What's in a Name?
As Much As You Put Into It!
Mark Whisler

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Dungeons & Dragons - Dragon magazine - The Dragon #34

A Dungeons & Dragons character is as complex as the person 
playing him/her. One of the easiest ways to create a different personality
in one's characters is to give them names with a little thought invested in 
them.  The run-of-the-mill character is going to have a run-of-the-mill 
name; hence, we see a lot of names like Fred the Swordsman or Barney 
the Magician.  One step better is the character whose name shows that 
the player was thinking when he named him, but thinks he/she's going 
to be cute, so we have a Cleric named Toogoo of the Holy Order of Fries 
or a Ranger named Lone. 

My favorite characters out of fantasy always had names there were 
two other words of not neccesarily associated meanings that were put 
together to make up a name of peculiar power.  Death and Piper will 
serve.  Roll the combination around in your mouth for a minute.  Nice, 
eh?  Now add an appropriate forename,  like Caine.  See what I mean? It 
makes it so much easier to get into the persona of a character named 
Caine Deathpiper.  I mean, with Deathpiper around, Lone the Ranger is 
just a silly joke and Fred the Swordsman is a drudge. 

Now, I'll bet  you're wondering how you can get names like these for 
your characters.  It's simple.  Take 1d6 and 1d20 and cross-reference the 
result; for example, a two on the d6 and a three on the d20 give you 
"Death."  Now roll them both again, a three on the d6 and a ten on the 
d20 is "Piper."  See how simple it is?  The words below can be changed 
to suit your fancy, of course.  You can even roll until you get what you 
want (free choice).

Name Generation Table
- 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
1.  Hawk Fair Spear Eagle Dark Dreamer
2.  Black Stone Singer Gray Star Bow
3. Blade Death High Staff Brother Strong
4. Wood White Bear Moon Silver Claw
5. Sure SLAYER Helm Free Weaver Wave
6. Shadow Tiger Shield Sea Fox Sky
7.  Dancer Flame Bone Changer Sly Foam
8.  Red Horn Soul Gold Cleaver Fist
9.  Wolf Blood Bane Lion Fang Wise
10.  Hammer Storm Piper Rune Heart Wind