Are character names unique to server or unique to game?

[Lethion.8745]

The name I want to use is taken and I want to know if I might be able to take it if I change server.

[Swagger.1459]

No. Names are unique throughout the game. Sorry.

[Lethion.8745]

@Swagger.1459 said:No. Names are unique throughout the game. Sorry.

Damn, so unfortunate. Thank you.

[Swagger.1459]

@Lethion.8745 said:

@Swagger.1459 said:No. Names are unique throughout the game. Sorry.

kitten, so unfortunate. Thank you.

You are very welcome!

[firedragon.8953]

@Lethion.8745 said:The name I want to use is taken and I want to know if I might be able to take it if I change server.

The game allows accented and diacritic characters so you could try the name replacing a character (e.g., e) with something like é, è, ë, etc. etc.The drawback (positive?) of this is that it is difficult for players to randomly whisper you without seeing your name in chat or adding you to their friend list, etc.

[Eloc Freidon.5692]

Yeah it is very unfortunate they didn't choose to make name only unique to tag.

[mercury ranique.2170]

Your name is used as an alias to your unique identity. This means that someone can send you a message while only knowing your character name.This means it has to be unique and same names can not exist. So it is unique per world, but also per region (so my name can not also be used by someone in NA, while I am in EU. China is different as th at data exist on a separate server with no ties to the NA and EU servers (but as they use Chinese signs, it would be different anyways).

[Danikat.8537]

@firedragon.8953 said:

@Lethion.8745 said:The name I want to use is taken and I want to know if I might be able to take it if I change server.

The game allows accented and diacritic characters so you could try the name replacing a character (e.g., e) with something like é, è, ë, etc. etc.The drawback (positive?) of this is that it is difficult for players to randomly whisper you without seeing your name in chat or adding you to their friend list, etc.

Another potential drawback, at least on EU servers, is that a lot of players will automatically read and pronounce those characters differently because that's how they're read in languages which use them, so if you use voice chat you might find your character name keeps getting mispronounced. Whether that's a problem or not is up to you of course.

Here's some other options for changing the name to find something which is available. They won't all work for all names of course, but you probably only need 1 change to get an available name:

• Change the spelling - e.g. Katie to Katy
• Add/remove spaces - e.g. Firewind to Fire Wind
• Use a synonym - e.g. Firewind to Blazewind
• Use a different language - if the name means something specific try running it through an online translator to get the same meaning with a different word

[Steve The Cynic.3217]

@"Danikat.8537" said:Another potential drawback, at least on EU servers, is that a lot of players will automatically read and pronounce those characters differently because that's how they're read in languages which use them, so if you use voice chat you might find your character name keeps getting mispronounced. Whether that's a problem or not is up to you of course.

Oh man, this. I play on the EU/French server in SWTOR, and for a long time my main was "Kylath". The name was created without really thinking about French pronunciation, and I think of the Y as sounding like "eye" and the TH as sounding like the TH in "thin". I joined a guild, and of course my guildies, French one and all, pronounced it in Discord as "Keelat"...

[firedragon.8953]

@Danikat.8537 said:

Another potential drawback, at least on EU servers, is that a lot of players will automatically read and pronounce those characters differently because that's how they're read in languages which use them, so if you use voice chat you might find your character name keeps getting mispronounced.

Yeah, this is a thing and a good thing to consider as well. But, even the languages that use these marks pronounce the characters differently between them. But alas, this is the game of names. Even names written in the standard “English alphabet” are pronounced differently/wrongly by native English speakers due to abnormal readings and obscure spellings. Fantasy names definitely bring about some of the worst offenses of mispronunciation.

[Einlanzer.1627]

@firedragon.8953 said:

@"Danikat.8537" said:

Another potential drawback, at least on EU servers, is that a lot of players will automatically read and pronounce those characters differently because that's how they're read in languages which use them, so if you use voice chat you might find your character name keeps getting mispronounced.

Yeah, this is a thing and a good thing to consider as well. But, even the languages that use these marks pronounce the characters differently between them. But alas, this is the game of names. Even names written in the standard “English alphabet” are pronounced differently/wrongly by native English speakers due to abnormal readings and obscure spellings. Fantasy names definitely bring about some of the worst offenses of mispronunciation.

I general I don't believe in being a language elitist, as language is fluid without hard rules that flow between regions and dialects, but I do definitely have some pet peeves about this. early on the game's development, they'd always pronounce it Golem as "gollum" in voiced dialogue which drove me crazy since it's really just taken from LotR when the correct pronunciation is "goh-lem". They've since corrected it.

[Lethion.8745]

Wow, so much comments on this. Thank you guys for the rephrase idea. I took 'Léthion' instead of 'Lethion'

[keenedge.9675]

Or in the spirit of game roleplay, you can add 'of Gorewood' or 'the Beast' for example, and have the name you want.

[Amanda Whitemoon.6173]

i have recently been making a few singlenamed names, i m getting creative with names as Deytla, Tusinsa and Yverai

btw arent the names gamewide and not datacenterwide as someone said i mean there is no difference in being on EU or US its the same game database as you can switch between the 2

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

@Amanda Whitemoon.6173 said:i have recently been making a few singlenamed names, i m getting creative with names as Deytla, Tusinsa and Yverai

btw arent the names gamewide and not datacenterwide as someone said i mean there is no difference in being on EU or US its the same game database as you can switch between the 2

Pretty sure everyone has said names are game-wide. The only 'exception' is the China version, which is a different game, actually. No mingling whatsoever.

[Aaralyna.3104]

You already figured out your char name but you can also add last names for characters as we can use spaces or some descriptive like "the brave" , etc

[jokke.6239]

@Lethion.8745 said:Wow, so much comments on this. Thank you guys for the rephrase idea. I took 'Léthion' instead of 'Lethion'

Cool nameMy main characters name is Lethawen :D (got it from Lord of the Rings Online's name generator, and have stuck with it since for female characters)