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GameMastery Guide / Nonplayer Characters / Making NPCs Unique

Naming NPCs

Source GameMastery Guide pg. 84
Creating interesting and authentic-sounding fantasy names is a constant challenge for GMs. Even if monsters and NPC extras can remain anonymous, the slightest amount of non-combat interaction immediately triggers the need for a name. With the flourishing of the fantasy genre, almost all fictional names have been repeated, twisted, and anagrammed ad infinitum, and like NPCs themselves, names constantly run the risk of making a lame impression on the players. The GM should not be excessively afraid to make such mistakes, as lousy names are often an aspect of real life, but he should nonetheless ponder the following possibilities.

Real Names: Sounding familiar and open to variations, real names are often a good place to start. Fantasy literature provides many examples of characters with real-life, common names, although such real-world names are rarely used alone, and are more often coupled with a fictional family name or a title that hints at a character’s occupation, aspirations, or qualities.

Cultural Names: If the GM’s world, or a region of it, reproduces a historical culture, using names from that culture’s language is an obvious choice for local NPCs. If the fantasy culture is analogous to a historical culture from Earth, like ancient Egypt, the GM can research basic information about that culture’s language, find out its most common component syllables, and combine them to create new names that sound and feel like the real thing. Countless books and online resources offer lists of names by country or culture, and often include various inspirational meanings. Such names at best feel authentic and at worse fantastical, yet should work either way.

Kennings: Kennings, poetic words that express a metaphor, are a great choice for fantasy names. The GM can combine telling words about a character in a single word and use it alone (such as “Knife-eater”) or in connection with a distinctive first name (such as “Nuada Silverhand”). Archaic forms of common words might also be used to create kennings to great effect. GMs should be thoughtful when granting an NPC a name that obviously doesn’t suit the character (like a seamstress with the name “Redblade”), as the name might prove comedic or, in some cases, prophetic. Regardless, such names tend to be all the more memorable for the incongruity.

Invented Names: The GM is, of course, free to throw vowels and consonants in the lottery wheel and see what happens. In this case, the sequence of certain letters and the length of the name can be used to convey a suitable verbal image. Savage creatures might have guttural names, full of hard and grunting sounds, while more elegant beings might use soft, lilting vowel sounds. GMs might go so far as to try to invent names tied to an NPC’s race or culture, like the sounds in a mermaid’s name being reminiscent of the rush of the surf, or a stone giant’s name sounding as though it were full of breaking rocks. In any case, the GM should make sure to say his newly invented name out loud several times with several variations to avoid any laughable mistakes—or obvious rhymes—mid-game.

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Naming NPCs