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Fantasy Names

Allanon81Allanon81 Member Posts: 343
in General Discussion (Spoiler Warning!)
Wish there was an auto fantasy name generator for the IE's. Is there any alternatives?

Comments

  • KamigoroshiKamigoroshi Member Posts: 5,870
    edited July 2018
    Fantasy Name Generators
  • Allanon81Allanon81 Member Posts: 343
    @Kamigoroshi, Thnx, that place is awesome!
  • ChroniclerChronicler Member Posts: 1,391
    Some of the "fantasy names" they use in Baldur's Gate are just foreign.

    Khalid for example is just a totally normal name in the middle east. Like naming your guy "Bob."

    There are two takeaways from this. You can conclude that there's no true distinction between "Fantasy Names" and "Real Names".

    Or you can conclude that foreign names are fair game, and start googling things like "Arabic Baby Names".
  • ZaghoulZaghoul Member, Moderator Posts: 3,938
    FR follows some RL areas when it comes to naming and the general atmosphere of different places. I thought Khalid seems to fit pretty well given he is from Calimshan, which has some Arabic influences about the area.
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    Fantasy names can be very inconsistent when it comes to allowing RL names. No one bats an eye at a half-elf cleric named "Agatha," but name your half-orc sorcerer/assassin "Doug" and suddenly people think it's immersion-breaking.
  • JoenSoJoenSo Member Posts: 910
    TV Tropes even mentions Baldur's gate when it comes to this trope. https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AerithAndBob
  • ZaghoulZaghoul Member, Moderator Posts: 3,938
    This naming business reminds me of an old episode of Freaks n Geeks (set in the early eighties) where they're playing AD&D. Here's a short 45 second bit introducing someone new to the game that surprises them with his non-standard dwarf name. B)
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAmLCD3PLJY
  • deltagodeltago Member Posts: 7,811
    semiticgod said:

    Fantasy names can be very inconsistent when it comes to allowing RL names. No one bats an eye at a half-elf cleric named "Agatha," but name your half-orc sorcerer/assassin "Doug" and suddenly people think it's immersion-breaking.

    Ya, he's a half-orc, why have a silent letter. Dug works much better and isn't immersion breaking at all.
  • ChroniclerChronicler Member Posts: 1,391
    JoenSo said:

    TV Tropes even mentions Baldur's gate when it comes to this trope. https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AerithAndBob

    "The villain is named Sarevok in Baldur's Gate I. But in the sequel the villain is Jon Irenicus, revealed to be short for Jonaleth."

    Heh. I'd never put it together that that's why he's allowed to have such an ordinary first name. It's short for some zany nonsense.

    Name your guy "Frank" then mention in his biography that it's short for Frankizard.
  • JhaycenJhaycen Member Posts: 19
    I actually use baby-name sites to come up with fantasy character names. You can filter by a specific nationality as well as see the meaning of a name. So if I was making a character who grew up in a coastal village, I could see the name Dillan means "Son of the Sea" -- which would be a great choice.
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