Skip to content

How do you pronounce "Charname"?

Montresor_SPMontresor_SP Member Posts: 2,208
in Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition
I have always thought of it as "Tjahr-name" but since "Char" is short for "Character", should it be pronounced "Care-name" or "Karr-name"?
«1

Comments

  • AndreaColomboAndreaColombo Member Posts: 5,533
    Using phonetic writing from dictionary.com—

    I used to pronounce it "chahr-neym" ("chahr" as in "charred") too but later moved to "kahr-neym" ("kahr" as in "car") precisely because I figured the "Char-" part was short for "character".

  • AstroBryGuyAstroBryGuy Member Posts: 3,437
    PaulaMigrate said:

    But it's not *Charname* but <CHARNAME> and a token that is never pronounced but when spoken is replaced by the name you have given your protagonist - however that is pronounced...

    "Charname" is used in the forums all the time to refer generically to the BG protagonist. I'm sure that's the usage the OP was referring to.
  • MirandelMirandel Member Posts: 531
    Montresor_SP said:

    I have always thought of it as "Tjahr-name" but since "Char" is short for "Character", should it be pronounced "Care-name" or "Karr-name"?

    I'd say your first version is the right one. Acronym or not, the word reads like that. Check it out http://text-to-speech.imtranslator.net/
  • AndreaColomboAndreaColombo Member Posts: 5,533
    PaulaMigrate said:


    If your character is elf why not call him Kahr-neym. (It's elvish for *protagonist*)

    I'm so doing this.
  • JumboWheat01JumboWheat01 Member Posts: 1,028
    I say it as care-name, though I say I am more partial to INSERT NAME HERE.
  • ButtercheeseButtercheese Member Posts: 3,766
    AndreaColombo said:

    "chahr-neym" ("chahr" as in "charred")

    That's how I say it and y'all can pry that pronounciation from my cold, dead hands.
  • BelgarathMTHBelgarathMTH Member Posts: 5,653
    A variation I saw once that I liked and still use is "Shar-NAH-mee". It makes it sound more like a person's name than a computer program string.
  • UnderstandMouseMagicUnderstandMouseMagic Member Posts: 2,147
    Why are people spelling "name" as "neym" to illustrate how they pronounce "name"?

    It's a "magic E" word, the "E" means you say the name of the vowel before the constanant which the E follows and don't pronounce the E.

    name
    meme
    time
    home
    tune
  • AndreaColomboAndreaColombo Member Posts: 5,533
    edited July 2017
    EDIT: nvm.
  • tbone1tbone1 Member Posts: 1,985
    UnderstandMouseMagic said:

    Why are people spelling "name" as "neym" to illustrate how they pronounce "name"?

    It's a "magic E" word, the "E" means you say the name of the vowel before the constanant which the E follows and don't pronounce the E.

    name
    meme
    time
    home
    tune

    Because they think it makes them sound impotent.

    Sorry, important.
  • tbone1tbone1 Member Posts: 1,985
    edited July 2017
    English drifted wildly after 1066, so often you could get the spelling from Yorkshire and the pronunciation from, say, Norfolk.

    For example: the chough ploughed through the thoroughly rough cough at the lough.

    (or, phonetically)

    The chuff plowed thru the therowly ruff coff at the lokh
  • JarrakulJarrakul Member Posts: 2,029
    edited July 2017
    Not to mention the pointless faux-Latinisms like the b in "doubt". Which we got from the French "doute", by the way, but no, that wasn't close enough to the Latin "dubitare", so we had a pointless silent b in there because of course we did.

    Anyway, I pronounce it "care-name". As in "character name". Because I guess I'm uncreative?
  • tbone1tbone1 Member Posts: 1,985
    For the record, I pronounce it "car-name" (the hyphen is silent). Why? Because.

    My favorite English inconsistency is the surname Featherstonehaugh; in England, it has four different pronunciations, including "Fanshaw".
  • profanitywarningprofanitywarning Member Posts: 294
    "me-puppet"
  • ArdanisArdanis Member Posts: 1,736
    As "charm-name" without the "m".
    Buttercheese said:

    AndreaColombo said:

    "chahr-neym" ("chahr" as in "charred")

    That's how I say it and y'all can pry that pronounciation from my cold, dead hands.
    I wanted to improvise on UBW chant about the Nameless' hands that will never be cold and dead, but it just didn't rhyme with the rest of the chant... Shame on me :#
  • DreadKhanDreadKhan Member Posts: 3,857
    Seeing as I'm pretty sure it's a short form of character name, I pronounce it rather like 'care', as I'd say 'care -ack-ter' for character.
  • deltagodeltago Member Posts: 7,811
    "Character Name"

    Just like "etc." Is pronounced et cetera and misc. is pronounced miscellaneous.
  • DreadKhanDreadKhan Member Posts: 3,857
    For 'misc' I say missk.
  • JumboWheat01JumboWheat01 Member Posts: 1,028
    As long as you don't accidentally say Minsc. I'm sure Boo would not take kindly to that.
  • ButtercheeseButtercheese Member Posts: 3,766
    JumboWheat01 said:

    accidentally say Minsc

    That happens to me far more often than I'd like to admit.
  • scriverscriver Member Posts: 2,072
    CHARNAME is pronounced Charr-Neighm
    Misc. is pronounced Misk
    THAC0 is pronounced Thako
    Lbs. is pronounced Ibbs
  • tbone1tbone1 Member Posts: 1,985
    "Politician" is pronounced "Wayne Kerr".
Sign In or Register to comment.

2025 Overhaul Games, a division of Beamdog. © 2025 Hasbro, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Baldur's Gate, Dungeons & Dragons, D&D, Forgotten Realms, Baldur's Gate, Wizards of the Coast and their logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast LLC in the U.S.A. and other countries, and are used with permission. Hasbro and its logo are trademarks of Hasbro, Inc. and are used with permission. © 1998 BioWare Corp. All Rights Reserved. BioWare, the BioWare Infinity Engine and the BioWare logo are trademarks of Bioware Corp. Black Isle Studios and the Black Isle Studios logo are trademarks of Interplay Entertainment Corp. Atari and the Atari logo are trademarks owned by Atari Interactive, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.