Forum:Naming your characters

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Hi all,

I was wondering -- how do people choose names for their characters? I usually name my RPG characters after people from books or movies, but I branched out for DA:O. My main Wardens are named:

• Elspeth, a human mage (named after a secondary character from a book; I thought it was a nice name with an old-fashioned sound)
• Urist, a dwarf noble DW rogue (a shout-out to Dwarf Fortress, and a pun -- Urist is the canonical generic dwarven name in DF, and it also means "dagger" in DF's dwarven language, which I thought appropriate for a dual-wield rogue)
• Serena, a city elf DW rogue (the name just came to me as the right one for the character)

How do other people pick names? Diyartifact (talk) 23:42, November 29, 2011 (UTC)

A random mixture of names borrowed from books and movies mostly. Also bird names, sometimes English, sometimes the Latin genus or species. My primary Warden is Kestrel, a female city elf. Other favorites are Alexa Cousland, Raven Mahariel, Selene Surana, and Kat Brosca. Most of those aren't chosen with any particular reason in mind, I make a character and then stare at their face for about 15 minutes until I come up with a name I feel suits them.

With Hawke I always pick names that start with an A because I think it's funny for the siblings to be A-B-C. Kestrella (talk) 00:48, November 30, 2011 (UTC)

My main Warden is called Aleyst Mahariel. Aleyst was the name of an other character that I played in a text-based online rpg years ago. I have no idea where I found it, or how I came up with it. My main Hawke is called Ryleigh which I chose because it means valiant.--SunyiNyufi (talk) 00:54, November 30, 2011 (UTC)

My male characters usually end up with the default names or Thomas, which is my name and it is an old enough name to fit in with old timey fantasy games as well as modern games. My female characters are usually named after some girl in a band or a video game or story, like Morganna/Morgan from the Arthurian Legend, which is what I named my F!Hawke. Tommyspa (talk) 01:01, November 30, 2011 (UTC)

I have 3 or so names for each gender I tend to use a lot: Dante (Cousland), Ralon (Amell), Vala (Aducan) and Kaitlyn (Tabris) being the formost with brackets noting the Origin they were used in. Other than that male characters tend to get their names from fantasy books/other games when I think it is fitting. Artur Hawke was just too good not to use for example. (Knight Templar (talk) 01:11, November 30, 2011 (UTC))

For my human characters I look up old-fashioned names on the internet and for elves and dwarfs I look up unusual or made-up names. They usually work pretty well for me. Right now I have a elven mage named Jayron and that name is made up. So...basically the internet is my best friend when it comes to naming my characters. Dragonage17101996 (talk) 01:18, November 30, 2011 (UTC)

I use latin words. Diruo is my DW rogue which means "to destroy", Decus is my Tank warrior which means "honor", and so forth. --99.120.169.64 (talk) 04:44, November 30, 2011 (UTC)

I tend to pick names that have a religious meaning or connection, either directly or by association. ie. Kirk Tabris my City Elf is named thus because Kirk/Kirke can mean 'Church', whereas Oliver Hawke was named because of Oliver the fat, kind of flamboyant, collector of beautiful things bishop from Fire Emblem Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn. Why I wanted that connection I still don't know... xD YGuy (talk) 05:50, November 30, 2011 (UTC)

I named my Cousland 'OurLord' because I didn't know what kind of game DA:O was and I thought it'd be funny if villains referred to my character as God. Whocares65 (talk) 06:38, November 30, 2011 (UTC)

For my canon playthroughs I tend to use names that incorporate "lir" or "lyr" I don't know why but that syllable just sounds so pretty. My canon Warden is Ilira Amell, currently in Skyrim my character is Lyryil. I deviated a little with my canon Hawke, Lissa. Maybe it's just the "li-" sound I like. For any following playthroughs I'll make variations on existing names or just make some up, such as Aidiel Aeducan, Finias (Fin-eye-us) Cousland, Batra Tabris, and Kyrni Hawke. These are some of my favorite names I've used.GoldenNightKnight (talk) 06:59, November 30, 2011 (UTC)

I've had a ton of characters with different names but my favourites are Avalen Cousland, even though sadly, my most played HN is called Aedan. Might play through again as Avalen though. Drenyl Aeducan is my second favourite. For a male Hawke I usually use Edward or Arthur. Avalen Evgarad is a really old fantasy name that I made up for a Guild Wars character. I've used it in a million different places since(check the sig). Drenyl is something I whipped up on the spur of the moment while creating a DN, later proving a very succesful name. Edward and Arthur are old English names that I like for no specific reason. And no, neither is my name. Lord Evgarad (talk) 09:35, November 30, 2011 (UTC)

Well, I've had a few for DA:O and MANY for DA2.

Feanor - city elf Fariel - Human Noble Feyin - Dalish elf Furnur - Dwarf noble

Yeah, I tend to like to use one main letter in my names. I mean my Hawke is all beginning with the letter L. Leander Lucious Lucien Leopold and so on. --Ser Mea (talk) 11:48, November 30, 2011 (UTC)

The moment I got my hands on Origins, it reminded me of ASOIAF so strongly that all I could think of was Ned Stark, so I ended up with Ned Cousland. Otherwise, I have a couple of favourite names which I re-use both in DnD and PC games - of no particular origin, ones I've come across in literature or history. Dara Cousland, Catelyn Hawke... If I ever make another playthrough, or in DA3, Alienor, Harald or Connor are strong candidates. - Oh, and I haven't played as Ygrain in a while :-) --Ygrain (talk) 12:05, November 30, 2011 (UTC)

Am I the only one who uses the default names? Gruedragon (talk) 16:35, November 30, 2011 (UTC)

You can ask User:Aedan Cousland, if he ever makes a comeback :-) --Ygrain (talk) 16:45, November 30, 2011 (UTC)

I usually go with variations of my own name, the defaults or slightly modify the defaults. the 3 characters I've beaten DAO with so far are Damien Cousland, Daemon Mahariel and Selena Amell. haven't been able to get DA2 yet, but hopefully for Christmas. The dog I usually name after someone from the characters Origin story. Fergus, Tamlen or Jowan for example.--Vampire Damian (talk) 18:16, November 30, 2011 (UTC)

I like to use names from literature but do use stock names too when naming my Wardens.

I have a rogue city elf female named Kallian who married Alistair off to Anora but stuck around to be the "other" woman.

I had a male warrior noble, Aedan, who saved Loghain, sacrificed him and exiled Alistair to drunk town.

My human female mage, Solona, was Alistair's lover, made him king, then sacrificed herself to the archdemon.

Another female human mage named Rhiannan was also Alistair's lover but he dumped her when he became king because I forgot to harden him.

I have a Dalish elf rogue named Kallian who was Zevran's lover, made Alistiar king and killed the archdemon after the ritual.

My latest is a female noble rogue named Morwen who made Alistair king, married him, killed the archdemon after the ritual and lives happily with him for the 30 years they have left.

My female Hawkes have been rogues or mages named Marian or Morwen and the males are rogues usually named Garrett. Not much imagination there. Sorry.

I usualy name my characters after characters in books, movies or other games, lets see....

Dante Brosca - Dwarven commoner - Rouge (Named after protagonist in Dante's inferno) A very no-compromise sort of guy who cares greatly for his friends but wont risk thousands of lives to save a single one (For example he would never run off to the circle of magi to get help for the problem in Redcliffe, giving Connor plenty of time to kill other people)

Sypha Aeducan - Dwarven noble - Warrior (Named after a character in Castlevania) A very sweet and kind woman who fell deeply in love with Alistair, refused to do the dark ritual with Morigan and sacrificed herself to keep the one she loved out of harm.

Cara Hawke - Rouge (Named after character in the sword of truth) A sarcastic/humorous archer who fell in love with Anders, doubtful and hesitant at his extreme measures but comes to share his view about the necessity of blowing up the chantry, she protects the mages and runs of wiith Anders (Bodhan and Sandal might have tagged along as well)

Zedd Hawke - Warrior (Named after another chatacter in the sword of truth) A very shy Hawke who tries to be the leader but just ends up beeing bossed around by Isabella, a woman he loves and idealises for her courage and strong will. He has the opinion that it is better to stay out of trouble if you can and was therefor very frustrated and a bit angry to be forced to chose sides between mages and templars when he would have prefered to get the hell out of there. He ended up saving the mages and escaping with Isabella on the sirens call.

Flint Hawke - Rouge (Named after character in treashure island) My most assholish character to date, just a bloodthirsty, battlescared lowlife who enjoys killing and making people missreable, he did not care for any romance (everyone pretty much hated him) and ended up slaughtering every mage in the circle Blighter (talk) 22:32, November 30, 2011 (UTC)

Aside from a 'no-blatantly-Christian/Biblical-name rule' (which I sort of bent with Jordan Cousland), I borrow/steal from everyone and everywhere. Ironically, both my first-ever characters in DA:O and DA2 were named Morgan Cousland and Morgan Hawke and neither got fully played-through. The Morgan/Morrigan thing got confusing/irritating in DA:O and Morgan Hawke didn't take the recruiting Fenris quest in Act 1 and got subsequently tossed in Act 2. Tolkien is a major inspiration for my non-human Wardens: Dain & Finrod (Dwarven Noble and Dalish Elf) were lifted directly from background characters while my City Elf, Athaelas, is close to the Tolkien plant, athelas. Lott, my Dwarven Commoner, was the only one not lifted from Tolkien. I like Celtic names for my Hawkes: Artur (a steal from/nod to Robert Jordan's 'Artur Hawkwing'), Gwydion, Rhys and Emrys are among my Hawke names. My Cousland names tend to be more Arthurian/Medieval in origin: Gawain, Arthur, Aidan, Balan, (the afore-mentioned) Jordan, Alun, Keira and Arithon (the last stolen from the Janny Wurts-authored character). My mages were a very eclectic group Qoras, Elaine and Elinora. Honestly, I've always had a much harder time coming up with a dog's name that I like than one for my Player Character! Qalan (talk) 02:23, December 1, 2011 (UTC)

I have the tried and true method of randomly typing out names on MS word and then using the process of elimination to determine the most appealing. This is based mostly on the flow between the first and last names. Some of my warden names include: Marvane Amell (first warden I ever played), Faren Brosca(didn't even know that was the default name until after going through the above process LOL/facepalm), Selene Cousland, Yselarra Tabris, Hudaforatarasinius Aeducan (don't even ask why I chose that over Elrek) and finally Solaryn Mahariel (incidentally the warden I've been featuring in the fanfics I write. One of them's on my blog, the other is in developement.)

Oh yeah, I also named one character Blind just for the pun. --Isolationistmagi (talk) 02:54, December 1, 2011 (UTC)

Since I'm not very good at names, I figured out to look at the suggestions first, use names from books, movies and other, or come up with them my self. I think I used Fenris' name for my female human Warden. I just thought it was cool, and it's the name of a wolf in scandinavian mythology. My first Warden is called Sereda and she's a Noble Dwarf. But then I tried with my own name, and it didn't sound that bad. Btw, my name is Emilie. I guess it's an old sort of french name. But I also had a hard time coming up with name's for my dog. But it ended up with King and Cailan. I know I took "King Cailan's" name, but he's dead, sooooo why should he care? :P --83.89.118.52 (talk) 12:55, December 5, 2011 (UTC)

as loyal fan of ASOIAF, especially Starks and other characters from The North i mostly name my noble males as past Stark kings: Brandon, Rodrik, Theon, Willam or Torrhen. For females and other origins i use southron names: Jeyne, Cat(elyn), Taena...--Master-at-arms (talk) 14:17, December 5, 2011 (UTC)

Ned Cousland approves +20 :-) --Ygrain (talk) 14:27, December 5, 2011 (UTC)

though i never had Ned, once eddard perhaps but i'm not sure--Master-at-arms (talk) 14:37, December 5, 2011 (UTC)

I usually give my Wardens names depending on their origins. I choose Saxon names for Humans (Æthelred/Ætheflaed), Norse for Dwarves (Tyr, Thyra) and Briton/Celtic names for Elves (Cúchulainn/Cerdwin). Although i do occasionally use that basis for Human/Elf mages too, i often pick names from Arthurian legends instead to reflect the Mystical background (Merlin/Morgana)-Tyr Aeducan (talk) 01:35, December 6, 2011 (UTC)

I name my character yes I only use one....after my favourite playing card the Spade so it's Spade Cousland99.224.254.71 (talk) 01:45, December 6, 2011 (UTC)

That was me I forgot to log inLord Warden (talk) 01:45, December 6, 2011 (UTC)