Random name generation

[davidn]

Right, so apparently my clever random name generation routine doesn't produce quite as convincing results as I had first imagined. Perhaps I'll just say that we're recording information for obscure Aztec deities.

Comments

[ethelfleda.livejournal.com]

Especially Cexepubaqogy. I think that's the god of complicated weaving.

[scani.livejournal.com]

Well, "Xela" has some precedent... (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwhGerjNSoo)

[lupineangel.livejournal.com]

All hail Cexepubaqogy, god of copy/pasting his own name instead of typing it each time! :D

A curiously specific deific portfolio, that one. :P

D.F.

[dr-dos.livejournal.com]

You know I've heard about alternating between consonants and vowels to generate names before.

Except I think it was supposed to be names for Dungeons and Dragons.

[tamakun.livejournal.com]

It seems to favour the letters that many people don't seem to fit most human names. Why are there so many Q's and X'es?

This reminds me of Nuit Blanche a few years back, City Hall had this 4-Letter system (http://vimeo.com/6915111) that would generate "words" like XEWE, CILA and PAYE, occasionally actually spelling out a real 4-letter word. After a few minutes, I discovered it used the consonant-vowel-consonant-vowel method you're using here.

[kjorteo]

Now all you have to do is open a rift and send this generator algorithm back in time, so that it can explain how younger me came up with all my character names.

[davidn]

I had thought that that was the best template to get something pronounceable - it appears that that isn't necessarily a guarantee of it sounding remotely human :)

I'm not sure why there seem to be so many of the rare letters either, but it's possible that we just notice them much more when they're weighted evenly, rather than in a tiny fraction of words compared to 'T's, 'N's and 'S's.

I haven't even used them once in this reply, and under the rules I used here, they have as much chance of appearing as any other consonant.

[davidn]

My greatest shame was an island called Aisfid. That's not only just hitting random keys - it's hitting the home keys.

[kjorteo]

My crowning achievement in that regard is probably the thankfully-cancelled Warlord's Wrath game series, in which a villain named Ghelthyesk antagonizes a hero named James.

There was also that Kjorteo Kalante fellow I ended up writing out of a different story and not using after all, because what kind of unworkable name is that.