D&D & Doodles: Struggling for a halfway decent character name

In this video I talk about the hardest part of character creation - Thinking of a name! I reminisce on my own history with character names: What names worked, what names sucked, and why I now think those classic D&D fantasy names are great. Featuring a story from one of my group players!

That one lovely elephant drawing also by Nick Tuttle.
How could I not include it?

[owlybearart]

For those of you who watched the video already: Elly's doing great. The campaign is ongoing, and we just hit level 19 last night after slaying 2 blue adult dragons and a blue elder dragon.

So what's your strategy with naming characters?

[accname.exe_]

JUST NAME THEM AFTER A CRISP!! ✨Druid Quaver✨

[Modern_Robot]

Any character name that can be shortened to a nickname is great.

[Brenilla]

The thing with hard to remember names, the more you say them the more they will stick out. Instead of saying “I go up and attack the bandit” use your character name in place of first person. With short games or one shots you don’t exactly get this luxury but it’s still helpful when it’s somthing you like.

For when I come up with names I often use meaning name surch with somthing related to the character. It’s simple but effective XD, but if no name fits I just look up other words the same way till I find somthing XD.

[WhiteWizard]

Nobody in my longest-running game ever had difficulty remembering "Frank Fletcher" the archer. :D

[drevyek]

My favourite character I made started with the name: Mac Fearsome. A huge burly scotsman who did nothing but challenge people to wrestling contests. He was the best.

[GoresVire]

2:46 I actually found it randomly not a day before you posted this, which I believe you saw. It seems I kept most of the sheets from those ancient, antediluvian days.

On the subject of the video, I think the name is less how "good" it is to "others" and moreso how good it is to "you". If you have a name you ADORE you will fight tooth and nail to not become a mere footnote in the DM's notes.

[zackOOO-nzrh]

the fact that when i remember this video, the first thing that comes to mind is their funny little names
like "mm.. elephantasia.. plum.." goes to show how memorable they really are, and i didn't even go through a campaign with them

[MistyMusicStudio]

PLUM!! And Jitterbug so cute omg 💚 Best naming advice ever - I think this is also 100% relevant for video games, and any other tabletop RPG as well

[ramirezthesilvite]

With my current group I called my first character "Jakk"
He was a cranky, gnome artificer. For a while, my DM kept calling him "Jaques", and I didn't correct him because I thought he was just throwing an accent on it as a stylistic thing. Right up until I said my character's name for the hundredth time and he paused and said "Oh, it's pronounced Jack?" lol he actually thought, because I spelled it "Jakk" that there was an accent on it.

[garrickstangle]

Two barbarian sibling tanks: BinDere and DunDat...

[scotthuffman]

One of my most beloved characters by the group was named Old Man Gilligan.
His full name was Dr. Thadeus Oleman Gilligan, but most folks just called him Old Man.

[rosen]

Glad I was able to find this from the Reddit post!

[maxaurdunpow]

loving the content bro
love the art style
and this video has helped me as i suck at naming my characters so far i have played:
thorin monkey jaw
VanKleiss de LLewop
and Rex Drakar
as you can tell i am not good with names

[morganbiddlecom]

I pick my character names the way I picked mine. Start with a M and go for a cool meaning.

[Hylogem]

OH-mer-gerd!! I randomly stumbled across this video and immediately recognized Jitterbug from our campaign! (Thanks again for putting up with all of us newer players that couldn't roleplay for our lives X'D)

Congratz on over a thousand views!! 🎉🎉

[scribblecrumb]

This was such a fun, entertaining, and well-made video!! Jitterbug is honestly the MOST adorable name. Honestly, I've always somewhat embraced that "silly dnd name" trope, though my naming conventions were definitely influenced by the actual play shows I watched before every actually playing myself. Names like Caleb Widogast, Jet Rocks, Magnus Burnsides, ect that managed to be incredibly memorable. In my opinion, pronounce-ability is what reigns supreme when naming things. If no one can pronounce it then it becomes very hard to remember xD Last names are always where I struggle, honestly, first names are something I find very easy.

Next campaign for me though is with a gnome, and I look forward to fully embracing the "gnomes have Too Many Names and Keep Adding More" naming convention that dnd's world holds canon. We'll see how miss Hilda Rose Rock-hopper Huddledrum manages things :P and how many names she's gotten by the end of it all lol

[kyleward]

I've tended towards simple names except when I play gnomes. To my DM's credit, he was rattling off Borbblepempschquin Tarboglipperoz like it was Bob Smith by the end of the first session.

[Gamer_Dylan_]

One of the best names I've ever come up with was for a sit-down game at a con. I was a wizard lady who was a trashy washed-up celebrity, so I gave her a silly stage name. Nancy Mancer. Even though I played this character for all of an hour at a con, I remembered her and remade her for a full campaign years later. Never be afraid to give your charter a goofy name.

[turtley]

there is so much fucking effort in this video, i cant believe its not more popular