How do you select non-human names?

By HappyDaze, in Star Wars: Edge of the Empire RPG

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How much effort do you see yourselves and your groups putting into non-human names? Do you do research into the species and try to pick something following those examples? Do you wing it and come up with something odd and hopefully alien sounding? Do you just not bother and feel that a Wookiee named Bob or a Trandoshan named Hugo are just fine?

Any resources for species appropriate names (excluding the SWG #10 wookiee prefix/suffix combos that I think are terrible) that you'd like to point out are fine too.

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Star Wars SAGA d20 RPG had a supplement book with tables for creating first and last names for every major race that worked quite well. IIRC it even gave definitions. I don't recall the name of the book, but I can drudge it out of the massive shelves in my basement if you would like.

There could be something free online somewhere that is similar?

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D20 RCR had a nice book: Galactic Campaign Guide, lots of names for a number of species. I still use that book sometimes.

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Ah I think that is what I was thinking of. RCR not SAGA, sorry. I think I used it again for my SAGA campaign.

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I can only remember pretty recent attempts at naming alien characters, but I've basically just been winging it.

I named a female Rodian "Preeda" because it seems close enough to "Greedo" to sound credible to me, but different enough not to sound like a swipe.

I named a Wookiee "Chorchuuk," and I don't know where I came up with that, but it seemed credible, so I was satisfied.

To some extent the difficulty naming aliens may contribute to my tendency to make human characters.

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HappyDaze,

I'm going to copy part of an article from my blog that that deals with this topic. Back in the day, I really struggled with character names.

To overcome this challenge, I relied on a variety of tactics. First and foremost among these was to carry a notebook at all times, or at least a scrap of paper on which I could jot down inspirations when they struck. Beyond that, however, there were a couple of tactics that generally proved productive.

One is simple observation. I remember one time when I was in the bathroom of my college dormitory. The drains in the showers were made by a company named Zurn; it was printed on them. At the time I though that that would make a good name. The circumstances even provided some inspiration for how to use the character. At that point I was planning a scenario set in the depths of a world-spanning metropolis like Coruscant or Nar Shadaa. On the subject of plumbing, I envisioned a character who could skulk in dank tunnels but who had some mechanical and/or technical aptitude; after that it was simply a matter of writing the stats for that NPC.

Another option is to pick real-world names, especially if they're paired with something more exotic. Characters like Owen Lars, Ben Kenobi, Luke Skywalker and others have at least one name that comes from the people around us.

My favorite trick, however, is to use words that I encounter in everyday life. What I do is take two words that are associated with each other, and then use them to create groups of letters from which names can be made. For example, I heard one time that alligator pear was another name for an avocado. Using these names, I compare them and eliminate the common letters in each--a, a and o. This leaves two groups of letters: l, l, i, g, t, r and v, c, d, o. By rearranging them and adding a letter to one, I create the names C'vod Trallig.

Here's another example. In the paragraph above I used the word humor. I could compare humorous with its synonym comical, which have the common letters o and m. This leaves the letter combinations h, o, r, s, u, u and a, c, c, i, l. The second of those groupings could be combined into given names like Kyle or Alec, with the first providing a family name such as Orush or Shuro.

Sometimes it can also work to take existing words and look at them in different ways. An example of this came when I was making a name for a gambler in a Rebellion-era D6 campaign. I'd learned that the German name for the movie was Krieg der Sterne. I took each of those words backwards and modified the letters a little bit, thus coming up with Gaerk Anraz for that hero.

It can also be useful to pay attention to the existing rules for naming characters of different species. The Hutts come to mind here. They are an intrinsic part of any campaign that involves illicit activities, as any good Star Wars campaign should. Hutts have three names—a surname, a clan name and a given name. Thus Jabba's full name was Jabba Desilijic Tiure. While trying to devise a name for a crimelord in my campaign, I though of three friends who were influential in my gaming career: Shawn, Lars and Andy. Playing around with the letters in those names, I devised one for my Hutt. From that point onward, Slarr Uwanesh Diann was the crimelord.

I'll add that Wookieepedia is a great resource for finding examples of species names. Usually, once I've formed a group of letters, I choose a species and look there to see how they would fit together in a way that is consistent with the way characters from that species are named.

-Nate

Edited by Nate
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I took a look at the Galactic Campaign Guide for some suggestions. Some good options overall, but the Twi'lek and Wookiee options are less attractive. Twi'lek names seem pretty complicated, and the Wookiee options are the same ones I've found elsewhere and been generally disappointed with (the names generated often sound so bad the player will hope for a nickname).

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Here's some generators I found...

Racial based options, but limited http://donjon.bin.sh/scifi/name/#star_wars

Generic lists of SW names http://www.dimfuture.net/starwars/random/generate.php

Generates 1 generic at a time, but saves them in a list http://www.namegenerator.biz/star-wars-name-generator.php

this one generates 1 generic name, but also gives you some background. Might be useful if you are having a problem just coming up with a character idea. http://starwars.namegeneratorfun.com/

And a bonus generator for ship names: http://www.seventhsanctum.com/generate.php?Genname=shipnamer

It's flakey at best, but it can be funny. My favorites so far are the Priest's Fetish and the Angry Gigolo. I like to generate 20 names at a time. Chances are none will be good, but you'll get enough ideas form those 20 to make a decent one yourself.

Another Ship name site: http://www.tomshut.de/rpg/shpnames.html

Edited by kmanweiss
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Those are helpful. Thank you.

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I tend to go with real world names and then mash them up until they sound alien. Rodians work great by starting with an Italian name or word, then you stomp on it until it sounds right. Twi'leks work well with albanian words or names the same way.

Google Translate is your friend as well.

Going with the Rodian to Italian thing

Leaper = Saltatore ...grind it up... Salto Toray

Twi'leks from Albanian

Dumpling = Trashaluq ...grind it up... Tras Haluk

YMMV

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I was at a panel where Chris Perkins and Rodney Thompson (creators of SW Saga edition) were talking about this. Chris GMs in a similar manner as myself. I will create names for really important characters, but I will also make up names on the fly.

What Rodney does in his games is writes down every single name Chris comes up with (since they game together), and if Rodney can trip up Chris with a name he's forgotten, then Chris has to pay some humorous consequence. I can usually remember most names I come up with, and repetition helps them stick. I don't like sorting through notes to remember just one character's name. I prefer freeform and fast-paced roleplaying so the less I have to deal with notes, the better.

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I do recommend having a short list of names available to use on the fly; if my players ask for the name of an NPC and I have to stop and think about it, they dismiss that character as unimportant--otherwise, I would've already had a name in mind.

Of course, to mess with my players, sometimes I act like I'm making up a name, in order to conceal the importance of certain NPCs.

-Nate

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And a bonus generator for ship names: http://www.seventhsanctum.com/generate.php?Genname=shipnamer

It's flakey at best, but it can be funny. My favorites so far are the Priest's Fetish and the Angry Gigolo.

I wonder if the Priest's Fetish was the Angry Gigolo?

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And a bonus generator for ship names: http://www.seventhsanctum.com/generate.php?Genname=shipnamer

It's flakey at best, but it can be funny. My favorites so far are the Priest's Fetish and the Angry Gigolo.

I wonder if the Priest's Fetish was the Angry Gigolo?

No, but it may have been the Hooker's Superstition. (yes, that was yet another ship name from the generator)

They are not all dirty, there's just enough of them peppered in there that they are funny lists.

Here's some good ones I've come across:

The Despicable Archer

The Long Bow

The Lively Outlaw

The Dancing Tiger

The Noble Ghost

The Honor Stalker (not bad for a Trandoshan)

The Gladiator

The Mad Viper

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I do all the things that have been listed to some degree or another.

The race that I am stuck on at the moment is Gand. I just can't find the right "source" for them. A style that truly sticks out so to speak.

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For Gand, maybe start with russian words...then mash them around and reconfigure. So in the end you get names that can be chirped, clicked and buzzed. Such as: Pomschnik, Zamestisii, Libaroknit, Boubazzid, Ukryvatzo

Edited by Callidon
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I'm lucky. Names for characters just come to me. My all time favourite starwars character was a Duros by the name of Kavis Foon. No combat skill whatsoever, but a heck of a pilot.

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Nice guys! As I was driving home a bit ago I was struck with the idea of using the Bushmen of the Kalahari language. Ended up using the Khoikhoi information I ran across and ran with, Nate's approach.

Uu'Tizo V'uz

Meh... could be worse

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Remember, too, that Gand don't take names until they do something worth gaining a name. Otherwise they just go by "Gand." :P

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Remember, too, that Gand don't take names until they do something worth gaining a name. Otherwise they just go by "Gand." :P

I think they have them even if they don't generally use them. I'm sure the bounty hunter license of a Gand hunter isn't just made out to "Gand" nor would the BoSS papers for a starship just list "Gand" on them. The Gand may just refer to himself simply as "Gand", but that's not the same as not having a name.

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Yeah, I think you're right. But it would be fun if your player didn't tell others his name for the majority of the campaign. That's what my Gand player is doing, I think :P

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Remember, too, that Gand don't take names until they do something worth gaining a name. Otherwise they just go by "Gand." :P

I think they have them even if they don't generally use them. I'm sure the bounty hunter license of a Gand hunter isn't just made out to "Gand" nor would the BoSS papers for a starship just list "Gand" on them. The Gand may just refer to himself simply as "Gand", but that's not the same as not having a name.

Any Gand who has made it off planet has completed an achievement worthy of at least one name.

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Remember, too, that Gand don't take names until they do something worth gaining a name. Otherwise they just go by "Gand." :P

I think they have them even if they don't generally use them. I'm sure the bounty hunter license of a Gand hunter isn't just made out to "Gand" nor would the BoSS papers for a starship just list "Gand" on them. The Gand may just refer to himself simply as "Gand", but that's not the same as not having a name.

Any Gand who has made it off planet has completed an achievement worthy of at least one name.

Does that include those that were born off planet? Is surviving birth a "worthy achievement" (some kids today seem to think so)? If not, I'd be wary of such generalizations.

Edited by HappyDaze
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I just googled wookiee name generator in google and typed my name in and used what it gave me. I did the same with a generic star wars name generator for my human character.