Help me come up with a name? :3

[OM3GA-Z3RO]

So, I was busy working on the project and then I looked at my avatar that you can all see, I am excited for her to make an appearance in the game and already planned her name but the problem is, after looking at all the other characters names in the game so far it makes me rethink of what her name should be, right now her name is complicated, a little bit silly and not well thought through and I have been battling to think which name I should give her, so I was thinking: 'Maybe this awesome community can give me some names!' This character plays an important role in the project and I want her to have a name that will be remembered.


I also put up a poll on some names that the team members gave, so if you guys like one of these names then give it a point but if you want some other name then take the last point.


So what do you guys think this character on my Avatar screen should be called? 

 

[Silenity]

I'd go with Mafernahl.


It's the most unique out of the list and the others are common-sounding fantasy female names.

 

[OM3GA-Z3RO]

I'd go with Mafernahl.


It's the most unique out of the list and the others are common-sounding fantasy female names.

Funny enough that is her original name that I thought of.


Although everyone is free to chip in other names other than the names on the poll.

 

[Atlas Rose]

I wouldn't go for Mafernahl if only because it can be pronounced a couple different ways, and to me personally there is nothing more frustrating than loving a character but having no idea how to say it. Maybe just shortening it to Maferna? Second best would be Ceres as the other two are fairly common names.

 

[Simon D. Aelsi]

 there is nothing more frustrating than loving a character but having no idea how to say it. 

That's part of the fun! Hearing the way people butcher the snots out of your characters' names .

 

[Atlas Rose]

That's part of the fun! Hearing the way people butcher the snots out of your characters' names .

At first it's fun, yeah, but if no one gets it then it just gets old. 

 

[The Mighty Palm]

Any but Ceres. FF6's Ceres is too much of a name to live up to. Same reason you wouldn't make an adventure game and name the character "Link"


plus it's just really uncreative to use names from FF

 

[NeoFantasy]

I think Ceres fits pretty good.

 

[Atlas Rose]

Any but Ceres. FF6's Ceres is too much of a name to live up to.

I forgot about FF6. It's still a nice name, but I'm siding with you on this one. 

 

[OM3GA-Z3RO]

Maybe just shortening it to Maferna? Second best would be Ceres as the other two are fairly common names.

Hmm 'Maferna', it rings something although I am only going to make my final decision till next week so the votes has a fair chance in billing up the end results.


Also Oh my god I knew Ceres sounded familiar, one of my members suggested that name, I'm gonna pummel him!

 

[Schlangan]

For some reason, I thought of Daenirva. Dunno where it comes from. I won't say none of the propositions are good, I just don't like them, which is more a personal opinion ^^

 

[Banquo]

I know that doesn't sound very appealing, but name generators can help A LOT. Even if you don't find a suitable name, it's inspiring to shuffle through tons of names. There are plenty of Dungeons & Dragons name generators out there, who will give you names that are based on our real world - very old names, or varied versions of modern names. I like those, because they sound familiar and have a "real" ring to it.


If you're more looking for High-Fantasy names, you can just check out D&D elven name generators, too.


http://fantasynamegenerators.com/dungeons-and-dragons.php


Edit:


And of course it's important to consider your setting (high- low fantasy?) and what kind of person your character is. A cute name for a brute character might be odd, unless it's ironic. And perhaps you are going to have different cultures in your game. If that's the case, think about what the characteristics of each culture are, and how their names should sound like.

 

[Nirwanda]

I didn't make the connection celes-ceres, I think it's a pretty good name, it's the name of the roman harvest goddess. What about changing it a little into Kheres?

 

[freezingfeathers]

Mafernahl is VERY unique to me~ Great name! A name should be non-generic. xDD


Celestria sound nice but it may be too common.

 

[mlogan]

I voted for Ceres before reading about the FF connection. I don't like the first option, partly for the reason that someone else stated about not knowing exactly how to pronounce it. 


Some strategies I try when thinking of names is to take a characteristic of that person and try to find a name that fits. I might do that by looking at baby name websites to find names that have that meaning. Or sometimes I even bust open google translate, type the word in there and see what that word is in other languages and maybe tweak to make a decent sounding name.


For example, say I have a character who is wise. I put wisdom into Google translate and look at the Latin version. I see that "sophia" is actually one translation, a common female name. But maybe I don't want common, so I search "variations of sophia". Through that, I find that Sosie is considered a variation. While I'm not crazy about that name, it's definitely a usable name that someone else might like. So yeah, just an example of how I come up with names.


Another alternative might be to think of place names that could be used or altered. I just personally don't care for completely made up names, I like there to be a little something familiar about them. My personal preference though.

 

[Aoi Ninami]

Anything other than Mafernahl, which, to be brutally honest, sounds like you threw some syllables together at random. It would be a barrier that makes it harder to relate to the character. Now, you could have a culture in which that is an acceptable female name, but then I would expect to other characters/places from that culture having names that sound like they come from the same language. And making up a language, even at the bare-bones level needed to produce consistent-feeling names, is a lot of work. That's why taking real-world names or taking inspiration from real languages is a common shortcut -- and, as mlogan said, doing so makes characters more relatable to an audience of people from the real world.

 

[OM3GA-Z3RO]

Well it's Monday, the final result for the chosen name will be announced on Thursday, so let's hope more votes to make this more interesting.

 

[Chrispy]

I voted for Ceres because it doesn't sound too common (like Alicia), doesn't sound too uncommon (like Mafernahl), and has two syllables, which is way easier to remember than four (like Celestria). Its the most rounded choice out of the four given.


My second choice is Mafernahl because, its actually kind of easy to pronounce, and it is a totally 100% unique word/name that does not exist anywhere else. It will be remembered, even if people butcher its pronunciation...(I guess.....Ma-Fern-All?)


I also wouldn't let a final fantasy connection hold you back from any name, if you even call it a connection. the name Ceres has had a different meaning and has been around quite a few hundreds of years longer than the unrelated Celes in a game less than 25 years old.

 

[OM3GA-Z3RO]

Hey ey, you actually pronounced it right, good job! 

 

[mlogan]

See, and that's why I don't care for it - sounds too much like "maternal" to me.