What's Your Process for Naming Your Sims?

I vary between pulling names randomly out of a hat, or going with a theme. In my rotation I wanted some general themes so I could tell different families apart, so for one which was a hippie family I used the hippiest names I could come up with; another all got named after characters in the Dragon Age games (the third generation of that one is now growing up so I either have to switch games or wait for DA4); another all got very old fashioned names like Abner and Hazel. And so on.

@IceyJ So you basically use the Jimbob Duggar technique of naming your children? haha. I did a similar thing with a family in Sims 2.

@citysimmer Cool. I was wondering if other people matched the cultures, and it sounds like many of you do. Thanks for responding.

@joyofliving37 That's interesting that you have a thing for Italian names. I have the same type of interest (obsession?) but for Hawaiian sims and Hawaiian names.

@luxsylvan That makes sense to match the name to the parents' naming style; I do that, as well. That's funny about not wanting to use names of people you've met--I'm only like that with people I can't stand, but I'm fine with using the name of someone I have positive feelings about.

@zefron That's a good technique. It has to fit in with what the family would actually do.

My Blog: Elise Family Line

I try to find names that fit the sims personality, culture and background. Usually they are fairly plain generic names but I randomly loose my mind and go crazy with something like Mystery Wild.

I mostly just randomize until I get a name I like,m. Sometimes I’ll create a sim with a name in mind, or be embarrassing and name a sim after anime characters or something though.

I just go to name randomizer sites on the web and randomize until I get one that I like. For last names, I often think about the heritage the sim is supposed to have. For example, I had a sim that was supposed to be of Korean descent, so I looked it up on the web and picked one of the most common surnames in Korea (Park in this case).

I almost always just hit the randomise button until something that suits pops up. Simple and low pressure solution for lazy me :D

It varies. Some times I have spesific names that I like in mind, other times I use the first letter in one of the parents names. Some times I name them after characters in books/movies. Many times I just hit the randomizer because I can't be bothered :o

Welcome to the forums! There was another thread on this topic back in May here, so I'll just copy & paste what I had posted there. :)

It depends on the Sim and what kind of challenge or gameplay I have in mind for them or if I imagine they are from a particular culture. For instance, Annie & Abby Callahan, Cian O'Hara and Molly McNamara are Irish, Sasha Romanov is Russian, Carmen Alfonzo and Gina Lombardo are Italian, Lander & Damon Panopoulos are Greek, Noah Noonday is a Potawatomi Native American, Giovanni (Jon) Valente is Irish/Italian and Sonnet Colbert is French.

Sometimes I'll use the random generator and just go with what I think works for that Sim. It can be tedious doing it that way though since I'm rather picky about names. Random names I've used are; Leslie Neff, Kailani Queen, Leanne Summers, Andrew Hudson and Rita Benet. Rita was my very first created Sim from TS4 Demo.

I don't really like a lot of trendy, cutesy or 'unusual' names, but have used a few on occasion if it fits a particular Sim. For instance, Dreama Masheik and Romeo Pandorian are a bit unusual, but they're aliens so it works for me. And Chambree Je' Blu is actually a name I recycled from a TS2 Sim that I dearly loved. I did use 'Ben Bummer' & 'Heath Ohmleth' for my Extreme Rags to Riches challenges, plus Autumn Woods, Terra Demeter, Sunshine Beam, Spring Weather and Ellie Pepper are kind of cutesy I guess.

But they work for these particular Sims. For instance Sunshine is a hippie and Terra is named after the Earth and the Goddess of Harvest and Agriculture. I used her in my 'Living Off the Grid' challenge. Also, Spring Weather is the founder of my Legacy Challenge. Obviously 'weather' is the theme for the family. :)

I tend to lean more towards 'strong' or masculine names for my male Sims, such as; Josh & Joel Hunter, Bryce Canyon, Cole Armstrong, Kent Rockwell, Ridge Everest, Sam Hawkins, Thomas Woodson and Grant Forest.

I like to alliterate names a lot too, such as; Vanessa Valentine, Claire Caldwell, Greta Gamble, Delilah Devine, Lilah Lockhart, Robin Russo, Samantha Searing, Sherry Schafer, Serena Santorini and Noah Noonday.

Lastly my child Sims names if I have more than one in a family all begin with the same letter. I don't know why, it just seems like a fun thing to do I guess. Happy Simming! <3

EDIT: I have used names from favorite book characters too, such as; Cian, Cam & Lilly. Plus a few are named after people I've met in my life and liked their name. Kailani is an example. She's named after Kailani Rae Rafko whom I met when she was Miss Michigan and later she became Miss U.S.A. Plus, Adam Paulson and Violet Adams are named after my favorite singer, Adam Lambert. I also have my version of Adam in my game. :)

After I spend enough time with a sim in CAS (and I always do) a name usually suggests itself to me.

For surnames I tend to go for something that suggests what type of sim they are. For instance, I have a Patricia Profit in my game who's a rich business woman.

@Karababy52 I love all those names.

@So_Money Patricia Profit is the perfect sims name.