I thought of making one of these threads again. I'm sure there has been 1-26 of these, but I haven't seen one here in a long time, if ever.

So, how do you name your characters? And what are they called?

I tend to use existing TES names and move on from there, so that the ending result will be a very "TES-like" name, at least in my opinion. Some of my Skyrim characters are named

Sinerinde, an Altmer Mage. I think this is the intermediate of Sinderion (Oblivion, Skyrim) and Hecerinde (at least Morrowind). The -rinde "suffix" I took from Hecerinde of, and otherwise I tried to get something like "sin" and "cinder" into his name since he was to become an evil fire mage. Turns out I was thinking of Sinderion's name. Sinerinde I think is okay, but it's a little too obvious and too close to those aforementioned names I used as an influence.

Poetus Gabinius, an Imperial Bard. This guy has finished Bards College "questline" and I will do the Imperial side of the Civil War with him. The name is pretty self-explanatory (and stupid? ). Gabinia was the surname of the only Imperial Bard in Morrowind, IIRC, so they might be related. Are the -us named Imperials male and -a female? That's what I think anyway.

Hides-Swift-Strikes, an Argonian Assassin/Thief. Again, pretty self-explanatory. I wish I could make an Argonian version of the name, but so far I've had to stick with Cyrodilic. The name tells about his great sneak and quick arrow and dagger attacks of course.

Saldas, the fifth Greybeard. Okay, so what if I once played a short-lived guy who basically got the Greybeard clothing and all the shouts via console commands and then climbed up High Hrotgar? The end. It was very hard for me to come up with his name though. I don't remember the origins of this, but I think I used some Germanic language words for 'old' and related, IIRC. I think there is certain 'oldness' in this name. But there were some other meanings in here as well, but I don't remember them anymore. Possibly some Latin word.

Aasmund Stone-Singer, a ("true") Nord Warrior/Hero. After coming up with a couple of ?smunds in the Norwegian mythology, I decided to roll a guy named Aasmund Stone-Singer. He's related to the Solstheimian legend, Aevar Stone-Singer, from Morrowind (Bloodmoon). I tried to create him after http://www.townsend-records.co.uk/i/covers/6540730.jpg -- and he turned out looking much older and absolutely awful! For once, I think the name ?smund, Aasmund or Asmund isn't in use with a Skyrim NPC! I could be wrong though. But I've had two Nord characters before this one, and their "surnames" were Strong-Arm and Iron-Hand, both after heavy metal songs. And both happened to be in the game already without me knowing!

Radek gro-Bonk IV, an Orc Warrior. One of my favorites! Radek Bonk is a Czech ice hockey player. Once I decided to roll a Morrowind character named Radek gro-Bonk, as I thought the name sounded a bit Orcish. Unfortunately, that character didn't get going. So I guess this is his grand-grandchild now... Or something.

Ma'Dach the Claw, a psychotic Khajiit. Okay, so, this is another Dark Brotherhood character. He's supposed to be utterly unpredictable. The name Ma'Dach is both a nod towards Morrowind (Madach Tradehouse) and also tells that this Khajiit is young (the M' or Ma' prefix means 'child, apprentice, virgin' according to UESPWiki).

There are some of my characters. Basically I try to name them credibly, so that they'd fit in the TES universe. I use many other TES names and things that interest me - music, hockey, stuff; or just any approppriate name I can think of - as an influence while naming them. I also try to dig some usually Latin words and hide them, or parts of them, into the names. I've had many Morrowind characters like that. I'm sort of a linguist, so I guess this is just something that I do just for the heck of it. One of the greatest and most challenging things in creating a character is the naming, right?

Kael - Nord Warrior and it's just a name i like to use.

Solomon - Another Nord warrior and a name I like to use when Kael is taken, luckily not a problem in SP games. Originally I liked it from content in FFVIII and used it from that.

Endrin - Wood elf no idea how I can up with that name, was just playing around and thought it sounded good.

Yeah, I've had names like this as well. That Saldas in Skyrim was pretty much like this, after some dictionary lurking. Also my namesake character Nelacayne (male Altmer) and also Levianor (Bosmer female), both from Morrowind. I have no idea how I came up with those! And I'm not even a Tolkien fan to speak of.

I like Endrin too. Very Bosmerish!

In Oblivion:

Veles Berstuk - The result of my old habit of creating names by randomly mashing the names of European deities together. It was my first ever Elder Scrolls character, so I was completely unaware of naming habits, which is why it isn't really the name you'd expect with an Argonian. Maybe I should give him a nickname, like... Moons-His-Foes.

In Skyrim:

Ja'Whar Mayu - This time around I did my research to come up with a Khajiit-sounding name for my new character. The name itself is a 'Khajiitification' of 'Yawar Mayu', an Inca term that translates as 'River of Blood' (which is what my enemies will be bathing in ), and refers to the river that the souls of the deceased must cross. So it's comparable to the Styx from Greek mythology. I was reading a lot of indigenous literature for University at the time, and this term appeared somewhere in a novel, so I just decided to take it and edit the ortography a bit to make it look like more of a Khajiit name. I've also read the prefix 'Ja' is used for someone young and inexperienced, which would explain why he entered Skyrim as a young nobody about to face his execution. Now that he is an experienced warrior who is married, I justify his continued use of the prefix as a way of fooling his enemies into underestimating him.

Artemis Leco - A female Nord that was subject to the old way of creating names. The name sounds more Imperial, but I wasn't too fond of the generic Nord names. Artemis is, as you probably know, the Greek deity of hunt that is often depicted with a bow and arrow (relevant to my playstyle with this character), and Leco is probably a bastardised version of the name of a Latin deity or historical figure, but I don't remember exactly. The Imperial-sounding name makes sense, though, as even a Nord character is commonly treated as an outsider in Skyrim, so it would make sense that she was actually from Cyrodiil, maybe even raised by Imperials.

Zelotil - Derived from the Greek 'zelotes', which is also where the English word 'zealot' comes from. This is a very appropiate name, because this High Elf is an ugly, unfriendly and thoroughly unlikable Thalmor agent whose only goal is to destabilise Skyrim as much as possible, and make miserable the lives of all those who worship Talos or any of the Daedric deities.

EDIT: I think I should name an Argonian character Writes-Walls-of-Text.

My first I don't actually remember.

2nd is Tess - A young Nord girl who's village was attacked and burnt down and she joined the DB at the age of 9 and her in game age is 15. I'm currently writing a story on her after finding http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1396927-roleplayers-rate-the-backstory-above-you/page__hl__roleplayers__fromsearch__1 a while back, it was supposed to be a simple back story but has turned into much more, current word count is about 10,000 and still so much more to go.

3rd is Anrelri - a Lunari Elf mercenary hunter for hire, currently a member of the Companions and trying to find her place in this big horrible world.

Porver ( warrior ) Brander ( blade)

I used to agonize over character names. Then one of these threads gave me the idea of using names from myth, legends, and even a few IRL people. Here are just a few examples, but by no means all the names I have used for characters:
Penthesilea (from the Amazon who died at Troy)
Artemis (obvious one there)
Prytania (one of the appelations of Hekate, meaning "The Invincible Queen of the Dead")
Artemisia (based off the RL queen who fought at Salamis)
Scylla was my first Skyrim character (she is named after one of Hekate's children, her name means "She Who Rends").
Tomoe Gozen (from the RL female samurai)
Andraste (the Celtic goddess)
Ancasta (another Celt goddess)
Tanit (the Phoenician/Carthaginian mother goddess)
Aretsaya (a Phoenician cthonic goddess)
Shakti (from Hinduism)
Hera (the Greek sky goddess)

I've so far had four characters I've actually have played for more than a few hours.

Jelissa was the first. She's Breton, and I guess the name isn't really according to the lore. I didn't think it through, really, I picked a name that fitted a red-haired female warrior - the original Jelissa was such a character in a story I wrote a long time ago. That Jelissa was a sort of elf, however.

Sigyn is my Nord warrior, named after an old Norse goddess (no similarities when it comes to personalities, though - the original Sigyn is mostly known for being Loki's faithful wife).

Then I created Orfeo Caelius, and Imperial musician and mage. Orfeo is of course an Italian version of Orpheus, the mythological musician who sang so beautifully that the wild beasts came to him... and who failed in getting his wife Eurydice back from the Underworld. Caelius was an actual Roman family name (and also the Latin name of one the the hills of Rome) but I don't remember its meaning. Somehow I found it fitting.

My Dunmer is named Medea Selarys. She's a beautiful witch, so I named her after the famous beautiful witch from Greek mythology. She's not that wicked though. Chaotic good, I guess. She wouldn't murder her sons for revenge on an unfaithful husband. Selarys is an actual Dunmer family name that occurs in Morrowind.

Among the characters I have started and abandoned, or plan to play someday we have:
Aurora Winter, my alter ego, a Nord alchemist who can't fight. The name comes from different nicknames I've used online over the years (she also exists in a Breton version called Aurore, see my profile pic).
Arkas, an Imperial thief and murderer, originally one of the main characters in a novel I'm working on
Naulos, an Altmer spellsword, named after an elf from the same story as the original Jelissa
Durza gra-Durgat, an Orc illusion mage and trader, the name is taken from lore and somewhat customized
Artemis, a Redguard huntress roaming the wilds, the name should be obvious for anyone who knows a bit of Greek mythology
Fínnli, a Bosmer hunter, name from an elf in one of my short stories
Salma, Redguard assassin and secret agent. I know there's another Redguard Salma in the game, but I've always liked this name and don't care

My first was Romulus, an imperial believe it or not.
Red spear was actually my first but it bugged out on me. He was a nord.
Raven another imperial. Don't know how I named her I think I named her that because it sounded ranger-y.
I had a Breton mate but I forgot his name
Farangor Black claw is my latest character,he is a werewolf.
I guess I just name them what sounds nord-y or imperial. And add something that compliments my character.

Nord: Gunnar Wulfric- typical Norse name
Bosmer: Cobarth of the Vale- totally made up using Valenwood as the base
Kahjiit: Ra'qnir- I kind of just took the Kahjiiti style and made it up
Imperial: Lucien Moterrie-if you've played Oblivion you know how this one came about...

HO after my first and last name. I'm a nord - warrior.

Arinbjorn - Because I've always liked that name ever since I heard of it from the NPC of a certain Morrowind's mod. Plus, it's "Arin" for friends, which is kinda cool