My naming woes.

So, I'm one of those guys that really gets into the characters that I play. I'll sometimes talk in character, as the mood strikes me. And one of the things I spend the most time on when creating a character is the name. I'll sit and brainstorm for hours sometimes, trying to come up with a good name for the character I'm creating. I usually try to avoid derivative names, as well as pop culture references. No Leeroy Jenkins or Sephiroths here. I also try to match the name to the race and class of the character. I do make exceptions, such as naming my Shadow Warrior, Zanshin. Zanshin is a Japanese word relating to a certain mental state in martial arts, including archery. So the name works for me, even though it's not a typical "elf" name.

Now with my new Slayer, which I'll be playing as a role-playing character, I'm facing this issue when coming up with a name again. I'm trying to come up with a good, snappy Dwarf name that reads and sounds good. Unfortunately, my Order server is pretty heavily populated and nearly every name I pick is already taken. As a matter of fact I've even considered contacting the current owner of my first choice name and offering him gold to delete the toon so I can use the name. The guy is only level 6, so it wouldn't be too much of a hassle to re-level. But I'm not going to do that. The logistics involved in doing that are pretty daunting, so I'm just gonna go with another choice. I really get personally invested into my characters, so I wouldn't really want to take a name away from someone who was really stoked on it.

I tend towards getting really into my guys, and with this Slayer, who will be my first serious role-play character ever, I really need a good name. I don't know why the name is so important to me, but if I play a character with a crappy name it starts to nag at me more and more. So I can't do funny or joke names either, that just gets old. So I really prepare and research. 

I usually comb through Warhammer books, and I also read the Khazalid (Dwarf) dictionary to get an idea of what I'm looking for. I'm also writing a backstory for this character, so that's an additional consideration. I then start to write out multiple name possibilities on a piece of paper, experimenting with different spelling and pronounciation. I repeat this process over and over, adding new names and scratching out old ones as my mood changes, until I have about three or four final names. I make my choice from these, and I'll also have my fiance go over the names and tell me what she thinks is best.

At the moment, I think I have my final four choices lined up and awaiting final selection. I need to get back home from work and reserve 'em first, because my earlier choices are all taken. I had to settle for variations earlier on at least two names because all my ideas were taken, weird spellings and all. I'm pretty confident about the new ones I've come up with. They're appropriately Dwarfy, and they read well and sound cool. I'll let you guys know when we have a winner.

Oh yeah...patch 1.11 came out today. Night of Murder event is on live servers now. Also, there is an interesting patch note regarding fort lords. Check for the notes at the Warhammer Herald. Link is in my blogroll. Thanks for reading and happy murdering!