Delight and Disappointment

[TraumaTrain]

Names are special. Precious.

 

I'm shocked when good names are still available. A couple months ago, on Indomitable, I released the name National Defense. I checked a couple days ago and no one has picked it up yet.

 

It's time, I think, to enforce the name release option the HC team laid out. I'm sure there are a lot of inactive accounts holding on to a treasure trove of awesome names.

[Oubliette_Red]

28 minutes ago, TraumaTrain said:

Names are special. Precious.

 

I'm shocked when good names are still available. A couple months ago, on Indomitable, I released the name National Defense. I checked a couple days ago and no one has picked it up yet.

 

It's time, I think, to enforce the name release option the HC team laid out. I'm sure there are a lot of inactive accounts holding on to a treasure trove of awesome names.

One person's "good name" is another person's "meh". "Good names" are subjective, what one thinks is awesome, another will think is mundane.

 

When the Legacy team ran the name release tool, they also reported later (when people were clamoring for it again, ended up in with very few names being picked up from the ones that had been released. That was when there were a lot more people playing.

[VileTerror]

Someone I roleplay with managed to get "Pup" for a puppy-dog character tonight on Everlasting.  There are definitely some good names out there still!

[DR_Mechano]

Honestly surprised the name for my invuln/StJ character Invulnerabelle wasn't taken.

[EmmySky]

I was shocked to find the name Caberet available until I realised I cant spell worth a flip and its actually cabaret, which was taken.  All is well though, I gave her a jaunty beret and tp friend/tp foe so she is Caberet ( who moonlights in a club in Brickstown occasionally).

[TheOtherTed]

My solution to the naming problem is to dip into other languages for words (or, if I'm lucky, actual names) with meanings relevant to my character.  It can take some digging, but I can usually find something that I like the sound of.  In the end, I'm the one who has to "live" with the name - whether someone gets it or not is secondary (although it is fun when I get a random /tell from someone who does).

 

Sometimes, I'll come up with a general idea for a name and dig around to see if there are similar types of terms in other languages.  For example, I wanted a cool name for a secret spy character, so I looked up whether other languages had equivalents of "Jane Doe" (i.e., a tag for an unidentified body).  That led to two character names I've used a lot - "Jeanne Truc" and "Lee Three" - which in turn helped me fine tune the character concepts.  Again, not so concerned if other people don't make the connection - I like how they sound, and I like the concepts they convey in my head.

 

Anyway, here are two of my favorite sites for name inspirations:

 

https://www.wiktionary.org/

 

https://www.momjunction.com/baby-names/all/

[QueringPanthera]

When I am stumped for a name I also visit this site http://www.behindthename.com/

 

It gives lots of options for searching via meaning in many languages and even has a random name generator.  

[ShardWarrior]

Really wish the naming convention thing could be redone.  It is my understanding that it would be a monumental effort to do so, however I feel it would be beneficial going forward.

[Apparition]

6 minutes ago, ShardWarrior said:

Really wish the naming convention thing could be redone.  It is my understanding that it would be a monumental effort to do so, however I feel it would be beneficial going forward.

 

You and me both.  I much prefer the naming convention of Champions Online and Star Trek Online.  Mostly because I am terrible at names and everything I can possibly think of is taken.  Now I just use "Apparition" and stick an adjective or adverb in front.  "Shooting Apparition," "Diffusing Apparition," "Fiery Apparition," "Serrating Apparition," etc.  The problem there is I run into the character limit.

[Leogunner]

20 hours ago, ToonHawk said:

Hello,

 

This is my first post since joining the forum last night. I can't tell you how excited I was when a friend of mine let me know that there was a community-run server for City of Heroes, a game I absolutely loved and played a ton of in my younger years. I completed the download last night and jumped right into character creation. That is when Disappointment punched me in the face.

 

Completed an Ice Blaster only to find that every derivation of icy, cold, frigid, arctic name you can think of is already taken. I am literally on naming attempt 30 or 40 now... Wish me luck trying to successfully achieve my own homecoming.

 

~Chad

You can make up a random name and then rename for free at any time. Just some advice from someone who is horrible at naming characters. Inspiration may come as I'm thinking of their past history or how their powers work. 

 

Also, I was surprised that I managed to get Zero Kelvin for my Psi/ice stalker. I even decided my mutant polar bear with cryokinesis has the real name Kevin to keep his identity a secret lol. 

 

But come on, Zero Kelvin? That wasn't taken? That's absolute zero, BTW. 

[Olly]

10 minutes ago, Leogunner said:

Also, I was surprised that I managed to get Zero Kelvin for my Psi/ice stalker.

 

I think I saw someone named "Zero Kevin"... which is rather funny actually.

[Llewellyn Blackwell]

Also consider using non english words for names. Spanish variants seem popular especially with fire toons.

[srmalloy]

20 hours ago, ToonHawk said:

Completed an Ice Blaster only to find that every derivation of icy, cold, frigid, arctic name you can think of is already taken. I am literally on naming attempt 30 or 40 now... Wish me luck trying to successfully achieve my own homecoming.

Something I learned back on live is that when a particular name was already taken, the same name in another language was often not. I had a number of characters whose name was simply their powersets in a foreign language -- Tenevoy Ogon ('Shadow Fire -- Fire/Dark Corruptor), Chernaya Molniya (Black Lightning -- Dark/Elec Brute), or just a name in another language, like Stal'naya Deva ('Steel Maiden' -- DB/WP Scrapper). Sometimes you can get mythological references, like Exbalanque ('Star Jaguar', a Mayan deity -- StJ/Bio Brute), but those have already been mined pretty hard.

[GM Tock]

9 minutes ago, Bentley Berkeley said:

Also consider using non english words for names. Spanish variants seem popular especially with fire toons.

 

He's got a point...

Cold Front
Ice Queen
Duke of Winter
Princess Hailstorm
Wind Chill
Grandfather of Storms

 

...all become interesting in Spanish...

Frente Frio
Reyna de Hielo
Duque de Invierno
Princesa Granizada
Escalofríos
Abuelo de las Tormentas

Edited February 13, 2020 by GM_Tahquitz

[Wobegone]

42 minutes ago, Bentley Berkeley said:

Also consider using non english words for names. Spanish variants seem popular especially with fire toons.

Agreed.  Many of my characters are Latin derivatives.  I also recommend looking up examples of descriptors, adjectives, adverbs, and even nouns as descriptors (ex. Calamity Jane).  Place names can be cool (ex. Brooklyn Brawler).  Using doctor, agent, Mister, Miss, sister, brother, and other examples before a name can work too.  If I'm still stumped after exploring those options, I've either used a made up name (a couple are random elven names from a DnD site) or a portmanteau.  

[Call Me Awesome]

I've found when I'm stuck for a name that either going to a historical reference (Archery/TA blaster named Sagitarii after the Roman archery units) or loading up a Synonym checking site provides inspiration.  For example, plugging in Ice gets Crystal, Frost, Glacier, Rime etc.  Play around with it until something clicks.  That approach way back in issue 4 got the name for my Dark/Dark Defender, Dusk til Dawn.

[ToonHawk]

Wow! So, now I know why I am so excited to be back playing this game! The community is just as awesome as the code!

Thanks for all of the suggestions! Will be using some of these resources going forward as my roster gets filled out.

 

Here is a picture of the blaster that started this thread, Cryonick!

 

[Frostbiter]

3 hours ago, Apparition said:

 

You and me both.  I much prefer the naming convention of Champions Online and Star Trek Online.  Mostly because I am terrible at names and everything I can possibly think of is taken.  Now I just use "Apparition" and stick an adjective or adverb in front.  "Shooting Apparition," "Diffusing Apparition," "Fiery Apparition," "Serrating Apparition," etc.  The problem there is I run into the character limit.

If I could pull two thing in from CO it would be character names being unique by adding the global handle (sic. Frostbiter@Frostbiter being a different toon on the same server as Frostbiter@JoeShmoe) and the Powerhouse. Ye Gods how I wish we had the Powerhouse.

[wolfshadow31]

I know how you feel.  I wanted to remake Ice Cube, my ice/ice/cold blaster and then spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out something that wasn't taken on Homecoming.  I ended up choosing Winter Blast. 

[srmalloy]

4 hours ago, wolfshadow31 said:

I know how you feel.  I wanted to remake Ice Cube, my ice/ice/cold blaster and then spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out something that wasn't taken on Homecoming.  I ended up choosing Winter Blast. 

Let's see...  Eiswurfel (German -- the 'u' should really have an umlaut),  Ijsblokje (Dutch), Kubik L'da (Russian), Pagaki (Greek), Glacia Kubo (Esperanto), Crustallus Aquae (Latin), Glaçon (French), Isiqeda (Xhosa), Isbit (Swedish), Isterning (Danish), Klaki (Icelandic), Glaçó (Catalan)... And those are just straight-up translations. Vary it a bit, and you get Eisblock ('Ice Block' in German), for example.

[Beul]

43 minutes ago, srmalloy said:

  Ijsblokje (Dutch)

This means little ice cube though. It should be ijsblok.

[Grouchybeast]

6 hours ago, wolfshadow31 said:

I know how you feel.  I wanted to remake Ice Cube, my ice/ice/cold blaster and then spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out something that wasn't taken on Homecoming.  I ended up choosing Winter Blast. 

Make him Ice/Devices instead and call him Ice Qbe.

[Randomvg]

Ice3?

 

[VileTerror]

Ice ^ 3

[MTeague]

Just gonna say, whoever out there has the name "Kelvin" for an ice character... please please please have Ice Control as a powerset and name your pet "Hobbes".