» Sat May 28, 2011 12:46 am
In general, I try to make my character's names seem appropriate for their race. At least in the Elder Scrolls, when playing other RPGs, since I may not be familar with their setting and what sorts of names different races use, so I just go with something that seems to sound good, or that a similar race might use in another setting, but I'm familiar enough with the Elder Scrolls races' naming conventions to come up with names that I think at least sound authentic, although it isn't always easy since I don't want to end up making a character whose name is shared by an NPC in the game. Some may say character names aren't that important, but myself, I just wouldn't be able to take a Dunmer called "Bob" seriously.
I usually use last names for orcs as the whole "gro/gra" prefix before the surname seems to be the most distinctive aspect of orc names in the Elder Scrolls, otherwise its generally not relevant since my characters are usually Khajiit, Argonians or orcs, and Khajiit and Argonians usually don't seem to have last names.
As for Skyrim, I really don't know what name I'll use, since I don't know what character I'll play. I don't generally plan out characters for RPGs I haven't played yet, usually, what character I'll play is something I think up on the spot, or think about soon before starting. I can only really choode my name once I've chosen the six and race of my character.