Character name origins (in Off-topic)

We've all seen some crazy ones, so Enquiring Minds Want to Know™...

What's the story behind your character and/or minion names?

Tal is the angel of destruction in Piercing the Darkness, by Frank Peretti

My character Beyond the Wheel is named after an older Soundgarden song. I had recently seen a "secret" Soundgarden show in Seattle (under the pseudonym/anagram Nudedragons) which re-sparked my love for this song, particularly the killer chorus riff (1:43 in the video below). The minion names and battle cries are all from the lyrics.

Here is the song from that very show, pro-shot and released by the band: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crILNt7-kj8 I was 2 people deep in front of the bassist (not that you can see me). It was a killer show, their first in 13 years, I was incredibly lucky to get tickets.

Gyaxx was the name of Sefton's character in the day, he should come back to CB :[

My character Anna Molly was named after an Incubus song, and my character WhatInTheUniverse was named after a particular panel in a Green Lantern comic, named thusly mainly for fight feed laughs. (WhatInTheUniverse defeated _____?!)

My favorite character in paper gaming was a living construct called a maug... he once killed 17 kobolds in a single round with his giant hammer. Think DnD wack-a-mole based on great cleave and combat reflexes with a +6 dex bonus. Damn red dragon...

My real name is Bob. And I am a great and powerful Lord.

As for my team, A Devil Familiar was named after the same from Symphony of the Night. Even its battle cry is from the game: "Hmmm... a switch! Why don't I press it and see?" In Symphony, max level is 99, but here on Carnage Blender level 99 in almost any stat is a joke, so I upped it to a still measly 9999, which is as much as I could fit in the name field. Furthermore, since we have familiars here too, it's kind of a CB tie-in as well.

Defensive and Offensive Shield come from the idea that I'm so friggin' awesome, I don't need any real back-up and can instead just use multiple shields (and weapons, spells, etc.) where no other "single minion" team can. Though I guess the devil familiar makes it a two-man team *grin*.

Mine is pretty simple, its just an evolution of my online persona throughout the years.

Dragonis -> Sinogard -> Xinogard -> Xenogard

What does it mean? Well nothing. It's just a random creation from my imagination, and the fact that I thought dragons were cool so I wanted it to be somewhere in my name.

Fun facts: I've been using this same string of names for the past 12 years. Dragonis was used for about 10 years of those years, with Sinogard being a backup in case it was taken. I finally jumped ship and flipped it around and added the X less then two years ago. This year the Xi was changed to Xe because it both looks better and its easier to pronounce at a glance.. because no one knew how to pronounce it with the 'i' even though its exactly the same.

And that friends is where my name comes from.

oh characters...

Chaotic Endeavors is because i took over Sutehks char Hubbell.

Banker Pomegranate just sounds cool.

NS rentals one and dos are for ya know NightStrikes rentals that im taking care of for him.

Oh I forgot about minion names (we really need an edit button for these forums)

Since I explained Xenogard already I'll just explain real quick what my other two minion names are all about.

[Miasma Barrier] is a reference to Inuyasha. Miasma is defined as "A dangerous, foreboding, or deathlike influence or atmosphere." Which fits because the minion has decay, and the barrier part comes from the fact that it has ablative shield.

[Aura of Thorns] is a reference to Diablo and the Paladin's aura of the same name. It has both decay and guardian angel which reflects damage back so I thought that aura of thorns just fit.

Both minions are actually supposed to be spells (or whatever you want to call them) that my main minion [Xenogard] has cast upon himself.

Welcome to my strange ways of thinking.

There's no weird story behind mine. I randomly picked Demigod in 2000 and used it ever since. Oddly enough, it was usually available until a game titled Demigod came out.

My minion names are random as well, including the intentionally unorthodox spelling of Malakai. But my first minion in CB1 was a single archer named Yossarian, ripped from the book Catch-22.

Umichi a mix of chinese and japenese words, Umi - Japanese for ocean and Chi - Chinese for the soul or something like that. Umichi means soul of the sea to me :3 i made this up about 10 years ago it's pretty much my gamer handle on anything i play ^^

Also my two minions are named after myself and my friends char on WoW which i played for a long time :3 gorgo is a really silent person but he's dependable!

I like fish. I'm also amused by bad puns.

The Kingkiller Chronicle is a fantasy trilogy by Patrick Rothfuss, telling the biography of 'Kvothe' (pronounced as 'Quothe', but with a [v]), an adventurer, arcanist and famous musician. The plot is essentially divided into two different action threads: The present, where Kvothe tells the story of his life to Devan Lochees (known as the 'Chronicler') and Kvothe's past where most of the story is located.

Tal is not your character name...

Valaquenta is the Tale of the Powers, in which each of the Valar is named and described, together with the more important of the Maiar.

http://www.glyphweb.com/arda/v/valaquenta.html

Half life is just a bad arse universe that Valve created :D

I want episode 3. NAOW! I mean portal 2 will be cool and all, but us die hards have had our fair share of waiting I think.

ah and the username I guess. Been involved with horses my whole life until recently. I have been known as horseguy for almost 20 years now :)

I guess the "K.I.S.S." approach and "Occam's Razor" kinda' go hand in hand, the character name used to describe what the minion did, but now... well... :D

Also, a few of my tournament characters have been Rush song titles or otherwise related. (=

since people only know me as the angel of death, i will use that name and my real name is just to hard for humans to pronounce so its alot easier to use AoD

My name is from one of the rulers in the classic Playstation strategy/RPG Brigandine. Vaynard ruled the northern country of Norgard and was simply my favorite to play through as.

My team is Wheel of Time themed. The late Robert Jordan's series is the longest and yet most satisfying series I have ever read (sorry Tolkien). The scope of the story is immense and you really feel like you see the characters grow before your eyes. The last book comes out next spring I believe. I eagerly anticipate it and yet dread the day when I have no new WoT to look forward to.

KnightWarrior just sounds good when i spell. And it has a strong presence.

as i allways focus on SOD so...
my character Ishira Uryu is a quincy archer from the animation BLEACH.

you can blame the brady bunch for my name. in the dorm my first year of college back in 1985, there were 3 gregs on my floor of about fifty people. everyone from that point forward pretty much called me dude, even my wife thought my first name was dude for the first few months we were together. i had one friend that always called me dudemus though.

when i got online in '92 or so i found there were a ton of dudes out there, i can usually still get dudemus though! ; )

Anbhas is celtic translating to 'violent death'
(there is an accent on the a, but CB doesn't like it)

Incidentally, 'Lochnivar' is a typo from when I first joined CB... I just happened to like it and never changed it.
(The 'correct' spelling, of course, is Lochinvar, from the Scott poem)

Easy:

Winner of Nothing is a derivation of the Metallica song King Nothing

Hot Pants is, uhh, well, it was the best non-sequitur for a character name I had at the time, but it was probably because I just watched this episode of Simpsons: El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Homer, where Captain McAllister crashes a boat full of hot pants.