Paying Homage-Character Naming Ideas

One of the questions I get asked the most in WoW is "Where do you come up with your character names?".

The most accurate answer would be: I don't.

I'm just more subtle than most people about it.

Running around on an RP server, I've seen plenty of different names. Some good, some weird, some bad. We really don't need more characters named some variation of Aragorn or Legolas. Not much creativity associated with those, and it's pretty obvious what the source is. A quick search of, say, Earendil, also pulls up a ton of names. So, Lord of the Rings names appear to be pretty common.

Of course, some of these names might be brought up by the Random generator as well. There is someone on my server whose character is named "Gehn", who had no awareness that Gehn was the main villain of the game Riven.

However, I usually don't use something that's actually a name. I tend to go dig up the roots, throw them together in a way I like, or just use one word.

For example, I recently got my baby hunter Curu (whose name means "skill" in Quenya) a new pet. A wind serpent. After digging around for a while, I decided on "Abiik", which in Mando'a means "air". Rather appropriate for that pet.

Overall, for names, a more popular source makes it more likely that you'll have to dig to find a unique name. A quick search of the Daedric Lord Malacath in the Armory brings up over a hundred hits, as there is a quest involving him in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Trinimac, the character who became Malacath, brings up eight.

But, I've always found a certain fun in finding a fitting and unusual name for my characters.

Some sites to look at for ideas:

Wookipedia's Mando'a Page
Karen Traviss on Mando'a
D'ni Linguistic Fellowship
UESP Wiki: Ayleid
UESP Wiki: Ehlnofex
Quenya Wordlists

Dear Sentinels

Sentinels,

The problem with our roleplay is the roleplayers. I have never seen a raider going around causing trouble and randomly insulting people, but I have seen it from several people wearing the tags of major RP guilds over their heads.

I've also noticed that the major RP guilds seem to have no interest in the quality of their members. Completely anonymous alts of all things? And if you take people who run around saying they're the brother/secretary/lover/right hand of Kael'thas/Illidan/Sylvanas and then throw a little godmod fit of "I'm so important, so you're arrested now" fit when they're contradicted, why do you think you're such an authority on how to RP better?

Also, why is it so offensive for me to show up at an event in my raiding gear? It matches.

~The rogue/tired old soldier who is too busy fighting the Scourge to care much about your emo/new partner every week belf soap opera.