name already taken

seriously its disappointing trying to find a name for your character but cant use it whats the deal with it?me and my neighbor share the same name in real life why we cannot in a fantasy world?

Just add special characters to it. Also gives it more style ;)https://tools.oratory.com/altcodes.html

@jihm.2315 said:seriously its disappointing trying to find a name for your character but cant use it whats the deal with it?me and my neighbor share the same name in real life why we cannot in a fantasy world?

If you're trying Jihm and it's taken, you know you can use last names too.

Jihm Douglas

Lots of reasons why, but the main ones are names identify individual characters.Mail woudnt work if there were multiple characters with the same name .The TP wouldnt work as it couldnt send items or money to characters if there were more than 1 with the same name.The chat system wouldnt work to name a few.

@mauried.5608 said:Lots of reasons why, but the main ones are names identify individual characters.Mail woudnt work if there were multiple characters with the same name .The TP wouldnt work as it couldnt send items or money to characters if there were more than 1 with the same name.The chat system wouldnt work to name a few.

Both mail and TP actually use your account name not your character name. And the account name is unique (the appended .XXXX after the name).

Now to the OP. I wonder what is the name that is already taken? Can you share it?

What if you don't know the Display Name? What if you wish to mail items to a character name? If several characters had the same name, it would, indeed, be difficult to use the Mail feature. Same with Whispers. Or inviting to a Guild.

Edited cuz I was evidently near-asleep when first posted.

If they allowed you to choose any name, they'd basically be removing it altogether, since it'd only be displayed cosmetically like a title. Wherever your name mattered, like chat, they'd have to show your display name instead and whenever they did show your name, it'd have to be followed by your display name.

Please no special chars, I hate it so see people have names like "Name", "Nàme", "Náme", "Nâme", "Nāme", "Nãme", "Näme", "Nâme", "Namė", "Namé", "Namë", "Namè", "Namé", "Namê", "Námé", "Ñame", "Ńame", "Ñãmè" (I guess you'll get it now).

@Galmac.4680 said:Please no special chars, I hate it so see people have names like "Name", "Nàme", "Náme", "Nâme", "Nāme", "Nãme", "Näme", "Nâme", "Namė", "Namé", "Namë", "Namè", "Namé", "Namê", "Námé", "Ñame", "Ńame", "Ñãmè" (I guess you'll get it now).

I like it because while I'm not full of myself (as I know I'm not great), I feel glad to know I can at least come up (for the most part) with an original name that I have never had it ever come up as taken except when I was making lame characters during PoF beta/demo weekends/days when I wanted to try out new classes out and their elites.

I was not surprised Relevant Revenant was taken.

I don't fully understand it, but I think it's basically the same as being unable to have 2 files with the same name in a folder. Computers just don't cope well with things having the same name. (It's the same with email addresses at my work, so we end up with things like Adam.Smith@ and AdamC.Smith@.

Unfortunately there's nothing you can do except come up with a different name. Here's some suggestions on ways to change it (rather than starting completely from scratch), they won't all work for all names, but I'm sure at least 1 will.

• Change the spelling - e.g. Thomas to Tomas.
• Use special (accented) characters. Anel to Anél.
• Add a last name (if you're not already aware you can put spaces in names) eg. Thomas to Thomas Ash. (Or add a 2nd first name - Sarah to Sarah Jane, split a made up name into 2 words etc.)
• Add a title - Lord Thomas. Uncia the Firesmith. Vanirar the Brave.
• If the name means something you could use different words that mean the same thing. E.G. Carlos Windwalker to Carlos Windstrider.
• Change the language. Maybe you want a sylvari called Holly and to fit the lore you use the Gaelic word Cuileann, but it's taken. So you change it to the Welsh Celyn.

I tend to find asuran names the hardest to come up with initially but also the easiest to change because you can pretty much just add/remove/rearrange letters freely. For example a while ago I decided the actress who voiced Moana - Auli'i Cravalho's first name could work for an asura (with the apostrophe taken out, since those aren't allowed). But Aulii was taken, as were the first few variants I tried. I ended up with Auuraii.

At the other extreme I think charr are the easiest because the lore appropriate format of pretty much anything as a first name combined with a two words 2nd name means there's literally thousands of combinations and it's pretty unlikely someone else will get the exact same one.

(But of course if you're not worried about the lore then they're all equal.)

As a general rule it's safe to assume any name you're taking from somewhere else is going to be taken. No matter how obscure you think the book/movie/game etc. is or how unpopular you believe that character to be. There are apparently 11 million GW2 accounts and it only needs 1 other person to have the same idea for the name to be taken. If you start from scratch creating an original name you're far more likely to find one which is available, although there are of course exceptions. But it's always a good idea to consider a few alternatives or have an idea of how you could change it when you go into the character creator so you don't get stuck.

So. you join a game that is 5 years in.. and can't get a generic common name.. and are somehow outraged and surprised by this.

Try a different name, someone else beat you to it.

ANet has already said, over 10 yrs ago during the original Guild Wars, that they will not purge names.There are already people that only played the first 6 months and are now just coming back and very happy their stuff and names of chars are just fine. We have had people that for various reasons could not play, aka military on deployment, for a year or longer and are extremely happy that they did not have to worry about their stuff going out of date or that their accounts being rendered useless by not having their chars still their with their names intact.

Problem is biggest with Asura. They have short names, meaning that when other races take short names as well, Asura sooner or later have to resort to weird names.

@jihm.2315 said:seriously its disappointing trying to find a name for your character but cant use it whats the deal with it?me and my neighbor share the same name in real life why we cannot in a fantasy world?

Just because you share the same First name, does not mean you share the same name, it means you share a part of your name, as I am sure you both don't have the same First, Middle and Last name.

@STIHL.2489 said:

@jihm.2315 said:seriously its disappointing trying to find a name for your character but cant use it whats the deal with it?me and my neighbor share the same name in real life why we cannot in a fantasy world?

Middle I can see, but I did know 2 guys in my High School. One was named Michael Jordan and one was Michael Jackson.

Alt letters has already been suggested. If that's not your thing, Thesaurus' was made for this. And yet there's also other languages, baby books (don't knock it), and much more. Sometimes you can get that right name, or if you must have a particular name the make a proxy to get the name right or if you have transformation kits just get the name first and then make the look you want.

@jihm.2315 said:seriously its disappointing trying to find a name for your character but cant use it whats the deal with it?me and my neighbor share the same name in real life why we cannot in a fantasy world?

Makes it hard to message, block, or single out a specific character if multiple people have the exact same names.

My wife works with another person with her name as well; albeit different race, 6" in height, and IT vs Material Management. They get emails meant for each other several times a month, some of them confidential.

You need to be more creative. You could use accents, but its a cop out imo and looks bad.

@Ayumi Spender.1082 said:

@Galmac.4680 said:Please no special chars, I hate it so see people have names like "Name", "Nàme", "Náme", "Nâme", "Nāme", "Nãme", "Näme", "Nâme", "Namė", "Namé", "Namë", "Namè", "Namé", "Namê", "Námé", "Ñame", "Ńame", "Ñãmè" (I guess you'll get it now).

My lame-o characters in the HoT/PoF demos were always something like "Super Duper Demo Guy"

@Ayumi Spender.1082 said:

@Galmac.4680 said:Please no special chars, I hate it so see people have names like "Name", "Nàme", "Náme", "Nâme", "Nāme", "Nãme", "Näme", "Nâme", "Namė", "Namé", "Namë", "Namè", "Namé", "Namê", "Námé", "Ñame", "Ńame", "Ñãmè" (I guess you'll get it now).

What about Irreverent Revenant?

@PyrateSilly.4710 said:ANet has already said, over 10 yrs ago during the original Guild Wars, that they will not purge names.There are already people that only played the first 6 months and are now just coming back and very happy their stuff and names of chars are just fine. We have had people that for various reasons could not play, aka military on deployment, for a year or longer and are extremely happy that they did not have to worry about their stuff going out of date or that their accounts being rendered useless by not having their chars still their with their names intact.

The OP did not ask for any names to be purged, changed or removed. It's a common suggestion but not what's been requested here. They were simply asking why it's not possible to have 2 characters with the same name.

In real life you can have two people with the exact same name. Same first, middle and last names, all with the same spelling. No one will stop you. (Although if you do it deliberately people might find it a bit weird.) But it can cause all kinds of problems with people and computer systems mixing them up. It was bad enough when I was in school and there were 3 other Katy/ie's in my year, and we all had different last names.

But in games, on internet forums, email providers, pretty much anything computer related you can't do that - you have to have a totally unique username (or other ID) because computers can't handle duplicates. There's ways around that, but none I know of that work for both computers and people. For example it could add a random number after the name, like it does for account names, but that would look a complete mess. It could add the number but make it invisible so the name looks normal. But then how do you know which Legolas you want to send mail to? They could disable typing a name into mail, party invites, guild invites etc, so you have to right-click them (and it's pretty unlikely you'd be talking to 2 people with the same name at the same time) but that would be a really annoying change just to accommodate the times someone can't come up with an original name.

It's also pretty unlikely Anet are going to change how character names work now, when the game has been out for 5 years. If nothing else they'd probably get a lot of people complaining that they now have to buy a name change contract to get the name they wanted originally. So all we can do is find ways to work with the system we have, and come up with good names that aren't taken.

try to get the alternate name in other language. say if you want jesus and it is taken, you can either take isa (arabic) or gesu (italian).

When that happens. Ether use number characters. Like instead of E use 3. Instead of I use 1. Instead of O use the number zero. Or phonetically spell it out. Or use the Hebrew or Greek name of your name. Or use a nickname of your name. There’s many ways to make your name. Just like spongebob said. ”imaaaaginaaation.” You got this.

@Healix.5819 said:If they allowed you to choose any name, they'd basically be removing it altogether, since it'd only be displayed cosmetically like a title. Wherever your name mattered, like chat, they'd have to show your display name instead and whenever they did show your name, it'd have to be followed by your display name.

The latter is what Cryptic does in CO, STO and NWO (e.g., character name Hammerfist on account RoverMind would appear as Hammerfist@RoverMind in chat). It works there. My guess, though, is that type of system would work best if designed that way from the ground up.

@IndigoSundown.5419 said:

@Healix.5819 said:If they allowed you to choose any name, they'd basically be removing it altogether, since it'd only be displayed cosmetically like a title. Wherever your name mattered, like chat, they'd have to show your display name instead and whenever they did show your name, it'd have to be followed by your display name.

But then everyone would have to remember and/or type out those full names. Right now, I can type /invite healix or /join indigo sundown without knowing an account name. The policy of unique names only seems simpler to me in the long run, even though it also means I have to spend more time being creative about names.

That last point is a bit of sweet & sour: on the downside, I have to spend time considering names before I create a new toon. On the upside, there's a certain amount of fun in being able to come up with something that isn't in use by any of the 15 million existing characters

My apologies for using a "made up number". I used ANet's "5 million accounts" announcement from years ago and lowballed the number of toons/account &mdash, just to provide some sort of reasonable scale of the concern raised by the OP. The actual number of characters in the game is probably closer to 50 or 150 million.