What's in a name?

Let's say you have a gimmick or an idea for a new character. Now whatever your idea is, you have to have a name for this character, because really, that's the calling card, the selling point of your guy. The name should be something that tells us something about the character, and failing that, it should at least be an easy 'hook' as it were. Like "The Rock" doesn't tell us a lot about who The Rock was, but it was an easy thing to latch onto to. Same with HHH, or "Stone Cold"...Hell out of all the past decade's wrestlers that were big time, I'd say "Undertaker" was about as 'creative' as WWE got and well, Undertaker is a friggin' Undertaker.

Now also at this point we have to decide if we're going to go with a 'legit' name or a 'stage' name...Now you can have a stage name that looks like a real name, but it really won't matter. Like Billy brought out "Layne Winters"...And he's gotten grief from people who can't look past the fact his character is named Layne and is from Seattle...So you have to be careful what your name invokes as a reference...Cause if people get the wrong vibe then they have to read your Rp to 'get' the character...And who has time for such silliness really?! It's kind of hard to make a 'legit name' suck...It should have only 2 syllables per name...Cameron in Cameron Cruise is kind of clunky..."Cam Cruise" as a little more snap to it...Say both of them...I'm right...(Please don't hate me Siegel!)

Let's look at a bunch of names

Sean Stevens
Eddie Mayfield
Rocko Daymon
Craig Miles
Steve Knox
Joey Melton
Castor Strife

Let's throw in a couple clearly fake names.

Rook Black
Felix Red

Again, all short, easy to say names. There's a reason they work...Now for a 1 word stage name, again, simple is good...."Stalker" is pretty clear cut...Now "Fusenhoff" doesn't roll off the tongue, so I normally just think of him as "Fuse"...I can't say as I know well his mythos so I don't know where the name comes from. I think the heel color in EPW has even said "What's a Fusenhoff?"

"Big Dog" that's a simple name, and it sells the guy, he's the Big Dog, he'll maul you, cause that's what Big Dog's do..."Housefly"...I'm not feeling that housefly's don't exactly spell fear and intimidation to me....It doesn't invoke much other then a tiny and , at worst, annoying insect.

As for myself, well, most of my names were stolen from my friend's paper league. I think the only names I've come up with my own were Bloodhunt, and The First...Bloodhunt...I dunno the name is kind of clunky I think...And it doesn't really tell you anything about him, so I kind of failed the character in that sense. I guess that's why I don't mind him dropping his stage name for his legit name (Richard Garfield)...Cause well, Bloodhunt doesn't do anything for the character...The First is...Well, the first...The name sort of was the basis for the character and thusly defines it.