Short People Got No Reason
When I create a character, I really get into the back story. Like, a lot. To the point where --if I don't write it all out-- I get antsy and start memorizing my imagined set-up for it word for word until I could nearly recite it to my grandkids (only 'nearly' since I don't have grandkids).
Anyway, I made the following up about the first character I ever created for a D&D game, back in Fall 2000. I made up the nomenclature rule too, specifically because nobody else had, even though the book specifically (yet vaguely) said that the race is known for their long names. ...and yeah, in the following chunk, I write "nomination" instead of "nomenclature" ...I guess college-freshman Kit was just an ignorant vocabutard.
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Nomination -- Or "Please Don't Get Me Anything Monogrammed"
Gnomes have seven names until they reach manhood at age 40. In a ceremony on their 40th birthday, gnomes are given the rest of their names to that point, one for every year they've been alive. Each name has significance in terms of his personality, not in terms of the years that correspond to the names' order. Every year after that ceremony, the gnome adds one name to his full name, placing it directly before his family name (i.e. the equivalent of a human's "surname," specifically the name that comes last in the string). Few people are careful enough when meeting a gnome; asking one what his name is can turn into an extensive ordeal that can range anywhere from five minutes to five hours.
Dio's Full Name, up to this point:
Diogenes Brock Seward Solon Pith Desrever Madranagem Lukoschar Kestrel Jurant Ib'nostrinoff Hippodamist Goldberg Fledge Epicaricist Dizen'not Coppice Be'al Animoetfi'de Quagmire Quintuple Jeopardy Danger Peril Risk Frigadoon Tendril Verbose Aplomb Pretentet Strident Logophile Ochlophile Bibliophile Limerick Oyster Undrab Onomatophobe Ahoom S. Roflmao Fourgon
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A few picky points:
*Up until age 40, his name was just Diogenes Brock Seward Solon Pith Desrever Fourgon. When he got new names, therefore, the first one added was Madranagem. The names added starting with that one and continuing on to Animoetfi'de start with consecutive letters of the alphabet in backwards sequence.
*Every name specifically means something about the character I created. The more oblique ones are often just overly witty. For example, Desrever is the word 'reversed' having been reversed, and Madranagem is the word 'anagrammed' having been anagrammed. 'Limerick Oyster' is an inside joke from theater warm-ups in DramaTech, where it was a bit of a vocal/memory warm-up to say the chant that began with 'One hen; two ducks; three squawking geese; four Limerick oysters; five corpulent porpoises...' et cetera.
*The three words with apostrophes that are not compressed versions of 'animo et fide' are --granted-- made-up words. However, I chose them for their sounds and gave them meaning in gnomic. Luckily for my current non-geek rating, I have long since forgotten what the translations for them are. ...Unfortunately, I still remember the fact that they are gnomicisms, and thus I lose any points I might have gained back. ...also 'Frigadoon' is a portmanteau of 'Frig' (aka a polite way to say 'fuck') and 'Brigadoon' ...it's what I decided would be the gnomic word for 'danger,' thus the 'Quintuple Danger' thing. For several years, Danger (or a suitable synonym) would literally be his middle name.
*The S. stands for the same thing that Harry S. Truman's 'S' stood for.
*His family name, his surname, is Fourgon ... but you must have known that that was a Fourgon conclusion. And yes, I'd planned that pun from the beginning.
*As for Onomatophobe...he was one. "The word means 'someone with the irrational fear of a certain word or phrase.' I didn't make it an official character flaw, since the trigger was so specific, but it's true: I decided that this gnome --famous for humor, wordplay and a dedication to comedic performance-- was deathly afraid of the phrase "Why did the chicken cross the road?"
As I mentioned, I really get into characters.
...PS: When I played Dio, I actually had the entire name memorized for a while there, scaring any character who actually asked me my name in-game. Just ... you know ... in case you still had any respect for me remaining up 'til this point.
PPS: His monogram, just for kicks (and LL Bean aficionados), would be:
DFBSSPDMLKJIHGFEDCBAQQJDPRFTVAPSLOBLOUOASR
.
Anyway, I made the following up about the first character I ever created for a D&D game, back in Fall 2000. I made up the nomenclature rule too, specifically because nobody else had, even though the book specifically (yet vaguely) said that the race is known for their long names. ...and yeah, in the following chunk, I write "nomination" instead of "nomenclature" ...I guess college-freshman Kit was just an ignorant vocabutard.
--------------------
Nomination -- Or "Please Don't Get Me Anything Monogrammed"
Gnomes have seven names until they reach manhood at age 40. In a ceremony on their 40th birthday, gnomes are given the rest of their names to that point, one for every year they've been alive. Each name has significance in terms of his personality, not in terms of the years that correspond to the names' order. Every year after that ceremony, the gnome adds one name to his full name, placing it directly before his family name (i.e. the equivalent of a human's "surname," specifically the name that comes last in the string). Few people are careful enough when meeting a gnome; asking one what his name is can turn into an extensive ordeal that can range anywhere from five minutes to five hours.
Dio's Full Name, up to this point:
Diogenes Brock Seward Solon Pith Desrever Madranagem Lukoschar Kestrel Jurant Ib'nostrinoff Hippodamist Goldberg Fledge Epicaricist Dizen'not Coppice Be'al Animoetfi'de Quagmire Quintuple Jeopardy Danger Peril Risk Frigadoon Tendril Verbose Aplomb Pretentet Strident Logophile Ochlophile Bibliophile Limerick Oyster Undrab Onomatophobe Ahoom S. Roflmao Fourgon
--------------------
A few picky points:
*Up until age 40, his name was just Diogenes Brock Seward Solon Pith Desrever Fourgon. When he got new names, therefore, the first one added was Madranagem. The names added starting with that one and continuing on to Animoetfi'de start with consecutive letters of the alphabet in backwards sequence.
*Every name specifically means something about the character I created. The more oblique ones are often just overly witty. For example, Desrever is the word 'reversed' having been reversed, and Madranagem is the word 'anagrammed' having been anagrammed. 'Limerick Oyster' is an inside joke from theater warm-ups in DramaTech, where it was a bit of a vocal/memory warm-up to say the chant that began with 'One hen; two ducks; three squawking geese; four Limerick oysters; five corpulent porpoises...' et cetera.
*The three words with apostrophes that are not compressed versions of 'animo et fide' are --granted-- made-up words. However, I chose them for their sounds and gave them meaning in gnomic. Luckily for my current non-geek rating, I have long since forgotten what the translations for them are. ...Unfortunately, I still remember the fact that they are gnomicisms, and thus I lose any points I might have gained back. ...also 'Frigadoon' is a portmanteau of 'Frig' (aka a polite way to say 'fuck') and 'Brigadoon' ...it's what I decided would be the gnomic word for 'danger,' thus the 'Quintuple Danger' thing. For several years, Danger (or a suitable synonym) would literally be his middle name.
*The S. stands for the same thing that Harry S. Truman's 'S' stood for.
*His family name, his surname, is Fourgon ... but you must have known that that was a Fourgon conclusion. And yes, I'd planned that pun from the beginning.
*As for Onomatophobe...he was one. "The word means 'someone with the irrational fear of a certain word or phrase.' I didn't make it an official character flaw, since the trigger was so specific, but it's true: I decided that this gnome --famous for humor, wordplay and a dedication to comedic performance-- was deathly afraid of the phrase "Why did the chicken cross the road?"
As I mentioned, I really get into characters.
...PS: When I played Dio, I actually had the entire name memorized for a while there, scaring any character who actually asked me my name in-game. Just ... you know ... in case you still had any respect for me remaining up 'til this point.
PPS: His monogram, just for kicks (and LL Bean aficionados), would be:
DFBSSPDMLKJIHGFEDCBAQQJDPRFTVAPSLOBLOUOASR
.