alliteration?
Grimnor Ironbrew (Fighter)
Gronk (Half Orc Barbarian)
Zook Goldspring (Gnome Bard)
Jalyse Swiftfoot (Halfing Rogue)
Sarii Leafdancer (Elf Druid)
All of these guys started off as D&D characters and eventually made their way into my Baldur's Gate/Icewind Dale games over the years. Sarii is the latest and I cannot wait to play her in D&D Next.
Oh, wait. I didn't come up with those.
I have used them in an Ice Wind Dale game though.
Luatha Danaan is a great name.
Although should really be Gromnor IrnBru
"Scotland's other national drink"
I love getting a kick out of putting certain characters of mine in the shoes of the protagonist, probably more than I should. But I've created a couple female characters that remain stand-alone heroes specifically for Baldur's Gate: Decane Alucard the human bard, and Elona Wolfmane the fighter/cleric dwarf.
Belindis Naasseni (F>Assassin)
Magena Stormheart (T/Cleric of Talos)
And my legal chars:
Rhiannon Dorchaidhe (Blackguard)
Tanith (Jester)
Jenae (Kensai>Druid)
Riorik or Berengar - my many, many paladins
and
Tengil (the villain from the Brothers Lionheart) -for my evil doers. Although I sometimes mix it up and play Tengil as a goody-two-shoes just for the fun of it
Apart from that I will always have my first char, a hobbit thief named Saxe, (derived from the swedish word of scissors which lay on the desk when I was trying to come up with a name)
Aldan is currently my go-to name in fantasy games. I like it because its a loose combination of my brother, dad and my names (Alexander, David, and Anthony). It's also short which I prefer. It's the name of my current playthrough half elf f/m/t
Carthac is a derivation of my last name, and was also the name of my Nord Skyrim character. Has a knight-y feel to it, while still feeling fantasy
Justander was a name I used for a while when I was young that I made up ( combined Justinian with Alexander), but when I got older I disliked its length and it seemed to "try to hard"
Veluthil is my go to elven female name, I can't remember where I got it.
Cahena or Kahina are names I use for warrior maiden characters.
But the best two names for Charname are Charn and Charna for male and female respectively, be ause they are short for Charname
Ladrian of Candlekeep, LG human male paladin of Milil (my current charname)
Valorne, CE half-elf male fighter/mage (a charname I'm planning to play... someday)
Ashalia, TN half-orc female sorceress (via EEKeeper, yet another charname I'm planning to play... someday)
Nymerei du Ignathos, LG human female cavalier of Tyr (the leader of my Black Pits party)
Old One Eye, CE half-orc male barbarian, worships Garagos (Black Pits party member)
Harodrim Murkwood, NG elf male archer of Mielikki (Black Pits party member, but also my canon protagonist for NWN: SoU and HotU)
Gerar Grimforge, LN dwarf male fighter/cleric of Berronar Truesilver (Black Pits party member)
Mizora, CN human female thief/mage, worships the Mad Monkey of Kara-Tur (if that's even possible... if not, uh, Tymora and/or Mystra maybe?) (Black Pits party member)
Valarian the Despoiled, NE half-elf male sorcerer, worships Kossuth (Black Pits party member)
Edit: Because MEH!
Any Other Male: General Fuzzypants
Any Female: Lady Queefy
Treske Aijnissarim - BG2 charname who got his scrabble last name for Edwin's introduction - "...and if that is too syllable heavy, you may refer to me as 'sir'." - "Yeah, yeah, my name is (longer, more complicated to spell/pronounce) and *I* wish to be adressed by full name at all times, thank you very much... 'sir'."
Later, Treske (human, male, assassin) discovered he had a twin sister, Satal Aijnissarim (human, female, assassin, might become a Shadowdancer in the next run), who I play as female charname since the backstory doesn't quite fit with BG1.
My BG1 "canon" charname is a human male Priest of Talos, Kono The Red, named for his red hair and beard and using no last name.
My human male jester's name is Cathigheri, from his PnP background. He usually goes by this last name only, but he has a first name - in German, it's "Nicht" and in English, translated "Not" - so he can confuse people when introducing himself: "I am Not Cathigheri."
Sapphira Shadowblade- Chaotic Good Female Human Swashbuckler
Curtana Greycastle- Lawful Neutral Female Human Priestess of Helm
Bran Hornraven- True Neutral Male Human Berserker/Druid
Valda Arabrahel- Neutral Evil Female Half-Elf (Half-Drow actually) Jester, goes by 'Dolly Buttercup'
Ambrose Drakestaff- Chaotic Evil Male Human Dragon Disciple
Bobess - Chaotic Evil female Gnome Priestress of Urdlen
Crunchy Bob - Lawful Evil male Human Necromancer
Bob DeBob - Neutral Evil Elven Sorceress
Most of the Calimport names are names for NPCs (some minor, some greater) in my PnP campaign.
IWD 2:
Donovan (Whitebeard) - old wizard, human
Nimdorn - fighter / dreadmaster of bane, human, male
Lleilah - Fighter / Paladin of Helm, human, female
Helgroth Bloodbasher - Berserker, dwarf, male
Calimport PnP:
Baercrest (the Crescent) - Tiefling, rogue, male ((founded a thieves guild called The Crescent Moon, members were wererats))
El-Amin - local noble (Calimport), human, male
Hezmana Ibn-Al'Qharim - Illusionist, human, male (Calimport)
Asad Al'Habim - Fighter, human, male (Lieutenant in one Thieves Guild in Calimport)
Paddlepoof - Gnome wizard, male
Fergrim - Cleric, dwarven, male
Mazzy - rogue, half-elf, female
Di'ervel - Evoker, human, male
Ismael Hhralram - rogue, human, male
Caer (Dovan) - figther, dwarf, male
(Lord) Belfire - noble efreet
---bunch of random names I would throw for random npcs the PCs encounter in random stuff---
Rashir
Bashir
Rashid
Akhbar
Abaddon
Salathihel
Azaziah
Rafael
Azrael
Amnon
El'azar
Ashur
Ber-Sheba
Abel-main
Ramathaim
Dabarath
Pomab Ak'Azmhir (from IWD1 since he is from Calimport)
Nassir
Ibn'Neshar
--------
I suppose thats enough names for now... Though I didn't list the one I almost always use for my main character when it comes to RP.....
BTW this is him after the Con and Cha tomes and Algernon's Cloak.
Sorek (Male thief)
Adrilimos (Male wizard)
Haer'auna Half-Elven (Female ranger, second name pinched from Tanis Half-Elven)
If I'm feeling more comical, I'll use names like:
Evil Harry Dread (Borrowed from Discworld, normally used for a wizard)
Shortarse Shinkicker (Dwarf warrior)
Joe the Barbarian (He's going to make it big in barbarianing one of these days!)