Fashion is nice but what about your naming skills?

[Mouse.7382]

Coffee - Asura Mesmer: Because coffee is the nectar of life.

 

Mouse - Asura Ranger: Because he is small.

[Aru.4156]

Personally, I like names that sound like they fit the Tyrian name lore even if they're not actual names :P As a Sylvari player, I've got many Sylvari who have names that aren't actual names/words but they appear close enough so I'm passing them off as okay. I quite like them though! And silly names are pretty neat so long as they're appropriate. There have been many that give me a bit of a laugh and I love that.

 

As examples of some of my Sylvari though, here's a few names:

 

**Caertryn** (Male Sylvari Revenant) - Probably the only name I have with even a remotely celtic origin word in it. Took the 'Caer' part from 'Caer Aval' in the game because I quite liked how it sounds.

**Ayrtwyn** (Male Sylvari Guardian) - Also made up, but it seems like it passes? I find these two names to be rather pretty.

**Mavyl** (Female Sylvari Elementalist) - The only name I didn't have to shove extra letters into/scramble the letters because I was pleasantly surprised to find this name wasn't taken. Just liked the sound of it. Was originally gonna go with 'Maryl' but my handwritinng made the r look like a v and I ended up liking that more.

**Klliyn** (Male Sylvari Ranger) - Literally just typed in a bunch of letters until it worked/I thought it seemed ok. Bit of a funky name, esp when his Sylvan hound is named Fynin but meh. What works, works.

A few other names I have that I won't go into are **Elrylle**, **iltria**, and **Rublu**. (wrote Iltria with a lower case i there even though it's supposed to be capital bc the capital i and lower case l look identical. :/ It's il, not ll)

 

My main, male Sylvari thief, is **Satiru** which I quite love but it isn't as fitting/Sylvari naming lore appropriate due to me creating this toon as my first introduction to GW2. Nonetheless, I quite like it, but pronouncing it in English sadly makes it less elegant and more harsh-sounding that I thought it would. Still my fav name though

[Akari Storm.6809]

My name game is and has always been trash. I also tend to use the same names across many different games, at least the base characters I create and then branch out from there. I grab names from literature, comics, t.v. and movies, other games and mythologies from every culture. I have characters with titles in their name. So unoriginal I am.

 

Just a few I guess:

Pax Payne- Charr engie whose kits are called packs, and is also a verb that delivers pain. Originally dual wielded pistols and is based of a detective named Max. Kind of a walking entendre.

Feydakin Broly- Charr warrior ofc- Just a fan of Dune and Dragonball.

 

Tomax Amot- Human thief whose name is spelled the same backwards and forward. Worships Lyssa, so copied pasted from G.I. Joe's Crimson Guard.

Laeddis Dom- Human rev, general nod to Leonardo DiCaprio who was the rev mauled by a bear, Laeddis in Shutter Island and Dom in Inception.

 

Lor Danas- A name I use in every game...based off a name I always liked Elora Danan from the movie Willow. Here, he's a sylvari guard.

 

List is too long, but you get the jist...name game is weak.

 

[Danikat.8537]

> @"Fenom.9457" said:

> OP, how do you know that information? I’d love to put such meaning in my names, but what do you do? Search every language’s meaning of whatever word you want until you find one that sounds good? It would just take so long

 

I'm not the OP but I do give my characters meaningful names. There's three ways I do it:

 

1) Google translate. Pick a word which describes the character and a language I think would be appropriate (or just look good), put it into the translator and pick from the suggestions. If nothing looks right I'll change the word slightly and try again. It helps to have some understanding of the other language to avoid words which sort-of mean the same thing but don't work in context. (Like the story about some celebrity who asked for a tattoo which says "mysterious" in Chinese and ended up with one which would be translated back as "weird".)

 

2) Trawling Wikipedia for suitable words. This one obviously takes a bit longer - look up something related to the character and read through the sections on the history, discovery/invention, etymology etc. (which sections there are obviously depends on what you're looking up) and follow links to related articles, keeping going until you find something or hit a dead end. That's how I found the old Irish word 'bethe' for birch, which became the basis for a name for one of my sylvari.

 

3) Looking out for good words in your everyday life. This one obviously takes more time and effort and is unpredictable, but since I'm always making characters for something or other it's worth doing for me. I'll literally just look out for words I like the sound of and try to remember them (or even write them down) for possible future character names. They could come from anywhere, a presentation I hear at work, an article I'm reading, an advert...

 

However you do it I recommend a quick internet search for your choice just to see what comes up. I once picked what I thought was just an old Welsh name no one would know, then found out it's used in another game and literally everyone who said anything about it assumed I was a massive fan of that character and was confused that my character was nothing like him. (Then there's the story I heard today - a manga writer combined what he thought were random real-world first and last names for a character, happened to end up with the name of a genocidal dictator he wasn't aware of and got accused of being a facist and endorsing the guys views.)

[Fundor.2098]

**Asura:**

 

**Lèonn** - A simple name for an elementalist, that follows the asuran naming standards. There's also slight similarity to one of my own names.

**Vrekk** - The name of my engineer. It too follows the asuran naming standards and has a funny similarity to the word "wreck," which I think is fitting for an engineer in this game.

 

-

 

**Norn:**

 

I've picked my norn names from the Norse Mythology, which is one of the sources of inspiration behind the norn race.

 

**Odin Ravensight** - A norn elementalist. who's been blessed by the Raven Spirit. Odin is the king of the gods in Norse mythology, a god of magic and wisdom among other things. He's known of having two ravens as his information gatherers - Huginn and Muninn.

**Freyja Ravensight** - Freyja is also a name of a Norse goddess, though her connection to love, beauty and fertility doesn't have that much to do with my character's necromancy. Ravensight for her connection to Raven. This character is themed as a raven shaman.

**Thor Skaldson** - My revenant, who wields the Mjölnir hammer and dual Bolts most of the time. Skaldson indicates towards his profession - Skalds sing poems and speak of legends - and a revenant channels the legends of the Mists to aid them in battle. Thor is the Norse god of lightning, who wields the mighty hammer Mjölnir.

**Fenrir Hodurkin** - A wolf-blessed thief. Fenrir is the giant wolf of the Norse mythology - a son of Loki, the trickster god. Hodur is a blind god of winter and darkness, a son of Odin and Frigg.

 

-

 

**Sylvari:**

 

**Léthoniel** - A mesmer, whose name is again slightly similar to one of my own. Sylvari don't usually have surnames, and the name would easily fit an elven character, which is the original inspiration behind the sylvari.

 

-

 

**Charr:**

 

**Lycan Shadeclaw** - A necromancer, whose name follows the Charr naming standards. Lycan refers to werewolves - a nod to the bestial appearance of the charr, even though they are basically cat-like creatures, rather than wolves. He's a part of the Claw Warband, and "shade" refers to him being a necromancer.

 

-

 

**Human:**

 

**Leon Fúndor** - The first name has a slight similarity to one of my own, whereas the surname is taken from Christopher Paolini's book "Eragon," where Fundor is briefly mentioned as a dragon from Alagaesia's history.

**Lucan Fúndor** - The first name was chosen, because I just happen to like it, and the surname was already explained. :D

[Ben K.6238]

> @"BigBragg.8354" said:

> Fatal Dark - Necromancer

> Bee N Tea - Ranger

> Djinn Ji Nier - Engineer

> The Book Doctor - Guardian

> Ooffie - Elementalist

> Vapid Pastiche - Thief

> Svart Vreid - Revenant

>

>

> These are the best names ever created in the history of all naming. Let your hearts fill with envy and wonder at the greatness before you. Though you may never reach such heights, go forth and be inspired!

>

>

> ;)

 

Vapid Pastiche certainly is up there, especially in the context of this thread. Well done.

[Shena Fu.5792]

Most toons are based on my favorite female idols and singers. **Hamtasy, Lupin Kara Five, Vivina Jademeid, Magikei Futse, Hyorisana Sama.**

 

Some names are racy, so I'll omit them here.

 

Some are Cantonese, sometimes funny. **Yamahn Yamou, Diu Baau, Fai Di Sei, Fei Maa, Zin Dau.**

 

A few names refer to my favorite MMO ever--Asheron's Call 2 (aka AC2). Still to this day to me, the most memorable and most immersive experience. So these following toons have backstory related to AC2.

 

**Shena Fu** - Female Human Ranger

 

Shena'Fu was my female archer in AC2. Archery and trajectories in general, is probably the most well done, smoothly animated, engaging in AC2 than any other game. Arrows had different speeds depending on the skill used. I remember an opening combo where I would start with the slowest moving arrow, then a normal speed arrow, and finally an arrow skill that was instant. I perfectly timed it so they all made impact at the target at the same exact moment--this made it dififcult for mobs to evade the 3-hit combo.

 

Hence AC2 made me fall in love with Archer classes. So much that in any game with archers or the like, I dub her Shena'Fu (as is my GW2 ranger, except GW2 won't allow apostrophe). Unfortunately, no game yet has lived up to my expectations of archery game play as AC2.

 

GW2 disappoints me, that I don't like any of the bow skill sets.

 

 

**Lugwrench Ashtactic** - Male Charr Engineer

 

This name is the most synergistic as you can get.

 

Ashtactic sounds very Charrish. Ash is one of the Charr legions. It could also be short for Asheron's Call 2.

 

Tactic is homage to AC2's Tactician class, which has some semblance to GW2's Engineer. It was one of the most original, creative classes at the time. Tactics set up immobile turrets that automatically shoots at enemies. So it was perfect (and infamously so) for being the best soloing class while camping in one place. They could also build walls to protect the turrets and the party. Essentially Tacticians built mini-forts that devastated mobs. (On the contrary, Engineer turrets are a joke.)

 

Lugwrench is an actual tool. Lug is also short for Lugian, the only race in AC2 that can become Tacticians. Also be informed that Tacticians wielded wrenches as weapons unique to their class.

 

So within Lugwrench Ashtactic can be found four different parts of his name that subtly refer to AC2 in some way.

[TheLadyOfTheRings.9148]

I love the topic of names (onomastics is one of my hobbies), so of course my characters' names are very important to me :) My main criteria:

 

- A name that is original or at least not super popular;

- A name that fits/respects the game lore (e.g. asura and sylvari don't have "surnames" in the same way humans, norn or charr do);

- A name that has a meaning that fits the character, or that at least doesn't "crash" with the idea I have of the character (e.g. a character I envision being brute won't have a name that means "gentle");

- A name that belongs, as much as possible, to my character only (e.g. wouldn't choose Legolas or Wonder Woman because, well, this is my character, so she/he will have her/his own name).

[nomak.8693]

Iron Forgeman - engi (Charr) my oldest character. (7+ years old)

Plaguewing - necro (Charr) will turn 7 in 40ish days

Marohi Erqi - war (Charr) same as above

Precious Time - ranger (Sylvari) 5 years old

Izaro Phrecius - rev (Charr)

Wonderland Dreams - ele (Human)

Big Bad Oof - teef (Human) female

Rallybat - guard (Asura) looks like Batman xD