The Game of the Name

Some Judges are masters of the name. They always pick the perfect name for every character, no matter how minor. The names they choose always sound authentic and help define the character. Then there are the rest of us.

A Chinese proverb says "The beginning of wisdom is learning to call things by their right names." It is no coincidence that the creation stories from many religions place tremendous importance on the bestowing of names. A properly chosen name has three powerful effects: It helps place the game setting its proper distance from reality. It contributes a feeling of realism and consistancy to the setting. Finally, it helps to define the character that bears it. This is important for player characters and major NPCs, but absolutely critical for minor characters whose names may well be the only description the players will have of them.

Names from our everyday reality carry some of that reality with them. This can add unintended shades of meaning to that name. If a character is named Mario, are your players going to think first of Mario Andretti, Mario Puzo, or Mario Cuomo? You can't know, but that connection to reality, even on the unconscious level, will carry unwanted baggage with it. And further, "Mario" signifies "Italian", with all of its own baggage: fast red sports cars, spaghetti and meatballs, moonlit romance in a Venetian gondola . . . whatever your players think about when they think of Italy. You can't know if they are going to think of manicotti or the Mafia, and in either case, something is being brought into your game that is not a part of it.

In addition, many real-world names are very specific to their time and place. They come in waves, as a name becomes a fad and then fades from over-use. I went to school with Tara and Michelle, several of each. Today they would more likely be Brittany and Ashley. Put Brittany or Michelle into a game setting and you give the players hints about time and place -- hints that are almost certain to be wrong. To make history more confusing, names also change when they cross over linguistic boundaries. Marcus Antonius would only be called "Marc Anthony" by a barbarian. Thoth-mes, an Egyptian pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty, would certainly not answer to the name Tutmosis that Greek history records for him. And Yeshua ben-Yusuf would be baffled as to who this "Jesus" person is that people keep asking for.

Beware of names that come with cultural baggage of any type. You expect Hercules to be strong and not too bright. Unless there is a very good reason to use it as the name of a respected wizard, a reason explained very early (preferably before the players even learn his name) such a naming would be a very bad idea. Bentley is of course a very prestigious make of car; it would be a fine name for an English butler, but not a barbarian. One Admiral Nelson is enough for history; do not confuse matters with another.

Names from the same cultural background tend to sound similar, and be similarly constructed. This is not nearly so much the case in modern English-speaking cultures which, in a quest for novelty, borrow or create names from any source whatsoever, as it is in other places and times. In some European countries, for instance, it is illegal to give a child any name not on a government-approved list. Even without such a list, traditional names are prevalent. American parents might name their son Mario, but Italian parents are unlikely to name their son James.

Keeping that consistency makes it easy for your players to place a character's name in the proper context. If your elves have names like Lothiniel and Serfaillen, while your dwarves are Bori and Hurin, then it is unnecessary to add "the Elf" when sending someone to speak to the merchant Athaniel, and Duri is immediately short and bearded in your players' minds. If they need information on the homeland of someone named Conn, they will know that asking Finian about it is a better bet than asking Svenbjorn or Aloyoshenka.

The sound of a name can help characterize a person. A name, after all, is one's face to the world. If you know nothing about someone but a name, you know, or think you know, something about that person. You will likely have different mental images if the name on the business card is Dolly than if it is Dorothy. Those suppositions can be entirely wrong, of course -- I once worked with a Dolly, so named by her parents, who was a dignified, middle-aged advertising representative. But that is reality. In fantasy, you get to choose the personality and the name, so make those images work for you!

Consider the sound of the name. Names with many harsh sounds, such as g, ch, and k, give the hearer a harsh image of the character. Gort and Chokag do not sound like quiet, gentle people. Fluid sounds such as l, m, and n portray the opposite image. Luella and Narel sound much more civilized and refined. Simple vowel sounds, with no diphthongs, and simple syllable patterns, suggest a simple, even barbaric, culture; complex vowels and smooth sounds suggest civilization and sophistication. (the fact that this is often not the case in reality does not change the perception) This is also an effect of the complexity of the name. Names made of a few uncomplicated syllables suggest a less civilized, more dangerous, society than long, elaborate ones. By the time one is through shouting "Lannamielentarma, help me!" the sabre-toothed tigre has made any help irrelevant. That is a good time to have friends named Grond. Erik the Red might have been an excellent thinker, and Parmenides might have had undiscovered talents as a raider chieftain, but we know them as Viking and philosopher.

There are many ways to create names that fit these patterns. Most of us use the hit-or-miss approach: Write down some names, and throw out the ones that don't seem to belong. Repeat as needed. While that works, there are other means more productive. For a historical or pseudo-historical -- Celtic myth, for instance -- research will supply many useful names. For a completely original setting, you can build names from syllable tables. Finally, as was done by authors like J.R.R. Tolkein, you can create your own language for naming. Calm down, it's easier than you think!

If you are basing a game setting on a historical time, or on the heroic legends of a real-world culture, you have a ready source of names at hand. In the process of doing all of the background research to build your campaign world you will necessarily encounter many suitable names. Be sure that your names are correct in time and place. Modern Greek names, for instance, are not quite the same as ancient ones; if the society you are researching has a modern descendant, be sure you know the difference. Keep lists, being sure to weed out any that come with the undesirable baggage mentioned above. Not only will you then have a ready source of names for places and people, but your players can refer to your lists as well to choose suitable names for their characters.

For a purely imaginary society, there is a quick way to generate all the names that you need. I call it syllable chopping. First, write down some names that sound right. You might pick Alderic, Cadrathir, and Mavros. About twenty names should do to get you started. Now, cut each name apart into syllables and put them on lists of first, middle, and last syllables, according to their position in the name. In our example, this would give us Al, Ca, Ma for beginnings, de and dra for middles, and ric, thir, and ros for endings. Add a few more, matching the pattern you see developing, to each list. Ra might be another good beginning, me and la would add some middles, and car would be another good ending. Now, re-combine the syllables by choice or chance. Pick some, roll some dice, or use a computer, and you'll get Radethir, Aldracar, Calaros and Maderic. Good names from only a handful of syllables. When you have at least 20 names on each of your beginning, middle, and ending lists, and several syllable patterns (B-E, B-M-E, B-M-M-E, etc.) you can create all the names you need almost instantly.

But what if you want those names to mean something? For a simple naming language, you need not even scratch the surface of the kind of complexity that Tolkein built into the fourteen languages of Middle-Earth. A hundred or so words will get you started. This is the most complex method of naming, but it gives the best results.

Decide, first, what sort of names your people bear. Are they named for virtues that their parents hope they grow to possess, signs a shaman has seen at their birth, or heroic deeds they have done? Are their names meant to attract the favor of the gods, or just be pleasant to the ear? Are people named for their relatives, their ancestors, or great heroes? Consider the relative place of each person in society. If women are treated as property, whether legally or by custom, girls might be given the names of inanimate objects such as valuable jewels, pretty flowers, or even food and drink. In a society that values heroism and valor, children might be given shameful childhood names like "Fearful Mouse" until they prove their courage and take their adult names from their deeds.

Now write down lists of nouns, verbs, and adjectives that will be necessary for your names. If you chose "Son of Fire" and "Dancing Lady" as names, for instance, list son, fire, lady, and dancing. If your names will have differing masculine and feminine endings, make a note of that now. Write down a couple of pages worth of words you want to use for names.

Next, start assigning them sounds. Some basic patterns can make this easier. For example, say that your word for person of indeterminate gender is nar. A young person might then be nir, with a vowel shift, and if you use -a and -u for feminine and masculine endings, you get a whole class of words: nara, woman; naru, man; nira, girl or daughter; niru, boy or son. Perhaps the prefix a- might denote nobility or respect. If we add a couple of words for fire, do, and dancing, senel, we could name our people Doniru and Senelanara. Continue in this way, and when you want to name someone "Lord of Dragons" or "Gentle Butterfly" you will be ready.

Names are one of the easiest ways to add verisimilitude to a fantasy setting, and one of the easiest ways to break that critical suspension of disbelief as well. However you choose your names – hit-or-miss, historical research, syllable chopping, or a naming language – having a system to your names will add more to your games.