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Naming characters vs. Using default names

Charbok

Back From The Grave
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Do you prefer having the option to name characters, or would you just rather use their default names?

With the player characters, I almost always change their names. Since I always play as the female characters I usually name them after female OCs of my own. The only exceptions to this are with the Gen 3 and Gen 4 games. I watched the anime before playing those games and since they have the same character designs it's hard for me to call them anything else other than their default names. I'll often switch between their English and Japanese names. In Emerald I named her May and in OR I named her Haruka. In Gen 4, I named her Dawn and I named her Hikari in Platinum.
If I ever play as the male I'll change their name if I can think of something to call them, otherwise I just leave their default name. Whenever I play a Gen 1 game, I always name the protagonist Red (sometimes I go with Satoshi as well, Ash's Japanese name.)

With the rivals I prefer to use their default names because unlike the player character who's meant to represent you and doesn't have much of a personality, your rival has a distinct personality and most go through quite a bit of character development. That and I'm just not as creative when it comes to the rival names. My exception to this is Blue. In every Gen 1 game I've played I've always named him Gary or Shigeru after his anime counterpart.
 
I've always named my PC and up until Gen VI it was always "Silvy". In X, I was finally able to use my full name--Silverwynde--and picked Silvy as my nickname. But every time I start my game, I give my PC a name. I've never used the default name at all.
 
Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. In OR, I gave May her default name, but in Platinum, I named Lucas Lux. Mainly comes down to preference.
 
I almost ALWAYS use an original name in my games: Blade (Gen1-5, excluding ORAS) or Bladeheart (XY/ORAS) for male characters, Skylie for girls
 
I'll usually name a PC, but if there's multiple decent "default names", I'll occasionally use one of those.
 
I usually name my character, but I find it's much more satisfying naming your rival.
 
I prefer to name them. My player character is supposed to represent ME, so I'd like said character to have my name.

Rival naming is cool too, though more often then not I just give them their default names. Sometimes I do have fun with it though. In Pearl my rival was Paul due to the anime and in one FireRed playthrough my rival was literally named nerd.
 
I always name my character. It's very rarely that I name the character what they're supposed to be called and I have only ever done it with Red in FireRed.

However I always name the rival what they're supposed to be called. I did name Barry 'someone' for kicks and giggles as whenever they'd talk about him they'd say 'someone wants to battle you' or 'you defeated someone' and I'll be like 'YOU DON'T SAY!'.

I'm far too easily amused.
 
Usually I just keep the default name of the rival. Finally in Gen VI I can use my real full name :).
 
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I name every single character I ever play Nyamco. Not sure why, but I guess it makes me feel more emerged into the game.
 
I always nickname my protagonists, mostly out of habit but it does add that little extra personal touch in games that aren't X and Y. There really isn't any reason not to have the option, many people like to have their trainers personify themselves.
 
I always name myself after myself in the main game I get. When I get the other version, I normally name them after whatever game it is, or give them their default name. If I don't do either, I just give them a random name that isn't mine.

For rivals, I for whatever reason, normally just give them girl names, though, technically, in BW2, it was a unisex name~
 
I usually name the playable character named after me, or I'll just use "Alpha". As for the rivals, I usually name them after a member of my family, depending on the sex of the rival.
 
I buy both versions of the game, so I have one with my own name on it and the other with the name May/Haruka, just like the female protagonist of RSE/ORAS. I use Haruka when I decide to play the game in Japanese. I think I do it since it feels like a continuation of my character's journey all of the time. May was my first female character so I guess it stuck after that; also, she's my favorite character in the anime.

For rivals, I've been lately using anime May's rival name Drew sometimes, at other times, in the case of Hugh for example (I think you could name him; I can't remember), I type their own names in (if it isn't a choice already).
 
The only time I've given a default name was to Hugh in BW2. I do like the option to nickname the rival and etc though I think I'm down the give their default names now as it matches up better to articles and stuff.
 
Up until Gen V I always gave the player character his or her canon name. Starting with White 2 I name my character Ricky (in White I named my character a variation of Ricky).

I think I've always given my rival their canon name.
 
I usually name the PC after myself, but use the default name for the rival (mostly because I don't want to have to think of my own names for the rivals when they have perfectly good default names).
 
I always name my players, makes them unique for me. The default names are boring for me.
 
Starting with White, I've always named my female protagonist either Sicily or Luciana based on an OC of mine. In AS I named the protagonist Haruka because I'm also used to May being in the anime and it's hard for me to call her anything else. The only time I've ever played as the male protagonist was in FR and I named him Ash, but now I only refer to him as Red since I'm so used to his canon name. Blue in FR, I named him Green because his Japanese name is Green, but now I just call him Blue since I'm more familiar with the American version. The rivals I usually keep their default names.
 
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