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Finding The Perfect Name For Your New Pet


by smokyautumn

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Whether you're interested in trading, character building, or just finding something you like, naming your neopets is an important and ever-increasingly difficult aspect of Neopia. While it's no longer so easy to find that perfect name for your future pet, it's still very possible! Hopefully this little article will shed some light on the various factors on what makes a good name, as well as tips for you to use on searching untaken names yourself!

First things first: What exactly makes a good name? If you take a visit to the PC, you're bound to see pets referenced by how well-named they are. A pet's name may be described as anything from very badly named, to very well named. The idea of what makes a pet well named varies, what one may consider a well named pet may be looked at as only decently named by another. However, the guidelines are roughly as follows:

VWN = Very Well Named. One name, one capital at the beginning, pronounceable and on the shorter side: Xxxxxx

WN = Well Named. One name, one capital, pronounceable but a bit longer: Xxxxxxxxx

DN = Decently Named. There's a small flaw in the name, either it has 1 underscore or number, it's not capitalized, it's very long, or it's double named: Xxx_xxxx | Xxxx# | XxxxxxXxxxx | xxxxxx | Xxxxxxxxxxxxx

BN = Badly Named. There's more than one small flaw in the name - Either a combination of the 'unpleasing' factors, or more than 1 underscore, name, or number: xxxxx## | Xxxxx_Xxxx_Xxxx

VBM = Very Badly Named. Lots of numbers, underscore, uncapitalized: xxx_xxxx######

So how important is all of this? Only you can answer that. While it may factor some in trading, the most important thing in naming your pet is that you like it! So, before you go to create that pet, it may be beneficial to ask yourself a few questions:

Are you creating a pet in the hopes of trading?

If the answer is yes, it might help you in trading to keep those guidelines above in mind.

Do you have a specific species/color/personality in mind for your pet? Love a certain species?

A name starting with the letters 'Uni' would make a great Uni! Or maybe you're dreaming of a chocolate pet, and want the name to be sweets related. Gender can also play a role, as some names are generally masculine sounding, such as names ending in -o, -e, -en, while some are generally feminine, -a, -i, -y.

What factors in a name do you like?

Sometimes it just comes down to how it sounds to you - What are your preferences? Do you like long, flowing names, are there certain letters/letter groupings that you love or hate? Does an underscore or number matter to you if everything else is perfect? Identifying what exactly about the names you like can go a long way in finding one for your neopet!

Easy enough so far? Now that you have an idea of how to define for yourself what makes a good name, we have to go out and find one that's available! This is easier said then done, however. Getting stuck at the Create-a-Neopet page with endless messages of 'That name is unavailable'? It gets incredibly frustrating, fast .__. I'll help you avoid the horrible experience with a few tips, separated by method:

Substitution:

Like a specific name/word and want something based off it? Substitute letters for similar sounds. The letter 'K' can be exchanged with 'Q'. 'A' can be changed to 'AE'. The English language is known for it's oddball rules for pronunciation, and because of this, you're free to play around with those rules. It's like the old joke (that TNT pokes at) that Ghoti is pronounced 'Fish': GH as in 'enough', O as in 'women', and TI as in nation. Fish!

Add-on:

Or, perhaps with that word/name you're after, you can add on a little something instead of substituting! As mentioned before, some endings have a distinct gender quality about them. Adding -ia or even -aria can instantly make any word seem feminine. Likewise, -io or -ario can give that name a masculine sound. Knowing those common gender endings can help you accessorize any name, word, or random letterings into a faux-name!

Work the etymology:

Etymology is the study of the history of words and their origins. Breaking down words and their meanings can lead to a powerful tool in creating new words and names, not only for naming your pet, but also providing your pet character! The Latin language is great for this type of name building, and gives your pet an automatic intellectual air!

Work the alphabet:

Don't want to get into the hassle of breaking down the word? How bout the letters instead? Just knowing how to construct a word is all that's needed, never mind any meaning behind it! The easiest way to go about this method is by starting with the vowels/vowel groupings, as there's only 6 to work with, as opposed to the consonants. So, let's take a look at those vowels: AEIOU (and sometimes) Y. The vowel groupings are just the various combinations: For A, the vowel groupings are AE, AI, AO, AU, AY. Easy peasy, and it's the base of which you'll start your word.

An easy word construction is CVVCV or CVCVV, where C = Consonant, and V = Vowel. My Kacheek Semia for example, she's CVCVV. So you pick your word construction form, a vowel grouping, and you work through the alphabet until you find an untaken name. For example, let's look at CVCVV names that begin with the letter B and ending with the vowel grouping EA. In other words, we'll be looking to fill in the possible name B _ _ E A. We know the second letter needs to be a vowel, and the third letter needs to be a consonant, so we start with the first vowel and first consonant, which is A, and B, and we input that into the name: BabEA which, ah well, it's taken. Let's keep BA_EA, and go through the rest of consonants until we find an untaken one, the first of which we find (At the time of this article being written) is Badea. That's working the alphabet. Once you go through all the consonants, change up that first vowel to the next in line, starting with B E _ E A. Repeat the process! See how it works? This method is a sure fire way to find if there are any hidden gems of a name, but it can get tedious and time consuming, fair warning!

Use your resources:

There are several petpages out there that list untaken names, such as one I personally host, Names in Bloom at /~Semia. Take advantage of all these great resources to see if you can't find that perfect name for your pet! You'd be surprised at all the great names that are still available and waiting to be claimed!

There you have it, a nice little guide on all things naming! Hopefully it's helped you understand the various factors that go into naming and what you can do to insure an easier naming process.

 
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