Has your name been stolen?

[Saturo]

The thing is, we used to not be able to use alt-letters, and people got by. Then they added it, and the game was full with people that call themselves "Killér" and "Sozjóuturne" and "Fúckucarl".

[Ariamodasu]

I'm not saying they're ripping the name with accents to spite his death, I'm saying that for those of us still active and remember him freak out every single time until we realise it was a misread. It one of those constant depressing reminders of an old server, and when they turn out to be morons? Augh.

One time his name did appear active on my friends list for a couple of seconds before going offline again. Needless to say we freaked out and to be perfectly honest if he was still alive he totally would do it too.

Personally I don't particualrly care it's just when there's impersonations it starts to get irritating. Rather sadly there was a good friend of mine who died in 06 who was called Druid, I keep seeing people ripping his name with accents and it really is depressing :/

I see where you're coming from with that, but you have to ask yourself if they're really ripping his name off with accents, or simply decided they wanted to make a character named Druid and had to get creative with the alt-key... My realm is high pop, and many, many names are taken. I don't know even a small fraction of the names on the server. When I created the name holder for my worgen warlock, I realised that someone obviously must have the name Valencia, but I didn't set out to rip them off or imitate them. I simply had come up with a name I liked for that race/class combo and found a way to spell it that makes me happy with it and isn't already taken. *shrug*

[Anansi]

If Anasai, Anasi, Anasei, Anesai, Anisai, An[anything making it sound, look or act remotely to Anasi] were all taken, and you had a choice of Alt Coding or using a name you didn't intend at all for said specific toon, what would you do.

I would choose a different name or look for a server where the name I wanted wasn't taken. I love naming characters and choosing names, so very rarely do I have my heart set on a particular name or small selection of names (though of course I always have a first pick). There are billions of wonderful words out there from which to pull names, I see no reason to cheat someone else of their chosen name. If a person has a character with a name I wanted, good for them, they beat me to it, I'm not about to give myself the same name with a special character or add or subtract a letter. Part of it is that I consider what I would think if someone did that with one of my names.

So yeah, I'm just going to leave this topic since it just feels like you're pissed off someone wanted the same name as you and found a way around the limitations Blizzard set up. So I'm done here.

What? That is not even remotely the case. With all my characters I got exactly the names I wanted, I didn't have to opt for something else or resort to odd spellings or characters to get those names, and nobody has copied my names either (to my knowledge).
If anyone is pissed off it's obviously you since I disagree with your position, and my disagreement has absolutely no bearing on your game in the least so I'm not sure why you're in full on rant mode.

[Karathyriel]

I think (meaning: my very own opinion) that if I had to fall back to misspell a name to get it, I'd rather leave it.

Most of the times, I'm rather spoiled anyway and use eBon (everchanging book of names), a name generator I downloaded ages ago. So it's one click per new name.

But even if I logged in, created and alt, typed in my chosen name and... found out it was already taken, it never ever came to my mind to just go and use unusual charcters or misspelling to get the name.

And, I have to shamefully admit, whenever I made a name up myself with no refernce to comics, movies, TV shows or something like that... It has never been taken! Maybe I was just lucky...

[Gumballs]

I used to be the only Gumballs on the US armory, which I was quite proud about. Now there are a few others, and I don't care. It's a fairly common thing in IRL, so I don't think it was intentionally stolen from me or anything. My cousin actually made an undead rogue named Gums on my realm and I asked him to change it because im fairly well known on my server and people call me Gums and would think it's me. He had no issues changing it at all for me, which is awesome.

I do get annoyed when I see people who have intentionally taken names, and it's very obvious that they have. I have lots and lots of characters and I RP on forums quite a bit using my in game characters. I've noticed a few times where the people I RP with have created a character with my name. Its one thing if it's not intentional, but it annoys me if it is. But I guess as long as they are not on my own realm pretending to be me, I don't really have an issue with it besides getting a little annoyed.

If I want a name that has been taken, I look up on the armory. If that name on my realm is taken by someone on Horde side who is high level, I will pick a different name. If they are an Alliance character, I'll use special characters if I really want the name, same with if they aren't on the armory at all.

But I wouldn't put special characters in a name if someone on my faction on my realm has it, I just think it would be rude and I would rather save the confusion. If its an Alliance character I figure its not so much of a deal as we will not run into eachother as much and have confusion. My boyfriend has a druid named Boomkin, and I've seen so many variations with xboomkin, or ones with special characters all through them. It would get confusing sometimes!

Oh, and I happen to have a druid named DrÜid (just a little u with dots though). I just thought it would be quirky, and now Im really regretting it because its unoriginal and a pain when people want to whisper me. I might get a name change into Unokai (which is her rp name), but I'm not sure. Im sorry to hear about your friend though

[Sarayana]

I'm not saying they're ripping the name with accents to spite his death, I'm saying that for those of us still active and remember him freak out every single time until we realise it was a misread. It one of those constant depressing reminders of an old server, and when they turn out to be morons? Augh.

One time his name did appear active on my friends list for a couple of seconds before going offline again. Needless to say we freaked out and to be perfectly honest if he was still alive he totally would do it too.

I'm sorry, I misunderstood you. I can definitely see how it would throw you off, it must be terrible to be reminded like that when you're just trying to relax and have fun with the game.

[Ungoro]

I remember on my main server, I chose hunter and the name Ungoro randomly (I only found out later how fitting my class and name are together because of all the beasts in Ungoro Crater). But my friend who got me into the game got me a guild invite and the guild master was called Ungort and my friends shortened my name to Ung and the guildie shortened the guild masters name to Ung, so that was confusing!

But my mate who get that guild invite made a guild in December and when I got back from being hacked I got a guild invite and some random asked me if I was Ungort (Who I actually hadn't seen in game for around three years!) and me and Ungort become good friends so it was kind of nice as it reminded me of playing the game with him!

[Ariamodasu]

Don't worry about it Understandbly not on Hellscream? Brain doesn't really click, nor will it if it's an Alliance charra but it gets me everytime if it's a Horde; it's the one exception where accented names bug me. Defiantely agree with accenting someone on the OTHER faction. There's no impersonation so I don't see how that would be a problem if you wanted something badly enough.

Having said that DG is my one exception of name clash. That was because it seems it was a bank alt that had the name thus Armory didn't clock it prior to me transfering her. Another possible wierd twist on this though as my guild name is Sendeni Mardia (Named after a story charra of mine) and I have an Ally Hunter on Hellscream callled... Sendeni! This was so a friend I was alting with could easily find me but it still freaks people out 5 years on It gets more ironic given my Hunter is a female and Deni is uh not but he gets called an angel elf a lot yet that never occured to me till years later.

I'm sorry, I misunderstood you. I can definitely see how it would throw you off, it must be terrible to be reminded like that when you're just trying to relax and have fun with the game.

[Valashe]

I've had this character since 2 months into vanilla and have really never seen another with the exact same name but some that were similar.

On the US servers, there are 9 Valashe's (including me) that show up but most are very low level.

http://www.wowarmory.com/search.xml?sea ... chType=all

[Razzy]

I went for Razzy on Nesingwary, but it was taken. So I went with Razzled. Now, I wouldn't mind changing my name to Razzled on the forums.

Sometimes you'll find something better than you wanted when the name you wanted is taken and you choose a new one. It even gave me a little trademark by having all my characters (except for my troll :c ) to have "zz" somewhere in there.

My names will be more fitting once goblins come around. :P

[VelkynKarma]

I'm honestly with Anansi on this one. If the name isn't available, I either come up with a different variation of the actual name, or get a new name entirely.

For example, I originally was going to name my mage on Petopia Hayden. But the name had already been taken. So I double-checked with the name database and found out that Hadyn was a different version of the same name, and when I double checked, it wasn't taken. Mine! But I've had other cases where no version of the name I wanted was available, so I just found a new one.

In terms of using different names with characters, I really, REALLY dislike this. If this is actually how the name is pronounced or spelled, then it's fine, I don't mind it. But it really, really annoys me when people mutilate languages just to almost get the name they wanted originally. When you add those characters you change the spelling and the pronunciation, and people don't seem to get that.

As for my name, I've never had it stolen, but then I'm not a really huge player in WoW either. I'm usually pretty quiet and keep to myself, occasionally hang with guildies, but that's about it.

~VelkynKarma

[Sarayana]

In terms of using different names with characters, I really, REALLY dislike this. If this is actually how the name is pronounced or spelled, then it's fine, I don't mind it. But it really, really annoys me when people mutilate languages just to almost get the name they wanted originally. When you add those characters you change the spelling and the pronunciation, and people don't seem to get that.

I just can't help but laugh sometimes. I see a DK named Deathswørn and I can't help but pronouncing it properly to myself and well... it just sounds so ridiculous! I understand wanting a particular name, but if you substitute letters you've not really gotten the same name anyway. I mean, ø is pronounced like.. well. Uhm. Wikipedia attempts to explain it, but it doesn't look right to me. It's sorta like the way the e sounds in 'erm'. So, Deathswern. I doubt that's the effect he was going for, you know?

Wikipedia puts it fairly well:

Though not its native name, among English-speaking typographers the symbol may be called a "slashed o" or "o with stroke". Although these names suggest it is a ligature or a diacritical variant of the letter o, speakers of languages which use the letter ø hold that it is not. That is, emically they perceive it as a different letter entirely. In Norwegian and Danish, it is alphabetized after "z"—thus z æ ø and å.

Actually no, they don't put it that well... it isn't the same letter. It's not just something we "perceive" in Scandinavia; æ, ø, and å (or, in Sweden, ä, ö, and å) are separate letters, with their own pronunciation and use.

[Vespias]

Other realms, other factions, no problem. But on the same realm, same class? And when I first saw him he was only lvl 5 so not a big deal to reroll. I just think it's rude.

[Rawr]

The closest name I've seen to my main's (Luperca) is Lupercus, hes a shaman in my guild, which makes raiding with him very interesting, to say the least. My tank, Zulfiqar shares part of her name with my boyfriend's tank Zulamplus, a side from that I haven't seen any other ppl with names close to mine.

[Kryte]

I too have a problem with special characters in names. It's just a hassle trying to interact with these people in all ways social, due to the hoops you have to leap through to get their names down. I played on a high pop, release-day server for four+ years. Yes, it's disappointing to sometimes find the name you wanted has been taken, but there are ALWAYS good names available, and if you have your heart set on something, it's easy enough to invent a name that invokes the sound or feeling you were going for before.

Online, our identities are tied almost singularly to our names. A character's name is usually the first thing you see about somebody, and it may be the ONLY thing. For that reason alone, I think it's best to strive for a name that's a bit unique.

[Rottingham]

I was Playing Rottingham in a BG and was attacked from behind by a rogue (coward...) When I looked at his name, he also was Rottingham! froma different server, there is an undead rogue named Rottingham. Me and him duked it out to see who would win, and I did die, but he did too afterwards from my serpent sting (He had less then 50 health after I died...)

[Dizzy]

THat's happened to me several times..

or my names that i always use are taken by some level 12 fool who doesn't ever play, ever.
(and is always like the worst looking character >:c )

I hate it.

i was mistaken for someone a while back.
my character's name was deerly

well there was a well known guy named DERLY i guess, and people kept mistaking me for him, which was dumb

then i got called a name thief and a wannabe.

i didn't know or care about this dude, i got the name deerly from one of my best friends who i never get to talk to, what gives? lol

[Dizzy]

also, i disagree with the accent thing, on CERTAIN occasions.

if it's donein a dumb way (like some death knight trying to name himself Darkdeathsephiroth with like 30 accents, that's lame.)

but.. for me, i'm very uncreative with names. i always use my same names, cuz i made them up which took forever and i like them.

so when someone has my name, i'm extremely pissed (it's ALWAYS a level 20 or less person who doesn't play anymore, ALWAYS.)
but i'm so limited on names i'll just throw in an accent.

i got REALLY lucky and got my main name (Raz) on my main character on my server.

I was shocked it wasn't taken.
but a few other names i pick... well, i don't have a big choice.

Like laelia for example, not sure WHY anyone took it, but i had to make my character Laelìa. (there's an accent on the i )

little things like that, i don't mind.

as long as it's not the first letter, i can find them easy. if i need to send someone a tell, there's plenty of easy ways to click their names to whisper them C:

[cowmuflage]

I don't mind if they put an accent on to get the name they want i mean whos to say i should be the only cow? i mean they have a right to name their toon what they want and if its the same as me then thats fine with me. I would not call it stealing really as well unless you have trademarked your name you don't really own it...

Edit: I think its rude that some people here are saying that if they see someone with there name thay want them to reroll to be fair. How is that fair to them? they might be new and heck i'd find it rude if someone told me to change my name just cos they don't want to share yes you might allways use that name but they might off on another game or somthing >.> I don't mean to sound angry and yes some people might do it to bad mouth you but really some people may just like THAT name and may only want to have a toon named it and heck they might be on the servers cos of the fact tehy have mates there or something.

[Noor]

"My" name has always been Noor. I've had it as my character name for 17 years in various MMO's. However, in WoW it was taken. So, I made Leya instead. I was lucky to find Noor available on my current server, was thrilled. It's my first "Noor" character in quite a few years. But, like most WoW players, I roll alts, and none of them have any funky æ, ø, å, ë, ê, è, é or ÿ for that matter. (Yeah, I'm showing off my fancy keyboard there, no alt buttons used... ) I wanted a character with "anna" in it. I messed around, until I got: Elosianna. I think it's a really pretty name... It's available on most servers. There are TONS of names out there, that have not been used, and they do not use silly letters like "o with a line through it" or "a with an o over it". Though, I admit to making a character named Måne (proper spelling in Norwegian), once. Just because *I* wanted a character named Moon too! And not Móón. Or Møøn. But Måne got deleted pretty quickly. It doesn't look right in a game that is English speaking, in my mind. I really think it is a shame they allowed those special characters, but I guess we'll have to live with it.