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The inspiration for this thread came this Monday just gone. I was at my weekly club and during a moment of weakness i bought myself a Bloat Thrall. I got himj out of his box to assemble and.......
FETH i saw he was metal. looking at his shape and weight an unbidden thought came from the back of my mind...... Lord Chunky. And so my new Bloat Thrall was named.
Shortly after this a thought occured to me. Do other gamers name their models? and if so then how and why?

So i decided to do the wise thing and ask dakka

So How do you name your models? And why?

As for me:

My first Skaven Warlord-Warlord Skrittclaw

The name just came to me and seeing as it sounded appropiate and i couldnt think of anything better i used it.

My Bloat Thrall-Lord Chunky
See the top

Meatbag 1 through xx for my guard.
My marines are all numbers (well they are all clones. You're never alone when you're a clone).

It's hard enough coming up with a name for an RPG character.
Although my last cleric was called Jean-Eric (That's Zhon-Eric, not "Jeen-eric", btw).

I had a model named after me, (it had a bored empty look on it's face, rather like me half way through another game which turned into nitpicking rules. )
I also had most of my army named for me, my commissar was called stumpy. but I don't name my own.

I have a few that come off the top of my head because of how I theme my armies.

Like the Wyche part of my army is from the "Cult of the Blackstar" so, their leader (who I've yet to convert) is to be called "Kleigh-tohn" or something that looks better but sounds the same.

I have an ork boy called 'Headless Eric'

His head fell off and disappeared into depths unknown, and he's become a bit of a running joke now so I can't bring myself to replace it...

I'm making a fleet for Firestorm Armada, EVERY ship shall be named from the Frigates like the "Indestructible Mk II" to larger ships with more original names like the "Drandonfer"

These are really good. Keep em coming Dakka!

I tend to name mine from feats of badassidry. The Grot wif da golden gun, Boy who gets fings done, GrotNob.....whos a grot....and a nob...... See? Clever I be!

Copied and pasted from an older thread on the topic:

I've named all my characters, and created fluff for all my armies.

The only difficulty is Chaos, since I named them ages ago, before I started keeping records, and I can't remember any of those names.

Tau:
Sept: Daw'Nenvaa
Shas'O - Commander Shas'O Daw'Nenvaa Savon Or'es Kais (Commander Dawnhammer)
Shas'El - Shas'el Daw'Nenvaa Va Ko Kunas (General Swiftstrike)
Crisis Alpha Team Leader - Shas'ui Daw'Nenvaa Kais Ka (Captain Greatstrike)
Crisis Beta Team Leader - Shas'ui Daw'Nenvaa Elan ko (Captain Strongblow)

And a few others. These are old, though, dating back over 3 years, and may be in for revision at some point.

Eldar:
Autarch Belissi - High Commander of Craftworld Dras'Scur
Autarch Anuvrael
Farseer Tariya - Chief Seeress of Dras'Scur
Farseer Erix
Farseer Thaniel
Revenant Titans - 'Executioners Borne by the Shadows'
Phantom Titan - 'Eldritch Stalker'
Scorpion Grav Tanks - 'Starfury' & 'Shadowsting'
Cobra Grav Tank - 'Harbinger of the Æther'
Lynx Grav Tanks - 'Lancet of Flame', 'Wrath of Heaven' & 'Swathed in Shadow'
Warp Hunter Grav Tank - 'Condemnation of Reality'
Fire Prism Grav Tanks - 'Death's Refractor' & 'Doom's Conflagrator'
Falcon Grav Tank - 'Vessel of the Night'
Hornets - 'Gloom Hunter' & 'Retribution from the Dark'
Avenger Wave Serpents - 'Harbinger of Might', 'Harbinger of Vengeance' & 'Harbinger of Sorrow'
Fire Dragon Wave Serpents - 'Born of the Inferno' & 'Nightflame'

Necrons:
Ptaeri the Restorer - Phaeron of the Ptaktoum Dynasty
The Court Reborn - Royal Court:
Ammuntah the Hidden One
Rahmes of the Twin-Suns
Tekhu the Qualifier
Ohraetu of the Court Reborn
Phoresis of the Court Reborn
Ahkan the Deliverer - Overlord of Dusk
Mehsarket - Catacomb Command Barge
The Court of Deliverance:
Rahmis of the Twin-Suns
Zekhem the Empowered
Jehut the Shaper
Tahtun, the Emissary of Dusk
Kepoch, Lord of the Abyss
Takhem-Ra the Decimator; Vargard of Ahkan
The Court of the Decimator:
Hemut, Reaver of Dusk
Azahkath the Vengeful
Raddamat the Formless One
Pehktu the Prowler - Triarch Stalker
Ptaerii – Guardians of the Restorer
Ptaerio I – Immortals of the Restorer
Ptaerio II – Immortals of the Restorer
Ptaero I – Warriors of the Restorer
Ptaero II – Warriors of the Restorer
Khepo – The Swarm - Canoptek Scarabs
Khepi – The Horde - Canoptek Scarabs
Aepephi – Vessel of the Deliverer - Annihilation Barge
Aepepho – Vessel of the Deliverer - Annihilation Barge
Khepomin – Father of the Swarm - Canoptek Spyder
Khepimin – Father of the Horde – Canoptek Spider

And a few others i've named but can't remember.

They're my army's names as they stand, with a few missing thanks to a crappy memory and having not recorded them on my PC yet.

Yeah, I name lot's of stuff; armies, units, vehicles, models. Most of them are somewhat serious.

However, some of the units and models have more colorful names such as:

Basilisk- The Rumpshaker
Tau Fire Warriors- Lame Tea Party
Tyranid Player- Rain Delay
IG Colonel- Smoldering Shoes
Ork with upraised arms and open mouth- Screaming Guy, the first one to die

Special Models in my Armies get named.

HQs Squad Leaders, Kitbashes I like.

My Tau Commander is named Shas'el K'ale Kais Mont'yr Iur'Tae'Mont (or El'Iur'Tae'Mont)

My Ethereal Kitbash Objective Marker is Aun'O K'ale Ko'vash (Or O'Ko'vash)

One of My Fire Warriors that always seems to be the last to die is Shas'la K'ale Kias (or La'Kias)

I name all the officers and special characters in a given army. Naming them is just kinda as it comes to me, but in some cases I go out of my way to specifically name something. Usually as a historical reference of some kind, like I have a female paladin by the name of Jeanne Romee which is a direct reference to Joan of Arc. (Her mother's maiden name was Romee)

I have a Beaky Initiate with a Heresy shoulder and lots of honors I call Old Skool.

I have a Neophyte with bleach blonde hair I call Feminem.

My Neophyte with the visor I painted as a black guy and named him Geordi LaForge.

My marine army is a joke theme. Smervs. I have Papa Smerv, Grandpa Smerv, and Smervette. My only Inquisitor scale model is named after me and the name I used when the Sabertooth Games CCG did an online campaign thing.

We name some of our models by what they look like or how they end up performing. My battlebuddy has a ton of RT-era marines and refers to the sgt with power glove as Lumpy. My chaos lord, who has yet to really do anything useful, is simply called Stupid.

I named my first model I ever built, and that was it. His name was Sam. He was. 5th edition Empire swordsman, with the legs that were close together, an Elven shield, a breastplate, floppy hat over head plate with his sword raised high. Eventually, he was upgraded to be mounted, got a leg swap and a lance, but his head and torso remained from the original. When I sold my empire army years back, I kept two models: him, and my 7th edition Marius Leitdorf.

My Librarian is called Bob
My Chaplain is called Jim
My WHFB m@a missing an arm (replaced by a ravaged stump of sprue) is called stumpy
Oh, and my AOB sarge, with the chainsword replaced by a power fist (the one that points so both of is hands were pointing at something), I called him Monsieur Pointy; as he kept running away

My Necromunda Cawdor gang are all named after infamous bad folk - such as the gang leader - Manson; Heavy Stubber - The Ripper - and I can't remember the rest as it's been sooo long since I played them...

I also named my Empire general when I was into WHFB - Elric Dragbo - named after my WHFRP charachter

Asides from that, I have a WHFB Minotaur that my kids christened Captain Bumcheeks - kinda cute and scary at the same time

I'll take latin words and change the spelling a little bit.

For example, I named my dreadnought "Tritus" which means worn, weathered or beaten.

 Iur_tae_mont wrote:
Special Models in my Armies get named.

One of My Fire Warriors that always seems to be the last to die is Shas'la K'ale Kias (or La'Kias)

I SAW WHAT YOU DID THERE!!!!


I am also going to name my first unit of Bile thralls Lord Chunkys 1st light foot and there squad leader is going to be Hamish after my annoying little brother
There may also be a 2nd and 3rd but we shall have to see.

Whatever sounds cool and appropriate

Generally do not bother with the grunts, keeps them faceless and feeling replaceable though I have been tempted to at times. For Daemons I gave them titles, for SoB I bothered to name squads.

The Sirenic Warhost - DoS
Iluni, the Elegant Huntress - KoS
Lukuh, Siren of Slaanesh - Masque
Nuan, Herald of Darkness - "Leader" of Daemonette squad (on second updated model)
Lethe, Herald of Excess - "Leader" of Daemonette squad
Nyarlathotep - Daemon Prince of Failure named after what it was based on (retired )

Captain Stefanus - I made my own name a bit more Latin, and there you go, one SPace Marien captain.

I named a friends Ork Warboss "Lenny" he of course has a squig thingy on his hand, which lead to this naming.

No comment

We call Kkarn the Betrayer

Karne the Bumfudger...or something to that effect.

My models occasionally pick up names. Generally the models which are non-sentient.

My Tyrgons are all named after the A-team (because I jokingly called one "Mr. T".

My Tyranid Prime is named "Onesie". Because it rolls lots of 'em.

I have a Tyranid Warrior named "Fire Magnet", in memory of the game where it was my last model, facing an entire Tau Gunline for a full turn, survived, and won me the game.

"Burnie" the lancer, who once spent an entire game on fire.

"Serenity" the guess-what-type-of-warjack.

"The Pendragon", the Flagship of my never-used Firestorm Armada Fleet (I was planning on some theme naming).

"John Baird" the Ogre Gorger.

I also gave my Saurus Temple Guards a regimental name, "The Dragonfall Guardians", in memory of the time they owned a Star Dragon.

"that dude with the horns and plasma gun"
"The one with the pink shoulder pad"
"that greenish tinted one"
"the ugly one with the spikes"

no, I can't say I ever did. I never really got into the whole role playing thing.

Basically I'm working on naming all the models in my apocalypse ork army. Drawing tiny names on the undersides of three hundred bases is something that needs endurance

My land speeder earned the name Plan B in its first game when it exploded, and took the final wound of a nearby demon prince.