With all the new characters, worlds, monsters, NPCs, locations, artifacts, etc. we create we have to think of something to call them. How do you come up with names for the stuff you make? Are there any particular names you've made that you are particularly proud of? 

I know my father takes the names for his characters and NPCs from watching world soccer/football games. He is currently playing a tortle druid named Virgil after Virgl van Dijk. My favorite of his characters though was a stoner earth genasi druid named Broham Vesuvius. I have no idea where he got that name from. 

To ensure consistency of culture, I use different languages as the base for place names.  For example, one group of humans might have sold English names, another from a Slavic country; elves and orcs draw from Tolkien’s constructed languages; etc.  For NPC given names or some family names, I’ll use Behind the Name (a name search website with lots of filter options) to establish consistency in a culture’s naming.  For places, items, some other family names, etc., I’ll translate a relevant word into the chosen language, then adjust the pronunciation and spelling to make it easier for the player to pronounce and remember. 

This ensures the etymology of each group feels consistent within a culture and distinct from other established cultures in the world.  I find this really makes the world feel alive, as you’ll be able to predict where folks are from using their name, and, as you travel, you can feel cultural shifts.

I've spent a lot of time on baby name sites, lol. Sometimes I'll peruse name meanings from certain languages/cultures, sometimes I'll put words associated with a character or location into google translate and craft a name from that, and sometimes I make horrible, horrible puns (I'm about to introduce my party to two NPCs named Disch Wasch'er and Michael "Mike" Rowave).

My dwarves are Russian, my elves are Asian, 

I have a merchant in all of my games - D&D, Shadowrun, Gamma World, Fantasy HERO, whatever. and he is based on:

There are tons of fantasy name generators out there, or baby name sites if I want a word from a specific culture or language. But what I've found a lot of fun lately is asking AI like ChatGPT and Gemini for suggestions too, you can get some surprisingly detailed results. For example, I asked for male dragonborn names from Gemini and it provided prefixes, suffixes and entire words commonly used in Draconic, descriptive family names for me to consider like Grimfang or Stormbreath, and even asked me follow-up questions like the character's personality, chromatic/metallic ancestry, and religion.

Caracter names, i pick a theme. My Autognomes have names of Stars (Sirius, Arcturus, Wolf359). I had a character that was foreign, so used Spanish city and region names for him and his family (Basque, Cadiz, Madrid, etc) but I've also done this with Canada (like Halifax). For Loxodons I use resonant long sounds like Throom for how to pronounce it without a trunk. I like Nerds & Scoundrels naming pages for conventions for ideas (like naming Satyrs in Greek, Latin, or Hebrew). I've used Russian names for Dwarves before.

I generally have a “feel” for what sounds right for each culture in my world, and just pick the first thing that pops into my head. But naming things is one of my weaknesses, so take my method with a grain (or two) of salt.

Most of the time, humans get real names and fantasy creatures get either nonsense names or descriptive ones that are probably a translation in-universe. For real names, I pick a language/culture/ethnicity, find something that sounds neat (typically a given name; I start with the surname more often outside of D&D contexts but I figure not everybody would have a surname in a fantasy setting), and then find something else that fits well with it. I'm not a big believer in meaningful names because the coincidence sometimes strains credulity, but sometimes it's the easiest way to come up with an idea. Though given that surnames were often originally descriptive (occupations, patronymics, and places all being common), those at least can sometimes choose themselves.

For fantasy-nonsense names, I rely too much on the tables at the back of Xanathar's (honestly I raid them for real names more than I should too). Important characters, I may try to spot recurring syllable patterns or particles that could be some kind of root so I can make up my own nonsense, other times I just pick a letter and then pick the least-dumb-sounding name that starts with that letter. It's not a great way to do it, but it keeps some consistency.

For general principles, I like to pair common names with uncommon, long with short, and shamelessly overuse alliteration.

For locations and concepts, I am biased towards descriptive names because I find them both memorable and comparatively simple to come up with. Though generally I throw out like the first three to five ideas I come up with for being too on-the-nose until I reach something that's merely suggestive of what the place is like rather than exactly descriptive. I might translate into a different language or do gibberish (depending on if it's named by humans or fantasy beings) if I intend to create a sense that the place is foreign to the average player character.

I usually just go with whatever name for an NPC or character sounds coolest or feels right tbh. I don't really intentionally draw from specific real life cultural names for names for certain D&D species or cultures, though I almost certainly do that somewhat subconsciously.

i honestly don't know where i picked it up or why...

but all my character names, in D&D, in video games, on MUSHes and MOOs, everywhere....  first name starts with an 'I' and last name starts with a 'K'

it turns into a challenge thinking up names that reflect the particular character.

So far i've had a fighter names Ilias, a ranger names Illthorne, a warlock named Iolo (completely forgot that was from Ultima), and a monk named Ioachim.   I just try to match the name to the spirit of the character and stick to the aforementioned I-K rule.

When I need a name for a character in Dnd or in any story, I usually look at the lists I have written down of possible names.

Some of those names are weird sounding words I like, others come from words and languages associated with the character. 

Sometimes I take walks through old graveyards and write down cool names I find.

I always have my eye open for something good. Whether it be the name of a peeling warehouse of a dead railway company, a street name, or the scientific classification of a rare species of fish. There are wonderful names hidden all over the place. 

• Make something up that sounds good
• The tables at the end of Xanathar's for minor NPCs
• For PCs, I often poke at the random name generator on DDB until I see something I almost like, then tweak it

I also had my players meet a Necromancer named Thurl Ravenscroft, because it's so perfect a name.

What I do to find names for stuff is if I'm in a hurry I will use a name generator, and if I'm not I will usually just start saying gibberish until it sounds cool and then figure out a way to spell it and then boom got a name. 

I use random name generators. 

I use an excessive amount of Battletech references.

 my character names are almost exclusively a nerdy reference or (mix of references) waiting for someone at the table to put the pieces together (and groan). my most recent favorite is B'red Bones, former pet of giants. fi fi fo fum "i'll grind your bones to make my bread," right? but don't stop there: he's more than just an escaped meal. he loves solving mysteries, befriending confident redheads, learning about traps, discussing red herrings, painting the party's cart green and blue, every disguise involves a conspicuous orange ascot tie... Scooby Doo's pal, Fred Jones!!

"come on, gang. let's see who this villain really is!" ...i swear it really helps to hear the voice.

Quote from rumloverum >>

 my character names are almost exclusively a nerdy reference or (mix of references) waiting for someone at the table to put the pieces together (and groan). my most recent favorite is B'red Bones, former pet of giants. fi fi fo fum "i'll grind your bones to make my bread," right? but don't stop there: he's more than just an escaped meal. he loves solving mysteries, befriending confident redheads, learning about traps, discussing red herrings, painting the party's cart green and blue, every disguise involves a conspicuous orange ascot tie... Scooby Doo's pal, Fred Jones!!

"come on, gang. let's see who this villain really is!" ...i swear it really helps to hear the voice.

 Oh man, that's great. Similar vibes: one of my players named her character's parents "Benjamin" and "Jeremias". They run a cafe which also serves a delicacy known as "iced cream". None of my other players have noticed and it's killing me not to call them Ben & Jerry every time the PCs visit.

I use translated words a lot. You can just type "translate X" into google and it will give you a dropdown of languages to translate to. I usually start with a noun associated with my character, like for an arctic druid I might use snow or ice as the starting word.

As a player, I will just roll through all the languages looking for something I like. As a DM, I might have region-language equivalents as others have mentioned and I will cycle through nouns with the given language.

A lot of my names are faux something. Like, I made a character made Ogana Mujanjo. Faux African, of some sort. I have a character names Menthelius. Faux elven. Krgh-âahn is faux orcish. Pashgir (he is Krgh'âahn's mate) is a goblin with a faux indian-ish name.

I suppose faux orc and faux elf is ok, since they're imaginary races. But anyways the point is that I just ... make stuff up.

Following cause this is some good stuff. :)