Naming your sims

[jennifer]

Oh my I hope I'm not being a total forum post hogger, lol! But I was just daydreaming, or would that be night dreaming since it's 1.36am?

Anyway... I was wondering how everyone else comes up with names for their sims. I mean I know we go to the baby name websites, well I do! lol
But do you create your sim first and then name them or do you already have a name in mind and try to create the sim to fit that name?
Is it just a name to you or do you just choose whatever comes into your head and you go with it?
Do you explore the meaning behind a name before you choose/use it?

Tonight I was totally thinking very far forward in my story, like err where the young adults', kids have kids and possibly further on. lol Just daydreaming is all.

But I came across Will (short for William, lol), which is my main character's name and was surprised to see what his name means. This was taken from Wikipedia - 'The name William has today been interpreted to mean protector of the kingdom or realm.' and then from a baby website I was browsing, 'determined protector.'
When I created him I purely chose the name William or Will (he is referred to as 'Will' in my story) because I've just always liked that name. It's very formal but can be shortened. A bit like mine I guess, lol! But I never actually realized until now that this sim I created, over time, has became the very meaning of his name. He is caring, nurturing, brave, might I add extremely handsome , but is also very protective of his family and friends.

I just thought it was bizarre that's all and now I can't stop myself from finding out what the meanings are for the rest of my characters, lol!

[jennifer]

Oh no I didn't think to look back and see if this was posted in some older threads , and looks like it was, by Pinkfiend1.

Anyway I just got a little too excited at what I discovered, lol, so feel free to merge, delete or whatever it is that you do to double up'd threads.

[dinuriel]

Don't worry about starting new threads--we can't be expected to know/remember every thread on the forum, especially considering that membership has been growing lately

When I was actually playing Sims, I would either A) name them after characters in my novels or B) name them like I'd name a kid (like I told themctavishams on Twitter--I'd try to pick a name that was original, but wouldn't get a kid beaten up at school). I do the same thing for my Orbis Umbra Sims, with the added consideration of the various characters' nationalities.

With the other four stories... actually, for three of them, I did the novel thing again, since I was using recycled characters. Those names I either got old baby books/websites or random generators (and then there were a couple that I just made up).

And then my other story uses premades, so I just use the given names (and since it's Veronaville, I name any kids in accordance with the Shakespeare theme).

[infinitygoddess]

I have a character named Piotr, of which the English translation of the name is Peter. Peter means "rock", and given that Piotr is the head of the Mikhailachev clan, he's pretty much the "rock" upon which the family has foundation.

Sergei's name, in contrast, means "servant".

Aleksandr/Alexander means "defender of men".

Kliment is the Russian version of Clement, which means "gentle".

Pavel is the Russian version of Paul, which means "humble".

[jennifer]

Dinuriel - Oh good I always forget to check stuff like that and then sometimes the dates too.
Cool, I like your method of choosing a name. I've tried name generators but whatever it creates I'm never happy with. lol
I did see a link for Shakespearean names last night and there were some pretty out there names but they were lovely as well.


Infinitygoddess - Did you choose that name because of it's meaning, and then created the character based on that or did you already have the character in mind and the name just happen to suit your character?


I guess it depends on the storyline the writer has in mind. Next time round though if I were to create a new story I think I would definitely see what their names mean before choosing them, just so I could incorporate that into the story somehow. A bit of fun!

My other chacarters names are pretty much meaningless. lol

Eliza - a variant of Elizabeth means 'Gods promise'.

Susannah - a variant of Susanna, which in turn is derived from the Hebrew name Shoshannah. In modern Hebrew "Shoshan" means Rose; in old Hebrew it meant "Lily".

Connor - means 'lover of dogs', lol! That should be lover of women since I've made him into a womanizer.

Charlie - is a shortened version of the name Charles, meaning "man."

[sb]

Jennifer, people usually choose their children's names to honor a relative. If they don't, it means as much as if they do.

[jennifer]

SB - Sometimes I will honor the grandparent of a character by using their name as a middle name but then that's not really honoring them properly is it.

[somuchsong]

Feb 19, 2011 22:48:05 GMT -5 @jennifer said:

SB - Sometimes I will honor the grandparent of a character by using their name as a middle name but then that's not really honoring them properly is it.

I think it is. Tons of people do it in real life for the same reason and I think the intent matters more, in this case. In a story, it also cuts down on confusion. One of my Sims' fathers died quite young and she named her eldest son Marcus Leo. Her dad was Leo Marcus but I think it would have been confusing (for me, at least!) to use the same first name.

Anyway, I'm at the point now where all the Sim naming I do is for babies born in game. With that, you don't have the advantage of knowing what they'll look like or what kind of person they'll be, so you have to go on other things. So I try to think about what kind of names the parents would choose, if they were real people. I chose Irish names for one couple and another family had all French names.

I do look up meanings but only out of interest. Because I have no idea what the Sim baby will eventually be like, choosing meaningful names would be very difficult! Even when I made the founders of my hood, I didn't use meanings to help me decide.

[dinuriel]

Naming people after relatives... yeah, I think a middle name counts. At least, if I'd use the middle name, but then again most of my relatives have horrible names

But it does make for an easier time naming Sims if you just take the names of grandparents and whatnot, even if you end up with a dozen Searles similarly-named people.

[celebkiriedhel]

I love your Searles similiarly-named people

sometimes I like to make up silly names for my sims - Like Simon Simple. Jeanette Tocarine and Franklin Diskotek. To be honest, I'm not sure what part of my diseased imagination they come from.

In my RL family, we take family first names from grandparents and other relatives, as a middle name. I'm named after my dad - (milan -> Milena) and my sister is named after my mum (rosalie -> rosanne) but that's really about it.

[pinkfiend1]

I tend to use Baby names if I have meaning in mind for name. So for example if I want the name to mean sea I'd do a search for names meaning that. And find that Marion means sea of bitterness.
Plus it's also handy on keeping up with the pregnant celebrities.

Or sometimes I use the language converters, more for surnames than firsts unless they are a founder.

Or very rarely I'll name the Sims the first thing that pops into my head.

I also get bugged that you have to name the baby before you see what the traits are or even looked at it with sims3 but then that is what mastercontroller is there for to rename them after the fact.

[jennifer]

Somuchsong - Yeah and that's why I've done it for my sims too. The thing is though I never actually use their middle name in the story. lol That's great switching the first and middle name around to use it again. I like that.
With naming any babies in game I try to think of in advanced what sort of personality they might develop so then I can name them an appropriate name but then sometimes what you thought they might be is totally different to what they've become. Depends on what this character has experienced I guess. I think I'm thinking too deeply, lol!

[jennifer]

Dinuriel - Haha well my middle name is horrible! ;D


Kiri - Silly names are funny and they can certainly add a lot to the story. I think a lot of the pre-premade EA sims have silly names.
That's interesting, taking the grandparents as a first name and then a relatives name for the middle. I think that would make for some really good names.

Pinkfiend1 - Oh I've never done it that way. I normally do the opposite, but I think your way makes more sense than mine, especially if the meaning of the name is taken into the story. And oh yes mastercontroller is great for changing names.

[choco]

Sometimes I look at sites like Baby Names to find something. Other times I pay attention to names I might have heard on a TV show or in a movie or in a book. Those are useful. Sometimes I just make it up off the top of my head. Other times I ask my sister for a name if I can't think of one.

Strangely enough, I looked up some of the names for a few of my characters and very few of the names fit them in terms of meaning. Ironic.

[jennifer]

Choco - you just twigged my memory when you mentioned looking to movies or TV for names. Well I just realized I've been reading the credits now when a movie finishes and taking down any names that catch my attention. Though I probably won't be using them anytime soon because the only new sims I'll need to name will be babies. lol

[heredoncove]

I give a lot of thought to what I'm going to name my Sims, probably more than what's sane. I try to think of what culture my Sims are from and play homage to that. I very rarely think about the name meaning. I also like names that match their last names, you know that don't sound awkward.

I also make notes of names that I like although I don't know if I'm going to get around to using them.

[Sarahjane]

I use baby name websites, but more for the origin than the meaning. Whenever I have to name sim babies, I try to have all of the kids have names with similar etymologies. For example, when Tommy Ottomas married Sheila, I looked up her name and saw that it is of Irish origin. So their kids have names of Irish origin (or in Katie's case, a name that is popular in Ireland, it's actually English). I also look up popular names in different countries. Essentially, I try to think like parents when naming a baby and not worry too much about whether the kid will grow up to have a personality that fits his or her name.

[infinitygoddess]

Feb 19, 2011 21:09:56 GMT -5 @jennifer said:

Infinitygoddess - Did you choose that name because of it's meaning, and then created the character based on that or did you already have the character in mind and the name just happen to suit your character?

I had the character of Piotr in mind, and since he and his twin brother were already in a graphic novel series (mine, of course) under those names, I kept them. However, Pavel's personality does certainly not reflect his name in either case, as he's anything but "humble", lol. The only difference between him as a Sim and as a graphic novel character is that he's a zombie in the former and a superhuman with psychic and physical abilities in the latter.

With Piotr, it's a bit more complicated. He's a vampire in the Sim story, as well as head of a family, but in the graphic novel, he is a superhuman with the same psychic and physical abilities as Pavel (being identical twins and all), but was disowned by his father for being bisexual. So I didn't think about the name's meaning, really, when I thought of these guys in their original forms.

[lepifera]

I am running the Uber-megahood. With many babies being born in one round, I go by the following rules of picking names from baby name website: babynamesworld.parentsconnect.com/

1. Baby's name would be picked from the same cultural heritage as one of parents. Mom's for the girl. Dad's for the boy.

2. For a girl, her name would start with a letter that follows the beginning letter of her mother's first name in the order of the alphabets. In the case of the boy, his father's name.

The somewhat randomly picked-out name gives me a starting point for baby sim's future character development. It is quite fun to learn about the meaning of names from different cultures.

[jennifer]

Feb 22, 2011 15:17:25 GMT -5 @heredoncove said:

I give a lot of thought to what I'm going to name my Sims, probably more than what's sane.

I think that's great, because after all these are our characters that we've created and we will be bringing to life.

Feb 22, 2011 15:17:25 GMT -5 @heredoncove said:

I also make notes of names that I like although I don't know if I'm going to get around to using them.

I do this too. A little too much. lol