Meaningful names

[mongi291]

Have you ever given to one of your characters a name with an actual meaning that is somehow related to them?

For example, my latest character is a Doman ninja, but she puts ninjutsu and her other skills to use as a mercenary. Thus, I called her Ume Kogane.

Well, I'm not really an expert on japanese, but Ume means "plum", which is considered as a symbol of devotion, and Kogane, among its multiple meanings, can mean "small sum of money".

So, her name -could- be interpreted as "devotion for a small sum of money", which I think it's fitting for a mercenary.

[Branson Thorne]

Wow I must admit that is way more thought out than what I do,

I create my characters appearance, then stare at them for the next 2 hours repeating names in my head until one seems to suit them

[C'kayah Polaali]

Not in Final Fantasy, no. My main character in Eve Online, however, was named for her intended profession: Shintoko, which is a sort of basket, and she was intended to be a smuggler.

[Arcian]

To the best of my knowledge, martel is an archaic French word for hammer, and Martell is the Germanic variant.

 

Arcian is someone who leaders point at things (or people) who need to be beaten down; a blunt instrument.

 

A hammer, if you will.

[Aya]

To the best of my knowledge, martel is an archaic French word for hammer, and Martell is the Germanic variant.

 

Arcian is someone who leaders point at things (or people) who need to be beaten down; a blunt instrument.

 

A hammer, if you will.

Martel was Frankish for 'Hammer'!  And a wonderfully evocative word.  Malleus Garlearum (we can only hope!)

 

Highlanders often carry epithets, and Aya is no exception.  'Foxheart' is not a surname, but is one that was given to her (by 'Wolves') for who she is

[Arcian]

Martel was Frankish for 'Hammer'!  And a wonderfully evocative word.  Malleo Garleaum (we can only hope!)

 

Highlanders often carry epithets, and Aya is no exception.  'Foxheart' is not a surname, but is one that was given to her (by 'Wolves') for who she is

 

Oh, good, I wasn't totally off the mark then.

 

As for epithets, Arcian has one of those...or had. She ended up discarding it after she left the Resistance, as it was evocative of someone she didn't want to be anymore.

 

Besides, 'Spinebreaker' carries some unfortunate connotations if you're trying to make a positive impression.

[Michaux]

Solenne is a Breton name meaning "solemn." I chose it for the irony - Solenne is anything but solemn 99% of the time. Lagarde is an Old French name that I chose mainly because I liked the sound of it. It means something along the lines of "protection."

[Oli!]

"Adalhaid" is a combination of Adal- and a variant spelling of -Heid, which together roughly mean "of a kind/noble sort/appearance."

 

I wasn't specifically shooting for that when I went name-hunting, but I liked the sound of it, and it fit her intended personality.

[ɴᴘᴄ]

In the sketch for an alt, I opted for a first name that I thought would denote a lower social station, perhaps in a convention not uncommon to a servant caste. The same treatment applied to the family name of the noble house she served, whose 'swallow-tailed spear' techniques brought them much repute as warriors.

[ZoktaiKhor]

Yes/no my mai ncharacter normally i used westernized name but then anyother character i take the naming conventions for the race and paisntackling find a way to describe the character with their name.

[SessionZero]

I suppose? Savage Mountain mostly adheres to Hellsguard Roegadyn naming conventions, and he's a big mofo, so I guess the Mountain part fits.

 

Reilan Orycia neither means anything to my knowledge, nor is lore appropriate for a Wildwood Elezen, so suck it I guess.

 

Celeste means "heavenly," and her goal is to be the Most Holy Knight Ever, so that fits in a sense. Her surname, Pelderain, I got from the in-game name generator.

[Manari]

Naming a character takes me hours. Even in Final Fantasy I where I have to name my whole party. I just sit there like it's the most important decision I'll make all year. (not to mention you only get 4 letters per name)

 

But no, Manari Onai means nothing. It's just a name I've used for MMO characters since FFXI that I've had to work into the lore by making it become a name she adopted to make it easier for non-Miqo'te to say her name.

[ProvaDiServo]

IIRC Shankara has multiple interpretations ranging form "Lord of the gods" to the "destroyer of doubts" it is another name they reference Shiva to, and given shiva is a primal, I chose Shankara.

 

Ananta normally is interpreted as Infinite or without end.

[Ciel]

I love messing with names and poking lore appropriateness (is that a word?)at the same time. Prior to her bonding ceremony, Ciel's maiden name was Sauveterre which is basically "Safe Haven". So her full name: Heaven ('s) Safe Haven.

 

My other alt, also Elezen, deviates slightly if only to get his name to play out right, translating to "Silent Ice". There are background reasons for his name.

[Bearclaw]

I just looked around my room and saw my half-eaten breakfast bearclaw danish and named myself after that. Better than stapler I guess.

 

Saga just because it was an old norse girls name I liked that still has modern usage as a word.

 

Dragoon got named after my favorite character in Wakfu, Evangelyne and a video game I liked a lot, Recettear.

 

Seseto Seto was just named after Seto Kaiba because that's her gimmick.

[Jancis]

My other alt, also Elezen, deviates slightly if only to get his name to play out right, translating to "Silent Ice". There are background reasons for his name.

 

Ciel's Voice is a Sanctum of sorts :blush:.

 

Here's a meaningless "fact" is my first boyfriend always had characters named Glace. When I did Pern RP my greenrider character (Jana) was impressed to Green Glaceth. 'cause I loved him and stuffs. :love: 

 

Jancis' name has a few meanings. 

 

Dissecting it through Europe's long history it comes from "Joy" and "Freedom" which are two key points to Jancis' persona where she's joyous at the chance to break free from the servitude life she was kept in and values that, practices it.

 

While it's listed as a girl's name, it's fairly androgynous which helps with awkward situations on expectations. 

 

It was a minor character in the series of Pern that again is an influence to Jancis and I have a paraphrased story in-game where Jancis canon chooses it. A strict and molded smith, she falls in love with a harper and helps discover the unexplored Southern Continent and a device that eventually changes the face of Pern.

 

Milburga is from Saint Mildburh, another spelling variation, who was known for her healing powers, humility, and generosity.

 

I sat here for a long time thinking about it. :blush:

[Shoshopu]

Shoshopu was going to be Kukuni Kuni in remembrance of my SMN sensei in FFXI, Kunitetsu, but the name was already taken so I just hit the randomizer until I found one that sounded nice.

 

All my alts, though, are Sea Wolves, so naturally their names all mean something.

 

Awyrbyrt's is pretty on the nose. It means "Absent Axe". That immediately made his warrior father Fyrilsunn pretty bitter (because it wasn't his fault at all that he wasn't in Byrt's life at all) but from the outset I've been trying to make Byrt as embarrassing/upsetting to Fyrilsunn as possible for lols and feels, respectively. But Byrt tries his best.

 

Dyrstswys means "Thirsty Sister" and she was originally going to just be a joke character that I'd ogle roegadyn dudes with (not that I don't do that on Shopu already, but it's all OOC there). She quickly oops'd into a serious character and though I RP with her, it's rarely in public. Mostly just self-contained story stuff. Her older sister Merlgeim ("blue jewel") just has blue eyes that are pretty, whatever, no story there.

 

And Lahzlona ("salmon gatherer") is from a fishing family. She doesn't get out much.

[Caspar]

I took the syllables Vira from an old D&D character I made. I then made it follow lalafell naming scheme, substituting her epithet for the last name (because its kind of a no brainer) to differentiate my non RP character from her.

 

I thought of ways to adopt the name to RP, so I guess it was in reverse with me, in that I took a piece from the old name and gave it IC meaning. 

 

To my knowledge Virara doesn't appear in the random generator. I explained this as being the result of her Master not knowing much about Lala names and stringing together uncommonly used syllables to make a rough facsimile of an appropriate name. It should sound odd to most, especially since Virara doesn't use her full name.

 

The word Wakuwa was derived from the okinawan word for pig, as it was her name for a long while before she was properly considered a sentient being by her Master.

 

The characters I make and use typically have meaningful names but I went backwards this time. The naming of NPC i use likewise is usually meaningful.

[V'aleera]

My Doman's name is Kanshi Quickfinger. Her public face is that of a traveling minstrel and adventurer, her favored tool of song being a string instrument. Ostensibly, this epithet describes her musical talent.

 

Her true identity is that of a shinobi particularly skilled at infiltration, sabotage, and other covert arts requiring acute finesse, resulting in her field designation being "Hayabu". This can literally translate to "fast finger" when spelled with the appropriate kanji.

[Neki]

Neki's first name can be a play on the Japanese word neko which means cat while her last name, Nurai is Kazakh for moonlight.

 

It took me many hours to make her name since I love to use names that has some sort of meaning to the character. Though I would like to note I don't know Kazakh I just found a Yahoo post about someone asking for Arabic names meaning sun or moon then I found it there and loved it since! 

[Braise]

I named my alt (Au'ra lady) Hikaru Mizuki.

It's Japanese for "Shining" and "Beautiful Moon", so said the baby names and meanings website.

[Edda]

I am all about this. In fact, I am probably about it too much. The hardest part of any game for me is the "name your character screen," by far. I go HAM with this stuff, and I won't rest until each name makes sense in the ways I find most pleasing.

 

To start, I chose the family name Eglantine for a variety of different reasons. Tracing the word back far enough will bring you to the Latin root word acus, which can translate to thorny, spiny, or needle. Needle I liked, as it fits with the family's most public and prided profession, weaving.

 

On top of that, Eglantine is another name for the sweet briar flower. Having grown up with a mother that is quite the botanist due to her profession, I have a great love of the scientific names for plants and the language of flowers. In fact, the entirety of Edda's family is built around that. The sweet briar (it's a wild rose) translates to both "poetry" and "a wound to heal." The second meaning I like quite a bit, as it fits with the tone of Edda's family, as well as the character herself - in many different ways, depending on how you look at it! There's like two other small reasons I chose this name but I'm already gushing.

 

For the name Edda, I've been using that as my go-to healer name since I first started playing MMOs. Thankfully, it fits, but I would also be lying if I said the character wasn't somewhat built around the name... The name itself has many different meanings depending on which part of Europe you trace it to. "Great-grandmother," "with clear goals," "noble," "inheritance," and "poetic" are the most common. It fits! It really fits. And yes, if you were choosy her name could basically translate to "Poetic Poetry." Intentional, believe it or not.

 

The thought and care I put into this crap also extends towards Edda's NPC family as well. Eamon, her father, essentially means "wealthy protector." His first-born son Esmond, means "graceful protector." Aaaaand etc for the entire family...  All whilst confining myself to 'E' names. I have a problem.

 

Fun Fact: Because I love fleshing out kooky families, each child born into the family receives a "true name" on their 16th nameday (because fuck if the initials E.E. don't get confusing on the family tree) that acts as their confidential middle name. All of said names are - you guessed it - the names of flowers/plants, and are given to suit the nature of the person, or the parent's hopes for them. Edda's begins with an M! I wonder what it could be...

 

I wrote a lot. I told you I went HAM.

[111]

I chose Evangeline because it sounded classy.

 

 

Primrose was taken from the Victorian 'Language of Flowers' and has several often contradictory meanings that tend to fit her character quite nicely. 

 

Young Love, Inconstancy, Confidence and  Unpatronized merit.

[Capheira]

I actually put a lot of thought into my naming conventions, also.

 

Though not technically her birthname as a Highlander, Odette's name is a combination of french and gaelic.

 

In French the meaning of the name Odette is "Wealthy". In Anglo-Saxon the meaning of the name Odette is: "Little wealthy one". I have also heard it referenced as "Heroine". Her (unmentioned) middle name, Chauntea, is also French and means "Song". Her chosen surname is Saoirse, which is actually an Irish and Scottish given name meaning "freedom" or "liberty". Quite fitting for a character who venerates liberty, spent her years sailing and ended up as a bard. 

 

I also named her chocobo with the same idea in mind (and yes, I dyed it brown!):  

 

BAYARD: Old French name derived from the word baie, meaning "reddish brown" or "bright bay color." In medieval romances, this was the name of a magic horse from the legends of the chansons de geste ("Songs of Heroic Deeds") which was given to Renaud by Charlemagne. It belonged to the four sons of Aymon, and had the ability to grow larger or smaller as one or more riders mounted it. According to tradition, one of its foot-prints may still be seen in the forest of Soignes, and another on a rock near Dinant.

[rainichan]

Haaaahahahahahahaha yes. Most of the time, at least. For Rivienne and Lune, the character name generator gave me the names (or in Lune's case, her last name since I was blanking on that) for them. Lune is a French derivation of the word Luna, meaning 'moon'. I can't find a meaning for Rivienne.

 

My main character, Alair: her name means happy, cheerful, merry. Her last name is made up (as far as I know at least) and she was actually named for an old OC of mine who made potions and was pretty cheerful. IC she does love everyone and is pretty happy, so that works.

 

Ness's last name means "forest hill" (going off of the auri naming conventions for first/last names) though she's just an import of a character I've had before, as is Karima. Ejinn of course is one of the Xaela tribes, and is Karima's last name. 'rima's name, depending on which meaning you go with (Arabic or Muslim) can mean generous, noble, precious. Ness also has multiple meanings depending on where you look. 'From the Headland' is the Scottish version, and the Hebrew meaning is miracle, magic, wonder. Old Irish says the name means gentle, so... lots of meanings there.

 

Caelia Silverarch actually has a connected meaning! She's an imported OC much like Alair, and I distinctly remember making sure the name made sense with meaning. Caelia means 'heavenly', and so paired with her last name... 'heavenly silver arch.'

 

Sometimes I just RNG the name, but 9 times out of 10 I'll give it a meaning of some sort. I get pretty serious when I do name meanings; first D&D character I ever made, I spent like three hours trying to get an actual name with meaning for my character and refused to finalize her until I did. NAMES ARE SRS BSNS.