Fashion is nice but what about your naming skills?

[Mouse.7382]

Coffee - Asura Mesmer: Because coffee is the nectar of life.

Mouse - Asura Ranger: Because he is small.

[Aru.4156]

Personally, I like names that sound like they fit the Tyrian name lore even if they're not actual names :P As a Sylvari player, I've got many Sylvari who have names that aren't actual names/words but they appear close enough so I'm passing them off as okay. I quite like them though! And silly names are pretty neat so long as they're appropriate. There have been many that give me a bit of a laugh and I love that.

As examples of some of my Sylvari though, here's a few names:

Caertryn (Male Sylvari Revenant) - Probably the only name I have with even a remotely celtic origin word in it. Took the 'Caer' part from 'Caer Aval' in the game because I quite liked how it sounds.Ayrtwyn (Male Sylvari Guardian) - Also made up, but it seems like it passes? I find these two names to be rather pretty.Mavyl (Female Sylvari Elementalist) - The only name I didn't have to shove extra letters into/scramble the letters because I was pleasantly surprised to find this name wasn't taken. Just liked the sound of it. Was originally gonna go with 'Maryl' but my handwritinng made the r look like a v and I ended up liking that more.Klliyn (Male Sylvari Ranger) - Literally just typed in a bunch of letters until it worked/I thought it seemed ok. Bit of a funky name, esp when his Sylvan hound is named Fynin but meh. What works, works.A few other names I have that I won't go into are Elrylle, iltria, and Rublu. (wrote Iltria with a lower case i there even though it's supposed to be capital bc the capital i and lower case l look identical. :/ It's il, not ll)

My main, male Sylvari thief, is Satiru which I quite love but it isn't as fitting/Sylvari naming lore appropriate due to me creating this toon as my first introduction to GW2. Nonetheless, I quite like it, but pronouncing it in English sadly makes it less elegant and more harsh-sounding that I thought it would. Still my fav name though

[Akari Storm.6809]

My name game is and has always been trash. I also tend to use the same names across many different games, at least the base characters I create and then branch out from there. I grab names from literature, comics, t.v. and movies, other games and mythologies from every culture. I have characters with titles in their name. So unoriginal I am.

Just a few I guess:Pax Payne- Charr engie whose kits are called packs, and is also a verb that delivers pain. Originally dual wielded pistols and is based of a detective named Max. Kind of a walking entendre.Feydakin Broly- Charr warrior ofc- Just a fan of Dune and Dragonball.

Tomax Amot- Human thief whose name is spelled the same backwards and forward. Worships Lyssa, so copied pasted from G.I. Joe's Crimson Guard.Laeddis Dom- Human rev, general nod to Leonardo DiCaprio who was the rev mauled by a bear, Laeddis in Shutter Island and Dom in Inception.

Lor Danas- A name I use in every game...based off a name I always liked Elora Danan from the movie Willow. Here, he's a sylvari guard.

List is too long, but you get the jist...name game is weak.

[Danikat.8537]

@"Fenom.9457" said:OP, how do you know that information? I’d love to put such meaning in my names, but what do you do? Search every language’s meaning of whatever word you want until you find one that sounds good? It would just take so long

I'm not the OP but I do give my characters meaningful names. There's three ways I do it:

1) Google translate. Pick a word which describes the character and a language I think would be appropriate (or just look good), put it into the translator and pick from the suggestions. If nothing looks right I'll change the word slightly and try again. It helps to have some understanding of the other language to avoid words which sort-of mean the same thing but don't work in context. (Like the story about some celebrity who asked for a tattoo which says "mysterious" in Chinese and ended up with one which would be translated back as "weird".)

2) Trawling Wikipedia for suitable words. This one obviously takes a bit longer - look up something related to the character and read through the sections on the history, discovery/invention, etymology etc. (which sections there are obviously depends on what you're looking up) and follow links to related articles, keeping going until you find something or hit a dead end. That's how I found the old Irish word 'bethe' for birch, which became the basis for a name for one of my sylvari.

3) Looking out for good words in your everyday life. This one obviously takes more time and effort and is unpredictable, but since I'm always making characters for something or other it's worth doing for me. I'll literally just look out for words I like the sound of and try to remember them (or even write them down) for possible future character names. They could come from anywhere, a presentation I hear at work, an article I'm reading, an advert...

However you do it I recommend a quick internet search for your choice just to see what comes up. I once picked what I thought was just an old Welsh name no one would know, then found out it's used in another game and literally everyone who said anything about it assumed I was a massive fan of that character and was confused that my character was nothing like him. (Then there's the story I heard today - a manga writer combined what he thought were random real-world first and last names for a character, happened to end up with the name of a genocidal dictator he wasn't aware of and got accused of being a facist and endorsing the guys views.)

[Fundor.2098]

Asura:

Lèonn - A simple name for an elementalist, that follows the asuran naming standards. There's also slight similarity to one of my own names.

Vrekk - The name of my engineer. It too follows the asuran naming standards and has a funny similarity to the word "wreck," which I think is fitting for an engineer in this game.

-

Norn:

I've picked my norn names from the Norse Mythology, which is one of the sources of inspiration behind the norn race.

Odin Ravensight - A norn elementalist, who's been blessed by the Raven Spirit. Odin is the king of the gods in Norse mythology, a god of magic and wisdom among other things. He's known for having two ravens as his information gatherers - Huginn and Muninn.

Freyja Ravensight - Freyja is also a name of a Norse goddess, though her connection to love, beauty and fertility doesn't have that much to do with my character's necromancy. Ravensight for her connection to Raven. This character is themed as a raven shaman.

Thor Skaldson - My revenant, who wields the Mjölnir hammer and dual Bolts most of the time. Skaldson indicates towards his profession - Skalds sing poems and speak of legends - and a revenant channels the legends of the Mists to aid them in battle. Thor is the Norse god of lightning, who wields the mighty hammer Mjölnir.

Fenrir Hodurkin - A wolf-blessed thief. Fenrir is the giant wolf of the Norse mythology - a son of Loki, the trickster god. Hodur is a blind god of winter and darkness, a son of Odin and Frigg.

-

Sylvari:

Léthoniel - A mesmer, whose name is again slightly similar to one of my own. Sylvari don't usually have surnames, and the name would easily fit an elven character, which is the original inspiration behind the sylvari.

-

Charr:

Lycan Shadeclaw - A necromancer, whose name follows the Charr naming standards. Lycan refers to werewolves - a nod to the bestial appearance of the charr, even though they are basically cat-like creatures, rather than wolves. He's a part of the Claw Warband, and "shade" refers to him being a necromancer.

-

Human:

Leon Fúndor - The first name has a slight similarity to one of my own, whereas the surname is taken from Christopher Paolini's book "Eragon," where Fundor is briefly mentioned as a dragon from Alagaesia's history.

Lucan Fúndor - The first name was chosen, because I just happen to like it, and the surname was already explained. 😄

Edited January 9, 2022 by Fundor.2098

[b k.1648]

@BigBragg.8354 said:Fatal Dark - NecromancerBee N Tea - RangerDjinn Ji Nier - EngineerThe Book Doctor - GuardianOoffie - ElementalistVapid Pastiche - ThiefSvart Vreid - Revenant

These are the best names ever created in the history of all naming. Let your hearts fill with envy and wonder at the greatness before you. Though you may never reach such heights, go forth and be inspired!

;)

Vapid Pastiche certainly is up there, especially in the context of this thread. Well done.

[Shena Fu.5792]

Most toons are based on my favorite female idols and singers. Hamtasy, Lupin Kara Five, Vivina Jademeid, Magikei Futse, Hyorisana Sama.

Some names are racy, so I'll omit them here.

Some are Cantonese, sometimes funny. Yamahn Yamou, Diu Baau, Fai Di Sei, Fei Maa, Zin Dau.

A few names refer to my favorite MMO ever--Asheron's Call 2 (aka AC2). Still to this day to me, the most memorable and most immersive experience. So these following toons have backstory related to AC2.

Shena Fu - Female Human Ranger

Shena'Fu was my female archer in AC2. Archery and trajectories in general, is probably the most well done, smoothly animated, engaging in AC2 than any other game. Arrows had different speeds depending on the skill used. I remember an opening combo where I would start with the slowest moving arrow, then a normal speed arrow, and finally an arrow skill that was instant. I perfectly timed it so they all made impact at the target at the same exact moment--this made it dififcult for mobs to evade the 3-hit combo.

Hence AC2 made me fall in love with Archer classes. So much that in any game with archers or the like, I dub her Shena'Fu (as is my GW2 ranger, except GW2 won't allow apostrophe). Unfortunately, no game yet has lived up to my expectations of archery game play as AC2.

GW2 disappoints me, that I don't like any of the bow skill sets.

Lugwrench Ashtactic - Male Charr Engineer

This name is the most synergistic as you can get.

Ashtactic sounds very Charrish. Ash is one of the Charr legions. It could also be short for Asheron's Call 2.

Tactic is homage to AC2's Tactician class, which has some semblance to GW2's Engineer. It was one of the most original, creative classes at the time. Tactics set up immobile turrets that automatically shoots at enemies. So it was perfect (and infamously so) for being the best soloing class while camping in one place. They could also build walls to protect the turrets and the party. Essentially Tacticians built mini-forts that devastated mobs. (On the contrary, Engineer turrets are a joke.)

Lugwrench is an actual tool. Lug is also short for Lugian, the only race in AC2 that can become Tacticians. Also be informed that Tacticians wielded wrenches as weapons unique to their class.

So within Lugwrench Ashtactic can be found four different parts of his name that subtly refer to AC2 in some way.

[TheLadyOfTheRings.9148]

I love the topic of names (onomastics is one of my hobbies), so of course my characters' names are very important to me :) My main criteria:

• A name that is original or at least not super popular;
• A name that fits/respects the game lore (e.g. asura and sylvari don't have "surnames" in the same way humans, norn or charr do);
• A name that has a meaning that fits the character, or that at least doesn't "crash" with the idea I have of the character (e.g. a character I envision being brute won't have a name that means "gentle");
• A name that belongs, as much as possible, to my character only (e.g. wouldn't choose Legolas or Wonder Woman because, well, this is my character, so she/he will have her/his own name).

[nomak.8693]

Iron Forgeman - engi (Charr) my oldest character. (7+ years old)Plaguewing - necro (Charr) will turn 7 in 40ish daysMarohi Erqi - war (Charr) same as abovePrecious Time - ranger (Sylvari) 5 years oldIzaro Phrecius - rev (Charr)Wonderland Dreams - ele (Human)Big Bad Oof - teef (Human) femaleRallybat - guard (Asura) looks like Batman xD

[Star Lightning.8246]

COOKIE THIEF (The Truly Nimble) title - human thiefLUMEN LENEX - Asura guradianSERRA ANGEL - - human firebrand (from Magic the Gathering card game)PANGOLIER - Charr war, (from DOTA2)CHILD OF HURIN - human ranger (LOTR)MASTER KAI CILIUS - human rev (from Dr Strange)

[Antycypator.9874]

My names are mostly original. What it means they're original? Created by me — non-existant, fantasy names, but sometimes I decide to name my character silly, just to fit their theme.Kelorth The Silent is a charr male thief. Kelorth was first used in one of my stories (I'm a writer). I was looking for a name for my brand new character 4 years ago, so I checked my old, abandoned texts. Kelorth was a dragon in my story, but I decided to gave this name an another life. I'm still proud of it and it's my main character. "Silent", because it refers to my personality + it fits the thief (currently Deadeye).Haraxcil Stardust is a sylvare male mesmer. I created this name in a Roleplay-story with one of my internet friends. Pretty good, I think. I like it.Gordan Fraeman. Guess what — it's almost like Gordon Freeman from Half Life. He's an engineer, dressed like a scientist. I wanted to cosplay Dr. Freeman.Sad Skyscale is a perfect example for silly name. I don't like asura, but I play every race. I'm so into Fashion Wars that I have literally pay to change the name (from Felsarin Lighteyed — he was a main character in my book, a dragon) so it fits the Dragon Theme. Also... I love skyscales. Why sad? I keep telling people my character was created in a lab by Gorrik.Arnold The Drunkard is a norn, but what I liked in his story was in character creations (what happened in a recent celebratory moot, the option with drinking).Ojciec Wirgiliusz (translated: Father Virgilius) is a human male elementalist. My guild was joking about christian priests so I created him.Kitku Nekromanta (translated: Kitty The Necromancer) is my latest character. I wanted my charr female to be cute because charr females are mostly cute. We call cats "kitku" because it's a meme.

[SexyMofo.8923]

Naming is ez.

[Obfuscate.6430]

Admittedly the only time I've felt a name didn't belong in the game was when it clearly broke the TOS and usually included a body function, body fluids, a derogatory term or any other derivative abuse meant to dodge filters.

My naming conventions vary; sometimes I want to stick to canon naming conventions, sometimes I want a certain amount of consonants and sometimes I just want to mess with people - like giving an asura a norn name, or a norn a sylvari name etc.

[mercury ranique.2170]

Almost all my names have some kind of title (e.g. Queen, or Lady) followed by Ranique.There are two important reasons.1: the GW2 reference is that Ranique is a posh way of saying Ranik, which is a well known fortress/outpost in GW1. The titles means they are royalty from that place.2: Ranique is sanskrit for "Singing Queen". I'm a big fan of Queen, and specifically Freddy Mercury and this way, it is hidden and incorporated in my names. Again the royalty titles are as well a wink to this (And yes, I know Queen Ranique means Queen singing Queen, which sounds a lot like ducky mcduckface.)

[Danikat.8537]

@"mercury ranique.2170" said:Almost all my names have some kind of title (e.g. Queen, or Lady) followed by Ranique.There are two important reasons.1: the GW2 reference is that Ranique is a posh way of saying Ranik, which is a well known fortress/outpost in GW1. The titles means they are royalty from that place.2: Ranique is sanskrit for "Singing Queen". I'm a big fan of Queen, and specifically Freddy Mercury and this way, it is hidden and incorporated in my names. Again the royalty titles are as well a wink to this (And yes, I know Queen Ranique means Queen singing Queen, which sounds a lot like ducky mcduckface.)

I do a similar thing with one of my character's name and title, but maybe a bit more vaguely. Her last name is Aurorel, which means 'dawn star' or 'star light' and then I use the 'Light in the Darkness' title which is a reference to the story step of the same name where the Pale Tree says you and Trehearne will become "guiding stars in the night". I think it's redundant and that's why I use it.

(If I'd remade another of my GW1 characters it would be even more so, because she's called Danika Aurorel and Danika, usually written Danica, means 'morning star'. I didn't know that when I picked it, but I have no regrets.)

[Ashantara.8731]

@"Danikat.8537" said:I may be misinterpreting it but your first paragraph comes across as very condescending [...]

That, plus the OP claiming to "properly name their characters" made me laugh when I saw they have given some of their non-human characters Asian names, a human character a Norse name etc. Totally out of place in my eyes. There are no Asura or Charr in Cantha as far as we know, and even if there were, they would have their own cultures and wouldn't have their names be influenced by the humans in the region. And the race with a Norse connection are the Norn, not the Tyrian humans. Also, mixing different languages in a single name appears rather unserious in my eyes as well for the world of Tyria. Just saying... everyone has their own definition of "proper naming".

[VAHNeunzehnsechundsiebzig.]

@"Rikimaru.7890" said:

1) Female Human ~~Meta~~ Necromancer - Shiki LilithShiki has many translation from japanese, I picked it for the one that means "Death Spirit."Lilith however is the name of the mythological first wife of Adam, who is said to be the mother of all demons. Lilith is often associated with "Lamia" who are often depicted as vampiric creatures, which in turn often depicts Lilith as the first vampire. So a fitting name for a female necromancer.

wrong name for the game. Or game for the name.

2) Male Charr Engineer - Kikanchou ByakkoKikanchou simply means "Chief Engineer" in japanese. Easy to understand why I picked that right?Byakko however means "White Tiger." Byakko is also one of the 4 symbols of the chinese constelations often called the White Tiger of the West. Since Charrs are "cats" it's a fitting name for a Charr.

as bad as the first one. No, wait, the first could be defended with 'Cantha'. This one can't.

3) Male Norn Warrior - Hrólfr RagnvaldssonNamed after Rollo Ragnvaldsson who was a Viking and first ruler of Normandy, Hrólfr is simply the old norse spelling of Rollo. Norn are in many aspects based on Vikings and their savage nature fits the Warrior class perfectly, hence his name fits both the race and profession at same time.

acceptable

4) Female Sylvari Ranger - Alseid ChrysopeleiaThis is probably one of my best if I say so myself. Although the name is more based on the race rather than profession, however Sylvari fit the Ranger profession the best since both relate to nature. But enough ranting.Alseid is a sub-species of Dryad i.e. Wood Nymphs. The Alseid are Nymphs of Groves - you get where I'm going with this right?Chrysopeleia was a Wood Nymph who's oak tree she dwelt in was in danger from a nearby river, she was rescued by Arcas who built a dam to protect it. For that she became his lover and bore him 2 children.

pass

5) Male Asura Mesmer - Rahu YuthapaAnother name based more on race than profession, however the mythological Asura have several powers that fit a Mesmer such as casting charms and possessing others.Rahu is the severed head of the the Asura Rahuketu who managed to drink the the nectar of Gods Amrita and thus became immortal, but before he could swallow it Vishnu cut his head off. However, it was too late as he was already immortal though now in 2 pieces, so his head became Rahu while his body became Ketu. Rahu is now a celestial body known to swallow the Sun on occasions thus causing eclipses.Yuthapa simply means "leader" or "to lead" in sanskrit, the Asura-Yuthapa are simply Asura leaders who command lesser Asura.

clashes so hard with asura lore in the game, it gives me a headache

6) Female Human ~~Meta~~ Elementalist - Youso MegamiProbably my least creative name, but still fitting.Youso means "Element," while Megami means "Goddess," so the full name simply means "Element Goddess."

another name that does not fit the lore of this game

7) Male Human ~~non-Meta~~ Guardian - Zhuge Liang WolongNamed after Zhuge Liang a famous Chinese politician, military strategist, writer, engineer and inventor, from the state of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period.Wolong however was his nickname which ment Crouching Dragon. Truth is I wanted to give him a slightly different name, as someone beat me to Zhuge Liang, but the alternative that I wanted to use required 20 characters while we can only use up to 19 :/ so maybe if ANET changes that I'll change the name then. But anyway if you want to know how awsome this person was then you can watch a really good movie from 2008 - 2009 titled "Red Cliff" however if you do then I advise you to watch the 2 part version which full length is nearly 5 hours in total.

another name that does not fit the lore of this game

8) Female Human ~~Meta~~ Revenant - Carman AptrgangrThis is also one of my best.Carman or Carmun was an evil warrior-woman and sorceress who invaded Ireland with her three sons, Dub (darkness), Dothur (evil) and Dian (violence), and used her magic to cause an enourmous blight.Aptrgangr is a creature from norse mythology which translates to "again-walker" which is an alternate name for the Draugr who in turn are often know as Revenants i.e. someone who returned from the dead.So yes Carman is a fitting name for a Revenant as being warrior and sorceress she fits the Revenants heavy spellcaster class theme, while Aptrgangr is synonymous with Revenant.

another name that does not fit the lore of this game, not as bad as the rest, but still

and cut the last one, because it was just more of the same.

In short: You come in, insult players left and right and then post names that clash so hard with the lore, the echos are audible through the mists.

Next time you decide that you are better than anyone else, pick names that a nice AND lore compatible.

[Batel.9206]

I tend to stick to lore as much as possible, so my sylvari generally have Irish, Scottish, or Welsh names (Gethin, Celyn, Caoimhe, Lorcán); my norn have Scandinavian names of varying origins (Myrgjöl Stormwolf, Rúni Agnarsson); my charr have proper 'band names (Kaja Fireclaw, Timaeus Gravecaller); my asura have...typical asura names? (Neff, Mezzi, Korri); and my humans are all over the place, with their names corresponding to the appropriate culture they come from/are descended from (Masamba Afolayan is Elonian; Elena Anderson and Gemma Blythe are Ascalonian; Bai Jiahao is Canthan).Concerning some of those names - [herein follows a bit of a ramble/wall-o'-text on languages and why I really like GW2's worldbuilding]

! I know they're something of a linguistic mishmash. Rúni is Old Norse/Faroese; Agnarsson is Icelandic. Masamba is Yao; Afolayan is Yoruba. (And "Stormwolf" is obviously two English words slapped together, attached to the Old Norse [or Swedish?] name Myrgjöl. But hey, we've got Knut Whitebear, so...) And so on. Normally I'd change it, but considering the way GW2's cultures have been set up, there aren't any languages known as Old Norse or Icelandic or Yoruba. There's whatever norn language faded into obscurity, and the ancient Elonian language, and Old Canthan, and - etc.! NPCs have wildly mixed names: you can find Tendaji [swahili] next to Elias [English/Greek] in Makali Outpost; Eran [Hebrew] next to Kalla [English] in Bear Lodge; Etain [irish] and Afon [Welsh] inhabit the same Grove; and many other instances. Not to mention all the straight-up "fantasy" names floating about.! So someone being named Masamba Afolayan might seem rather odd in the real world, but nobody in Elona would bat an eyelid, because his name would be perfectly normal there. I love the creativity offered with GW2's worldbuilding: it's something of a big beautiful melting pot. You don't have to stick strictly to one real-world language.And I've also experimented a tiny bit with names that "sound" like they fit. I recently named a sylvari Ianthos. It's taken from the Greek name Ianthe, which means "violet flower." Since Ianthos literally is a violet flower, I thought it was appropriate. (I think it might actually be the masculine version of Ianthe, but I'm not certain.) It sounds like it'd blend in seamlessly with sylvari naming conventions....heck, on that note, one could probably get away with naming a sylvari Caranthir, Emeldir, Beren, or Melian and, since it sounds like it would fit, nobody would notice those are actually Sindarin names. (Except Silmarillion fans and copyright infringement lawyers.)

...as far as ranger pets go, I don't have a set naming tradition for them. The vast majority of my ranger's pets are named in various Scandinavian languages (since my ranger's a norn), but a few are Welsh or English or other languages. Since I just headcanon that my ranger is traveling with a bunch of her friends (consisting of my other characters), it seems feasible that they would suggest some names. And since they all belong to different races, those names end up being wildly different.Sometimes it doesn't go very well. A parody:

! Norn: Hark, ye friends, I've adopted a spider. Behold.! Sylvari: Aww!! Asura: AAAHH! IT'S LARGER THAN ME!! Human: [startles violently at the sight of the pony-sized spider] OH GODS NO! Charr: What the...oh, smog, can I kill it already? It's staring at me.! Norn: Hey! No killing my beloved pet. It needs a name, actually. I'm pretty sure it's female...I really don't want to check too closely.! Human: Shelob.! Norn: That's a terrible name. "Female spider"? That's just...boring.! Human: Well it's a reference to..........never mind.! Charr: "Dead Pile of Dismembered Spider Legs." That's what I'm going to call it. [mutters] That's what it's going to be pretty soon.! Asura: Call it whatever you want, just don't call it close to me.! Sylvari: Angharad! It means "greatly loved one," or something close to that.! [dead silence]! Sylvari: What? It's a cute little thing! Look at its adorable little eyes - eight of them the size of my fist, glittering in the dark, constantly staring at you...what's not to love? Who's a cutie widdle spider-wider, you? You are! [ruffles spider hair and coos at the resulting appreciative spider-noises]! Norn: Perfect!! Charr: There is something wrong with you.! Asura: I'm going to be sick.! Human: [facepalm] Grenth save us all....and so that's why I have a poison-spitting monster spider named "beloved." Blame the sylvari.