How do you come up with dragon names?

[perzephone]

A ton of my names come from books I've read or movies/tv I've watched. I keep lists of potential names as I'm reading. Others are foods, perfumes, random names from anagrams of other categories of things.

 

I was a neo-Pagan (now I'm an atheist), so some of my names (like my Harvests) are holdovers from that - and they're cool so I keep them. I live in fabulous Las Vegas, so my Golden Wyverns all have Vegas-stuff names. Gambling games, casino slang, landmark hotels, that kind of thing. The GW's are luck dragons, so it seemed to fit. My Horses are named for fictional or historical horses, and my Hellfires are named for rodeo stock or rodeo-stuff, because, well, they're horses.

[Feathers]

Oh Gods my naming process is a whole Thing haha

 

First, I have tags to tell me about the dragon's lineage for my breeding and playing purposes -- CB for caveborns, 2G for second-gen dragons, etc., with addendums like 'PB' to indicate a purebred dragon, or SS for a stairstep lineage. So, a 3G PB SS tag would precede a 3rd generation dragon, with a purebred lineage, and a stairstep shape.

THEN, a little dash to actually name the dragon. For non-holiday or -prize dragons, the naming convention goes [Adjective related to the dragon's breed][Adjective or noun that fits with the first part of the name]. So like, my Moonstones (my biggest collection lol) are mostly named some variation of Moon[blank]. I think there's actually a dragon in there somewhere named Moonblank lol. But the way it would be formatted would be more like '2G PB - Moonblank' once my tagging was all said and done.

 

There's a whole different system for my holidays and prize dragons... I won't get into that one now lol

 

I think this is the first time I've ever articulated that process to anyone before! I didn't realize how many internalized rules about naming dragons I had in my head... Sorry for the text wall, haha

[Stromboli]

Most of the time I'm naming for breeding projects, like this Clara Oswald line. Otherwise it's usually a bunch of references, like my shard-bought golds, If You Can't Catch Your Own Gold and Store Bought is Fine. Sometimes I end up associating a breed with something due to their appearance, name, or description. Like, I've got a vampire called Buffy the Vampire Dragon, a Wintertide called Wintertide Pod Challenge, couple Celestials that are named in reference to Wolf 359 and The Martian because space, named my Eradors Raspberry White Chocolate Espuma and Li'l Lad Loves Berries and Cream because they're supposed to smell like berries.

 

Basically unless I've got a breeding project on, my naming is sporadic  

[subwoofer]

My naming is pretty much... everywhere.

Sometimes I'll name a dragon based off what it reminds me of (e.g. Electric named "Thunder's Bay" since it reminded me of Thunder Bay). I also name dragons based off what their egg reminds me of (e.g. Mutamore named "Hoopa-Unbound" as the egg reminds me of the Pokemon Hoopa).

And then sometimes I just do song lyrics from whatever song is in my head on that day or if it has some kind of meaning (the first dragon I raised to adulthood is named "You Were The First One" after the lyric in "Video Killed the Radio Star").

And then there are just... some random names in there, whatever popped into my head.

[luxidoptera]

I always name my dragons by taking their code, turning the numbers into letters if needed, and then shoving vowels in there until it sounds good.

I've also considered renaming them using a method I saw someone else doing, that being tagging your username or "clan name" onto the end of a dragon's name, i.e. "[dragonname] of luxidoptera" for me or w/e. Would give me more freedom and less ridiculous-sounding names, but also I have quite a few now and it would be a fair bit of effort to think of new names for all of them. C'est la vie.

[Shakura Kazuki]

I pick any random mashup of syllables that comes in my mind. But mostly oriented after the dragons code. I have an army of green dragons of which I put the word "Kiesel" (german for pebble)  in every CB one.

 

My "one dragon of every kind and stage"-Collection has the simple naming pattern of "one word that describes it" plus "In" which is just a thing I started with long ago when I named my first dragon and it stuck. Hatchlings are "Little" and ungenered hatchlings are "Tiny" plus the describing word that the adult has, plus "In". 

"Chaos In"

"Little Chaos In"

"Tiny Chaos In"

 

I have a couple of ice dragons that have a naming pattern too, giving them the surname of things related to snow, grouped by their generation and linage appearance.

Edited March 21, 2020 by Shakura Kazuki

[Ruby Eyes]

More naming methods:

Song titles: https://dragcave.net/view/n/Queen - Innuendo

Wannabe Puns: https://dragcave.net/view/n/Imp-Art

And my Tercorns have the last name Flittercorn.

[Doll_81]

With 5000 plus dragons I’ve got a little bit of everything. 
words, phrases, song titles, colors, shapes, games titles, movie titles, anime titles, all sorts of characters, emotions, holidays, seasons, code based, people’s names, things I like… there’s also linages like captcha and z. 

sometimes I have to play around with the spacing or characters 0/o _ ‘. I also slap mr Mrs lord lady etc in front of names. Or I’ll put a little something behind them like such and such of such and such. 
Any thing… and I mean anything to get the job done as long as it is game appropriate. I have zero shame. Haha

 

once upon a time when I didn’t have as many I’d try and name them something that would sound cool if I called for them in battle. 

[HeatherMarie]

Semi-recently I started using interesting phrases from YouTube videos as names. It started with just a handful of funny titles from a specific video, and then rapidly expanded. I spend entirely too much time on YouTube in general so it's easy to find random/strange phrases. It's especially fun to attempt to match the phrase with a breed that it kinda make sense for ('Filthy Bloodthirsty Fish' on an aquatic breed, 'School for Gifted Axolotls' of course must go on a Xol, etc). 

[sorenna]

I'm another "names all over the place" answer!  Especially for CBs.

 

I've got fairly 'typical' names, based on the color of the sprite or a trait of the breed.  I've got made-up names, sometimes derived from the code and sometimes not.  I've got some based on song lyrics or poetry, and some based on memes or catchphrases.  I've got some 'borrowed' names from fictional characters or from mythology. There are some puns, and foreign languages (and mangled foreign languages).  There are lots of unnamed 'cool code' dragons, too.

 

For lineaged dragons, I love to incorporate words or themes from the parents' names!  If the parents aren't named, I may come up with something random, use the code for inspiration, or name it for its personal meaning, like "My Very First Silver" or "My 500th Grain Of Sand" (for my 500th dragon). 

 

Really about the only rules I have are that all words are capitalized, I don't do 'person titles' like Mrs. or Mr. (I've got some Lords, Ladies, Dukes, and Earls, though), I don't do decorative symbols (like "xXx Name xXX"), and I try for variety so that I can meet more breeding requests! 

Edited April 24, 2021 by sorenna

[Diggie]

I use a name generator with a personalized formula (for example, if I want names to have two syllables, start with consonants that appropriately would begin a name, and have a hyphen between the syllables, I can write that formula and put it into the generator)

 

Once I have my name, I check it to make sure it doesn't have any actual definitions (especially bad ones 😅) and then name the dragon

 

I also use surnames for my breeding projects, which are the only dragons I actually name, so if someone else wants the name they can use it

Edited April 24, 2021 by Diggie

[CandraCat]

I usually use Song lyrics, stuff from poetry or books. All my papers and Vines are named after DND stuff. And sometimes I just use my own creativity…..

but I’m not all that creative, even as a plagiarist 😂 

a significant amount of my dragons are just called something like ‘1st Red 2G PB F’ or something of that ilk. 🤷‍♀️ 

 

a friend just directed me to a name generator when we were talking about naming dragons, so I have access to one, but have yet to use it.

Edited February 8, 2023 by CandraCat

[Aventurine]

I consider the different breeds of dragons on my scroll to be clans, so each clan has a surname of its own, which is usually its breed or part of its breed, but sometimes a reference or translation, lineage shorthand, etc.  Then each dragon gets a personal name, too, which may be its code, based on its code, reference its parents' or ancestors' names, or just a word that sounds cool.  I like to do paired personal names, such as a male and female with code personal names, and a male and female with rhyming or thematic personal names.

 

Names go in Surname, Personalname order.  If it's part of a lineage that I'm interested in continuing, I may use a Roman Numeral prefix to indicate generation.  For long, messy lineages, the surname is repeated.

 

Examples:

Falcon Iwaji - a CB Falconiform, code "Iwj5e"

II Equinox Pepper - a 2G PB Equinox

III Lunoli Bronzewing - a 3G checker Olive x bronze Lunar Heralds, correctly influenced to continue the checker lineage

Red Red Catnip - a messy lineaged Red with parents "When I Pee I See You XC" x "Tinsel Toy for Odeen's Cats"

 

Sometimes I break my own naming system, though.    Usually because I thought of something really cool, or else really funny.  Most of my Mint Dragons, for instance, have names with some kind of pun involving 'Mint' in them, such as "Provoking The Govern-mint" and "Mint To Fade."

 

[bord]

Most of my dragon names are from parent name recombination and puns based on the URL code or their breed/appearance. It's really easy to think of names, but sometimes I really want to name them something that's already taken like Drama Llama (dramatic is part of a parent and grandparent name) and have to add onto it (my baby Boreal is Drama Llama sNW b8 because their URL code is actually readable and looks kinda like "snow bait" LOL.) I've started adding surname to the ones I breed so I can start using names that are already taken because I'd rather not resort to 1337 or other letter substitution unless it's a URL code joke (I'm okay with some misspellings like replacing s with z on the end of a word.)

Edited February 8, 2023 by bord

[nerys]

Combinations of the names of gifters, the attributes of the dragon, the code it had, the event or season it comes from.. words i like.. all sorts really.  I  actually quite like that the unique naming scheme forced me to be creative at times 

 

[sorenna]

3 hours ago, nerys said:

Combinations of the names of gifters, the attributes of the dragon, the code it had, the event or season it comes from.. words i like.. all sorts really.  I  actually quite like that the unique naming scheme forced me to be creative at times 

 

 

I feel the same!  It can be frustrating sometimes when I have an idea and it's not available, but usually I manage to come up with something else pretty quickly, and it's often cooler/funnier/more relevant to the dragon than my first try was.  Plus it's nice to know that I was the first person to think of it. 

[CandraCat]

I also name dragons after their parents, especially if their parents have cool names. I especially try to do this with prizes, because they’re the ones other people are mostly likely to continue the lineages of.

sometimes if it’s not a 2g lineage and the parents don’t have the coolest names, I’ll relate the name to the CB, like I have one called Penk Progeny because it’s a descendant of the alt Penk and I couldn’t think of anything cool relating to its immediate parents.

Edited February 9, 2023 by CandraCat

[Cireth]

I used to use Nordic/Icelandic that region names until I ran out of those. Now I use an Elven naming theme. Not sure what I'm going to do when I run out of Elven names.

 

My CBs were from Asgard and are now from Imladris.

 

My AP lineaged dragons were from Jotunheim and are now from Mirkwood for the males. My lineage AP females were from Vanaheim and are now from Lothlorien.

 

Dragons I breed have a first name and then are father or mother named.

 

Eg. Skadi of Asgard/Vanaheim and her daughter Sigyn Skadidottir.

 

Gilorn of Imladris/Lothlorien and her daughter Tiror Gilorniel.

 

Or Askr of Asgard/Jotunheim and his son Ragnur Askrson.

 

Imvaldr of Imladris/Mirkwood and his son Elrond Imvaldrion.

 

Legendary dragons like trios are their name and then of Asgardian or Imladrian Legend regardless of CB, Outblood or Bred status.

 

That's mostly it there are other naming patterns I've forgotten about I'm sure.

[evilwizard]

I just use some fantasy name generator. If I'm feeling up to it, then I'll make a name based on the code. Others I just leave unnamed.

 

(Though some are unnamed on purpose. Mostly because they have a funny code or I just haven't gotten to naming them.)

[toastedpencils]

I do the Warrior Cats style. I just have a list of words in a Google Doc and I shove them together 'till I get something cool. The unique name thing bothered me at first, but now I just...put two dashes "--" in-between the words - plus, it makes it so I don't accidentally name a bunch of them the same thing haha

[sorenna]

On 3/3/2023 at 12:48 PM, toastedpencils said:

 plus, it makes it so I don't accidentally name a bunch of them the same thing haha

 

Hahaha, I understand!  I've come up with a cool name, found that it was already taken, come up with something else, and then go, 'I wonder who owns the first version?' only to discover it was me.    Apparently some names are just so cool that I come up with them multiple times, and also so cool that I just assume there's no way I came up with it first!

[seventeendeer]

I give my dragons a firstname that either is a word or two, or is based on a word (like Tulip, Shadeglider or Aquara) + a surname that combines two words (like Volcanohide). The words are based on the dragon's looks, code, history or ancestry. When two of my dragons have babies, I give the baby a unique firstname and a surname that is whichever combination of the parents' surnames sound the coolest (so Brine Scaldingpuddle and Searedpaw Forsakenstep's offspring is named Loste Forsakenpuddle, for example).

 

It's extremely convoluted, but it helps me easily make up unique names. Sometimes they turn out really cool, like one of my favs, "Transcendental Loveletter!" Sometimes ... no less than three of a dragon's grandparents have the word 'heart' in the surname and I feel morally obligated to name the poor kid 'Heart Heartheart' ...

[ShadowMistaken]

I usually just use the dragon's code then add my scroll surname (bladetail) haha

but if the code's too messy then I just name them whatever's on my mind

[Lexian]

Like a lot of others here, most of the time I tend to try and make a name out of the dragon's code, e.g. '8blte' one of my Black Tea Dragons I literally called it Bobble Tee (So taking the '8bl' part, I would make the '8' another B, and then extend the 'te' to make 'tee' - random, yet in my mind, it's quirky and fits nicely in theme

Other times, I get hit with a sense of randomness and just type anything that pops into my head lol 😅

[Jack_Lernaean]

Depending on the code. If it is unique then I will name it as close as to the code. 

But most of the time I just use breed name + number code yeah I know it sounds boring but they are my army of dragons lol so I need to know their breed name (squadron's name) and how many of them I already got since I don't plan to hoard everything. 

Ah but there is also 'guest code' and 'special surname' so when I do breed (rarely) I can tell who I need to pair with.