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EVE-Online RP Discussion and Resources => EVE Character Development => Topic started by: Misan on 17 Apr 2010, 09:20

Title: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Misan on 17 Apr 2010, 09:20

There was a thread about this elsewhere that had a lot of cool responses. Figure it is worth having one here as well. Interesting to see the basis for everyone's character names.

To start, Misan is the name I've used for years for my female mains in various MMOs (DAoC, SWG, WoW, etc). I got it after people started shortening Misanthropite (used as an ironic name for a Healer in DAoC) to Misan. It just kind of stuck from there and because I generally suck at coming up with character names I kept using it.  :roll:

The last name, Pal'taek was suggested by the guy who invited me to play EVE, after I had discovered that the first name was taken. No idea where he got it. Worked out fine as it seems Minmatar players love their apostrophes.

Title: Re: Character names: History, background, reasons, etc.
Post by: Casiella on 17 Apr 2010, 09:27

"Casiella" makes more sense to those who read Spanish... "almost her". Mostly because this was the first female character I played seriously in any RPG, MMO or otherwise.

"Truza" seemed to match it, though I started with "truco" ("trick" in Spanish).

I generally think of her as "Casi" for a nickname.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Havohej on 17 Apr 2010, 09:34

Since Casiella asked before, I'd already posted this in my bio thread thing so I'll just copy what I wrote there regarding Havo's callsign :)

Quote

It's Jehovah backwards, of course, but not really a particular OOC significance - I'm not a Satanist, for example.  When I played WoW there was this warlock named Havohej in the guild I was in (Cult of Luukos guild, Lightninghoof RPPvP server, Horde) and I thought the name was cool as hell.  So when I came to EVE, I jacked it!

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Natalcya Katla on 18 Apr 2010, 21:14

Katla is named after a dragon in Astrid Lindgren's book "The Brothers Lionheart" (who may in turn have been named after the Icelandic volcano Katla). The name just always struck me as cool. I chose "Natalcya" to go along with it because I fancied giving her a Slavic-sounding name, and it fit.

The character has always been simply "Katla" to me, though. I rarely refer to her by her first name.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Ember Vykos on 18 Apr 2010, 21:26

Vykos is form a V:TM character named Sasha Vykos(Myka when he was a he). I loved the name so I decided to use it especially since it sounded pretty cool coupled with Ember. Ember came about when I was brainstorming with a friend of mine about names for her daughter. I moslty came up with not so common ones Ember, Rune, Arika. She didnt use any of em so I been using them for various characters ever since with Ember Vykos being my favorite and always reserved for my main.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Zuzanna Alondra on 19 Apr 2010, 15:24

Zu's name:

It's a mix-

Zu - is from Zoey in Firefly.
Anna - a reference to the name of my holy priest from WoW.  She was a "sweet natured" person that everyone said could never hurt a fly.  But what no one knew was that she a leader in an assassian's guild sponsered by some overly zealous folks - I figured it fit with what I read about Eve. I've used Anna as part of the name for several charaters where they had a sweet demeanor.

Alondra - The last name of the charater Zu gets her body build from.  My druid also had the tendency to flip emotions and thoughts quickly.  One moment she might be ready to kill, the next playing with some trinket and perfectly happy.

Mix the three personalites together - add a fun little backstory to match the name and you have Zu.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Grr on 21 Apr 2010, 16:05

I could not get the name I wanted (can't even remember what) back in the days of Legend of Mir and so in frustration....

It's been with me ever since in every MMO and I was extremely pleased when a few years ago the name became available in eve.  I rerolled instantly after paying some russian guy 100m to delete his char.

There is a nice IC story developed to support this name but that's private corp fiction ;)

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Locomoto on 25 Apr 2010, 04:58

Many, many years ago, in a town far, far away, I was a lonely, bored bachelor with a typewriter (thanks Mom!).  I wrote "hundreds" of short stories (the longest broke 100 pages before I grew bored with it).  In one of those stories an interstellar drifter was born:  Orion Core.

The name 'Orion' is simply a reference to the constellation that shines brightly in the winter months of the northern hemisphere.  The surname, 'Core,' isn't his real surname, but the dual focus of the original character:  to understand himself (his core) and to 'discover' the galactic core ("It's hard to discover something everybody can see from thousands of parsecs out, Orion").  The Original Orion Core (from hereon out referred to as OOC) was never given a surname.

In EVE, I've not given much thought to the name as I've used it in other games (right along with a host of other main and secondary characters from those long ago stories).

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Carmilla on 25 Apr 2010, 07:01

Many years ago I started writing my own Sci-fi book, and still am. As works in progress go it's a monster. But two of the main characters had the following names which followed me to MMO's.

Shamsara D'Morenta
Victoria Ballentyne

Shamsara D'Morenta was left on the pvp field in SWG when teh game turned shite (RIP) so I created a new one, Carmilla D'Morenta. I kept the surname and took Carmilla because I was watching a Hammer House of Horror movie when creating the toon.

Victoria Ballentyne was the main character in my book, and she was the first toon I created in Eve, now sold. Shortly after I created her, I think about a month later I gave her a sister, Angelina. Angelina being the name of the murderous wife of Jim D'Griz, the Stainless Steel rat.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Arnulf Ogunkoya on 28 Apr 2010, 15:22

When I signed up I asked the friend that persuaded me to do so what Matari names where like. She said a mix of Nordic and African. So Arnulf should be obvious enough. Ogunkoya is a Nigerian name.

Then after I joined I realised that the Sebiestors had the Nordic names & the Brutors most of the African ones. Hence Arn's mixed tribe heritage.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Ghost Hunter on 28 Apr 2010, 15:43

Back when I played Starcraft many years ago, I hated Terran Ghosts.

I made the name Ghost Hunter because of how much I hated them.

I have since given his name a much more appropriate meaning for EVE but that was what spawned it,  :lol:

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Seriphyn on 01 May 2010, 13:19

Seriphyn is my generic Internet handle. Google him, you'll find him everywhere (except that bloody imposter, Seriphyn Knight).

Seriphyn is derived from Seraphim...bit shit I know.

Inhonores is Latin for "in honour" or "without honour". Also shit.

v0v

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Kohiko Sun on 03 May 2010, 00:28

Sun is from a little joke I had with the player who brought me to EVE. She had a little mining corp of herself and an alt named Rising Sun Mining, Inc., and all of the ships were named "Sun <insert verb here>". "It would be funny if you used Sun as your last name." So, I did.

Kohiko was from a fit of inspired uninspiration.  (Don't tell me "uninspiration" isn't a word, little spell checker. It is now.)

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Eva on 03 May 2010, 10:44

Eva was a break from my norm in that I was dared to actually play a good guy for once. The name has two possible stories.

The first: "Evanda" means something along the lines of "light-bringer." It also draws on the character of "Evie" from V for Vendetta - the women who rebuilds after V tears the system down. And "Eve," the first mother (according to the Bible) and the woman who brought intelligence to mankind. While Char is a reference to rising from the ashes of destruction.

The second: Well I was playing "Eve" and she's my "Char"acter.

The first sounds much more intelligent and thought out, so please believe that one.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Usagi Tsukino on 04 May 2010, 19:21

If you Google my character's name, you will see why I wish CCP let you change names.

It's one of those things where had I known that a) I would have been playing this game for 6+ years b) I would have been involved in any kind of role playing and c) had to confess why I chose it, I wouldn't have.

Usagi was one of three characters I rolled when I started. Usagi was one of two combat oriented ones, I kept her because she was cuter (and at the time looked like her namesake; they do allow portrait swaps, so at least there is that...).

At this point I have no interest in tossing away 60m skill points (should be more, but I've walked away a couple of times) over something silly like her name.  :P

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Koronakesh on 04 May 2010, 19:51

2 names, so 2 explanations, same as the Chatsubo thread, though paraphrased for here.

Koro's actual name is Nacittal Denorvan. Nacittal comes from the 11th sutra, and is the concept of the (violent) destruction of a person's inner darkness, allowing them to overcome the finite nature of the self and become a part of the universal being via being filled with love for all things. This name has become very ironic, in that Koro's love for all life has become corrupted by his wife into a desire to kill everyone because it's what he has to do to save them.

Koronakesh, his capsuleer callsign, is the amalgamation of syllables from his deceased friends Kolnosi Nelwor, Ronsa Geraint and Vecta Kesh.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Myyona on 07 May 2010, 02:20

My three major characters in order of creation date:

Jowen Datloran: Derived from Joe Dalton as in the Lucky Luke comic. I twisted the name to make it less recognizable. Jowen shares no personality traits with Joe, though.

Kretin Arnon: I knew this guy should be a Blood Raider supporter so I created his portrait and name with that in mind. I wanted a rough pronounced first name and a softer last name. Incidentally I later found that Arnon is a solar system in EVE.

Myyona: On the contrary, Myyona is named after the solar system Myyhera in The Bleak Lands. This system is the closest high sec system to Sahtogas and Oyonata where Kretin was operating. Also, Jowen used to mine there in his Dominix. Myyona is indeed born in Myyhera, and her name properly means "daughter of Myyhera" or "you there from Myyhera" or something.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Senn Typhos on 11 May 2010, 01:57

This story is a little lame, but it's worth telling just for the mild humor. That, and I haven't made a post to date, so, here we go. >>

I actually had no idea what to name my character, so I did what I always do in tough situations; start adding and subtracting letters and stop when it looks good on paper. "Senn" I know from my sparse German practice translates to "farmhand," which made it sound to me like a common sort of name. My character was meant to be a man from very nondescript origins as a tube child, so that fit nicely and looked space-y to boot.

As for "Typhos," it was a completely random series of letters that I thought sounded sinister enough to fit my future plans to make Senn into a bit of a shady figure, and although it's a bit cliche, I figured he would end up a smoker. Later on, I decided "what the hell" and put "typhos" into a google search. What came up pleasantly surprised me. The Greek root word typhos means "smokey" or "hazy."

Good job, me.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Mizhara on 11 May 2010, 02:22

I suck at naming characters. I don't think of a history, I don't think specifically much.

I just create a character, with slight backstory in mind, and then I start letting my hands move relatively randomly over the keyboard until I've got something at least slightly reminiscent of a name. Usually, it ends up being some derivative of something I've recently gotten imprinted through text or visual input.

In short, if I spend more than ten minutes at a character creation screen, it means that I've passed out or am too drunk to find the 'create character' button.

So yeah. Shame on me.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Kaldor Mintat on 11 May 2010, 09:24

Most of my charachters names are from old paper and pen roleplaying charachters.

Sweet memories of 30 hour gaming sessions, heaps of pizza and floods of coca cola (the "floods of beer" experiment when roleplaying did not end well and was never repeated by silent agreement)

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Shae Tiann on 12 May 2010, 12:19

I wasn't going for anything exciting when I created Shae's name. Hell, for all I knew, I wasn't going to be sticking through the two-week trial version.

'Shae' just sounded cool. I've always had a thing for characters with 'S' names (a habit I try to foil as much as possible).

'Tiann' does have a history. I knew a girl names Tianne in school, and I always thought her name sounded awesome. When I was trying to think up a surname for Shae, I tested a few different names, but I liked the flow of Tiann.

Debes and Bellum Eternus have both accused me of naming my character after Satan, which is nothing more than coincidence, and I never even noticed it til they mentioned it. I would never use a pre-existing character's name for my own characters.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Casiella on 12 May 2010, 12:21

...I actually always thought you did it for "Shatan" myself. :o

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Silver Night on 12 May 2010, 12:34

Since I've started RPing (I didn't know that RP existed when I created Silver) I mostly mix and match from agent names and things that sound appropriate. Usually I go to Eve-agents, pick a random corp from teh right faction, or a mixed-race corp, and have at it. I think I tend toward a certain rhythm with the names - maybe just the same number of syllables. I realized I have also tendency to start names with A for some reason, though it is more apparent in incidental NPCs I create than a trend in characters I actually play.

Examples of this mixing and matching: Amieta Invelen, Sarakai Voutelen, Hilion Narath, Malaneth Serir, Demen Jadat (all alts of mine).

I don't actually remember how I came up with 'Silver Night'. It was a long time ago.  :|

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Wanoah on 12 May 2010, 13:22

Choosing a name...that obstacle between you and getting to play the damn game, and the cause of so much heartache and anguish as you realise that you're going to be playing this damn thing for a hell of a lot longer than you anticipated. :) Still, I have no regrets, and Wanoah has entirely subsumed my online identity and this has subsequently overlapped into real life too. People actually call me Wan in real life. O.o

I didn't know what I was doing. I thought Brutors looked kinda cool and went with that. I flailed at the naming bit; needed instant inspiration and found in the form of a track listing for a compilation of 70s funk I was listening to. Wanoah is a track by Black Heat. I stole it. Reminding me of blaxploitation movies, it fitted well with my early character concept of a guy trying to make money by whatever means, and sometimes less-than-legal means at that.

Later, I added a surname: Msana - Swahili for 'smith.' It amused me. :)

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Casiella on 12 May 2010, 13:26

I still have friends call me "Joron" due to my SWG persona, so I'm with you on that, Wan. ;)

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Shae Tiann on 12 May 2010, 21:11

Quote from: Casiella on 12 May 2010, 12:21

...I actually always thought you did it for "Shatan" myself. :o

See, I would never have drawn that conclusion, myself, until... I think it was Bellum who pointed it out first and I said, 'Huh?' and then he had to explain it to me. I'm not religious!

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Casiella on 12 May 2010, 21:32

But you use it to your advantage now, right? ;)

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Z.Sinraali on 13 May 2010, 03:47

Ze'ev is Yiddish/Hebrew for 'Wolf', although IC I tell people it's Feythabolan. Been using it and variations as a character name since I was a wee brat just starting to roleplay on the internets.

Sinraali just sounded Caldari-Finnish enough for me.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Arvo Katsuya on 22 May 2010, 21:42

Was wondering if there was a thread like this around. Cool.

When I originally began playing the game with a trial account, I started out as 'Darius Malachite'. About around the time my trial ended, I discovered on my own reading through the lore that the Caldari language was mostly Finnish/Japanese. So... seeing everyone around me with characters 5+ years old I decided to simply start over when I can now, than to regret it later.

'Arvo' is Finnish for 'worth/value', and 'Katsu' is Japanese for 'victory'.

http://www.behindthename.com/ is a wonderful tool for that sort of thing. :)

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Repentence Tyrathlion on 26 May 2010, 17:25

Elysa Varbolt, Ashley Ryltan and the Tyrathlion surname are all from old stories I wrote, way before I started Eve.  For some reason, I didn't use the original Tyrathlion name and just went with Mortis.  I was coming to Eve from Freelancer, where I had been an irrevocable pirate, and... eh, just felt like something kind of menacing.

Repentence was the first character I created after I started RPing.  I did have an industrial alt (who is occasionally mentioned, but I don't RP with), but I wanted to take advantage of the double-training-no-SP-start thing, so I conjured up the story of Mortis' black sheep troublemaker little sis.  I was pondering on what kind of a family would call their son 'Mortis', and came up with a fairly pious bunch.  Thus, I eventually came up with the four Tyrathlion siblings - Mortis (born Judgement, incidentally), Purity, Charity and Repentence.  Purity has appeared very briefly, and Math'ra shudders to this day after his encounter with Charity.

And yes, I know 'Repentence' is mispelled.  It's a proper name, I'm allowed :P

On a more obscure note, the name of the entity that ambles around in Ashley's shell, the Masque, is a Warhammer reference.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Kimochi Rendar on 04 Jun 2010, 09:24

I posted in a similar thread to this in the Chatsubo forum, but what the hell!

I suppose I should start at the beginning...

When I started playing EVE (for the second time...) about three years ago, my first character was Rakiro - an Intaki who I still play occasionally but never really RP with. This is a name I made up for a character when dipping my toes into RF Online (A grinderiffic Korean MMO that I stopped playing after a couple of weeks)... I just randomly typed letters and shuffled things around until I'd made something I thought sounded cool. Eventually EVE Rakiro ended up as a mission runner in Aunia, where he stays to this day.

A few months after I made Rakiro I got bored of using railguns and drones to kill NPCs, so decided to make an alt specifically to use Amarr ships as vapourizing things with lasers never gets old for me - I couldn't be bothered to wait to crosstrain at the time. And so Kimochi Rendar was born. Because she was an experimental alt I put very little thought into her name... Little did I know that Kim would end up as my main and I would stick to playing her for over two years - and counting!

Kimochi - I first used this to name a character I made in Phantasy Star Online about five years ago. It's the romanization of a Japanese word I must have heard and subconciously filed away as sounding vaguely femenine, as at the time I thought I'd made it up on the spot! As far as I am aware there is no direct English translation, but it is used to describe mental feelings or physical sensations: for example "I feel" or "It feels". I had used this name for female characters several times since PSO and since Kim is Khanid it made sense to use a vaguely oriental sounding name.

Rendar - This is shamelessly stolen from Dash Rendar, a character from the Star Wars expanded universe. It was quite literally the first thing that popped into my head when I was trying to think up a surname for Kim. As I said, Kim was originally an experiemental alt and at the time I never intended to use her for anything other than to occasionally play around with Amarrian ships!

Part of me wishes I'd picked something else, but people seem to know who Kimochi is and I probably wouldn't change it now if I could. So there ya go!

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Vlad Cetes on 30 Jul 2010, 16:15

Vlad the Impaler has been my FPS handle ever since I really got into online gaming (UT2k4). I would have used that in EVE but no 3 word char names :(. So I just used the Romanian version, although I messed it up.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Sergius on 05 Aug 2010, 01:11

My character's first name is rather normal: Sergius is a rather common Latin name and originates some time during Rome's history. The last name has root's in Arabic and collectively means "Sneaky-Panther". Yes, it is true. Why I chose it, I thought it sounded nice and I like Arabic names in general, I just think they're cool. After writing about my character, however, I wished I named him Midhat Fahd'raza. Midhat is just too cool.

As for reasons why my character does the things he does: duty. Above all else Sergius is loyal to the Empire and the Amarr religion. His family, however, is another story. He is intensely jealous of his brother's position as Holder of the House Fahd'raza and is scheming to take it for himself. He is a rather nonsense kind of guy, pretty serious, with a wry sense of humor. I blame these traits as a product of growing up in the very traditionalist part of Amarr, in the shadow of the Throne Worlds.

I'm still fleshing out the specifics and whatnot of Sergius, so they might change, but that's basically it.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Alexander Rykis on 08 Aug 2010, 06:34

hahahha I think mine is the least srs bsns here.

Lady Lard is a troll / gimmick name of former Band of Brothers pilot Lady Scarlett.

Alexander Rykis is almost the exact name of a dude I went to elementary school with. I just thought he had a badass last name.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Logan Fyreite on 10 Aug 2010, 12:47

Wow, I wish my name creation story was half as good as some of these

I started out by clicking on capslock, then closing my eyes and handrolling the keyboard

It looked something like this

LIISERHSNE

So I took the first letter and tried to come up with a good name starting with an L

Logan!

then caps back on again... Similar result, but starting with F, I mishmashed some crap behind that F and ended up with Fyreite.

Thus was created Little Hollow Fyreite, neither traditional Matari or anything else!

 :oops:

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Syn Callibri on 23 Aug 2010, 20:46

Syn which is short for Synella, but her Amarrian master called her his "sin". Simple...but thats what it is. ;)

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Valdezi on 25 Aug 2010, 17:16

My name and the name of a bunch of guys who are in the ILF with me all come from our D&D group.

We chose the most ridiculous names on purpose.

Mammal Tafren was a name I came up with when we were sneaking into a bad guy city and had to give our names. This was the first thing that came into my head.

The head of the ILF mining division is Ypsasieh Yug, (Backwards: Guy he is a spy) which caused some consternation when we joined just before the Moira. war. It came from a D&D bad guy our DM put in who (inevitably) betrayed us.

Anyway, I eventually retconned the Mammal Tafren name to be Maninder Tafren. 'Mammal' was what his little brother Ishrinder used to call him because he couldn't say Maninder and it stuck.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Sofia Roseburn on 25 Aug 2010, 19:34

Sofia was formed during a week long whisky bender during the half term of October 2006. I'd drunk a rather large amount of a particularly good bottle of Oban, and since I couldn't remember my trial details from 2005, she was born.

Inspiration came partially from the Freelancer server that I had been playing on for 2 years prior, although I had been RPing a male character there. Sofia was a bit of a slip up on the naming front in truth, and although I came very close to having her trashed by a not so good friend of mine (any more) and becoming a Khanid female by the name of Sasha Vespit, I rescued her, bringing me to where I am today.

Luckily my naming conventions since then have been met with a little bit more...sense. If I got the chance to change Sofia's name, I might actually go back to the name of an alt I had for a while: Arvala Ishanoya. The name has since been taken by yet another Khanid female™, created by my own hand during the "welp ur banned" episode of mid 2008, and is no longer under my control.

There's Estray Lassils, who is a nod to Iain M. Banks, Sol Ahonen, who is actually a rather normal Civire gentleman and Jessica Ovarde, the Jin-Mei female CEO of VERDA who constantly reminds me just how long I have been playing this damn game. The latest addition to the group is Thebe Pemba, a sunglasses wielding Brutor male of considerable ruggish good looks who likes to shoot the big guns.

A veritable family spread across 3 accounts, and then there's Ralarina, but she isn't truly mine.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Plumb on 18 Sep 2010, 17:39

Mine is possibly the most uninspired. My RL surname is Plumb, and I was a really bad trekkie when i first started the game. I took my surname, added the word 'Captain' to the front of it and made a character in the Gallente Federation. Captain Plumb. Boring and incredibly cliche =P I didnt think this was the case until I was a year into the game, at which point I wasnt going to start again.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Laurentis Thiesant on 19 Sep 2010, 02:06

Jianni Sotaku was me thinking for like 10 minutes on just what the hell to name this Asian chick.
Jianni was originally Jianna - but I changed it just before submitting the name (and then got called Jianna still by half the cluster anyways). Sotaku sounded vaguely Japanese.

Niiama Subaata came from a story I wrote awhile back ( http://evechronicles.com/apocryphal/nano/sacrlamb.html) (one which won me real life monies, high five). Subaata was the last name of the main character of the story, Niiama's sister. Niiama just came from my head, like they usually do. I just wanted to have another Caldari.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Havvie on 19 Sep 2010, 22:39

Benjamin Loen Raltere came about as a result of watching an episode of Lost, a misspelling and just flat-out making up something off the top of my head (in that order).

I first came up with the idea of the character after I'd watched an episode of Lost and decided to name him after, of all people, Benjamin Linus. His middle name came from misspelling Leonard and finding the result too good to throw out. The last name... I'm not entirely sure what the inspiration for his last name was but I'm reasonably sure it involved taking a word and adding and subtracting letters at random until I came up with a satisfactory name.

As for his callsign, it's a nod to my first EVE character Havente Gaversom, though when I created Havvie I never really expected he'd be anything more than a hauler alt and looking back I'd lop G off his name, but vov

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Akrasjel Lanate on 09 Nov 2010, 08:39

Akrasjel - means "angel of secrets", "secret of god"

Lanate - found it in a other fictional universe

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Lex Steel on 07 Dec 2010, 10:43

My name is changing soon.. Yes, the petition is in, My dad gave me the name (curse you, you fatherly figure!) and i regret googling it everyday..
Now to develop a new one

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Casiella on 07 Dec 2010, 11:04

Let me know how that petition works out. To my knowledge, they've never done so for any reason other than policy violations.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Alain Colcer on 07 Dec 2010, 12:01

Alain , tipical french name

Colcer, name of a system in Giatole Constellation, Everyshore

In this case, for me the systems name is related to the first large family who came to settle in that particular system.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Lex Steel on 07 Dec 2010, 12:41

Quote from: Casiella on 07 Dec 2010, 11:04

Let me know how that petition works out. To my knowledge, they've never done so for any reason other than policy violations.

Google lex steel... Wait.. no, dont.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: hellgremlin on 07 Dec 2010, 14:05

Istvaan - From warhammer 40k, the first planet to fall during the Horus Heresy. Shogaatsu = some kind of Japanese spring festival, I think. Might be spelled with one a.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Graelyn on 07 Dec 2010, 15:54

No idea where I got my name from.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Ken on 07 Dec 2010, 17:05

Quote from: Graelyn on 07 Dec 2010, 15:54

No idea where I got my name from.

Perhaps it was the lyrics of the Tash-Murkonite performance artist Iskbillionaire?

They see me grae-lyn
They hatin
Roamin they tryin to point me flyin dirty
Tryin to point me flyin dirty
Tryin to point me flyin dirty
Tryin to point me flyin dirty
Tryin to point me flyin dirty
My armor so think
I'm tankin
They hopin that they gon catch me flyin dirty
Tryin to point me flyin dirty
Tryin to point me flyin dirty
Tryin to point me flyin dirty
Tryin to point me flyin dirty
...

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Senn Typhos on 07 Dec 2010, 22:19

Quote from: Ken on 07 Dec 2010, 17:05

Quote from: Graelyn on 07 Dec 2010, 15:54

No idea where I got my name from.

Perhaps it was the lyrics of the Tash-Murkonite performance artist Iskbillionaire?

They see me grae-lyn
They hatin
Roamin they tryin to point me flyin dirty
Tryin to point me flyin dirty
Tryin to point me flyin dirty
Tryin to point me flyin dirty
Tryin to point me flyin dirty
My armor so think
I'm tankin
They hopin that they gon catch me flyin dirty
Tryin to point me flyin dirty
Tryin to point me flyin dirty
Tryin to point me flyin dirty
Tryin to point me flyin dirty
...

Ken, I love you.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Graelyn on 08 Dec 2010, 01:41

(http://chzgifs.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/facepalmzzzp11.gif)

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Invelious on 08 Dec 2010, 15:54

A name I produced out of no where for one of my characters in the table top RPG Vampire the Masquerade.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Gottii on 08 Dec 2010, 17:01

Quote from: hellgremlin on 07 Dec 2010, 14:05

Istvaan - From warhammer 40k, the first planet to fall during the Horus Heresy. Shogaatsu = some kind of Japanese spring festival, I think. Might be spelled with one a.

I laughed reading the 40k RPG Dark Heresy.  The "Istvaanians" are a radical bunch of Inquisitors who believe non-stop violence, war and conflict are necessary and healthy for the Imperium to survive.  I figured you would approve.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Mathra Hiede on 08 Dec 2010, 18:42

I've had a few Character names in EVE...

Tuvar Hiede (was my original char) was a name I randomly made up while making sounds in my head, only afterwards did I realise it was close to "Tuvan" one of the Officer-Dropers... made me want to make a fully fit Tuvan's ship.. never did.

Math'ra Hiede (my current main) is a name I made to sound slightly oriental because of the race and I kept the surname, because its awesum. *nods*

Andrea Tander (Indy alt)... well I shamelessly stole Andrea from someone I went to school with, its not a common name and I liked it, Tander was just a bland generic filler name that I mulled over for about 5 minutes.

Durtha U'tgarde (PvP/Bitch alt) Well, Durtha was my pirate and the name sorta was forumulated the same was as any of mine, with messing around with sounds to make it cool, U'tgarde I chose because I liked the sound of it and for the goddamn life of me couldnt remember where it came from.
Only after watching my brother play WoW again did I realise it was the name of a certain area in WoW, much facepalming was had but meh, I like the name!

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: DosTuMai on 04 Jan 2011, 06:34

Dos Tu Mai was a nickname my Grandfather used to call me, it means 'naughty girl' and I've used it for years on MUDs, MMOs and paper-based RPGs.
Dossie was a later, shortened pet name people started calling me, or just Dos.

Kielle... The details are foggy on that. My mother claims to have made it up, but I'm sure it was me. We used it back in '94 for a Guild name on a Chinese MUD and it's just carried on from there. All of my family use the Kielle surname in games.

Other names I've been known by:
MiSahiya - My Spring Flower
ChibiKielle - Small/Little Kielle
UsagiKielle - BUNNEH Kielle
Myobu Mamori - White wind Healer
Xiao Wei Tian - My Chinese name
Xiao chen - Nevermind...
And way more than I can be bothered to list...

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Kazuma Ry on 12 Jan 2011, 14:41

I had seen Kazuma in some of the anime that I had watch, and liked the name so I choose it. Ry, I had thought it sounded Asian so I picked it.

When I googled the meaning of the 2, Kazuma means True Harmony, Self-control in japanese, and Ry means Valiant in Irish

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Shintoko Akahoshi on 14 Jan 2011, 14:02

I'm sure I posted something about it on Chatsubo, but I'll do it again (what happened to Chatsubo, anyways?)

A friend of mine convinced me to try Eve.  I figured "It looks okay, I'll probably play for a month or two", so I didn't give the name much thought.  I was leaning Japanese at the time, so I had Japanese names on the brain.  Shin was originally supposed to be a smuggler*, and a shintoko is a kind of basket, so I figured that would be a good "lol" sort of name.  Akahoshi means "red star", which just sounded cool.  I later worked out a bizarre story with Ly'sol where Shin's people spoke some odd variant of a Tierijevi dialect that sounded kind of like Hawaiian, and that the first good translaters for it were Achura, so they Achura-ized the names.  The things you do to work around a bad name choice...

Dakki, on the other hand, was just for fun.  "Dakki the Intaki".  Heh.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Z.Sinraali on 14 Jan 2011, 15:22

Tierijev!  :D

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Cmdr Baxter on 06 Mar 2011, 10:01

The name pre-dates my involvement in RP. I don't remember where Baxter comes from, because it was so long ago, but "Cmdr" was influenced by my debate (at that time) over whether to enlist in the US Navy (I later did). It only became problematic after I got involved in RP. When I was with CAIN I only made the rank of LTJG, but do you know how annoying it is to constantly be correcting people in RP chat with "no I'm actually a retired LTJG, not a commander"? Eventually I got so sick of correcting people left, right, and center that I just retcon'd it through Hub (http://www.eveonline.com/ingameboard.asp?a=topic&threadID=1428282).

I'm tempted every once in a while to petition CCP to let me change the name to something more RP-sounding, but so many people know me now as "Cmdr Baxter" that it probably isn't worth the effort.

Also I was told tonight that there's a "Samuel Baxter" char running around? Not my alt.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Lyn Farel on 06 Mar 2011, 15:18

From the famous actor.

No actually I had to be pointed out that the name was close to the actor's name to notice it.

I just wanted a quite common first name, but yet a little aristocratic or old, with a simple and fonctionnal last name, but again that could be associated with a Holder status (if at the creation I had no clue of what was a Holder or if I wanted to see my character to be one).

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Crucifire on 06 Mar 2011, 21:30

Crucifire is lifted straight from a metal album and titular song (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiqW9U4KBJ0), and is a fitting name since she started out as a Crucifier pilot. I also wanted my character's callsign to sound like a username picked by some metalhead because it's undeniable that capsuleers share a lot in common with MMO players. It's not my favorite name I've ever picked for a character, but I'm happy with how it fits.

As for her real name, I ripped the family name from an in game Brutor agent and Etna (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWRROw_wqxw) is a favorite song of mine.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Kaleigh Doyle on 07 Mar 2011, 00:02

None of my characters really have much history. I tend to look at a character, get a feel for their key features, and formulate a name that best represents them. A lot of times I'll look up names from other cultures and mix and match, or adapt them to the feel of the world they inhabit.

When I made my first character in EVE, Kaleigh just looked so Celtic, it was hard not to give her a wholesome Irish name. When I later created her sisters, they became an extension of that lineup with Nola and Aideen. Some others have been: Gyra Rho, Valerie Hess, Mei Dan, Solienne Barbier, etc, etc.

Something I'm always cognizant of when designing new character names is how they sound when spoken aloud. They have to roll off the tongue and hopefully conjure in a reader some imagery that relates to the character.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Punx Evangeline on 09 Mar 2011, 10:21

Punx from the song "Skins, Punx and Drunx" by Lars Frederiksen and the Bastards
Evangeline from the song "Evangeline" by Bad Religion

I like punk music, so sue me  :D

-Punx

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: DosTuMai on 09 Mar 2011, 10:25

Quote from: Punx Evangeline on 09 Mar 2011, 10:21

... so sue me  :D

-Punx

Normally I wouldn't, but as you asked so nicely. How much should we each sue you for, and is making me annoy my neighbours with NOFX being played loudly a good enough excuse to sue?

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Punx Evangeline on 09 Mar 2011, 12:54

Quote from: DosTuMai on 09 Mar 2011, 10:25

Quote from: Punx Evangeline on 09 Mar 2011, 10:21

... so sue me  :D

-Punx

Normally I wouldn't, but as you asked so nicely. How much should we each sue you for, and is making me annoy my neighbours with NOFX being played loudly a good enough excuse to sue?

I bet you could get around 250 ISK, NOFX is indeed addictive, of course the lawyers will take most of it...  :cry:

 :lol:

-Punx

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: DosTuMai on 09 Mar 2011, 12:56

I'll probably get 25 ISK back after expenses, then. Okay, we'll leave the suing until you're rich enough for me to extort billions. Deal?

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Punx Evangeline on 09 Mar 2011, 15:09

Quote from: DosTuMai on 09 Mar 2011, 12:56

I'll probably get 25 ISK back after expenses, then. Okay, we'll leave the suing until you're rich enough for me to extort billions. Deal?

Deal, but I must warn you, the yarr takes a serious bite out of my finances so your wait may be in vain.  :twisted: 

-Punx

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Crucifire on 09 Mar 2011, 15:11

Quote from: Punx Evangeline on 09 Mar 2011, 10:21

Punx from the song "Skins, Punx and Drunx" by Lars Frederiksen and the Bastards
Evangeline from the song "Evangeline" by Bad Religion

I like punk music, so sue me  :D

-Punx

Excellence! I had a feeling Evangeline was from that song, the Punx part tipped me off ;) Total off-topic but do you like the Murder City Devils? Really great band, I had the pleasure of seeing them in '09 on their reunion tour, right before they decided to work on new material. Was one of my favorite shows. Plus their drummer plays in a couple of my other favorite bands so that was a treat.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Punx Evangeline on 09 Mar 2011, 15:17

Quote from: Crucifire on 09 Mar 2011, 15:11

Excellence! I had a feeling Evangeline was from that song, the Punx part tipped me off ;) Total off-topic but do you like the Murder City Devils? Really great band, I had the pleasure of seeing them in '09 on their reunion tour, right before they decided to work on new material. Was one of my favorite shows. Plus their drummer plays in a couple of my other favorite bands so that was a treat.

No actually, I'll have to YouTube them when I get home tonight!

Thanks!

-Punx

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Matsudaira Takuma on 15 Mar 2011, 17:06

I've been a nerd for years now and from that have watched a lot of anime in my time.  As such I jumped at the chance to roll Caldari as instantly I started envisioning Ghost in the Shell and other worlds where this sort of conglomorate came from. 

As such I named my character in the standard japanese way, family name first followed by your personal name.

Matsudaira is the clan name of the very first Shogun leaders in early japanese history, I know it's hardly original but I chose it because having read the EVE wiki on character naming I read that quite often (bad) fleet chiefs will call prio on names in alphabetic order, or reverse order, so M being bang in the middle I thought what a win.

Takuma is from Japanese 拓 (taku) "expand, open, pioneer" and 真 (ma) "real, true" which i felt would fit with my idea of what I wanted to do when i first joined EVE which was to become an explorer forging my way to things others had yet to discover.

Personally I would prefer people to shorten my name down to Taku but they generally call me "Mats"

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Varlerian on 27 Mar 2011, 16:45

Well...I hate my main's name, quite simply.

Originally I had wanted Valerian (inspired from Starcraft II's Valerian Mengsk), but for some odd reason I guess I spelled it incorrectly when typing up the name. I could have sworn I typed it right, but it wasn't until about a week later that I noticed I had put an "r" in there...sigh.

Ti'kihli came from some random part of my brain. At the time, I was thinking of Tila Tequila (those of you who watch MTV know who I'm talking about) so I morphed the sound around a bit and came up with Ti'kihli.

Thus forming Varlerian Ti'kihli... :(

Ah well, not gonna go off and make a new character just for messing up on a name.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Mebrithiel on 15 Jun 2011, 13:43

http://www.eve-chatsubo.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=1711

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Nachshon on 28 Jun 2011, 10:13

The name Nachshon Aminadav comes from the Bible. Nachshon, son of Aminadav, was the captain of the tribe of Judah (Numbers 1:3). I had been translating that section in school (I went to a Jewish high school), and the name stuck in my head.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Perramas on 28 Jun 2011, 11:03

I have used the name Perramas for years through many table top games, online games and forums. I was combing different sounds in my head and came up with per-Ra-mas and I liked it and have been using it for decades.  At the time I really had no idea that the Spanish word perra meant female dog(bitch) and mas was more.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Rova053 on 27 Aug 2011, 10:55

Well, my new guy is simple.

Gaston Leroux wrote Phantom of the Opera, and the Phantom's name was Erik.

Phantom of the Opera, written by Leroux, is now in public domain, so I decided to have some fun.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Ryven Krennel on 27 Aug 2011, 11:03

Ryven Krennel was my guild wars elementalist.

Ryven is just riven with a "y.". Riven means "split" or "severed.". I liked the idea of a dysfunctional person with conflicted feelings on things.   Krennel had a distinctly softer feel, and I liked it, pronounced "cren-elle.". This is too french for a caldari, as i learned, so when i started RP, I had to do some thinking to make it work.

I have other toons, but they have no real meaning or bearing here.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Nmaro Makari on 07 Mar 2012, 17:59

I typed the first thing that came to mind. Didnt go too badly!

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: kalaratiri on 08 Mar 2012, 10:12

Kalaratiri came from wanting something like 'Kayla', or similar, but all the ones I could think of were taken. Eventually I just kept hitting random letters until a name that looked relatively good came up :) Also, ALL THE VOWELS

Saskia came from a random name generator. I love those things.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Desiderya on 08 Mar 2012, 12:22

Saskia is actually a female first name in germany. ;)

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: kalaratiri on 08 Mar 2012, 12:58

Quote from: Desiderya on 08 Mar 2012, 12:22

Saskia is actually a female first name in germany. ;)

Yeah, the generator allows you to choose the area of the world you would like the names to be from, e.g. Scandinavia, South East Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, etc, and then provides you with a last of names from that area.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Kiki Truzhari on 13 Mar 2012, 12:21

I chose Kikia cause I liked the name kiki and wanted to add a letter to it so it seemed a little more like a traditional name. Truzhari, well, I actually harvested and rearranged letters from Tobias Kruzhor's name, because I liked how it sounded and he was also Sebiestor.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Telsa on 21 Jul 2012, 17:20

Ka'al because CONCORD never transliterates the guttural stop in Ka'alakiota  :P named after "bald nest" peaks   :eek:

Telsa is derived from the sound of Achur wind-chimes.  :bash:

heh, I can give Damon Lindelof a run for his money... :psyccp:

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Safai on 21 Jul 2012, 17:24

I could have sworn your name was a reference to the Tesla Coil.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Telsa on 21 Jul 2012, 17:31

Fortunate happenstance  8)

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Tamiroth on 23 Jul 2012, 12:34

Contrary to popular belief, not Sailor Moon, but Venus Williams. Had tennis on TV while trying to create an alt and decided that naming her after an in-game stellar object is actually a good idea. Oris was already taken, but Tamiroth wasn't... :)

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Daniel LSiata on 03 Aug 2012, 08:54

Daniel L'Siata was actually the name of my much loved Battletech universe character.

In both cases, L'Siata is a bastardised form of French referencing the characters birthplace, a town called Siat. In my eyes, Daniel's name is literally Daniel From Siat.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Lyn Farel on 03 Aug 2012, 12:30

Wouldnt it rather be Daniel De Siat(a) ?

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Daniel LSiata on 03 Oct 2012, 09:43

I said bastardised!

BASTARDISED I SAID.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: NISYN Aelisha on 05 Oct 2012, 02:13

Aelisha Montenagre is a 'Federalization' of Arnaala Monsume, Ael's original Intaki birth name.  As in many multi-cultural environment, the Federation is rife with the examples we see today of 'linguistically dextrous' names being shortened or changed outright, by both those interacting with the bearer of such a name, or the bearer themselves in preparation for such. 

In this case, it was an early effort by Aelisha to integrate during her University education and initial professional forays into Federation life - something she has kept despite her severe break with the Federation as a reminder of the times she bent over backwards to accomodate their culture at the expense of her own. 

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Rok-Yuni on 05 Oct 2012, 17:40

So, it seems i haven't responded to this one yet...

here goes.

Iyammarrok.

Well, this guy was originally created as an industrialist. I had intended to make another character as my mission runner but that didn't pan out at the time.

his name, a simple play on word sounds. I-AM-A-ROCK ....

Yuni... (Unit XS365BT)

ah.. Yuni.. everyone's favourite dronelady. well.. her name is simply a drone designation. I liked the sound of the characters i used... that and it sent people off on a wild goose chase for a while, trying to figure out what it could have meant.

Dilaro Thagriin.
Originally created simply to be a placeholder keeping my brother's corporation (Brother's Intensive Fighting Team Air... or BIFTA) up and running, his name was... fitting to the corporation. sadly he has now passed on. (the character. not my brother. :P )

Toluijin Chagangan
As another thread in this section states, I wanted to make a new matari character and have a name that fit a tribal and nomadic people. The first people that came to mind when i looked at various pics of Vherokior characters were the mongolian people... they also seemed to fit the matari story quite well...  so i looked into their naming structure and made up some names.
'Mirror of White Steel' sounded like a warrior-esque name. so there it is.

-Rok

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Lasairiona on 13 Feb 2013, 06:00

Lasairiona: Pronunciation: (lah sa REE nah) Gaelic and Celtic.  Old Irish name meaning "blush of wine," or "flaming wine," from lasair "blush" or "flame," and fhiona "wine."

I used the name for the mother of a character in a story I had written. I just thought it was pretty and unique.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Alizabeth on 19 Feb 2013, 07:09

Alizabeth followed me from WoW, where it was based off the slightly changed spelling of Alizebeth Bequin.  Alizebeth was a character in the 40k trilogy 'Eisenhorn.'  She was also soulless.  I figured this described me as well.  Vea came from my guild that I was running called Vi Et Armis: Latin for "with force of arms."  So, I just made Alizabeth's last name Vea.  Ameriya, my first actual character in Eve and a name that I use often was the town in Iraq where I got my first kill.  (Technically Al-Ameriya).  Genevieve is from 'The Vampire Genevieve.'  Other names, I make up on the spot.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: ArtOfLight on 19 Feb 2013, 08:23

I tend to make up names based on the way I want the character to be received. It's weird and hard to explain, but certain names trigger psychological responses from people upon hearing them.

For example, for most people, the name "Benedict" makes us immediately think of an upright, gentlemanly type of individual. Proper, probably educated and likely rich. Conversely, the name "Bob" makes us think of someone far less proper, likely your "every day" kind of guy, down to earth and probably pretty content with that.

The name Malcolm, as I chose it, tends to be a strong name and associated with leaders and revolutionaries. It is also shortened to "Mal" which means "trouble maker." The irony of having Malcolm be not a revolutionary and typically not a trouble maker was enjoyable.

The name Khross is a phonetic alteration of the word "Cross" which I actually first used on a Paladin character for Dungeons and Dragons. In this case, it was applied to Malcolm because I planned to play Malcolm as "carrying his cross" regarding the burdens he endures (upholding honor, integrity, fighting for the State even when he disagrees with it, etc) and he'd likely get crucified on that cross at some point.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Saede Riordan on 19 Feb 2013, 08:33

Saede I pulled from the Northern Regional Sebiestor word 'ink.' When I started developing her as a character concept I went over all the stuff I'd written for NRS to see if I could find a good sounding character name off of that, and Saede stuck out at me. Also I really like the ae letter combination.

Riordan is fairly common surname, and I liked the sound of it, and thus went with it.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Samira Kernher on 19 Feb 2013, 12:11

The last name of Kernher comes from the Sebiestor name generator in-game. The generator gave the name of Mernher; I then replaced the M with a K.

The first name of Samira is an Arabic name. I went with Arabic because I've always gotten an Arabic vibe from the Amarr, particularly in their aesthetics. I wanted to visibly show the cultural mesh here, with a Minmatar surname and an Amarrian first name. The name itself means 'entertaining companion'.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Ché Biko on 06 Mar 2013, 12:05

I named Ché after 2 people that shared defining traits with my character: revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guavara and anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko. And the meanings of the word "che" (http://community.eveonline.com/ingameboard.asp?a=topic&threadID=1502986&page=2#48) were also a reason why I chose it.
I sometimes find it a bit cheesy, but so far only one person openly guessed which persons contibuted to Ché's name. And I think it sounds like it could be a Gallente name.
Although, I made it a bit of an (inside) joke that most Gallente mispronounce his name as "Chez / Sjay" instead of "Ché / Tsjay" and thanks to the fact that the capsuleer callsign can not contain an "é", most capsuleers pronounce it as "Che / Tsjeh".

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Cynthia Gallente on 06 Mar 2013, 12:14

Cynthia comes from someone very special in my life, I like to think about her often~
Gallente.... well... that's the lack of creativity.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Lyn Farel on 06 Mar 2013, 13:50

Quote from: Ché Biko on 06 Mar 2013, 12:05

I named Ché after 2 people that shared defining traits with my character: revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guavara and anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko. And the meanings of the word "che" (http://community.eveonline.com/ingameboard.asp?a=topic&threadID=1502986&page=2#48) were also a reason why I chose it.
I sometimes find it a bit cheesy, but so far only one person openly guessed which persons contibuted to Ché's name. And I think it sounds like it could be a Gallente name.
Although, I made it a bit of an (inside) joke that most Gallente mispronounce his name as "Chez / Sjay" instead of "Ché / Tsjay" and thanks to the fact that the capsuleer callsign can not contain an "é", most capsuleers pronounce it as "Che / Tsjeh".

Well I guessed the "Che" part at the beginning (especially with the socialist taste here and there), but I didn't know for Biko.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Sepherim on 06 Mar 2013, 13:57

"Sepherim" came from the randomeness in my mind. I needed a spherethiel (elven language in Shadowrun) for "dagger" which was my nick everywhere in internet back then, so I came up with something that "sounded elvish" (no, not Elvis, that's anotherguy!) and that was Seph. It became my common nickname since, and never again used dagger.

It was only a lot later that I found that it actually does mean something, in the Quabbalah, the Sepherim are the circles which compose reality (Netzaj, Keter, etc. there's ten of them, including the Malkuth which comes in EVE's rocket launcher), each of which is a Sephiroth (yup, the name the bad one in Final Fantasy VII takes). I loved the meaning of the word, so it only made me happier and confirmed the nickname.

Since then, I've used it everywhere, in all my chars. Actually, old-seph wasn't named Sepherim as I didn't think it sounded as an amarrian name, but Vorten Kyrstner, he took the name as a handle when he became pod pilot. It made no sense to repeat the story for new-seph, so I decided it did sound amarrian, and added the Catillah as second name. No story for Catillah, just sounded nice. :)

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Utsukushi Shi on 26 Apr 2013, 13:50

Shinayin Naerth: Back in the old days I started RP with AD&D. One of my characters was a blind drow elf priestess of Ellistrae. I really liked where her story went and so I have often used it when making a female character in video games. Also it kinda worked for me with the way Intaki looked.

Souchek Lehman: My original motivation for Souch was to make a combat toon because mining is often boring. From the beginning though I had a good sense of his story and how it would interact with Shin's. I went back and forth on more or less asian sounding names and settled on a half-formed idea that his family had adopted the name of a foreign man with some connection to their history. I found this entertaining since I had already decided that Souch was secretly somewhat of a rabid Achuran nationalist, his name probably drives him nuts. Deciding all this I just took the name of two characters from one of my favorite book series, Chung Kuo, and mixed them together. Stefen Lehman, an albino orphan that kills his way to the top of the Triads becoming the White T'ang, and his most faithful man Souchek, a low-rank criminal that sees the strength in Stefan and follows him tell their bloody end.

Gen Roku: According to the box of incense I got this name from it means Returning Spirit in chinese. According to the old Japanese sculpter at work it is also an era in Japanese dynasties. I started using it a long time ago as my xbox live gamer tag. I thought it was appropriate for a medium where you die and return constantly lol. I have used it all over for everything since.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Ayallah on 31 May 2013, 11:29

Ayallah's name is pretty straight forward, eye-all-aah is how it is pronounced meaning daughter of god.  Like Samira, I thought Amarr had unexplored Middle-East/Muslim avenues. 

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Anslol on 31 May 2013, 11:32

Anslo is a name I pulled out of my ass, same with Tetua.

I don't know why I'm good at making up names that are easily turned into puns.

It sucks, yo.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Gwen Ikiryo on 09 Jul 2013, 06:22

Gwen, of course, comes from the Welsh word for "White" or "Holy". Which is supposed to be a reference to her generally pretty "pure" attitude compared to other Capsuleers, at least at surface level.

Her last name, Ikiryo, is a type of Japanese spirit that is sort a fragment of a living persons soul, seperated from their body out of hatred or discontent for someone or something - A living grudge, in a sense of the word. Which is supposed to be sort of a reference to the kind of weird duality of a Capsuleers existance... Something sort of hateful and alien, yet born from an individual who is still alive and living as a normal person - And in the long term, damaging to both.

However, the first character of the word as it's written in Japanese (生) can also be read as "naive" or "innocent", which goes back to the above. That's why I picked that type of spirit in paticular.

In a meta sense, the use of a western forename and an eastern last name is supposed to sort of embody the awkward clashing conflict Gwen faces as a result of being of mixed ancestry, as well as being brought up in two different cultures (though I've sort of phased that second aspect out since I created her).

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Syagrius on 26 Jul 2013, 23:15

James was my fathers name, Syagrius, was the last Imperial Roman official in Gaul, his defeat by King Clovis I of the is considered the end of Western Roman rule outside of Italy proper.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Lyn Farel on 27 Jul 2013, 06:42

Quote from: Lyn Farel on 06 Mar 2011, 15:18

From the famous actor.

No actually I had to be pointed out that the name was close to the actor's name to notice it.

I just wanted a quite common first name, but yet a little aristocratic or old, with a simple and fonctionnal last name, but again that could be associated with a Holder status (if at the creation I had no clue of what was a Holder or if I wanted to see my character to be one).

Lynn means lake or pool in celtic and old gaelic, which fits.
Lyn (Llewellyn) means lionlike/leader in welsh, which does not fit at all.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Pickled_Prawn on 27 Jul 2013, 11:44

Main: Named after a Fallen Earth role whose name was originally 'Arthur Ramirez' before I San Matar-ized it.

Alt #1: Named after a competitor in the same competition that made Chopper famous in the Mega City One comics ( 2000AD ).
Alt #2: Randomizer job who got a San Matar style first name and kept the random surname.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Elmund Egivand on 29 Jul 2013, 00:23

My character's name is an everyman's name. Egivand is from the random name generator. I picked Elmund because it felt like a natural match for the surname. It's also a name I could imagine being attached to an actual person, so I stuck to it.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Drake Arson on 29 Jul 2013, 01:40

My name is pretty self explanatory.

It can mean several deffirent things, but they ussually all point in one direction in the end.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Katrina Oniseki on 29 Jul 2013, 13:44

Quote from: Drake Arson on 29 Jul 2013, 01:40

My name is pretty self explanatory.

It can mean several deffirent things, but they ussually all point in one direction in the end.

(http://th09.deviantart.net/fs49/PRE/f/2009/233/8/5/TROGDOR_THE_BURNINATOR_by_BlitzGraphics.jpg)

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Drake Arson on 30 Jul 2013, 00:13

Preeeeety much spot on!

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Shiki on 29 Aug 2013, 22:13

When this character was created, I had little knowledge of the lore, other than the basic timeline and nature of the Empires. A friend has said that the Caldari named things in a cross between Japanese and Finnish, and in retrospect I should have put a little more effort into originality. While I'm sorely tempted to try a new character with a new name, saying goodbye to the SP has so far held me back.

The name is supposed to be poetic, meaning, 'the secret teachings of the seasons.' Her parents were meant to be scientists, thus the name would reflect the truth of the world which is not readily apparent. At the time, I thought it fitting for an Achura.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Odelya on 29 Sep 2013, 11:06

“Odelya” is the name of a girl I had a crush on like five hundred years ago. Don’t really know why I chose it. (I guess I found a picture of her or something.) “d’Hanguest” is the name of a friend of John Calvin while he was a child—when I was preparing an exam on Calvin the name got stuck in my head. And as a consequence of my choice this friend of Calvin has become literally ungoogleable….

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Templar Ordo on 05 Mar 2014, 05:31

My main character's first name, Raphael, is a name of a close friend I had when I was younger. It is also the name of one of my favourite sculpture artists, as well as the best ninja turtle.
Thus I chose it as first name nine years ago. I must say I'm not that fond of it today as I was at first, but I guess it could be worse.

Ordo means a lot of things for me and has several resemblances.
Ranging from Order to disorder, to Ordos (house ordos in dune), to Canderous Ordo and his legacy in the KotOR games.
Ordo will represent all of that. With a sinister grin, he will hide his true self behind a sometime foolish charade.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Jace on 05 Mar 2014, 09:17

Quote from: Ordo on 05 Mar 2014, 05:31

It is also the name of one of my favourite sculpture artists, as well as the best ninja turtle.

 :!:

(http://i.imgur.com/VkTWcLO.jpg)

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: genofunk on 05 Mar 2014, 11:31

My wife and I decided if we had a baby girl we would name her Anyanka after Anyanka Jenkins from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. So I made this character to give to her one day. We had a son. We named him Azriel after Azriel from Ann Rice's Servant of the Bones. I made him a Dust character. Only going to have one kid so I'm keeping Anyanka.

Funk was my nickname in highschool.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Dessau on 05 Mar 2014, 17:12

"Bas-" : antiquated prenom based on a princely honorific from the early industrial Gallente era. Use of these was eschewed by many due to the imperialistic subtext, bot over the last few generations they have come back into fashion amongst the more provincial families far from the cosmopolitan centers of the Federation.

"Aschense" : a mytho-historical pathfinder from the traditions of antiquity. Akin to names like Ulysses, etc.

"Niscoir" : classical-modern name meaning "vigilant". This would be the name used in day-to-day interpersonal interaction.

"Grancoeur" : they make decent creamery butter, and I wanted a name for a farm family.

That's all made up, btw. I have no idea what I'm doing. Any glaring lore-based errors deserving of righteous correction should be addressed swiftly.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Jace on 05 Mar 2014, 17:21

Quote from: Dessau on 05 Mar 2014, 17:12

I have no idea what I'm doing.

Never admit that. Nobody will ever know.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Korsavius on 22 Aug 2014, 18:30

Can't believe I haven't responded to this yet :o

Basically one day I was looking to create a new alt that I intended to RP with at some point. I was bored searching through deviantart galleries for funsies and came across a rather peculiar drawing of a planet the painter called "Cor." This artwork reminded me of Caldari and so I rearranged the words around to come up with "Kor." As for the "savius" part, I just totally came up with it on the spot. I later gave some explanation behind this rather odd name by naming him Korbin Sa'kur Lavius, or Korsavius for short. :)

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Jikahr on 21 Sep 2014, 22:45

Well, when I started EVE I just looked at the blank box where my name was supposed to go and tried to think of an 'original' but futuristic sounding name for my character.

I like the letter 'J', and commas/ glottal stops seem 'futuristic' to me, so I figured 'Ji'kahr' was somewhat random, pronounceable and a good name.

Then as soon as I started playing, some people would tell me "Oh Ji'kahr? Man I loved 'Bablyon 5'!"

Which made me do a kind of facepalm as I thought it was completely unique, then suddenly remembered the name and character from the TV series. "Ugh, I knew it came from somewhere!"  :bash:

Still, I suppose it's not as bad as calling myself 'Mr. Spock' or 'Doctor Who' or 'Luke Skywalker'.

The actual character G'kar from the series is a Narn, an enslaved and subjugated race more comparable to the Minmatar than the Amarrians.

However, like the Amarr, the Narns are also a deeply religious people. G'Kar ends up becoming something of a prophet in his own society, largely by accident. So I suppose the name choice was not completely inappropriate, perhaps even subconsciously chosen.

I have been toying with the idea of having 'Ji'khar' mean something in Amarrian, such as 'Pilgrim' or 'seeker'. I'm a little miffed that I didn't think of a last name at character creation.

However,  if I were able to choose a last and middle (genus) name now, I might add 'Andreas Katsulas'.

Andreas Katsulas is the actor who played Ji'Khar, but died of lung cancer in 2006. (I only found out about this now.) I would do this as an OOC memorandum of him, and Bablyon 5 fans would pick up on it. To the uninitiated however, the actor's name sounds just unusual enough to be passable as an EVE name.

Ji'kahr Andreas Katsulas

.

Yes, not bad.

As I watch this video clip from Babylon 5 the series, I am reminded of the sorts of Theological/ philosophical discussions the Amarr (or Minmatar) might have with each other, as their Caldari (or Gallente) friend stands by and observes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_oQkSh2lq8

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Jace on 22 Sep 2014, 05:42

I have no idea if I have responded to this thread before or not and I am too lazy to look.

I liked the sound of it. Nothing more to it. I am fond of sibilants.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Aedre Lafisques on 28 Sep 2014, 20:50

Aedre is just a deliberate, as-far-as-I-know non-existing variant of 'Adrian'. On coms people struggle with it more than I could have imagined - I actually thought I was picking something comparatively simple and automatically French-sounding - oops!! D: I had no idea these are actually really weird morphemes for most. Well, that was ignorant.

So while it wasn't the wisest of choices (not to mention alphabetical primaries), it's certainly been enlightening: Most people have, by consensus, decided to call him A-dree, and I guess I've gotten used to it even though I dislike it most out of all the guesses! I'm not about to interject in official coms business to correct a pronunciation, I don't really waste the effort in real life, either - it usually doesn't stick anyway.  But for the record it should be something like /e:dʀə/ -- or something in that neighborhood. Ay-druh or Aydur is pretty close ones I've heard, too.
--There are probably as many ways to interpret that cluster of letters as there are people in New Eden from what I've heard, so I'm over it (laugh~)

As for 'Lafisques', it's an EVE-generated name. I can't remember if I modified it at all, but I did want something deliberately that would be a fairly common name - and I do see it around. I'd like to imagine it has a 'fiscal' etymology to it. It'll at least be ironic, right? I see it enough that canonically I have it so the Lafisques have been around a really long time (like Garoun long), so that it's sort of unlikely he knows any of them if it comes up. :p

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Lyn Farel on 29 Sep 2014, 12:38

Would probably be pronounced ah-ay-dr in french. and Lah-fee-sk. Except if you pronounce the ending "e" as well, but we generally don't.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Jikahr on 29 Sep 2014, 13:01

In 'Canadian' English, I would say 'Air-dray'.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Aedre Lafisques on 04 Oct 2014, 17:28

Quote from: Jikahr on 29 Sep 2014, 13:01

In 'Canadian' English, I would say 'Air-dray'.

That's what I was initially expecting more from English speakers, but this is probably because I'm also in Canada. So good jorb, I feel a bit better that it's not me specifically (laugh). It's not just Americans though, before anybody jumps on that, a guy from the Ukraine 'rees' it too.

Quote from: Lyn Farel on 29 Sep 2014, 12:38

Would probably be pronounced ah-ay-dr in french. and Lah-fee-sk. Except if you pronounce the ending "e" as well, but we generally don't.

My intent was to have the A and e pronounced together more or less, and as for the mostly-silent e at the end, I don't know how to explain it to anyone, but the one French guy on coms was fine, so we're probably in agreement :P Maybe it's just the type of R that makes me think one kind of hears the ə sound a little bit? It's intended to be a single flap r.

I'm in not-France, so trying to talk about the particulars from the constraints of my foreign French is likely to cause trouble :p

And, it doesn't matter for anyone too much from an RP perspective; the spread of attempts is super likely. It's very quickly just become part of the IC development of the culture shock (laugh)

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Charles Cambridge Schmidt on 04 Oct 2014, 21:43

I didn't know about anything involving the lore of EVE, and all I heard was that the Federation was just Space France/Britian/America. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Lyn Farel on 05 Oct 2014, 03:57

Quote from: Aedre Lafisques on 04 Oct 2014, 17:28

Quote from: Lyn Farel on 29 Sep 2014, 12:38

Would probably be pronounced ah-ay-dr in french. and Lah-fee-sk. Except if you pronounce the ending "e" as well, but we generally don't.

My intent was to have the A and e pronounced together more or less, and as for the mostly-silent e at the end, I don't know how to explain it to anyone, but the one French guy on coms was fine, so we're probably in agreement :P Maybe it's just the type of R that makes me think one kind of hears the ə sound a little bit? It's intended to be a single flap r.

I'm in not-France, so trying to talk about the particulars from the constraints of my foreign French is likely to cause trouble :p

And, it doesn't matter for anyone too much from an RP perspective; the spread of attempts is super likely. It's very quickly just become part of the IC development of the culture shock (laugh)

The e is just suggested at best. But yeah it's silent. Much like the '-su' in japanese is (gozaimasu, desu, itadakimasu, etc) if i'm not mistaken.

You won't find any difference for example in how it is pronounced between 'bel' and its feminine form 'belle', much like you won't find any difference between the feminine noun 'citadelle' and the adjective 'accidentel'. I know you can force the difference if you want to be extremely formal or poetic or something, but... Tbh I understand a few of the rules and etymology/roots behind, but most are above me. I just know they matter a lot contrary to english where pronunciation is not linked to how words are written.

As for the 'Ae' at the beginning, there is nothing alike in french but you will occasionally find it in foreign words, so I don't think there is a correct way to say it. Anyway with use and repeating it again and again I am pretty sure it would start to be pronounced "ay" instead of "ah-ay". What makes the name looks french however, is really the e at the end. While silent in french, it's extremely typical of the language.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Larzzral on 15 Oct 2014, 04:04

My character's name is Intayazz Windayack {in-tae-AZ, win-DAE-ak}. I made it up fifteen years ago when I was a wee lad, after watching Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles. I figured it sounded like a name that they would have.

I've used it across Everquest, WoW, Elder Scrolls III-V and so many more, in the last fifteen years, yet only Eve players in the last few years have asked if it's a joke name for in-the-ass... No it isn't! Haha.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Arkon Sarain on 24 Mar 2015, 21:45

Seeing as this is a diverting topic, and will help keep me from doing work for a bit I figured I should reply :D

I went with Arkon as it was a former Emperor's name (Arkon Ardishapur), and I worked on the assumption that such names would be popular among commoners. I also enjoyed the Greek reference ἄρχων or Arkhon meaning 'lord' or 'ruler.' So a bit of in-universe reasoning and out-of-universe reasoning :D

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Utari Onzo on 25 Mar 2015, 00:25

Before I played eve I played ALOT of Mount and Blade including the senjuko mod. I liked the name 'Utari' from the northern Japanese people, rolled a Civire because focused aggression sounded cool and the first ge generated family mame that popped up was Onzo. It worked and I went for it. All connections to Hattori Hanzo are purely coincidental.

I wish i could change a character's bloodline however :'(

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Kellina Galloway on 20 Jul 2015, 18:09

I have been using Kellina in game for years. Every game I play the main character's name is always Kellina. When I came to play EVE I saw that I could have a last name, so I used Galloway, because it was a variation of Galway, which is my favorite city in Ireland.

Not very interesting, but that is how I got my name.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Teinyhr on 26 Nov 2015, 17:18

Amalgamation of two usernames I used well over 10 years ago. I'm not exactly sure where the Tein part actually originates from anymore but "yhr" part means uh, literally loosely translated "the solitary knight." so actually it is an acronym that I for some reason thought would fit in well with "Tein." Today my cobbled-together character name is one of my biggest regrets in EVE.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Loai on 25 Feb 2017, 22:57

I went through a series of trial accounts over the course of a few years before I actually subscribed with a long-term character (this was when a two-week trial was all you got). One of them was QRL Loai, with QRL being a complete asspull on lore; supposedly it signified her home planet and hanger-on sub-nobility status of her family. Didn't have much time to flesh her out IC, but her portrait was the most amazingly snooty thing you've ever seen and I got attached pretty much solely in that regard.

Now a proper resident of New Eden, the Loai part stayed. QRL turned to Qerl, and she's still hanger-on sub-nobility. People have a lot of trouble figuring out how to pronounce Qerl.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Mikinn on 06 Mar 2019, 23:09

I've been on an Old Norse kick recently because my moms side of the family is Norwegian, so I looked through the dictionary until I found a word I felt like fit the way I imagined her balls-to-the-walls, fly-girl, personality - Mikinn - it means both hard and fast. (they probably meant the fast as in unmoving, but hey, poetic license and either way is still a pretty cool name) On a sidenote, I later learned while researching lore, that the Sebiestor tend toward Nordic style names. I thought that was a fun coincidence.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Aergri Evingod on 13 Mar 2019, 13:41

Before choosing a user name I did the collection of characters in the minmatar republic system names. The "gr" digraph and that triconsonant combinations in system names appear stuck and after some toying I started to like Aergri.

Evingod was provided by the name generator.

Title: Re: Character names: History, reasons, etc.
Post by: Azazel Drakonis on 27 Mar 2019, 10:10

I always liked the name Azazel and after looking into it, decided to adopt it. Drakonis, my unhealthy obsession with Dragons. Also, I had to keep the surname to match my main at the time, Akatosh, chief deity of the Divines from Skyrim. So they're almost opposite each other. One devil, one divine.