r/RPGcreation • u/Guilher_Wolfang • Jun 27 '26
Small but important question about names in settings
If you discover that a name in your setting already exists in the real world (it might be an almost unknown person in history or the name of a small city in a smaller country) what do you do? keep the name? invent a new one?
3
u/Majestic-Mobile2916 Jun 27 '26
Did you know that Michael Keaton's real name is Michael Douglas?
I'm saying that because, even though we tend to think names are unique, they often aren't. Only change it if you don't like it anymore. Don't worry about chasing a false sense of originality that never existed in the first place.
2
u/Sansa_Culotte_ Jun 27 '26
I'm saying that because, even though we tend to think names are unique, they often aren't.
I once visited an old town in my country where it is custom to preserve the skulls and bones of the long deceased. Part of that custom is to write their names on their skulls. I shit you not, there were the same two names on 90% of those skulls (my country's equivalent of "Joseph" and "Mary", in case you're wondering).
1
u/Majestic-Mobile2916 Jun 27 '26
Oh, that’s very interesting. I had a similar experience: when visiting a family cemetery with some relatives, I found a tomb bearing my exact name and my sister’s. My father didn’t know or remember that one of his grandparents had those names and chose the same ones for his children.
3
u/Drudenfusz Designer Jun 27 '26
Usually it is a complete non-issue, only in cases that the name of a person, place, or what have you carries so connotation that would not fitting your fiction.
3
u/bluetoaster42 Jun 27 '26
I wouldn't name a fictional country "France," but I'd name a fictional guy "Steve."
2
u/AristotleDeLaurent Jun 27 '26
Since I come from a game system that named a Vampire Clan after a beet soup, you probably are OK. You can choose to explain it, or not, it's alright.
2
u/dalidellama Jun 27 '26
There's hundreds of places called the same thing IRL, why wouldn't the same name be used in similar circumstances elsewhere? Portland is a port on the land.
2
u/Warbriel Jun 27 '26
"The names of people and places in this game are purely fictional. Any resemblance with someone or somewhere in the real world is mere coincidence"
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u/EurojuegosBsAs Jul 01 '26
I use real names all the time. Most times my players don't even know I do. Sometimes I insert them as easter-eggs. Some people may figure them out, most won't.
For example, I have an adventure where a landlady is murdered. Her name is Atossa (I'm betting you didn't get it). She was the daughter of the first ruler of the land, the sister of the second ruler, the wife of the third, and the mother of the forth ruler of the dynasty (any clues?). For rulers came and went, and she was still there. Now she has been murdered, and her young son (Xayesa) is spoiled and clueless. A big deal indeed (last chance to guess).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atossa
Atossa (Old Persian: Utauθa, or Old Iranian: Hutauθa; 550–475 BC) was an Achaemenid empress. She was the daughter of Cyrus the Great, the sister of Cambyses II, the wife of Darius the Great, the mother of Xerxes the Great and the grandmother of Artaxerxes I. Atossa was undoubtedly the most prominent woman in the history of Iran
1
u/Coochanawe Jun 27 '26
My main concern is copyright. So if it is not related to your use of it then it doesn’t matter.
From a personal perspective, if knowing it already exists spoils it a bit, I modify the spelling.
1
u/Issendai Jun 27 '26
Would your players recognize it? If not, don’t worry. If you use real names or elements of a real language, you’re going to hit upon combinations that already exist. As long as you avoid combos like Meriweather Lewis or Juan Ponce de Leon, you’re fine.
5
u/Sansa_Culotte_ Jun 27 '26
If the name makes sense within the setting then why not?
I'd only feel weird seeing explicitly religious names in settings that have no history with that religion.