How do you name your characters?

[jbaeza94]

Hey guys, how do you guys come up with names for your characters?

 

i find myself struggling a bit. i want to write, but names are the hardest part for me. 

 

the struggle i find i keeping them coherent, sounding like they belong to the same culture.  what techniques do you guys use?

[Gederas]

I mean, I'm probably not the best person to comment on this, but....

 

I use random name generators and keep spinning until I see something that jumps out at me :lol:

[jbaeza94]

Do you use a theme? Or just jump around themes?

[Gederas]

Do you use a theme? Or just jump around themes?

Well, depends. I mainly use the site Fantasy Name Generators, which has a TON of generators (including a Warhammer 40k section) when I don't feel like researching names myself. I jump around themes depending on what or who the character is.

 

With Dark Angels for example, I look up Abrahamic Angels and Demons, as well as old Hebrew names.

[old git]

Does your chapter have a theme/background/culture? If so, look up names from that culture. My own, still in development, chapter, is inspired by ancient Greece, predominantly Sparta. As such I use names like Cleomenes, Leon etc.

[Kite Senet]

I use a variety of naming schemes.

 

My two "main" characters in my Thousand Sons collection, Senet (my Exalted Sorcerer Warlord) and Gammon (my Kill Team leader), are named after the Egyptian board game Senet and Backgammon respectively. Below Senet is (Sorcerers) Athothes and Pataikos, which are directly from the Egyptian names category in the Fantasy Names Generator site mentioned before. Then I have Adon and Boscogn, my Terminator Sorcerers, who are named after the characters from Berserk. The upper echelons are matched more and more with the themes of my army: Senet and Gammon since Senet in Egypt was said to have significance for one's afterlife, and my Thousand Sons's fluff objective is to assist Ahriman in completing and correcting the Rubric; Athothes and Pataikos are just generically Egyptian sounding; and Adon and Boscogn I simply find amusing (and they don't look very T-Sons anyway).

 

I still haven't decided on my Death Guard naming schemes though. I've got fluff like what type of disease they spread laid out, but their names have been a bit trickier.

[jbaeza94]

Ill check that link out!

Originally my army was very heavy roman influenced, but since inception ive moved away from it. I would also like to avoid roman/latin names, it seems like its already super popular.

A key point in my army is heavy mechanicus influence, so i guess mechanical sounding names would be a starting point.

 

I have 2 names that are set in stone, my chapter master, and my master of sanctity

Razgriz and Sepetria.

[Vykes]

I'll admit when I name characters I tend to have two or three little methods.  One is that I look into the legion/chapter/regiments background and see if I can find a name that I like then suitably future-iz-ify it (John might become Jynn or Yon, drop a letter add a letter which shouldn't be hard for our 'Merican friend*).  

 

But if you're moving away from Latin-roman names, good for you!  Seriously.  It's super common.  So, method two is more or less just, "take a pen and paper and spout out nonsense like you're speaking in tongues.  Write down whatever you fancy".  It might be like word association and then just jot down what you like the sound of and then tweak it.  It's how Kantaar the Unbowed, Akinata Sen, Ahazaar, Cythensius, etc, all came to be.  

 

Third is just go play some games and let the models win themselves some titles.  Zebaron the Deathless might be for someone that passed their 'Feel no Pain'-save, or Naysier Whitestroke might be that librarian that periled himself into the ground, etc.  

 

*I jest... kinda-sorta.  But as a Canadian I'll apologize for it now, eh :P  I can't even joke, my name here is literally just that: Vix (something I've been known as since the days of arcade cabinet high scores) turned to Vykes. 

[FlamingDeth]

For human names, 20000-names.com. Pick a culture and scroll through the names until you have a handful of names where you like the sound and meaning.

[Elzender]

I got a website that I think I got from a threadhere, or maybe from a hobby related blog, called "Behind the name". It is a huge name database, with names classified by culture (including mythology). The best part is that in each name page, there are the list of equivalent names in other languages, as well as an explanation of the meaning and the etymology of the name. I find it quite useful to give characters meaningful names that give a hint about their traits and personality.

[Stoic Raptor]

With Dark Angels for example, I look up Abrahamic Angels and Demons, as well as old Hebrew names.

 

 

That's basically the best way to do it.  Many Chapters have a certain cultural feel to them - Ultramarines are Roman, Space Wolves use Norse names, Crimson Fists are space Spaniards, and as far as I can tell, my Raptors use Greek names.

So once you've identified the underlying ethnic culture, you should be able to find sources for that kind of name.  I'd advise, if possible, to look up their meanings when you choose them!  The named characters from GW have very deliberately chosen names that tend to suit them - Ragnar basically means "war leader", Grimnar is a reference to Odin, etc.

[Trevak Dal]

I tend to lean towards videogame, movies and other things.

 

My Primaris marines are led by lieutenant Ambrose and borrow heavily from Halo lore, no females ofcourse and the names are changed to be more last names.

 

Sargent Samson is named after my favorite Bible character.

 

My Grey Knights are all named after Grey Knights novel characters, Hyperion, Brother Captain Alaric, etc.

 

Tyrael Adrastus is a combination of a character's name from Diablo and a chaos character's name (which I think references a Greek story that The Warriors is based off of) from a blurb in the 4th/5th Ed Chaos codex the Gavdex. He's naturally a Fallen, but also perpetual. He's basically a thought experiment about what it would be like to be a perpetual Astartes, and just be constantly thrust into the :cuss, pushed into command and such. He was a newly elevated marine when Caliban went down, his First Death was when he was being augmented, but of course came back to life.

 

He has beef with a rogue Dark Angels successor chapter that has tried to use him/his organs/geneseed to rapidly replinsh their numbers, a Grey Knight Perpetual, Champion Thran, who has teamed up with him on a few occasions and both have tried to kill each other.

 

He has the ability to manifest The Anathame, turning any bladed weapon into an Anathame, which permanently kills daemon princes and other entities.

 

Giselburtus is his best friend, I got his name from Art History and it just rolled off the tongue and made me laugh. I picture him sorta Deadpool, sorta Carnage (he's a possessed sorcerer) who is heavily influenced by Pagin Min from the Farcry 4 campaign.

 

Lu Rolf is basically, Slaaneshi Space Wolf Kano, I picture his voice and mannerisms exactly as he was shown in the old Mortal Kombat movie.

 

The Siege Dancers as a name is ripped from Destiny as a Cabal legion name. It sounded fruity enough to be Slaaneshi Iron Warriors and made me laugh so I ran with it.

 

Nightblades is a better name than Alpha Legion. They are also fantasy ninjas, not the Flip out and kill everything kind of ninjas, but the shadowmagic foolery ninjas. As a Warband they are pretty much "What if a Warband specialized in theft and heists?" They have a flaw with their melenchrome where their skin is a patchwork of skin tones like the Gelfs from seaQuest TV show. They are highly regimented except for the two non Nightblades in their midst (Giselburtus and Tyrael).

 

Their leader is Alphonse. Mostly because Giselburtus refuses to call him "Alpharius" and he just got tired of arguing with him.

[Marshal Rohr]

Behindthename.com

 

I absolutely despise most sci-fi and fantasy name generators because for ever nugget of gold you get you’re subjected to hours of rolling for random collections of syllables or Ace Navelgazer and Nik Sunblaster. Most names in almost all human cultures are derived from locations and phrases, and random name generators just can’t pull it off. Change the spelling on modern, medieval, and mythological names to not shock your reader into wondering how the :cuss you pronounced something like Drizzt. My Imperial Fist marshal is named for the German officer that pioneered small unit tactics in the First Word War. My Solar Auxilia Commander is named for Lannes. The general of my Not-Krieg Auxilia is named for the German officer that led Askari colonial troops against British colonial troops in east Africa. Find a theme and stick with it. I juxtapose Anglo-Saxon names for Inwitans with German names for Terrans to show a common dominator separated by culture.

[Marshal Loss]

I tend to get my inspiration from ancient history and mythology. Latin tends to be overused (albeit poorly) but there are so many other naming traditions that even the most historically-literate authors have only just scraped the surface of: Greek, Sumerian, etc. Pick one that sounds cool or has an interesting meaning, look at the philological root, and then add a Latinised/Hellenised/Anglicised ending. E.G.

 

Κόραγος (a Macedonian general) = Corag (Greek root) + os (ending, look at case tables for Nominative/Accusative, etc)

 

Corrhagus

Koragos

Corrhagon

 

But yeah, you get the idea. By consistently using the same formula you'll get a cohesive end result. And those examples are just the traditions I'm familiar with! History is great, use it to your advantage.

 

If you're looking for a great & recent example of marrying cultures & naming conventions to 40k, pick up ADB's Spear of the Emperor. It's superb.

[Stoic Raptor]

Yes, for those of us who have studied Latin, many names and terms in 40K are kind of cringeworthy.  The declension (and sometimes even gender) is often ignored or misused, but I try to keep in mind that High Gothic is obviously not the same as classical Latin.  It couldn't be.  Consider that only 2 millennia have passed since the days of the Romans, 5 millennia since the ancient Egyptians... but there are 38 to go until the time of 40K.  Language as we know it will be unrecognizeable.

[Baron Sebas]

I tend to stick to a theme, for my knights i use old german folklore names, for my dark eldar i look up names of teutonic knights.

[Dolchiate Remembrancer]

Latin first names with Portuguese inspired family names.

My chapter of blood angels is derived from lusitanian culture.

[Trevak Dal]

Yes, for those of us who have studied Latin, many names and terms in 40K are kind of cringeworthy. The declension (and sometimes even gender) is often ignored or misused, but I try to keep in mind that High Gothic is obviously not the same as classical Latin. It couldn't be. Consider that only 2 millennia have passed since the days of the Romans, 5 millennia since the ancient Egyptians... but there are 38 to go until the time of 40K. Language as we know it will be unrecognizeable.

Well in 30 or 40 thousand years you lose a lot of stuff. Do we know what the Clovis people's language sounded like?

 

Do we know what many of the non surviving Native American, and tribal European, Central Asian cultures that were absorbed or erased languages sound like?

[Stoic Raptor]

That's exactly my point.  I don't expect it's going to still sound like classical Latin at all.

[Slasher956]

Err.... naming characters... oh yeah....I suppose I could do that :p

 

To be fair some of mine dont know what army their in (female Inquisitors, spend more time as Canoness)

[Panzer]

I usually don't name them simply because it would never come up anyway. For special events like the Feast of Blades in the BA Subforum I'll use a random name generator until I find something I like and think fits the chapter. ^^

[Halandaar]

Yeah, I think go looking for the cultural basis for the chapter (if they have one already) and work from there. Some will obviously be easier to spot than others.

 

 

 

Yes, for those of us who have studied Latin, many names and terms in 40K are kind of cringeworthy. The declension (and sometimes even gender) is often ignored or misused, but I try to keep in mind that High Gothic is obviously not the same as classical Latin. It couldn't be. Consider that only 2 millennia have passed since the days of the Romans, 5 millennia since the ancient Egyptians... but there are 38 to go until the time of 40K. Language as we know it will be unrecognizeable.

Well in 30 or 40 thousand years you lose a lot of stuff. Do we know what the Clovis people's language sounded like?

Do we know what many of the non surviving Native American, and tribal European, Central Asian cultures that were absorbed or erased languages sound like?

 

 

The post you quoted already makes this point.

[Sete]

@ Dolchiate (my work desktop does not let me quote)

 I also use Lusitanian inspired names for my Grey Talons

Aernus, Endovel, Neto, Arco.

Glad to see im not the only one, might steal a few names from your page ;)

[Dolchiate Remembrancer]

@ Dolchiate (my work desktop does not let me quote)

I also use Lusitanian inspired names for my Grey Talons

Aernus, Endovel, Neto, Arco.

Glad to see im not the only one, might steal a few names from your page ;)

By all means! Please do!

We can PM Google docs and links if you like.

I've got a whole chapter with names on every major ranked officer.☺

[Brother Eleysium]

Greek and Latin names. Since almost all of them had an actual meaning, I usually search for something that relates to how I perceive or build their fighting style. I then pick their names based off how their style correlates with the names' meaning.