I'm curious whether anyone else ever runs across names of real people in your daily lives that are so charming or interesting or unique that you immediately make a note that you want to create a sim with that name? (Not a sim-self of that person, just a sim that reuses the name.)
For fairly obvious privacy reasons, I can't give any real examples of my own, but I will say that there's often a very similar structure to the names that catch my attention: Old-Fashioned/Vintage First Name + Personality Trait or Highly Colorful or Evocative Last Name.
I just love how many really interesting name combinations that are out there in real life if you pay attention.
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On a side note, though I have had sims show up in the game with names of people I know, myself included. Those would always make me take a step back or a double take.
I have old phonebooks I still do this with. Edit: I have a habit of giving my sims last names for their first, or something like Zucchini. Right now my sim's son is named Monk after Adrian Monk.
although I never give my sims finnish names despite being finnish because that just immediately feels off
and long names... mostly cause i have short myself and dislike it
and I also feel kinda iffy about names with religious meaning where i can spot it too easily because well I should be the sim god how would my sims know about other religions to have??? huh???? traitors. whole bunch.
I don't often run into names i like for my sims without googlin' but when i do its probably some tv show or something
also sometimes i do like translation of finnish name i like meaning of or if it sounds like there could be english version look for that and use that instead
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I often use fiction as a reference. Specifically for Sims Medieval, I've had a Harry Potter themed kingdom, a Ranger's Apprentice themed kingdom, plans for a Riyria themed kingdom, etc.
For sims 4, I either browse behindthename, or use the randomizer.
I do occasionally write down names I want to use, regardless of where I heard them. But I have separate lists for first names and surnames so my sims end up having a different combination.
When I don't have inspiration, I use name generators online, especially fantasy name generators. Or I end up on sites for baby names and select the more special ones from there.
I also have a massive spreadsheet with about 44k firstname / lastname combinations that I've used too. It's basically a list of first names and last names, and the spreadsheet just randomly picks one of each and uses the concatenate function to smoosh them together. It was based an an older name generator for fantasy characters. Example output below:
I tend to like using name themes. The only issue is that whenever I pick a theme, I end up liking the girls’ names more than the boys’ ones.
Aside from Greek mythology, I mostly use different nationalities (eg Irish, German, Japanese and so on). Sometimes I don’t have a particular theme.
Longer answer, because it's much more fun: Creating Sims and naming them might be the part of the game my daughter and I enjoy most.
We saw a name on a list of donors to a theater renovation, and we looked at each other. "She's about to become a Sim," Z declared, and I nodded.
As the credits rolled by, I spotted the name of someone who worked on a movie. I recited the name. "That's a good one," I observed. Z nodded. We've also added a few fictional characters to our saves, but not too many.
We're constantly using a variety of fantasy name generators to help us name our Sim creations. We'll choose an ethnicity, and off we'll go.
I've played other games that need to generate lots of character names. Football Manager populates the world with the names of "newgen" teenagers who join football (soccer) clubs all over the world as the years roll by. Some of these fictional footballers have lent their names to Sims. Z is putting the finishing touches on James James, who first appeared on my laptop screen as a goalkeeper for Plymouth Argyle.
Perhaps the nerdiest Sim-naming trend we've adopted is giving a few Sims the names of people who were caught in the Johnstown Flood, which wrecked a Pennsylvania city in 1889. One of the heroes of that story earned a place in our Gallery. Two or three others, who lost their lives in the Flood, live their best lives in our Simworld.
Exie hay, cavero, mabza meeah vendarzo.
Yevsas mairzeemo!
Adam & Eve Genesis
Cleopatra Egypt, Julius Caesar & Mark Anthony
Esther Babylonpersia
Pocahontas & John Wolfe
Laura Prairie based on Laura Wilder from her biography books Little House on the Prairie
Shirley Temple
That's all I can think of. I have 6 different timeline game saves with many different households based on both historical & fictional stories. I try to remember them all but I have so many. I'm never ever bored with my Sims 4 since I decided back in 2020 to add on a different timeline game save. My saves are Prehistoric, Ancient Times to Dark Ages, Medieval to Renissance, Georgian to RagTime, Roaring 20s to Awesome 80s & Futuristic 2525 Beyond.
I only play vanilla & my packs/kits.
Tales From The Myst
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If I’m creating a sim with a specific ethnic background, I’ll just Google some appropriate names.