Lighthearted character names?

[The Shaman]

How do you feel about lighthearted character names?

I was reading another thread on this board and came across the following character names:
Fingerz the Thief, "Father" Tony the Frockless Cleric, Sister Patience the Monk, D'Angelo the Pouting Drow Sorceress, Phat Masta P the Rappin' Gnome Bard, Kciredefrtz (pronounced "Shawn") the Fighter, Twinky McRighteouspants the Paladin, and Trogdor the Burninator.

I've had a few characters like this over the years: Lotto Rumblebottom the flatulent halfling thief in an 1e AD&D game, Jasper and Ruby Garnet (aka The Red Rock Twins) in a Boot Hill campaign, and Wuffa Weirdbeard, a 3.0 D&D wizard that I created but never ran as the GM jumped ship before the first adventure - in my own defense, Wuffa is in fact an Anglo-Saxon name and "weird" refers to magic, so that one's not quite as big a stretch as ol' Lotto.

Do names like this bug you? Do you prefer that players select character names that fit the setting, or is a bit of zaniness the norm around your table? Does it depend on the genre? (I know I can't write characters for a Western game without some serious puns in the names.) Do light-hearted names take you out of the game in the sense of spoiling verisimilitude or inhibiting roleplaying?

Tell me, what's in a name?

 

[The Cardinal]

in D&D/d20 - silly names are ok, since I don't take the game serious anyway

in GURPS4e (outside of Discworld or IOU) - no way!

 

[Turhan]

Character names are too personal to the player. I never disallow one even if it makes groan out loud AND shake my head.

I had a guy who used a mini with heavy armor and a slit-visored sallet type helm. A shiny silver helm that covered half his face. He chose the name Jordi (from Star Trek TNG). We all looked at him funny. Then we played for months and months.

We all got past it pretty fast.

Then there was the dwarf named Granite Rockcrusher. I created a dwarf NPC named Hammerhand Anvil - the players loved him, so he survived.

Another game we had a Fen Gnome (two feet tall with a four foot tall dog with a ladder like stirrup to the saddle). He called himself Meek the Least as he was the smallest of his family who were all named Meek. He turned out to be a slaying machine, but that is another story....

Bottom line, I don't have much to complain about.

 

[WmRAllen67]

Sure, why not-- used sparingly, they can add some fun to the table, especially if the players don't catch on for a while... then all of a sudden you have that "Wait a minute, WHAT is his name?" moment...

Besides, there's a tradition, of sorts, dating back to "Gutboy Barrelhouse" and others in the early books-- and I remember one of Dragon Magazine's early ecology articles, about the Bulette, where "Aahab the Hunter" killed the dreaded beast "Mahb Idich"...

Besides, in real life I've known a Joseph Divine ("I'm Divine, Joe Divine...") and the Moss girls, Heather and Laurel (I don't think their father was actually "Pete", but that was always the joke), among others. If parents can inflict this sort of thing on us, why can't we do the same to our characters?

 

[pdkoning]

I don't like lighthearted names. Only when playing munchkin.

In the groups I play with, the players, including me, always try to make jokes about the names of characters and non playing characters. When I roll up a characters I really try to think of a name that sounds OK. and cannot be made fun of.

 

[Turanil]

Silly names destroy the suspension of disbelief.

Last campaign I did let the players choose any name they want. As a result I had a bunch of ridiculous names for the party, and it didn't help create the right mood of the campaign. I will never allow that again. Let the players free and they don't make any effort:

-- Sganarel (A name associated with a French comical onstage play. Directly onto the wrong mood and ambiance when you try something inspired by LotR...)
-- Huuurl! (Poor imagination for a half-orc name)
-- Haargrh! (as above and even worse)
-- Raspoutine (For a fighter, a name drawn from Russian history. Here also nothing appropriate for a LotR ambiance...)

My players have convinced me I will now have to watch over what name they come up. I have begun to create lists of names to choose from, to compensate for their lack of imagination and efforts (just trying to get a look on the internet), and forbid stupid puns.

 

[Pozatronic]

It depends on the campaing. If I ever run one, I try to pretty serious, so I'm kinda erked when one player in particular comes up with a weird name.

For Instance: Albert Fozalone. A halfling running around in a loin cloth, with a big afro and a
pick in his hair. He also used the name for a Rifts Crazie. We played Vampire
Once and he named his character Lestat. Lestat operated a ballerina School.
Edgar Wong Poe. A monk. The Strong but Silent type. He would either nod his
head or grunt. A silly name but he was fun.
A new player named his dwarf Blaster.
We were playing a space western once and they decided to name their ship
"Tomas's Ass".
I once played a Ranger named Ferd O' The Wild Frontier.
In the very first game I played somebody had a character called Trief the
Thief. I'm sure there's more, but I've blocked them out of my memory.

 

[cybertalus]

Silly names like that bother me way less than things like mordern names in D&D. Last game I ran included a guy who insisted on calling his human fighter Joe. I tried to steer him towards some of the suggested human names in the Player's Handbook, but he'd have none of it. It would have bugged me way less if he'd named the guy McDeath or something.

There's also a line between silly and outright jokey names. Silly plays better over the long run than jokey does, because the jokey names wear thin real fast.

In my experience it's just as often the DM who comes up with names that break the suspension of disbelief as it is players. I've been resisting the temptation to hand out a magic sword called The Millenium Falchion for a long time now. Sure it'd be good for a groan, but if the party kept it, every single time it was used it would break the immersion of the game.

 

[shaylon]

Sometimes they can be funny, other times annoying. It really depends on the group and the type of adventuring you are doing. Pet names should be funny though. If a familiar has a funny name, that should always be appreciated!

-Shay

 

[IronWolf]

I am not too fond of lighthearted names unless it is quite subtle. Even with that said, as DM, I try not to limit people too much. So far I must be playing with the right people as no one has chosen a name that I consider too lighthearted.