I have always found it odd that you knew the name of characters before even having talked to them, I mean I understand why not every one wants to look around town to find that special someone. I am wondering would it be better if the name didn't show until after you had talked to them, or maybe at least have an option for this.

I would at least want an option for it.

For the sake of having a more densely populated world - a need anyone is hard pressed to contest - I think it is time to foresake the notion evry NPC should have a name. I can live well with that, as long as cities are not as deserted as museums past closing hours

Please, no. As an option to turn it on? Sure, why not, let people have what they want. But personally, I find it intrusive and lame. Especially now that NPCs should be more easily distinguishable by their (with decals) clothes/armor, faces, facial hair, body type, voice, all that jazz.

it would make quests a little harder since in the context that if you are told to go find person X you may not be able to figure out who or where they are because you never talked to them. but then again it would give people a good reason to talk to more npc's. although its kinda irrelevent now since talking with npc's is going to be limited, or just not direct.

I see what your saying, but I do like that every NPC has name.

That's right I do seem to remember reading that they were doing that.

Yes i think before you talk to the person their name shouldnt be revealed. If you have to meet person X in the bar for a quest, he/she should come up to YOU having been told what you look like, or vice versa, you may have to find someone based on their description from someone else.

I would totally go for that.

Nonsense.
Daggerfall had a randomly generated and quite large population where everyone had a name.
Random name generator, its called.

Yes. Every NPC needs a name. Every hostile NPC too. Nothing is worse for verisimilitude as killing yet another generic 'bandit', a clone of the 10.000 you killed before. This trend needs to be reversed, not spread to non-hostile NPC's, so that a town is filled with people called 'citizen'.

I want to go to a dungeon, kill a dunmer bandit called 'Arana Velothi', and then roleplay going to town to tell another person named Velothi about the fate of the black sheep in the family. Just like in Morrowind.
Once, I made sure to kill every Lenith in Morrowind but two, and then I took the quest in wich Orvas Dren's two Lenith guards had to be killed.
I had great fun paralysing them, telling them they were the last of their family in Vvardenfell, and finishing them.
This is not possible if bandits or townspeople are boring, bland, generic cardboard NPC's who dont even have a name.

I was going to mention randon name generation, but forgot. If it's credible, if the phonetics end up sounding credible, a matter of establishing syllable combination and permutation rules and so forth - it could be the way to go, you're right.

I agree, while it might be irritating at first it would make you talk to more people to find things out and that's always fun

No because I want to know who I'm talking with and not have a perfect system replaced with a Question mark at where the name is which is the only thing I could see being added if you don't want to know the name of the NPC that you 1st meet up with.

Agreed. If Daggerfall could have a random name generator, i'm pretty sure so can Skyrim.

As long as they don't call an NPC by the name of Osric.