MMO Character Naming
What’s in a name? When it comes to most MMOs, quite a bit. People often race to new servers and new games to reserve their favorite names. Whether it’s something common and frequently sought after, or something clever, or just that same alias we’ve been using online since we were fourteen, a name in an MMORPG is a pretty meaningful thing. Some people like to pick names that fit in with the setting of the game, and seamlessly mesh with the lore. Some people like to just rip off the name of their favorite fictional character and slap it on their avatar. In a game like Lord of the Rings Online, this is the difference between someone who makes a name for their elf ranger from a list of racial suggestions, rather than someone who just names them “Legolas” or even “LegolaselfXX”.
Character Creation Screen in Rohan Online – Every MMO Has One.
Of course, I’m someone who belongs to the former category, as a frequent roleplayer, and someone who likes feeling immersed in the game world. I’ll spend quite some time mulling over the right name, considering how it fits the character thematically, how it reads, and how it sounds. Like every other aspect of character creation, name selection is something I take a great deal of time doing. I know I’m not the only person who does this, but sometimes I wonder about the people who just seem to go for completely ridiculous or unimaginative names. A dark elf named Drizzt or Zaknafein (R.A. Salvatore was a high school favorite of many), for example. An archer type character simply named “archer”, as another example. Is there some kind of disease going around that’s causing people’s imaginations to atrophy and die?
Some people might automatically assume that I’m opposed to immersion breaking names, but that’s not really true. I appreciate cleverness, and a clever name, even if it’s completely out of character and weird, always earns my respect. It’s for this reason I happen to enjoy occasionally visiting the superhero games, Champions Online and City of Heroes/Villains, to scope out some of the more clever character names and concepts. A good superhero name is such a rare and precious commodity, especially when it’s clever enough to make me giggle.
My Character in Champions Online
What are some of your favorite naming techniques for your characters? Does the game’s setting and your race/class selection factor into it? How so, if it does? Is there a particular alias you always use when making a character, or a particular theme you always like to follow? In my case, since I was a complete weeaboo when I was in junior high, I always went by “Omika” when I made online aliases. I think the original character was some kind of really sad, embarrassing Mary Sue that just whined for attention (and probably got it) from all the boy characters. The origins of the alias are completely ridiculous to me now, but the name stuck, and it appears pretty frequently with me online. If you have a similarly persistent tag that’s stuck with you, share!
By, B. Olivia
August 24, 2010
#
I see people name their characters off of other popular games like Final Fantasy all the time.
I always try to name my character ReMo or Remotay. ReMo is my name backwards. I know it’s not creative, but it’s how I identify myself online. If I want to be serious about role-playing I would put more time into it.
August 24, 2010
#1
Wow I just noticed that ReMo = Omer… I’m kinda slow sometimes.
By the way I usually name my self ether Myrth, Erbius, or Talon. I think they are pretty cool names.
September 14, 2010
#2
My name is always Enzo. My dog’s name.
August 26, 2010
#3
Have You received my e-mail regarding me wanting to write an article for MMOHut ?
August 26, 2010
#4
I wouldn’t mind names as long as they make sense and don’t break Lore like in for example World of Warcraft: someone calls themself VarianWrn that makes me so mad as they can’t think of anything creatvive and would rather take someones name for the “lulz”
September 3, 2010
#5
My names are always long and japanese. Below are the names and their translations:
Chitsuki: Blood Moon
Uzumaki Shiki: Whirlpool Death
KyuubiNoKitsune: Nine-Tailed Fox
August 24, 2010
#6
no omer your name is really creative lol xD and it WORKS spelt backwards.
but your lucky with that name, most names usually dont work like that. for me though, the names i use are mostly random and can never stick to just one name. It isnt really that important for me what my name is online but thats just me.
August 24, 2010
#7
For sure, I always have the same same in every game. Never know when your gonna run across an old friend :> happened right here in mmohut too.
August 24, 2010
#8
I am one of those who just write anything as a name in MMOs.
Sometimes when I don’t bother at all I just randomly hit my keyboard resulting in completely random characters =P
Mostly I just go with names like:
aName, some dude, etc.
Sentences without spaces and shortened words as names are also cool:
Freitemplz
hey thats a cool name. Gonna make that my new nickname, lol?
August 24, 2010
#9
I sometimes just take my real full name Danny Masmeijer bbut else as everyone can see here i use Mcanaan M stands for my last name and Canaan i like the meaning of it so. and if i play with genderlocked games and i have a girl then i name here lucyven like lucifer i like the meaning but not the biblical meaning lol ^^
October 13, 2010
#10
ur real name!!!!!!
August 24, 2010
#11
This irks me quite a lot. It became a pandemic after World of Warcraft. People treat WoW less like an RPG and more like any other kind of PC game, like a first person shooter. The root of the problem is that they have no connection to their character at all. Therefore, it doesn’t matter to them that they are playing a Human Female Warrior named Robodyke. If you ask them about their name, they’ll just say, “it’s funny!” If you ask them why they made a female character when they are male IRL, they will say, “If I’m gonna stare at an ass all day, it’s gonna be a girl’s, LOL!!”
Now, I’m not a hardcore roleplayer. But I do love games with immersion factor. Character names like “Bubbleoseven” or “Hotmeatz” it just slightly ruins that. Personally, I have a selection of a few names that I consistently use depending on the type of character. For mages or certain fighting characters (like Rangers and Paladins), I often use “Xael.” For rogues, I use “Khaja.” For smaller characters such as gnomes and such, I use “Neru.” For barbarians, orcs, or any other kind of less elegant character I like to use “Kurzon.” Sometimes when I just can’t get one of these names I’ll use a backup like “Thalanx.” So for me, it definitely depends on the character I’m making. The phonetics and spelling are most important to me. It has to sound like it fits.
August 24, 2010
#12
i always name myself alexrocker9 in everything XD
August 24, 2010
#13
PrawnSkunk
ExpiredMilk
LivingWithLag
12LetterName
umopepisdn (look at upside down)
those are my usual names :X
they make people laugh sometimes, which is good.
August 24, 2010
#14
This is my GamerTag and I use it for everthing. This is becaus I am dedicated to the band SLIPKNOT
August 24, 2010
#15
I usually either use UtauMelody, HitomiChii, or HikariSunshine. There are some cases where I can get Mira or another simplified name but, that’s not often.
I hate when people name their characters something like “MidnightShadow” to try to sound cool. >>
Or when people make really stupid names. I saw a username that was something like “Farmer206″ XD.
August 24, 2010
#16
I generally choose an Ice Themed name, and if I can’t usually something that relates to the class + icy.
It annoys me because I want my name to be one word or a small compound name and that can’t always be the case.
August 24, 2010
#17
I always have been and always will be Ouranos. Of course, no one used to use it, now everyone does cuz im so l33t.
August 24, 2010
#18
Personally, I believe that everyone should attempt to make an IGN that’s unique solely to themselves. Considering the wide availability of tools online to create random names/words, the most players see are redundant versions of ‘XxIGNxX’, ‘IGNxx’, and ‘OxIGNxO’. After some time, it becomes an eye sore (in my opinion) but there’s little ‘we’ can do to change that.
August 24, 2010
#19
Actually, I do take it personal when others take my name. I seem to have a doppleganger walking around in MMORPGs and I think I know who it actually is lol. But I’ll get her later when I see her.
Nowadays, alot of Remotay, Remotayy, and Remotayyy have been popping up. I find that disturbing in a way lol
August 24, 2010
#20
In every game i play i always use the same name that my first WoW character ever had which is Zherdev. Never really strikes me to make something different
August 24, 2010
#21
My usual characters are either some variant of Rohan15 or Wolfblade365, the numbers just there if needed. If they are, I make up a story why.
August 24, 2010
#22
I always use the name stevebat (or kaiasha for female characters)
August 25, 2010
#23
oh oh nice I love spending time to choose my name, but if I cannot get them I have my usual backups that always works and are sick
( I think)
ex: NuclearDog as in the glowing radioactive underdog
not telling anymore because I don’t ppl to copy me, but I love saying NuclearDog
August 25, 2010
#24
I don’t spend too much time thinking about my name I have 2 names that always works when I play a game
I first aim for Xiyu (my name irl) and if thats taken 
I go for LostSavior that will work also most of the times. When Those 2 are taken D= Then I need time a lot of time to think of a new one 
August 25, 2010
#25
For shooters and action games I use “Fragpunk”, “Infrapunk”, or “Kontrastat”. For MMORPGs it’s anything that comes to my mind and isn’t too “shoot-em-up-ish”. In WoW my main paladin was “Blytzkrieg” and I had a gnome named “Gnoobins”.
August 25, 2010
#26
only game i was able to reserve Maddog in was Allods and yes i went onto both servers and made a Maddog D: i know its very common but yeah haha
August 25, 2010
#27
I have several names that I use. They are all gender specific because I play both male and female characters depending on the mood. I am one of those males that usually play female char but this is because female characters usually look better and have better customization. I can barely recal any time that I have played a character that seems ugly to me
August 25, 2010
#28
yea normally i see like cloud09 or xcloudx
naruto0009 or something that has to do with anime or games
as for my self and one of my good gaming buddies we normally use are gamer names pip(me) kiwi(him)
along with something to do with the class or something to do with anime i normally dont use popular animes to try and keep them different
August 25, 2010
#29
I use Blaylock1988 for pretty much everything. I originally got it from my Xbox Live gamertag and just kept it the same ever since. Non-unique names dont really ruin immersion for me but the really stupid ones with tons of unique characters and are really hard to read do frustrate me.
One of the best ones I have seen so far is:
II I III I I II III I II I
(he went by barcode) lol
August 25, 2010
#30
lol. funny AND creative.
August 25, 2010
#31
i use names depending the type of game i play….
for instance….
for a mmofps game i use something dark like….MetalWolf or BloodDrinker
for a mmorpg i tend to use creative names like Xanodan or something cooler..
for mmorts i like something to do with rulers like HybridKing or IRuleAll
August 25, 2010
#32
I always name my character Arthymst, that name just come out few months ago literally.
August 25, 2010
#33
well i go with taco like if my char is dark and evil i go eviltaco or a mage magictaco or a shammy megatacoo or a tank irontaco taco is my nick name so is ryan2 so i go with it
August 25, 2010
#34
I generally name my character FanOfKOTOKO or something from mythology (preferably Celtic)
August 25, 2010
#35
The one I use here. I use it almost always whenever I can. It’s taken from my favorite (maybe 2nd to favorite) single player RPG. Oblivion. This is how it goes.
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion =>
(E)lder (S)crolls (IV):(O)blivion =>
ESIVO =>
Esivo
August 25, 2010
#36
theduffman. If that’s not available, it’s theduffman1, then theduffman2, etc. Lol, it’s simple, but effective.
August 25, 2010
#37
I go by my gamertag, phaang (pronounced Fang) its never taken lol and my friend actually came up with it as the name of a froglok paladin on EQ2. lol but he let me use it and ive used it ever since. sometimes i go by Kuoribara.
August 25, 2010
#38
I always try to use Maikeru, but if it is taken, I use LeonKilat or GeekStark
August 26, 2010
#39
i use dif names for dif games ( i dont try to be creative wit game names ) my most common one is penten56 and i have used that since i was 8
August 26, 2010
#40
Well for me I am usally not all that creative on my own, except for my very first charcter in Guild Wars: Ash Of The Wilds. I kind of threw it together and didn’t even relize at the time that there is a map in the game called “The Wilds” when I named him. He is a Ranger/Monk. After that I was a little less creative and used names from anime characters I liked. As for now in most games. I turn to Name Genrator sites. I know that is kind of cheating but whatever. Some of my current handles are: Pilichir (means “arrow lord” in some form of elvish), Thoven, and Tobias. The last two names are just kind of random and I use only if there is no archer or ranged class minus mages, I suck with mages. I used two other handles to but don’t any more.
August 26, 2010
#41
Well,i have two names to choose from either (Blastonid) or (Killerobia) i use killerobia for fighting games and blastonid for normal games and social and all these stuff…
August 26, 2010
#42
hey Remo, are you going to do a first look video on that new CB game Uncharted Waters Online?
anyway i name mine JDSnype, iSnype,iOneShot
you get the idea, sniper are the class i pick on any type of genre game.
August 26, 2010
#43
I usually start off with Imun at the start of my name (imundead, imunraveling, imundone) stuff like that, but ive been using prodigalson or prodigleson lately. I have never really gotten that immersion factor, I just play games to waist time.
August 26, 2010
#44
We’ll I got three names I use, since I always play a DPS melle, mostly a mage and an archer, so the names are Kyanna ( the same name i gave my albino ferret, so when I make a char with the name, I try for them to look albino like^^ ) , Gilraen ( no idea, just poped out when I tried to anagram a name and Galldor which I got from one of my fav books out there. Hope you like them
.
August 26, 2010
#45
My name in games was always Goozey, DarkGoozey, or NinjaSteve. I get into the habit of using the same name over and over again so when im playing most people will recoqnize me from another game and gives me free gear :3
August 26, 2010
#46
I name myself azfallon or befallian always it’s the only names in the world i’d figured only i will think of…
August 26, 2010
#47
Names I can’t stand:
People’s real names but not those like Remo or Remotay that is a quite unique name but I hate names like
:Christopher81
:Chris,Chrissie,xXxChrisxXx
:HuZzAh
and names that come from cartoons(even channel names),names that come from other games or even a name of an NPC in the same game that someone finds cool and names themself after them. Names from popular films: Blade, Batman, Spiderman(Spider-man, Spidey), LOTR, and oh gosh theres just too many if I’d like to list absolutely all over-all non-creative, non-unique(overused/abused) names. And usually I either name my self after theological demons e.g Aamon/Amon, Abraxas etc or simply Omahgad but i started doing these just now before I used all sorts of names I thought were “cool” or simply “stylish” or whenever I read it or someone wrote it or I saw it in chat or on a quest talk(when you accept quests, sometimes they drop in your name casually like: So you are the legendary ______ < name there altough you actually just began playing this game and it's your first or second quest. Uff this was the longest comment I ever wrote in my life it's like a short essay
August 26, 2010
#48
My name is always korvis. I don’t know who it is, but I get the same “doppleganger” effect…. I made my name from scratch. Corvus is latin means raven, so I flipped some letters, and its been korvis for 10+ years now. Used to be nobody had my name…. now it is taken wherever I go. I should have the right to confront these theives.
Anyways… if korvis is taken, I make it korvisus. If I’m playing a female, its korvy. And btw, somebody needs to write an article about cross-playing, or playing as a gender other than your own. I USUALLY play a female. Why would I want to look at a phail man when I could look at a hot or cute girl? Simple choice for me. Its not always like that though. Genderlock ftl, and if I can find a feminine guy, that will work.
Not to mention… people give you shit for free, and help you out when you are a chick. Give em a little kiss and their pent up hormones rush out as gold for the taking…. muahahaha… try that as a male. Not gonna work honey. Grouping is always easier…. etc..etc…etc.
August 26, 2010
#49
Latin is awesome for names. Why does everything sound so win in Latin?
August 26, 2010
#50
I watch alot of anime, and I play alot of MMO’s
thus my name changes as I change animes Im watching
I have a tendency to favor certain male chars and envy them in a way.
Example
I used to name my char like Sasori or Sasori puppet master or somethign to that effect (From Naruto back when I watched it)
but he got beat by Sakura or something..
Now its Gokudera from Katekyo Hitman Reborn
if they arent available I’ll simply add an X or 2.
plus, my best friend also watches reborn and names himself as Yamamoto, his fav char.
August 26, 2010
#51
Also, the name doesnt change between male or female char, because I always use a male one, even if the game is gender locked and I hate that class (mostly males are warriors, and im not fond of them)
I find it weird how people play as a girl char and are a guy irl.
August 26, 2010
#52
i got a few names i use, all with a history, my main Thalog was an evil version of an old D&D char named goliath, to bad the gm couldnt spell and missed the i out lol.
back on topic, i gotta admit, when your taking an elf in a group through a dungeon and the name list reads Thalog,xxxsakuraxxx , R2D2,myalt2 and smexy366 is reaaaaaaaly ruins the atmosphere, this is meant to be a fantasy world where your alternate self can be expressed in a fun was.. naming yourself like an idiot doent make anything fun, my name is funny lol….year for the first 5 seconds then you look a retard
August 26, 2010
#53
I frequently name my in-game characters to reflect the circumstances but most importantly, my personal tastes. By circumstances I mean, If I have just created a Sword-class warrior in , lets say, WoW – Then chances are that I’m going to name my character to reflect a famous swordsman from other media I’m very well familiar with. Like Miyamoto Musashi, a legendary figure in Japanese Samurai history or maybe even brave Fingolfin, unequaled sword-wielding warrior from Tolkien’s vast universe.
And if by that someone finds the need to label me a “rip-off” then by all means, have at you.
But the legions who know will get the message even better. And thats the essence of it.
August 26, 2010
#54
im actually articfigure at a lot of games. but on ijji games, im actually articfigur (A.V.A.’s 10 letter limit…)
if ur a very popular person on a game, other players will name the same name as your EXCEPT with a number or a twist
epic names are just so epic, try to make a name that looks like upside down. dont name ur character with ur real name, but if u like getting called like that all the time… thats ur choice.
you can make a name with numbers t00!
all you need is a keyboard… and your imagination
August 26, 2010
#55
Usually I name my self seven8nine but I don’t know why it just stuck to me.
If seven8nine is avalible I use NinjaPlox thats pretty random too.
August 27, 2010
#56
I always name it after my company… so when I do become really famous and popular… people won’t already steal my name!
August 27, 2010
#57
normally i always call myself loudhunter becase thats what i am(when i play shooters) but when i play mmorpgs i like more natural names so i just click some letters from the keyboard and make a weird name of it:)
August 27, 2010
#58
Naming characters has always been a major issue for me, and could keep me at character creation screen for hours until I’ve figured out the proper name…
After playing tons of games, both single player and multiplayer I’ve got myself somewhat of a database for names.
I’m currently playing a MMO game which is based on having a LOT (as in over 70) characters in your “family” and that requires a lot of creativity for many people.
Sure, the characters do come with their own names, but there’s really a limit of how many “Johns” and “Janes” you can look at on the server.
For this particular game I’ve decided to so something interesting. I’ve always been interested with Nordic mythology and that got me into Icelandic Norse (as a laguage in whole [closest thing to what the Vikings used at their time]), so I’ve pulled up some dictionaries and started looking for words that can describe/define the characters.
This brought me a lot of cool names, and is really a good method of increasing your vocabulary when learning another language.
Thanks for reading my 2 cents, I hope you’ll all get creative ideas that will make the gaming worlds more fun
P.S.
Hrafn means raven.
August 27, 2010
#59
i usually name my guy brotherhood,apocalypse or somethin totally retarded like @$$kiss and hobo_in_space
August 27, 2010
#60
I use Starkler for everything. I think it’s pretty cool. (:
August 29, 2010
#61
my names just generally come from the game itself i allways start of with something simple like demensia which has been my name for ALOT of things, but i tend to try the game a bit, and then make a character with a name that fits.
August 29, 2010
#62
I always use the Yujj name in mmo because it my real name =p
August 29, 2010
#63
That’s actually a really cool name =0
August 30, 2010
#64
For quite a long time if I played a necromancer or a dark elf I’d name him Nihlathak after the NPC in Act V in Diablo 2. Now that I found a website with prefixes and suffixes of drow names I start naming my dark elfs Dirztel. If I play an elf it’s usually Kethalinal, made from the same website, if human would pick Kethan to sound more human but remain the “keth” to be recognizable. I usually play a mage so I don’t play orcs, dwarves, etc brawling races.
August 30, 2010
#65
If I’m a mage, I tend to use Gosilmar (from CAD sillies) and try to burn things as much as I can. I also like to use google translator to whip up a cool sounding Japanese name. But more often that not I spend around thirty minutes(or more) trying to think of a name that fits into the surroundings (usually typical fantasy mmo)
August 30, 2010
#66
As a couple of other people said, I’m a guy that plays female characters. I make male characters about 1% or less of the times I play games, mostly when they’re gender locked. I used to play Mu Online a lot, and I didn’t have much choice there…So I used Warbringer (for warrior), Wicked, SubZero (for mage) in there most of the times.
Wicked also works for me for female characters, but only mages. I usually like rogue-like characters, in which case I usually go for Ganja or Reefa. For warrior type characters I can also go for Reefa, or Clone. For healer type classes, I usually go for Shaman or Spliffa.
For a long time I’ve used Clone as my first choice, and TheBorg as well (this one usually for archer/rogue type classes). I could also go for Jugs (yeah, go ahead and judge me on that haha), when it’s the case…you know what I mean.
August 31, 2010
#67
I always use lavranzo,lamin,lavse,snarval.
I think that lavranzo is a quite cool name and It’s almost my real name
August 31, 2010
#68
I usally go with Demonan. It was the name of the necromancer in one of my DnD campaigns. We also have a joke for it. THE NAME IS DEMONAN, but my friends call me Dan.
August 31, 2010
#69
I usually go for “Allerion” but sometimes I need to come up with something else, for example Mohawk, or using an traditional english name (depending on the character genre)
August 31, 2010
#70
I always name myself ”PannenK0ek” what means pancake in dutch xD
I dont know how i came up with that name but its just my nickname xD
September 3, 2010
#71
I usually go with Latin words….lately I’ve taken a liking to VenaAmoris which means “vein of love”
September 5, 2010
#72
My main nickname is Lyzzern (It comes from Wyverns that I always loved) and I love to make new names such as: Foren, Ryorth, Kielg, Thyrus and their female versions of course. I think their pretty epic for some reason D:
September 6, 2010
#73
i usually go with Drao Hyrus (male) or Jasra Hyrus (female) though i dont do jasra often as i dont play female to often cause im a guy
September 7, 2010
#74
My first mmo names was Jdvenom due to my name (JD) and DARK cool spiderman character (Venom)… it was lame so i changed to “DaShadow” – Da = cool portuguese band got that in their name, and shadow = Honda shadow : google it
DaShadow / DaSh (usually my 2nd char) are my mmo names trough all these years.
Shiruba (3rd option) – my family name in japanese x).
I also got (my) “signature quote” = calling everyone with zord(Power rangers = WIN) or mon (Digimon!!) at the end: Remotaymon or Omerzord for you xDD
Gz MMOhut team for the cool mmo’s reviews. MMOHUT FTW!! ^^
September 9, 2010
#75
feels great to know im not the only one that would spend almost 15 mins trying to think of a name lol i tend to pick things little dark or rogue related
September 10, 2010
#76
I always name my characters Rufos, Rufos3D, LordRufos, etc…
September 10, 2010
#77
I prefer names that can actually be pronounced… I hate hate hate people who use numbers in their character names. If its your username on a forum or whatever, fine do watever u like mr NoImagination[DATEiwasBorn]. I’m not too fond of BloodGiver aka NounVerb names either, but I accept that in some lore it’s acceptable such as Light Walker etc for an elven name. if you insist on using PizzaLover as a username why not translate it into another language (preferably not the language generally accepted as majority on that server) that makes it appear a normal name.
September 12, 2010
#78
i just put my name “Mikey” and jam an X in there and scramble it…i know it’s not creative, it’s like the organization 13 except with my name.
September 12, 2010
#79
I always use Jedys, but if that’s taken, i use Adnat, i got them in exact same way as Esivo lol.
J)ad(e) (D)(y)na(s)ty
Adnaty is from the letters leftover
November 28, 2010
#80
figday
always that idk why
January 14, 2011
#81
I always try to name myself awesomeboy69, GFighter, or just simply awesomeboy
January 18, 2011
#82
my name theTman is my first name: Thomas and my favorite kind of class the Tank is it creative or not i dont know but people keep steeling my name
*curses all fake theTmans*
January 26, 2011
#83
I always choose a name thats original. i think thats one of the most important pieces when creating any character. Also think the name should reflect that char’s class. Do not want a Tank named Cupcake or something like that.
February 1, 2011
#84
lol or a healer called death dealer