Does anyone else find it really difficult to choose a name for their site? I'm always torn between something simple, like the name of the school/city/whatever, something that will give you a pretty good idea of teh genre just by looking at the name, something foreign (but at the same time completely pointless because nobody knows what it means) because it sounds fancy or a title that nobody is going to really get, but actually has significance.

How do you guys prefer to go about choosing a name? I always want it to be something catchy, but I just don't know what for my WIP site. All my ideas just seem so blahh as of lately and I was curious if anyone else ran into this problem.

I tend to lean towards .....over dramatic....ask anyone who's rp'd with me....lol.

So When I create a site, if I can think of epic or dramatic, I roll with it...but it also depends on the type of site, and how I think I want to run it.

Names for a site are important, as they should set some of the theme and tone.

As far as coming up with a good name? Like topics and general posting...writers block is hell....

I name sites similarly to Renegadenm, i usually lean towards the overly dramatic, though one this i make sure of is that whatever name i choose is easily abbreviated. I find that makes a site easier to talk about during plotting chats and other crazy random situations in which you have to type fast. XD

Acronyms are good ways to abreviate sites, actually i think o've only ever played at one site at which i never abreviated the name. So yeah, my point is if you choose something long or wordy make sure it's easily abbreviated.

I named my first sites based on the genre. AML (A Magical Life) is exactly what the name suggests. It will, at some point, be renamed to 'AML: The Chonicles of Sekhmet', Sekhmet being the town it takes place in.

Generally, if the name of the site has something to do with the genre, it's easier for potential members to decide if they want to join. Example, if I saw something that was Charmed related, I'd be more inclined to join whereas I wouldn't join something that had to do with say a soap opera. The title of the site, or even a sub-title in the site's logo, tells me what it's about. The sub-title is a good place to put it because then the link isn't huge. My Sivlerwolf Lodge forum for example. It's simpley called Silverwolf Lodge. But in the logo, the sub-forum is A Wiocca and Pagan Community. So at least in the banner, people know what it is right away.

The admins on my board had a similar discussion when naming our board. Several names were debated. "Monroe University." "Ivy Leaguers." "Graves and Roses." We obviously went with the latter which is the name of the secret society on the board. Some people were worried it would sound like a vampire/werewolf board, but we also didn't want to be too generic with the first title. I'm pleased with the choice... it's more astetically pleasing.

*big cheesy grin*

I named my board after me.

:pink:

Honestly, I'm horrible at naming things, so not only is my name "December" but so is the board and one of the characters. I usually choose board names that correlate closely to the topic at hand, though sometimes I'll just pull something random out of my hiney. In this case I guess I did neither.

I actually didn't choose the name of "my" site. I wasn't one of the founding members. I just took over when they all left the place for dead (one's actually returned). It's nothing intensely fancy, but I like it (Meliora, obviously). It's unusual (memorable as a result), hints at the genre of the board (fantasy), and it's the name of the place in which the game takes place. I think it's a keeper.

If I was going to name my own site, I'd try to go with something that fits the attributes that I used to describe Meliora. I think it's rather important to use a title that is related to the roleplay but isn't unoriginal and boring. With all of the roleplaying sites out there, it's important to stand out in a crowd as much as possible, and names are generally the first things that people see.

Of the three sites I've named, the first two names pretty much just suggested themselves. One was a Robin Hood game -- "Outlaws of Sherwood." The second was a Stargate SG1 game I was thinking of having take place in the 'gaps' between the episodes and was called "Between the Chevrons." RL came along and whupped me both times, so neither ever got off the ground.

The name of my current game (now that I've got the reality thing sorted) actually got its name from the theme and has kindof a weird story behind it. It started out in my head as a Stargate game, and SMF had a theme called Movies that you could flip back and forth between Stargate and Heroes. I wanted a name that could work with either version, and the Heroes one had this big solar eclipse up in the header. Having recently reread some of my old E.E. Smith books, 'eclipsing binaries' popped into my head, so the site got named Eclipsing Binary. By the time I realized that Stargate, much as I love the show, just wasn't fueling my creative fires like X-Men did, there were just too many file paths set to change without a major headache. So, I locked out the SG1 version of the theme and X-Men: Eclipsing Binary it became.

From what I've seen, most titles are from song lyrics.
For example, if you liked My Chemical Romance, you might name your site black{PARADE, or something like that.

It kinda bugs me a little sometimes when folks name RP's after songs. Mostly because of the danger of repetition.

I've seen three RP's called Nine In The Afternoon and two called Hello Helicopter

There are others that I've seen repeated, but I forget which. Yeah, I just wouldn't like my RP sharing a name with another one.

Anyway, as for my naming? I want it to fit the mood of the board. If it's a fandom board, then a name that has some connection to the source material is a plus. Preferably something quite simple.

My place is Gotham Knightfall. Gotham and Knight make it indicative of Batman and The Dark Knight. Knightfall? A little dark and serious. Slight play on words taken from the title of a Batman story arc (which I don't actually like, but that's beside the point) that hopefully doesn't make people go 'shouldn't it be nightfall?'

As a MCR fan, I have to say that I would never name my site that unless it correlated to the plot in some way. Personally, I think relying on song lyrics is lazy and, well, annoying. No offense to you song lyric fans out there, but I can't stand to see RPs that slaughter songs. Like have a song lyric that doesn't correspond to the topic at all.

If by some amazing chance you turn out to be the first RP of your kind, make the title very, very simple. "X RP Forum." X being what the RP forum's subject matter is.

Works wonders for when people are wanting to find an RP forum of that kind. Especially on Google. ;)

I named my site after a song, but it's a song whose lyrics fit it perfectly. My site is based on Maximum Ride, which for those of you who don't know, is a James Patterson book series in which the main characters are avian/human hybrids, aka children with wings. I titled the forum Perfect Insanity and used other lines from the songs as the Category Titles. It really fits the series and RP very well.

It's really difficult for me to pick a name for my site...it usually takes a few weeks of roleplaying after the fact to find one that would really work. Like AG really should be called the Fourth Unforgivable, but I couldn't think of anything interesting when I first created the site. Now the name bothers me because 'Graduation' isn't a British word, but I couldn't very well call it 'After Leaving School,' and I can't really change it now that the site's established. Bah. Oh well. Experience is the best teacher.

The perfect title for me would be one that elegantly sums up the entirety of the RP in three words or less. Bonus points if it has a funny or catchy abbreviation. One site I was working on for a while had the initials H.A.H.. It made me laugh every time I saw it. And Orchid Wine was OW, which was also amusing. Just make sure when you're creating your site that it doesn't shorten to something embarrassing, like FU.

EDIT: Haha! I just realized that if I actually used the Fourth Unforgivable as the title, the abbreviation would be FU. Lawl. The perfect name eludes me yet.

I agree with December (who is not terrible at naming things because Camp December is cool) and the Dabnor about the naming things after lyrics too. I have a lot of reasons behind this. First, imagine if someone really didn't like that genre or song, it's really inconvenient for them to be swarmed with lyrics by it if they do like the site enough to join. Also, I want to create a site that's in it for the long haul. What if a year goes by and I find the song boring and old? Not good. Of course, there's also the previously stated reasons that it's uncreative and repetitive.

I think I might let song lyrics pass if it's a classic Beatles song, or something like that... but that's about it.

Also, I don't mind it for category sections as long as it actually makes sense. Nothing bothers me more than it being, like, the plotting category and it's something like 'c e m e t e r i e s in LONDON!' usually spelled all supposedly nifty too. (I don't think that's actually been used, I'm just listening to that song)

After reading what you guys said, I think if I make the site I'm contemplating over, I'll probably use a title relating to different parts of the theme/setting, but at the same time sounds somewhat intriguing (I guess it doesn't really make sense when I describe it vaguely, but yeah, you guys might see soon enough :D).

[edit]

hehehe... I used to have a site with the acronym BABS. It just made me laugh every time I typed it out :D But yeah, what AshBeanNun said basically sums up what I was trying to descibe.

Something I also want to mention is that if your members have to resort to a thesaurus to understand the meaning of the name, it fails.

^ that's why in the future I plan on avoiding foreign languages.
(excuse the french, literally, in my siggy on that note. hehee)

I would never:

-name a board after a song (originality, anyone?)
-name a board something that has NOTHING TO DO with what the board's about


Thiasa, you may point out, is fairly vague; but at least it lets people know the name of the realm. And, let's face it, a madeup name that sounds like the name of a country? It indicates 'fantasy.' But some boards simply have names that are too grossly misleading for me.

I'd never name my board the title of a song either... Or flatly after the genre. Gossip Girl: RPG *rolls eyes*

There's also a board that's using a line from One Tree Hill as the opening of their advertisement. *palms face*

Write your own material even if it's based in a fictional world.

I've seen entirely too many HP and Twilight sites that have names that have NOTHING to do with the plot, and no indictation of the genre on the mainpage either. It's so frustrating.

I think that HP would be a little harder to name because there are so many of them out there. I mean, you can only have so many "Hogwarts RPGs" and that sort of stuff, right? So those I would expect a little bit more of an imagination even if doesn't appear to be related at first.

But song titles? No thanks.