It Is All in The Name

In the year 1066 William the Conquer,  took the throne of England from King Harold at the battle of Hastings on Senlac Hill.  Poor Harold was shot in the eye by a high flying arrow and Duke William became King William.

Now William the Conqueror was King of a huge country and he wanted to know exactly what he was king of and how much tax income he could expect to receive. So he sent out some of his trusted officers to record the name of every man in the country.  This census was called; “The Visitations” and the names were entered into the “Doomsday Book”.

So what does this have to do with ESO?  I hear you asking. Well, here is the answer.

Now William was a Norman and his new English subjects were mainly Saxons. What this meant was that they didn’t speak the same language. Imagine trying to take the name of every man in the country when you don’t even speak the same language.  Not only were some of the names taken misspelled, they were also mispronounced. In the end the confused Saxons were given names that described what they did or where they lived.

This caused all sorts of problems. Now, for example, if a village had two blacksmiths, one could be called Black and the other Smith. Their sons were called Black’s son and Smith’s son so if Jack had two sons, both were called Jackson. “Ton” meant town so if they lived in a town near the King they would be named something like Dickson of Kingston.  What a mess and don’t get me started on Christian names and Surnames.

Anyway, William’s Knights who were Bretons, Franco, Flemish and Normans were also named for acts of valour or service.  One guy was said to have saved the King from drowning in a creek by reaching down off his horse and pulling him to safety. He was Knighted, “Sir Armstrong” or so the story goes. Just think of the people you know and the meaning of their name. Glover, Walker, Brown, Green, Johnson, Dick, Shepard, Priest, Churchill, etc., the list is almost endless and each one has an interesting historic story behind it. I wonder how Richard Drinkwater got his name.

My point is this, whilst it is cute, funny and even very clever to name your characters in ESO with a weird and wonderful name, the practise is not new and in fact it is hundreds of years old.

Part of the origin of ESO is medieval folklore and I think that makes it rich with tradition and custom.  For me it makes the game just that bit more interesting and fun.

Here are some names that  make you wonder what their parent were thinking ,  Anita Bath (I Need A Bath),  Ariel Hassle (A Real Hassle),  Barb Dwyer (Barbed Wire),  Ben Crobbery (Bank Robbery),  Ben Dover (Bend Over), Craig Potz (Crackpots), Doug Graves (Dug Graves), Eileen Dover (I Leaned Over),  Eve Hill (Evil), Gene Poole (Gene Pool),  Herbie Hind (Her Behind), Holly Wood (Hollywood),  Ivana Tinkle ( I Want to Tinkle),  Joe King (Joking),  Justin Case (Just in Case),  Lon Moore (Lawn Mower),  Paige Turner (Page Turner),  Rita Book (Read a Book) and Wayne Deer (Reindeer).

So the next time you have a quiet moment gloating over the body of your latest PvP victim just think how much better you would feel if you knew their name.  To do this just go to Settings,  Gameplay, Nameplates and activate so that you can see every ones name.

The  reason I mention any of this is because I was thinking about names when I discovered that I  made a spelling error on one of my characters and did not realise what I had done until later.

Oh the embarrassment one little letter can cause, but that’s another story.  I hope I have peaked your curiosity and that you have fun naming your  new characters!