# Gaydar of Caldor: why do RPG character and place names sound like that? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 27, 2007, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaydar-of-caldor-why-do-rpg-character-and-place-names-sound-like-that/424217 "2007-10-27T13:18:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2007, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaydar-of-caldor-why-do-rpg-character-and-place-names-sound-like-that/424217/21 "2007-10-28T09:28:57Z")
Anyone complaining about remembering fantasy characters should try reading some classic Russian novels. Woo boy… ---
**Author:** ![H3Knuckles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ba8739/32.png) [@H3Knuckles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/H3Knuckles)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2007, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaydar-of-caldor-why-do-rpg-character-and-place-names-sound-like-that/424217/22 "2007-10-28T11:53:50Z")
[QUOTE=asterion] I’m pretty sure there’s a Penny Arcade strip where either Tycho or Gabe is playing an MMORPG like WOW or EQ and is getting a bunch of crap because he named his wizard character something like Bob. Can’t find the strip though. [/QUOTE] I’m not gonna bother looking it up, but it’s a Final Fantasy XI strip (the MMO one), and Tycho’s character is named Gailgwynnych, and Gabe’s is named Bob, and Tycho’s giving him shit for not trying to get into the experience. When someone else shows up and asks about Bob, Tycho pretends he doesn’t know him. … As to the main topic; I hate names like Drizz’t. How the hell do you pronounce it? In general what really drives me up a wall are excessive use of apostrophes and accents (“That’s how you know it’s authentically elvish”), which in my experience at least is much more common in fantasy than sci-fi. I also dislike using normal names but mispelling them. For me, for some reason, if I’m naming an elf, I always, always dig out my copy of Tolkien’s Silmarillion and use the “elements in Quenya and Sindarin naming” appendix to construct names. I’m not saying everyone should do that, but I think names like Mordriel (dark-haired girl), Serendil (blood oath), Narcamion (hand holding fire), have a sufficiently “authentic” feel without being too pretentious or silly. I also like using real names, as long as they aren’t too… modern, I guess. Bob is out, but Jacob has a pretty good old-world feel. There’s a web comic I really like (“Errant Story”) that does pretty well with this stuff: Jon Amraphel (human assassin) Sara Amraphel (human time-mage/monk) Meji Hinadori (half-elf mage, focus on destruction) Ian Samael (half-elf mage, focus on healing) Sarine Elle (elven ranger) ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2007, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaydar-of-caldor-why-do-rpg-character-and-place-names-sound-like-that/424217/23 "2007-10-28T12:31:22Z")
My character names included gems such as: Sharplet Uchida Eberhard Faber Pentel Yes, I just used whatever name my pen/pencil had. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2007, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaydar-of-caldor-why-do-rpg-character-and-place-names-sound-like-that/424217/24 "2007-10-28T16:30:20Z")
I’ve been RPG’ing for 30 years now and I do try to avoid the “ar-ar” effect. Although when I named one NPC Finnisillisixomskorroththarrethdygryerrixkrieansiththzartheth my D&D buddies _did_ threaten Dire Consequences. Since then, I’ve kept them shorter 😛 (In my defense, it was part of quest-like thing where you had to learn how to properly pronounce that mess before you could turn the NPC into an ally to help you get through the dungeon) ---
**Author:** ![Raygun99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Raygun99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raygun99)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2007, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaydar-of-caldor-why-do-rpg-character-and-place-names-sound-like-that/424217/25 "2007-10-28T16:49:15Z")
[QUOTE=H3Knuckles] I’m not gonna bother looking it up, but it’s a Final Fantasy XI strip (the MMO one), and Tycho’s character is named Gailgwynnych, and Gabe’s is named Bob, and Tycho’s giving him shit for not trying to get into the experience. When someone else shows up and asks about Bob, Tycho pretends he doesn’t know him. [/QUOTE] [Found via the PA search engine:](http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2003/10/10) ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2007, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaydar-of-caldor-why-do-rpg-character-and-place-names-sound-like-that/424217/26 "2007-10-28T16:58:47Z")
> [@H3Knuckes](#): > > I’m not gonna bother looking it up, but it’s a Final Fantasy XI strip (the MMO one), and Tycho’s character is named Gailgwynnych, and Gabe’s is named Bob, and Tycho’s giving him shit for not trying to get into the experience. When someone else shows up and asks about Bob, Tycho pretends he doesn’t know him. [QUOTE=Raygun99] [Found via the PA search engine:](http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2003/10/10) [/QUOTE] Am I the only one who finds it odd that **H3Knuckles** accurately recalled the name “Gailgwynnych” but not “Jim?” ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2007, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaydar-of-caldor-why-do-rpg-character-and-place-names-sound-like-that/424217/27 "2007-10-28T18:50:34Z")
[QUOTE=jayjay] Upchuk, guardian of the Temple of Florwaks and the priestess Oolala…\* \*From a VERY old Dragon magazine article about this very subject [/QUOTE] …and you won’t fool anyone if you insist it’s pronounced “Ooh-LAH-lah.” ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2007, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaydar-of-caldor-why-do-rpg-character-and-place-names-sound-like-that/424217/28 "2007-10-28T19:33:48Z")
[QUOTE=Ludovic] …and you won’t fool anyone if you insist it’s pronounced “Ooh-LAH-lah.” [/QUOTE] And we could always bring up “Jhuisdhy”, too. ---
**Author:** ![H3Knuckles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ba8739/32.png) [@H3Knuckles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/H3Knuckles)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2007, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaydar-of-caldor-why-do-rpg-character-and-place-names-sound-like-that/424217/29 "2007-10-28T22:40:41Z")
[QUOTE=Terrifel] Am I the only one who finds it odd that **H3Knuckles** accurately recalled the name “Gailgwynnych” but not “Jim?” [/QUOTE] Heh, I was assuming **asterion** was remembering that part right, so I didn’t really think about it. Besides, the joke was just that it was a mundane name. The whole point is that it’s forgettable, but Gailgwynnych does kind of stick out, doesn’t it? And man, I hate the PA search engine, it’s terrible. I’ll probably end up using Firefox solely because there’s a plug-in PA search engine that I’d love to use. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![dotchan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@dotchan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dotchan)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2007, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaydar-of-caldor-why-do-rpg-character-and-place-names-sound-like-that/424217/30 "2007-10-29T00:48:34Z")
My DM once named a city “Zital City”, a high-class official in a Hindu-esque setting “Dasani”, and a small town “Anavi”. We never did let him live those down. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2007, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaydar-of-caldor-why-do-rpg-character-and-place-names-sound-like-that/424217/31 "2007-10-29T01:02:19Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] Yes, I agree. I knock it off with the ambiguous "y"s while you’re at it, authors! I spent the better part of half the book of _The Golden Compass_ just working out whether it was “Leer-a” or “Lye-ra”, and as soon as I was satisfied, my internal narrator voice would switch it on me again. [/QUOTE] Yes–and I still haven’t decided which it is. Guess the movie will solve that for me… I guess that RPGs and fantasy writers like the guh sound, as well as hard Rs and long vowels. Just like romance writers like very WASP-y sounding names, with a slightly “dirty” undertone to them: Logan Wintersmith; Charity Sentinel; Willow Poole; Sir Boyce Patterson. (not that those are dirty at all). Here is a link to a site with some advice: [nevernameacharacterUring](http://www.writing-world.com/romance/names.shtml) ---
**Author:** ![Eolbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@Eolbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eolbo)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2007, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaydar-of-caldor-why-do-rpg-character-and-place-names-sound-like-that/424217/32 "2007-10-29T02:01:58Z")
Most roleplaying names have always been awful in my experience. bad in table top, godawful in MMORPGs. Sir Chopsalot the lumberjack indeed. I just make up randomish names that I like the sound of, which are no doubt equally ghastly to other ears: Ellgryn Calia Eolbin Ginflas Murgwyn ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2007, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaydar-of-caldor-why-do-rpg-character-and-place-names-sound-like-that/424217/33 "2007-10-29T03:16:22Z")
Just wanted to give **elmwood** props for “Gaydar of Caldor.” Too funny! And FWIW, I have no experience with RPGs and read virtually no fantasy, but I immediately knew that Gaydar of Caldor was one of “those” names. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2007, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaydar-of-caldor-why-do-rpg-character-and-place-names-sound-like-that/424217/34 "2007-10-29T04:12:55Z")
Depends on an RPG. My last tabletop RPG character was named Nigel the Dentist; it was set in 1960s London, and he was a football hooligan with a penchant for separating innocent bystanders and their teeth. My last character before that was Alan Whitman, a beat poet (get it?) who had chased his dreams of sin and perdition to 1950s Las Vegas. > [@Sapo](#): > > Yes, I just used whatever name my pen/pencil had. Brilliant! ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2007, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaydar-of-caldor-why-do-rpg-character-and-place-names-sound-like-that/424217/35 "2007-10-30T02:28:24Z")
I once played under a GM who was making his own game world. At one point it seems our mission was going to take us to the town of Keisha. All the players cried out, “Keisha got a big ol’ butt, oh yeah!” He was bewildered. He had no idea what we were talking about. Perhaps he should have stuck to something with -dar at the end. ---
**Author:** ![Anduinel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Anduinel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anduinel)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2007, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaydar-of-caldor-why-do-rpg-character-and-place-names-sound-like-that/424217/36 "2007-10-30T04:39:59Z")
[QUOTE=H3Knuckles] As to the main topic; I hate names like Drizz’t. How the hell do you pronounce it? In general what really drives me up a wall are excessive use of apostrophes and accents (“That’s how you know it’s authentically elvish”), which in my experience at least is much more common in fantasy than sci-fi. [/QUOTE] According to the author, it rhymes with “mist”. This doesn’t stop him from having characters in his books mistake the character’s name for “Drizzit” after hearing it spoken. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2007, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaydar-of-caldor-why-do-rpg-character-and-place-names-sound-like-that/424217/37 "2007-10-30T04:55:53Z")
[QUOTE=Anduinel] According to the author, it rhymes with “mist”. This doesn’t stop him from having characters in his books mistake the character’s name for “Drizzit” after hearing it spoken. :rolleyes: [/QUOTE] Nor does it stop hordes of Online RPG types to make their character names variants of the same. heh. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2007, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaydar-of-caldor-why-do-rpg-character-and-place-names-sound-like-that/424217/38 "2007-10-30T05:12:29Z")
On a slightly tangetial note, I recall reading a news item in _National Lampoon_ (late '70’s dead tree edition), which noted that people who claimed to have had “close encounters of the third kind” (alien abductions, in case anyone isn’t clear on the point) reported their hosts having names that bespoke a certain, _sameness_, if you will. The item included a list of about twenty “space alien” names, such as Morbo, Gorbo, Zondo Mentor, Zarko, Gardo; well, this pretty much gives the general flavor. The news item was titled “Marx Brothers from the Stars.” ---
**Author:** ![sturmhauke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2007, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaydar-of-caldor-why-do-rpg-character-and-place-names-sound-like-that/424217/39 "2007-10-30T08:26:26Z")
I try to vary my character names: Zaru, human ranger/scout Khazad Gearsmith, dwarf soulknife/fighter Grashnak, half-orc cleric of Heironeous 😃 Jaroslav, human monk Franzo, human town mayor Cerowyn, elf bard/sorcerer Baldorius, dwarf cleric Jonwil, human ranger Emiline, human fighter/rogue Laman and Yasha, human farmer couple Lindy, their little girl Those are all D&D characters. I have a couple from other systems too: Capt. Craig Olafsson, US Army (retired), reckless rocket car driver (Spirit of the Century, a pulp hero RPG) Weyland Jericho, Watchdog of the Faith, knife fighter and fiddle player (Dogs in the Vineyard, an alternate Wild West setting) ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2007, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaydar-of-caldor-why-do-rpg-character-and-place-names-sound-like-that/424217/40 "2007-10-30T11:38:11Z")
[QUOTE=Anduinel] According to the author, it rhymes with “mist”. This doesn’t stop him from having characters in his books mistake the character’s name for “Drizzit” after hearing it spoken. :rolleyes: [/QUOTE] Actually, didn’t have Tina have a big ole butt? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaydar-of-caldor-why-do-rpg-character-and-place-names-sound-like-that/424217.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaydar-of-caldor-why-do-rpg-character-and-place-names-sound-like-that/424217.md?page=3)