Post by Arathanar
Whether you RP or not, your name is a large part of people will interact with your character. Independent of whether I'm playing on Blackrock or Wyrmrest Accord, if I see a character with a name that breaks the general policy, I'm going to think less of him or her.
Disclaimer: To give your character a last name, nickname, title, or prefix, you will need an addon called FlagRSP or another called MyRoleplay. Both can be found on Curse, and are fully updated for Patch 3.0.9.
As Queggy has helpfully pointed out, there are some things you CAN NOT DO.
- Unnecessary Xs in your name, for example, are a no-no. Furbolgs (if you want to RP one, which you can, and not just in Ashenvale, as of 3.1) tend to have them in their names, as do Etherials, but just lumping them on the front or end of you name is terrible.
Real-world names. This is a big one. Legolas is the big example, but I've seen a disturbing amount of Aragarns, Gimlees, Aanakins, and other misspellings of names from popular movies or literature. Using a similar name is okay, like Flimli, but you would really do better to come up with your own.
Lore character names. This is sort of an extension on real-world names, and a simple one at that: don't name your character Illydan, Arthass, Malfurrion, or after any other character name. HOWEVER, using the last name of minor NPCs, or major NPCs in tribal cultures (such as Tauren) as part of your character is an awesome way to flesh out your character. More on this later.
Names that are actually a phrase that describes your character. I see this one WAY too much. Names like Coolkiller, Naturebeast, Furywarrior, and others are taboo. However, SOME of these names would be appropriate as a last name for certain races. More on that later.
Now, that still leaves a fairly large amount of leeway in what to name your character. As long as you don't do anything above, you can't get in trouble for your name, though RP prudes (such as myself, I won't lie) may raise their eyebrows at you depending on your choices.
We'll break it down by race.
HumanHumans can be rather difficult, as they use names from our society, such as John, Tom, Emily, and other "normal" names. The problem with this is that 90% of the time, most of these names were taken in the first two hours of the server's existence.
This is why you will need to do something that will make you loose points on the
Mary Sue test: alternate spellings of common names. The best way to do this is to add syllables onto your name. John becomes Johnous. Emily become Emilia. Tom becomes Tomadus. Ben becomes Benadin. It's not an exact science, but, then again, none of these names are.
Thankfully, human last names are much easier. Take your class or profession, which, for the sake of example, we'll say is a Paladin, and find an adjective or noun to go with it. The obvious one here is Light. Then, take another noun from their lifestyle, and attach the two. Since our paladin will be protection, he often wears a heavy helm. Lighthelm is nice last name. Other names for our Protadin could be Brightguard, Holyshield, or Pureblock. A
thesaurus is VERY helpful here.
DwarfAh. Dwarves. One of the easier races to name, the only difficulty is keeping your name from sounding like that of an Orc. What I mean by this is that Dwarven first names are often composed of deep vowels and rough consonants. For example, Brahgg. Pretty much all the sound in the name will come from the bottom of your throat.
To create a dwarven name, simply take a "rough" consonant or combination of consonants, such as Br, Dr, G, Gr, R, D, K, Kr, or several others, and add a deep vowel to it (to obviously deepen a vowel, add an H after it). Just continue this pattern until you get a nice name. When making a dwarf name, the less your lips move and the more you tongue curves when you say it, the better.
Last names are extremely easy. Like with humans, take an adjective to do with the dwarf's class, or "dwarfy" things, such as forging, metal, mining, hunting, etc., and add it to a body part. For example, a dwarf rogue might be Shadowarm. Generic names could be Steeltoe, Boulderfoot, Hammerback, or Stoutnose.
GnomeGnomes are interesting. Their first names are downright fun to say, mainly because their full first name reads like a shortened human name, making liberal use of "ie", such as in Bixie.
Start with a consonant: this one should be a fairly well used consonant, such as B, M, or D. Then add an I, an E, or an O. Us and As are rather unused in Gnomish names. Next, an underused consonant, like X, Z, or V. Then, either continue the cycle, or add "y" or "ie". When adding Y, double the last consonant you used, like so: Dozie or Dozzy, but not Dozy. Y is generally more masculine, as is simply chopping off the "ie" or "y", but with gnomish names it really goes wither way.
The last names are equally odd. Like with dwarves, all gnomish names have a central theme: engineering. The first word should be a mixture of your class and engineering, whereas the second name should be completely engineering based. A gnome mage could be Firesprocket. A warlock could be Feltoggle. A warrior could be Bladepipe. You get the idea.
Night ElfNight Elves are the exact opposite of dwarves. The first name should use as many soft consonants as possible. Night Elves aren't pretty princesses, however, as they live rather wildly, but still, none of the syllables should feel rough or forced. Consonants with R are pretty uncommon. Extensive use of L is definitely a good thing. Lefelia would be a good Night Elf name.
Last names are, again, class and racial theme. In this case, it's nature. A night elf priest (remember, they worship Elune, not the Light) could be Moonleaf, a hunter could be Beastvine, and a druid could be Lifetree.
DraeneiDraenei are hard, but this is countered by their lack of surnames. Vowel + I combinations are the cornerstone of draenei names. Ai, Ei, Oi, Ui are all good things to use. Double O sounds, or plain Us, are also great. Double vowels excluding ee (Maadun, Kiidar, Vuudos) are also proper.
This section is so short because we know very little about Draenei names. They vary wildly, and there aren't as many known Draenei words as we'd like.