As in, real people in the real world who's name would grace your PC.
I nominate South African cricketer Hashim Amla. He will be my next Sorcerer.
Do historical names count? I have always liked Ibn Battuta.
There's a chiropractor out in Las Vegas named Roper Dollarhide. I would totally use that name for a PC if I didn't already steal it for an NPC Sheriff's Deputy.
I still want to play a Dr. Duncan Steel (http://lifeboat.com/ex/bios.duncan.steel), ideally as a powered-armor superhero. Who needs Iron Man when you've got Doctor Steel?
I also find Dutch names badass for some reason. If Poul Anderson gets to name his character "Nicholas van Rijn", I get to name mine Bartholomeus Kortenaer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egbert_Bartholomeusz_Kortenaer) or Maarten Tromp (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maarten_Tromp).
I'll nominate IndyCar road course ace Will Power as the next great pulp hero.
His rival, 2012 champ Ryan Hunter-Reay, would clearly be a scion of the elite, and would probably either cause or fight crime at night under an assumed identity.
From the American Civil War, there are 5 that beg to be used:
1) Zebulon Vance
2) Felix Zollicoffer
3) Zealous Tower
4) Wilmot Gibbs de Saussure (a Freemason Grand Master, Pundit!)
5) Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard
In 2008-2009 I was getting a crazy amount of spam with unusual names as the "senders" and I started compiling the best of them. I posted them on the GM Forum over at Palladium. I have always wondered if they were made up names or names that spam bots stole from real people.
http://palladium-megaverse.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=100864
When going through a large family tree that my mother had put together once, I found two names that I thought would be great RPG characters:
1. Silas Boon
I mean, seriously, this just screams wild west hero. If I ever play deadlands again, this is my character name.
2. Sterling Price Cannon
I have no idea what I would use this for.. but its just a superb name.
Yug Bogdan?
Which reminds me: Yul Brynner. A fantasy novel protagonist name if there ever was one.
Bill Coffin.
People I went to school with:
Ann Ohnemus
Justin Case
People in Maine my father knew of:
Oscar Googins
Rising Lake Morrow
Oz Boynton
Sanford Crane
-clash
Powers Boothe
Dick Trickle
Quote from: James Gillen;618559Dick Trickle
How's the Fatal campaign going? :p
A spambot signed up to my forum ages ago - long deleted - but his name lives on in every Warhammer Fantasy Role-Play session I have: Manfred Kreuzwerth.
Moon Unit Zappa
Quote from: Spinachcat;618388In 2008-2009 I was getting a crazy amount of spam with unusual names as the "senders" and I started compiling the best of them. I posted them on the GM Forum over at Palladium. I have always wondered if they were made up names or names that spam bots stole from real people.
http://palladium-megaverse.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=100864
Love love love these!
J-chill Vanderheyden.
SO BADASS.
Theres a correspondant for CNN called Richard Quest who's name just screams out to be used in a campaign at some point.
Im thinking a slightly useless paladin/knight who's taken up some kind of impossible quest/mission due to a mix of familial duty and pressure from his church but would rather spend his days doing something less adventurous but "the family honor richard!" seems to constantly drag him back into the adventuring lifestyle.
Quote from: Broken-Serenity;618593Theres a correspondant for CNN called Richard Quest who's name just screams out to be used in a campaign at some point.
.
Wolf Blitzer is another
I once met a Janos Barnabas. A vampire, most sure.
And I love that Greek singer, Eleftheria Arvanitaki.
Benedict Cumberbatch plays the new take on Sherlock Holmes being produced by the BBC (very good, by the way). It's so damn English even the English remark on it. Good for CoC or anything Steampunky.
I've used a few names from my Family Tree for character names.
"Bigfoot" Marshal Mullins- was a WWE Wrestler I played in a oneshot
Garrison Henry Welles- Civil War vet turned Bounty/Buffalo Hunter for a friends Wild West game.
I went to school with a girl named Vickie Swift. Pulp action starlette if I've ever heard it.
David Edge writes on mediaeval arms and armor.
Quote from: BedrockBrendan;618606Wolf Blitzer is another
Wolf Blitzer: World-famous journalist or Panzergruppe commander?
JG
I try to collect names I like from real life, one of my favorite female names was from a regular customer I had when I worked at Kinko's.
Mignon May
Local accountant : Darius Cratchely
I saw the name-plate of a doctor at a clinic: Dr Killer. Still can't believe that one, but it's true I assure you.
I had a couple clients with interesting names. The first is Johnny Dorado, a name I have in fact used for more than one player character. I can only recall the last name of the second client, Ghostkeeper, and again it's just dripping with potential.
Quote from: That Guy;619290I had a couple clients with interesting names. The first is Johnny Dorado, a name I have in fact used for more than one player character. I can only recall the last name of the second client, Ghostkeeper, and again it's just dripping with potential.
9 posts in 5 years? Maybe I'll set up an alert so I know when you've burnished your next gem and finally unleashed it on the public...:D
Quote from: Broken-Serenity;618593...Richard Quest who's name just screams out to be used in a campaign at some point.
Dick Quest. ;)
If I ever use this name for a character, the GM is totally getting pointed at CNN for proof that I'm basing it on a real person's name. Of course, the character's personality may not be an exact match...
I once worked alongside
John Savage. I keep forgetting to use this name for a pulp/action hero.
This is the thread where I claim "Manti T'eo" with the plan to come back to it in give or take eight years, right? Good.
Quote from: Imp;619660This is the thread where I claim "Manti T'eo" with the plan to come back to it in give or take eight years, right? Good.
Bonus points if you make it an AI program.
The (Chavista) president of the Venezuelan parliament is named Diosdado Cabello, which literally translated means "God-given Hair".
I wouldn't really contribute to this thread, except that I happened to see that very fact today while reading the saturday edition of El Pais, and then came home to see this very thread. It was too much to resist.
RPGPundit
Omega Jones - real name, built for an action hero, attached to an elderly hospital patient. Likewise Barefoot Dollarhyde.
Quote from: RPGPundit;619904The (Chavista) president of the Venezuelan parliament is named Diosdado Cabello, which literally translated means "God-given Hair".
I wouldn't really contribute to this thread, except that I happened to see that very fact today while reading the saturday edition of El Pais, and then came home to see this very thread. It was too much to resist.
RPGPundit
Here in Spain you can find some curious surnames like Mujeriego (Womanizer) or Matamoros (Moor-slayer). As we keep both parents surnames, there are many weird combinations. I once met a Laura Encuentra Pardillos (lit. Laura finds dupes). His father' surnames were Encuentra Rubios (finds blondes). So technically she'd be Encuentra Pardillos Rubios (finds blonde dupes). I also know about a woman whose surnames are Salto Barrancos (Jumps over ravines).
Besides that, I'd like to add the name Cathal Brugha, an Irish revolutionary.
A friend of mine named his investigator character Jonathan Steele before discovering that it is the name of a famous journalist from The Guardian.
I had a fighter character from Darokin named Antonio Valdano. Kudos for who remembers who he was. :)
I'm not sure about good, but:
Theophylact the Unbearable, father of Romanos Lekapenos.
Dodger Leigh (whose internet alias is "Dexterity Bonus" BTW).
Ragnar Hairy-Breeches
Ivor the Boneless
Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye
A few days ago, I had to collect a signature from an RN named Mercy Odoom.
There's also a particularly dreaded local 'personality' here named Jubal "Shorty" Shafferkoetter. It's not just the name, either. Straight up, ol' boy is a living, breathing NPC from some wild west CoC game.