Hydaelyn Role-Players
The Name Game - Printable Version

+- Hydaelyn Role-Players (https://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/mybb18)
+-- Forum: Community (https://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/mybb18/forumdisplay.php?fid=8)
+--- Forum: RP Discussion (https://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/mybb18/forumdisplay.php?fid=13)
+--- Thread: The Name Game (/showthread.php?tid=9070)

Pages: 1 2 3


RE: The Name Game - Erik Mynhier - 11-26-2014

Eirikir Mynhier (shortened to Erik) has been a name I have used for a character name for a long time and even longer in real life as it is my actual full name. Mynhier is by definition a name meaning both "lord" and from Icelandic source "my belief is". The Icelandic wording being "tru min er". Since it is my name I like it and the name origin fits the characters I usually make, stoic religious people who do right despite the cost.


RE: The Name Game - Merri - 11-26-2014

Merri was actually a Hyur back during 1.0, and while I would have been Miqo'te from the get go, males just weren't an option back then unfortunately.

I was set on being Miqo'te come ARR, however, and inevitably didn't want to kill off a character I loved and had played for years already. Thankfully, Merri's personality made it easy to play off his not having a tribal name. He never was tribal, nor were his parents, so his given name simply wasn't tribal.

I've come to love it dearly. It's made for some really fun and interesting encounters. Whether it's people having heard his name and assumed he was Hyur, only to be surprised to find out he's a Sunseeker when met in the flesh. Or people taking note of his more "civilized" mannerisms and way of speaking, (Not saying all tribals are uncivilized, but you know, stereotypes) which is always fun in a terribly awkward kind of way.


RE: The Name Game - Oscare - 11-26-2014

Oscare Iono is just another recreation of a very long time character that has about 10 years worth of history and this is his like 1092848230987498274th version. I didn't see much of a problem in the name looking at the other examples I've seen before, so. It worked out!


RE: The Name Game - Kinono - 11-26-2014

Kino is a name I've used through a lot of online games. It's inspired by my one of my favorite anime, Kino's Journey. In adapting the name to FFXIV, I figured it'd make the most sense to use plainsfolk naming, but I strongly preferred the physical features/culture of dunesfolk, thus, Kino became a mixed-clan Lalafell.

...She also rides around on a chocobo named Hermes.


RE: The Name Game - Amelia - 11-26-2014

Heh... WELL...

I've always liked the name Amelia.

And being that she's modelled after Princess Garnet, well... Almandine is another word for the garnet stone.

There you go. My secret is out. Y_Y; Don't judge me!!


RE: The Name Game - Jana - 11-26-2014

I use the name "Jana" in pretty much everything so my friends in one game can quickly identify me in another. After quickly checking to make sure the name wouldn't be lorebreaking in any way with the race I chose to play as, Miqo'te Keeper, I researched the NPC surnames that were available to look at from 1.0. I found that a lot of them had similarities to names from Turkey, Egypt, and other middle-eastern countries (not really limited to any one language, it seemed). I took an Egyptian surname for Jana and changed the pronunciation to fit the Miqo'te: Simply adding an "h" seems a bit cosmetic when "Ridah" is read normally but it would become "Rida-*hissing sound*" if she introduced herself in a proper way to another Keeper. This hasn't happened since Jana's continued distancing herself from anything resembling tradition over time... But the option is there!


RE: The Name Game - Elysia - 11-26-2014

(11-26-2014, 08:01 PM)Amelia Wrote: Heh... WELL...

I've always liked the name Amelia.

And being that she's modelled after Princess Garnet, well... Almandine is another word for the garnet stone.

There you go. My secret is out. Y_Y; Don't judge me!!

Judge? Why? I think we need to be friends. Big Grin the world needs more Garnet love.

I'm enjoying reading everyone's stories on this thread!
 
I'm one of those people who enjoy trawling through baby names databases for naming inspirations - and sometimes because the names themselves have 'personalities' that create the characters. I used to plan these long fantasy stories with piles of characters who existed fundamentally because I wanted to use a particular name I'd found, not because the plot demanded their existence. 

I found "Avis" the same way. I was looking for a name that was elegant, concise, feminine but also leaning towards an androgynous 'feel'. Avis means "desired" and also "bird" in Latin. I felt that captured my character's free-spiritedness, so Avis it was for her first name. 

"Inkwood" is a last name Avis invented for herself, since she fancies herself a reader and writer. Her real name is "Ingram", which is the rather stereotypical name of a snobbish family a friend and I invented for a collaborative work of fiction, and that was based on - you might've guessed it - Blanche Ingram from Jane Eyre.


RE: The Name Game - Mae - 11-27-2014

I pulled "Kara" out of a pool of names I use in writing and didn't contradict the naming conventions. "Ashdale" was just the first surname that the name generator coughed up that I didn't have an objection to.

The Gardener's original name (Malay Nihlo) was me giving a nod back to my original RP run in FFXI -and- part of my gaming tradition where I always have a Mal of one stripe or another kicking around on a character list. Thanks to the new powers of Name Change, though, she's just "The Gardener" now. Choice of that as a 'name' was me wanting a character that -was something- instead of -is someone-.

Marsh Mallow... Dunesfolk Lala, the name goes against the conventions, I know. She passes it off that she was named by the Gardener (marsh mallows being the plants that were used to make the original marshmallow treats). Truth is, she's part of something that extends outside of the game and into elsewhere on the internet.

Tinne Teine, another Lala, however this name looks closer to the naming conventions. Another one 'named' by the Gardener, the name would actually be pronounced chihnn-uh chihnn-uh... which is why she introduces herself as Holly -- Tinne/Teine is Ogham for the Holly tree.

Luc'a... I'm not sure how I came up with his name. I have a vague memory of just seeing other Keeper male names and just making something that seemed in-line with it. I might've gotten "Rhee" from the name generator, though.

Whisper's original name was Uli Whisperwillow. My first introduction to Roegadyn naming conventions was... a bit muddled. I just knocked it down to Whisper Willow... though I suppose Whispering Willow would be more correct.

"Eltanin" is another name in the pile I pull from often... not exactly lore-compliant, I suppose, but I liked it. "Sellecerre" came from the name generator.


RE: The Name Game - Zhavi - 11-27-2014

I originally wanted to use the name 'Savia', pulled from a character concept I've had for awhile but never formally put into play as actual-fleshed-out-character. However, it didn't quite work with miqo'te naming conventions, so I played around a bit with the sounds until I arrived at Zavi, and then threw in the 'h' both because I wanted the shzuh sound, and for the miqo'te hissing thing.

I deliberately used a name-name, as opposed to something more simple and street, despite the fact that Zhi's mother is a whore and city-born (second generation). Zhi's mother was an idealist, a lover, and a dreamer. Though she broke away from her parents (or was kicked out, depending on who you asked), she idealized Keeper culture and picked a name for her daughter that she felt conveyed that ideal.

Streetrunner/Gutterborn was my way of contrasting that beloved child with the nasty, crass person Zhi eventually became. Yes, Zhi's mother could have given her bastard child a surname, but 1 - she wasn't about to use her parents', and 2 - she didn't actually know appropriate Keeper surnames. Zhi's mother therefore only gave her child the single name, Zhavi, and it was through Zhi's interaction with others on the street that she essentially became Gutterborn: a street kid who was a bastard and had no claim on an actual surname.

Zhi's naming herself Streetrunner was a way of molding herself, of excising herself from a past she feels she's risen above (there is some denial, deep down, towards some of the things that happened in the past, a perception that it happened to the other her who was weak and cowardly, and that she is no longer that person). It's her way of taking herself back from the people who would use her. The irony, of course, is that she's still beholden to any number of people, still a child in many ways, and very much a product of her upbringing. She runs the streets, that's it: when you look at her and what she is, there really isn't anything speshul that makes her any better than where she came from, and there's certainly a lot of things that make her worse than those she openly despises.

Which, of course, leads to the name her mother used to use affectionately: Zhio. There's a reason why there was only ever one player-character who used it (Miza Fhey), and why there are exactly two NPCs who use it affectionately, or at least as a means of establishing familiarity. 'Zhio' is my way of recalling her humanity (errr, miqo'te-y?), of showing that she isn't a total lost cause. Even though she's a scumbag and a morally corrupt person, there's still that little girl in there, down deep, wishing for something better and struggling to be someone who matters. Every time I use it in writing it's to establish that she is capable of forming positive relationships, even if they are terribly warped and probably carry unhealthy undertones. It shows that she still accepts, even if it's deeply subconscious, that she's not the cold-hearted bitch she thinks she is who is totally devoid of warmth or emotions. She isn't a completely lost cause -- but she's definitely not on the right path.


RE: The Name Game - Aya - 11-27-2014

Aya was pretty easy to come up with.. it was the shortened form of the character name I had used in TERA, and I was starting FF with the friends I had made in TERA, and I liked the continuity. It fit the theme I was going for, which was generally Scanadanavian/Norse in nature, and it really does seem to fit in with the FF world really well! Its also turned out to be a fun name, since "Yay Aya!" uses only two letters!!

The last name was harder. I knew from the start, according to Highland lore, that it would probably not be a birth name, but instead a given name. It took me a very long time to stumble on Foxheart, and I honestly cannot remember the inspiration for it. It did turn out to be just about perfect though, the fox is an excellent symbol for Aya. "Foxy" is also just the nickname for her, so I like it even more ^_^


RE: The Name Game - McBeefâ„¢ - 11-27-2014

The late Natalie Mcbeef was named such because I thought it was a silly name. I mean, Mcbeef? Comedy gold. Then I realized RP was a thing, and decided to just roll with my PVE name. Which ended up being a fun experience.

Evangeline was chosen because it sounded very victorian to me, and I based her character concept around turn of the century suffragettes. I had decided her last name would be a flower, so I looked up the Victorian, 'Language of Flowers'. The primrose had quite a few interesting meanings that meshed with my character concept, so I went with that.

PRIMROSE (RED) - Unpatronized Merit
PRIMROSE - I Can't Live Without You, Woman
PRIMROSE (EVENING) - Inconstancy


RE: The Name Game - Ilwe'ran - 11-27-2014

Every single name I use in every game is related to the sky in a way or another and Ilwe'ran isn't an exception to this.

Ilweran is the quenya word for Rainbow (or more litteraly "Bridge of Heaven"). Ilwe'ran's name isn't fitting totaly to the Lore conventions as he would need to be named Ilwe'ra.
At the same time, his name is completely out of the Lore as his Mother's name is Antë.

My opinion on names is that people should pick the one they want and they can always build a story around it. I mean, you're logging everyday with your character, you have to like this name, after all, that's how people will call you in most of situation.

So, in Ilwe's case it wasn't that hard to come up for a reason as he's coming from another land and his Clan has slightly differents traditions :
- Children are given a name taken out of the precious book which hold all the knowledge of the Family (In my character case -> Ilwe'ran).
- If the child is a male, he's also given the traditional name but it's considered as rude to call a male this way (In my character case -> Antë'ra)
- A "core" name is given to the young adult once he has made his proof and passed his "ceremony of an age" (I'm unsure how you would call it in english). This name is supposed to refer on the person character and traits. This name is used only by people really close or during ceremonies (In my character case -> Ara.. Which mean "light of dawn").

Hlaiwa is actually a hint related to Ilwe's background. Hlaiwa means sick / ill and a whole part of Ilwe's background is linked to one sickness which completely changed his whole life twice, leading him to be given to the Tribe (kinda his clan's ennemies) as he was still a child then leading him to leave his homeland with the ones who survived to the plague.
Hlaiwa sounds definitely like a stranger name when I read the ones I see in game. I liked the sonority and the meaning behind it that 99.9% of people will not get as really personal.

In a way, I think that being creative to find a reason why your char name doesn't fit to the Lore is giving you a lot of opportunity to enrich your character and his personality.
Of course, that's only my opinion and some people might frown a lot while reading what I wrote. But what count for me is I like Ilwe'ran's name, it's close to what Lore would expect me to come with and, in the end, as long as I'm happy with it, it's enough to me Smile .


RE: The Name Game - ProvaDiServo - 11-27-2014

My mains character doesn't really ad up with lore but, she also isn't an Eorzea native.

My alts have better suited names I assume.

Lebello meaning the handsome one, and being dunesfolk, adding a rhyming first name wasn't to hard.

I made a joke in the haiku thread about making Anthony Hawke, but I did make a character in reference to Kelly Slater and the nostalgia that ps2 game brings.


RE: The Name Game - Dasair - 11-27-2014

Xavarian's name is an approximation given the old, original, side-character he's based off of.. who's name is much worse.  That character's name is Xsaiav'lairnn (Ks-save-el-air-nn), his last name being Mystrif, when he had one.  

There is a lot of crazy involving how the much older (both IC and OOC) base character got his name (there was a world full of naming lore, in which various letters and combinations meant various things, and everyone was named based on certain criterea, with names changing as people grew, and whatnot; aka, crazy business.)  BUT Xavarian is a lot more simple.

First I checked the lore on Elezen names.  Which was basically 'French sounding'.  I went through a bunch of lore-friendly name generators, expecting to keep none of the names, but just for examples of lore acceptable ideas.  Then I looked up a bunch of French names for general approximations.  I actually wanted to keep the feel of my character's original base name as close as possible, and knew I wanted it to start with an X, so when I found the expected name 'Xavier' and the name 'Varian', I stuck the two of them together.

What's even better to me about 'Varian' being in there is that it was said to be based on the word 'variable', and the concept of this character has always had very strong connections to 'endless possibilities', the Unknown, riddles and puzzles, and logical / scientific deduction.  

With Mystrife I just stuck an e on the end of Mystrif because I don't know French at all, but I figured they have 'Mystique', which is close, and seems lore compliant to me (or at least I hope it is, X-Men aside).  The name Mystrif itself actually came from a combination of Mystery and Mischief sort of stuck together when I suddenly and unexpectedly needed to give Xsaiav'lairnn a last name on the spot.  ... Though the nickname given to my character by other characters (due to his crazy first name) became 'Myst' so the last name kinda grew on me as pretty important too; and something else I wanted to keep.  Now, in FFXIV, I suppose it's more like 'Mystique' and 'Strife' which.  Is still pretty accurate, all things considered.  *sweats*

Mashing things together, man.


RE: The Name Game - Naunet - 11-27-2014

(11-26-2014, 12:14 PM)FreelanceWizard Wrote: On the topic of names generally, one thing I discovered the other day is that the random name generator for miqo'te Seeker males will generate "Nunh" as a surname from time to time, despite the lore complications that result from that. I'm willing to bet many people with the Nunh surname don't know what it implies. (I still wince when I see it, though, even though I know I shouldn't. Blush )

Hey now! Some of us know exactly what that title means and chose it deliberately for a character. Tongue  Don't wince!

Anyway, I always love reading about the history behind people's choices in names. Elezen names are some of my favorite... they're always so lyrical.

My own characters' names are not all that interesting history-wise. With Antimony Jhanhi, I had her first name in mind before I'd even decided on a race to be. I cycled through a bunch of different iterations, trying to find a race where I could obtain the most believable "middle aged mother" look, and of course ended up with a Seeker miqo'te. "Antimony" is a name that's followed me around for many, many games, so I was loathe to give it up. The first Antimony was a bank alt in WoW who eventually became my raiding main and who got her name because I wanted something nerdy to represent a character who's entire purpose was economics. "Antimony" obviously didn't fit with the Seeker naming system in XIV, though, thus I crafted a backstory that involved her leaving her tribe and adopting a new name. Her original name was actually inspired by the naming scheme for dolphins in David Brin's novel "Startide Rising." I liked the phonetics used there and fiddled with them to fit it into a lore-appropriate miqo'te name - thus, K'piru. The surname just came from a mash of syllables in my head. xD

My occasionally roleplayed elder Seeker K'deiki got her name similarly inspired from Startide Rising patterns.

K'thalen's name is nothing special - just syllables that I liked the sound of, plus the K prefix, which was requisite. It wasn't until later that I found it shortened into the very appropriate "Thal" for roleplay purposes. x3