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What genders and names do you give your characters?

I mostly do 3 male, 3 females...
Do you have some good names , mostly for Dwarves, Gnomes and Halforcs?
sarevok57chuukogu
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Comments

  • JarrakulJarrakul Member Posts: 2,029
    Most of my parties are gender balanced, but 4/2 splits aren't unheard of. As for names, I tend to use either mythology or baby name sites. My favorite shut down, but I'll link the one I'm using these days.

    http://www.thebump.com/baby-names

    For dwarves, I like Scandinavian names or Germanic names. For Gnomes, I'd probably do the same, but aim for sillier-sounding names. For half-orcs, I'd probably just use human names, or the names of mythological monsters.
    JuliusBorisov
  • Lord_TansheronLord_Tansheron Member Posts: 4,211
    I never make male characters.

    Also 99.99% of my NPCs are elves.

    Names I usually make up as I go, I try not to repeat.
    JuliusBorisovsarevok57mashedtatersProont
  • kcwisekcwise Member Posts: 2,287
    I usually like to have an equal mix of male and female characters for some reason. As for names, I usually make them up, but sometimes I like to grab the dictionary and use an earlier version of a word. So, for a dwarf you might take the word rock and use the Middle English spelling rokk.
    JuliusBorisovloliensarevok57Proont
  • JuliusBorisovJuliusBorisov Member, Administrator, Moderator, Developer Posts: 22,714
    Hey, @Sloty , have a look at this thead: http://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/36776/picking-a-good-character-name - there're lots of useful links for character names there.
    kcwiselolienProont
  • Son_of_ImoenSon_of_Imoen Member Posts: 1,806
    My parties usually are a 3-3, 4-2 or 2-2 mix of males and females.

    Mostly I think of names myself, things that just sound right, but if I find myself lacking inspiration or search for specific meanings of names I use Google, character generators or the Encyclopedia Mytholica.

    I added a post to the topic @bengoshi mentioned in the post above mine with more info on that.
    kcwise
  • NimranNimran Member Posts: 4,875
    When it comes down to gender, most of my characters are female, because I find it easier to come up with names for females. I often struggle to come up with good male names, and I end up with only a few male characters as a result. The same holds true for any of my written stories.
    mashedtaters
  • SharGuidesMyHandSharGuidesMyHand Member Posts: 2,579
    Typically, five out of every six of my party members are usually female.

    As for names, I have a bad habit of making up a simple 2- or 3-syllable name and then throwing an "a" at the end - i.e.: "Alandra," "Kalindra," "Daloria," etc.
    mashedtatersProont
  • KenjiKenji Member Posts: 251
    edited May 2015
    Dagna, Female Gnome Illusionist (Dwarf Mage in IWD II)

    Here's her IWD style (kinda) portrait: http://fav.me/d4m0r71

    A reference to DA:O's Dwarven Scholar of the Circle
    AureolVallmyrJuliusBorisovlolien
  • VallmyrVallmyr Member, Mobile Tester Posts: 2,456
    edited May 2015
    Kenji said:

    Dagna, Female Gnome Illusionist (Dwarf Mage in IWD II)

    Here's her IWD style (kinda) portrait: http://fav.me/d4m0r71

    A reference to DA:O's Dwarven Scholar of the Circle

    Dagna is the best character in the entire Dragon Age franchise, imo.

    Anyway, my party leans toward 2 males, 4 females. This is because I base my party on a novel I'm writing. While there are only four main characters in the story, two male and two female, I add two more supporting characters since I like having a full party. My favorite supporting characters also happen to be female and such. I use cute names like Piro Faeren and Milly Vex for my gnomes. My elves use drow-styled names such as Val'myr which means Black Necromancer. For humans I use names corresponding with their nationality. Kitze Tribal and Aiyumii Kikyo are two characters that are both from Kara-Tur.

    I also sometimes using last names like "Swiftarrow" and "Songblade" to imply their family is known for a certain class. Van Songblade is a half-elf bard that comes from a family of blade bards.

    Aria Phoenix
    Van Songblade
    Fay Swiftarrow
    Piro Faeren
    Val'myr Zaur
    Aiyumii Kikyo
    Milly Vex
    Kitze Tribal
    Teron Vosh

    Those are common names I use for characters.

    JuliusBorisovlolienKurumi
  • VallmyrVallmyr Member, Mobile Tester Posts: 2,456
    edited May 2015
    @GreenWyvern ohhhhh I'd love to read about Sapphire :smile:
  • NonnahswriterNonnahswriter Member Posts: 2,520
    I'm doing a run of IWD:EE with all female characters. I plan to do another run with all male characters if I ever get around to completing the first one. *whistles innocently*

    Otherwise, I try to go for a gender split. Some of my parties are comprised of character casts from stories I've written, though, so if there's an uneven split like 4-2 or 5-1 somewhere, then so be it. :D
    NimranJuliusBorisovlolien
  • SkatanSkatan Member, Moderator Posts: 5,352

    A IWD RP with my GF involves her taking the role of Sheera, a [female Chaotic-Evil Dwarven Defender, whom IS UNSTOPPABLE IN EVERY WAY AND SHALL DESTROY EVERYTHING WITH HER MIGHT AND HER MIGHT ALONE! My character, Bahlthazar, a male Lawful-Evil Elf Mage-Thief that wishes to manipulate Sheera for his own wealth and power... though, after much abuse from Sheera, he has onlu become more of a submissive wimp than an evil dictator

    That sounds like my RL relationship.

    Jarrakul
  • EliteseraphEliteseraph Member Posts: 13
    My current party is all angelic wrath:

    Evangeline
    Celestine
    Victor
    Furiosa(Thank you Mad Max)
    Alexandria
    Delphina

    I had also considered Victoria, Angelika, Christiana, Gabriel and Gabriela. However, I only have 6 character slots and picked names that seemed to fit the portraits. It ended up being 5 females and 1 male. I know...I know...sounds like a harem anime or something. xD
    Blackravenlolien
  • KurumiKurumi Member Posts: 520
    edited September 2015
    I just create female chars and some of the names, I often use are..

    Abigail Shadowbane aka "Desire"
    Ashley "Don't Call Me Ash" Ravenwood
    Looma Swift
    Scarlett (and/or Isabelle) Dundragon
    Annabel Lee
    Elvcice'ylene Torett
    Yvalee Sszarra
    Vanessa Avellone
    Celia Aers
    Mara, Mialee, Oji, Elowen, Mitsuko

    Don't ever make a bet with a tiefling. - Planar proverb.
    JuliusBorisovlolien
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    I have some common recurring characters in my games.

    Female:
    1. Poppy. Elf, half-elf, or gnome. Usually a druid, sorcerer, or cleric/mage.
    image
    2. Snowy Tae. Halfling or gnome. Cleric or cleric/mage.
    image
    3. Sala Tora. Human. Fighter, fighter/druid, or fighter/mage.
    image
    4. Scrawl. Human, half-elf, elf, or gnomet. Any spellcaster or monk. It all depends on which portrait I use.
    image
    image
    5. Sil. Human. Cleric/mage, mage, or fighter/thief.
    image
    6. Blueberry. Human, gnome, or halfling. One of my Phase Spider kits.
    image
    Male:
    1. Fobie. Human, halfling, or half-elf. Bard, thief, ranger, or fighter.
    image
    image
    2. Bloody Howard. Human. Paladin or fighter.
    image
    3. Marilyn Blueapple. Dwarf. Fighter.
    image
    4. Horun Fallows. Fighter or druid. Used to be a female in an old Tutu run; the only thing that stayed was the name.
    image
    Poppy and Snowy Tae are by far the most common. They use the IWD2 "Female Fighter 3" and "Female Fighter 4" soundsets almost exclusively. Sometimes Alora's soundset goes to Poppy.
    JuliusBorisovlolienKurumi
  • atcDaveatcDave Member Posts: 2,146
    I typically split male/female pretty equally. I often think in terms of couples, but certainly not always. I have done "buddy" and sibling themes too.

    For names, I lean heavily towards Greek mythology. And I mean Greek, NOT Roman.
    I occasionally borrow from other mythos, Arthurian and Carolingian foremost.
    But then the real wild card is PnP characters I've played with. Especially if I'm using characters made by other players. So I may have a party with Odysseus, Diomedes, Briseus and Jill.... Oh well....
    lolien
  • T2avT2av Member Posts: 202
    edited September 2015
    Always my name Trav for both male's and females PCs.. As I am narcissistic... I'm mostly solo, but if I do take along 1-2 others.. Usually my father's name, and one of my best friend's name (female)
    lolien
  • recklessheartrecklessheart Member Posts: 692
    edited September 2015
    I tend to go for 4male 2female, and generally have a majority of 3-4 humans (though I rarely dual-class), with 1-2 elf and/or half-elves, and a token short character. Nothing is set in stone.

    I change character classes and such every time, though, so names always change.
  • CheesebellyCheesebelly Member Posts: 1,727
    For gender, I try to keep it as even as possible 3-3, 4-2 or 2-4 if a full party.

    Names are tricky, I usually mash buttons until something cool appears. For instance, a good half-orc right hand to my "protagonist" would be 'Vargath the Cleaver" - no typo there, he's a half-orc, certainly not "Clever" by any means D:
  • CalmarCalmar Member Posts: 688
    My first IWD party were
    Rasger (male human fighter),
    Dromgor (male dwarf fighter),
    Eraiya (female elven thief),
    Olben (male human druid),
    Gordalus (male human wizard; that old guy in the blue robe),
    and my female human cleric whose name I unfortunately can't remember right now for some reason.

    My decisions as to what gender and class were mostly determined by the cool portraits that inspired me to build the approproate characters. The names were inspired by the style of BG and my assumption that in the northern setting of the game I ought to have characters with somewhat Northern names (I didn't know the party comes from all over Faerûn).
  • BillyYankBillyYank Member Posts: 2,768
    I tend to mix genders fairly evenly.

    For humans in IWD I stick with germanic style names like Wulf, Gunther and Gudrun.

    For elves, I usually just smoosh a couple of elvish sounding syllables together like Raelynn or I use some the more obscure names from Tolkien like Celebrian or Maethros.

    Halflings usually get English names like William, Thomas or Elizabeth.

    For dwarves I just throw a bunch of K's, D's and H's at the screen and see what sticks.

    Every few games, I'll name a character Rhiannon because Stevie Nicks.
    mashedtaters
  • DJKajuruDJKajuru Member Posts: 3,300
    I usually try to balance the party aestheticaly by having three or four males and two or three females.

    The names I pick the most are Thallen, Landgrave, Huon de Salynges, Unferth, Tyrfing, Radra,Annah Delsenora and Galahad.

    Also, I try to balance the races by having at least two humans and one shorty.
    mashedtaters
  • SkatanSkatan Member, Moderator Posts: 5,352
    BillyYank said:


    For dwarves I just throw a bunch of K's, D's and H's at the screen and see what sticks.

    Kroddh
    Dhok
    Hoddak
    Kandok
    Krohm

    .. am I close? :smiley:
    JuliusBorisovmashedtaters
  • ReliantReliant Member Posts: 30
    I take names from Sci_Fi movies and TV shows. I generally use Vulcan/Romulan names (T'Pol, T'Pau, etc) for Elves and I just finished a complete game with a Cavalier names Reliant - he has an 18/64 strength!
    atcDave
  • ifupaulineifupauline Member Posts: 405
    Only japanese female name -_-
  • chuukoguchuukogu Member Posts: 40
    Usually I include characters from both genders: two males, two females and the last two can be either. Obviously this is easy in IWD - it's a good thing that games like Baldur's Gate have all kinds of useful characters to pick from.
    I really like the idea of creating an entire party with their unique personalities, even if said personalities may seem paper thin. At least it's "my" paper, ha ha! Naming can be difficult, but it's part of the charm.

    I have lifted several names from the works of Michael Moorcock: Ulrik, Xiombarg, Gaynor, to name a few.

    Sometimes I just take a name from a random scifi/fantasy/pop culture source and change it. My current monk is "Colleen" ... because the character portrait is actually Korra from a certain popular cartoon. Running out of good names and imagination, I used some joke names, too, such as "Hans the Nice" for a fighter->cleric dual class.

    My assassin is named Alice now - she's female, but I was actually inspired by Alice Cooper. I have great respect for a guy who picks a name that is traditionally considered a girl's name. And he's a great musician too
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