Simsworthy Names in Real Life

Amapola76 · August 2022

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.

LaBlue0314 · August 2022

I know I have done this in the past when I can't think of a fresh name, I use to open up the phone book and looks for interesting-sounding names. I don't do that anymore, simply because I no longer have any phonebooks.

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.

maggiemae8135 · August 2022

My daughter bought a book "The Best Baby Name Book" and it has over 13,000 names. When I first started playing and making sims with Sims 2, she gave me the book to make finding names easier. I use it often, though I also will search for specific names online if playing someone from a different country, an occult, a pirate, etc.

BettyNewbie1 · August 2022

LaBlue0314 wrote: »

I use to open up the phone book and looks for interesting-sounding names. I don't do that anymore, simply because I no longer have any phonebooks.

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.

Simmingal · August 2022

idk i tend to gravitate towards long common names and names with some type of suitable meaning

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

MDianaSims · August 2022

Real life names, not so much. Although I might subconsciously do it, I run into so many names during work.
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.

SnaveXs · August 2022

Yeah, I have heard names in real life that made me think of naming sims. Most recently I renamed a child sim Apollonia after hearing it. Now Apollonia lives in Henford-on-bagley. I felt it would be the prefect name for that world.

Firewestgamer · August 2022

Sometimes

007Ecko · August 2022

I get a lot of my sims names from movies or tv shows I'm watching. A few of my sims have names from Japanese anime, Like Light and Killua. I also choose names from Greek mythology. Or google names like: female vampire names.

Atreya33 · August 2022

I usually give my sims names that would generally be considered unusual or special in real life. My real life children have common regular names because I don't want them to constantly have to spell their names or explain them. The extraordinary names are reserved for my sims. my sims have names based on stars and constellation, book characters, mythology,... You name it.

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.

DaniRose2143 · August 2022

It depends on the sim I plan to create when I head into CAS or the backstory I write in my head as I'm creating that sim. Sometimes I google common or popular names from specific countries if the backstory in my head says they came from say, Italy, or Japan, or wherever. Otherwise I just keep clicking the randomizer for both names until it produces a name that I feel is a good fit.

StuffyMarx · August 2022

I'm certainly guilty of having used people's names as Sim names - never the whole thing though, just the first name or an interesting surname. Recently I wanted a few more silly names, so the last few Sims I've named have been "Instant Karma", Razor Blade" and "Sourdough Loaf".

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:

Lucy_Henley · August 2022

I’ve got one save with a Greek mythology theme going on. Well, there are a couple of Sims in that save who don’t have names that are directly taken from the myths, but their names are taken from Ancient Greek words so they fit with the overall theme anyway. There are more names I could use for the next generation, too.
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.

SheriSim57 · August 2022

Sometimes I take from certain people, but more their characteristics rather than their name. Sometimes I want to make certain sims with a particular ancestry, and I will look up names on the internet for that. Once I did use a last name of a doctor I had because it just seemed to fit.

MoonlightGraham · August 2022

Short answer: Yes.

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.

Alexai · August 2022

I don't use names of people I know, but I do use an app called Random name generator.

SERVERFRA · August 2022

Yup. I'm an historical fan of some real people of the past. I've named my sims with a real life names. Sometimes I get creative with their last name sometimes not. They are:
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.

cyncie · August 2022

If it’s a main character, I usually have a name picked out. If the character is somehow unique or I need a culturally appropriate name, I’ll use a name generator. Random sims get game generated names. I’ve rarely met a real person who inspires a sim name, but will sometimes do Sim like puns on real names. The Wilson brothers of The Beach Boys became The Wilsims. I named a politician Ron Bragg, because that’s all he did. A Jimmy Buffett look alike became Jimmy Buffet because that’s a common misspelling. I gave him the glutton trait.

duhboy2u2 · August 2022

I work with a guy named Blade Slade

I thought maybe he changed it to that but no, apparently that's his birth name!

RustyBucket4745 · August 2022

When I was at uni, I came across a guy my age called Roger Pickles. This was in 2019.

Simmerville · August 2022

Sometimes I use the name of the fake sender of spam email as name for a sim

For a period I got tons of such trash mail and had to come up with a way to benefit from them...

RySBI · August 2022

I tend to subconsciously store names I like the sound of, though sometimes I struggle with the surnames.

If I’m creating a sim with a specific ethnic background, I’ll just Google some appropriate names.

Plutohasaheart · August 2022

I come across so many different names in my day to day life, including work and whatnot, and I also like sifting through name generators and name lists online too when I'm trying to get an idea for a sim, as well as using names from media that I happen to like. Anytime I hear one I can make a good pun out of I try to remember it so I can use it in my game later. Been wanting to make a werewolf named Fluff Nadeau for a little while now, just haven't gotten around to it.

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Simsworthy Names in Real Life

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