just for fun here's a list of how all my characters got their names, and the reasoning as to why!
I want to try and list them in order of when I created/named them, so it'll be a bit of a mess of characters back and forth as I try to fit them into a "timeline" that is not exactly accurate but is close enough haha

Alice - as a child this was my all time favorite name, not sure why but I think Alice in wonderland had a big part to play in it. needless to say it was a nobrainer to name my character (and at the time my online identity) Alice, it just felt right. 

James - this follows very much the same route as Alice; I've been a big fan of the name James in general, and the nickname Jamie. fun fact: I wasn't sure which name I liked most and was planning to just outright name him Jamie before I realized I can have the best of both worlds by just giving him a nickname haha. fun fact 2: James' original name was Shaine (pronounced "chain") for a few months before I decided wanted a character named James.

Sunset Rose & Sweetheart - Sunset Rose was redesigned and reimagined a year ago and she was also renamed in the process; she had very sunset vibes and the name just really worked! HOWEVER there is already a major character in MLP with that very name, so I couldn't outright name her Sunset—despite really wanting to—without causing confusion and possible backlash from Sunset-stans. so I made her full name Sunset Rose (because she has a rose theme/accessories) and tell people that her nickname is just simply Rose! but in reality I still call her Sunset, hehe.. her original name before the redesign was Sweetheart (and before that it was Sweety Heart, but I simplified it towards the end) and so I found it fitting to give her new daughter that name. I do however think Sweetheart feels more like a nickname rather than a proper name, but I just haven't bothered to try and find a good name for the baby yet as I haven't really developed either of their characters more than "loving mother and daughter".. one day Sweetheart will get her name, probably.

Avarion - actually my second oldest character! I just keep forgetting about him since he is so old and I already gave my favorite name to Alice; I asked a user in the forum for naming help, they came up with Avis Amaswishzone. being a kid who got attention from a user who made cool stuff, I obviously kept the FULL name without question. years later after he faded into the edge of "oh right, that character.." like Sunset; he needed a redesign and new name or he'd fall completely into the void of "unwanted characters". I tried a few variations of Avis and eventually Avarion stuck the best. not much else to it, I just sounded out words until something came up. the fact that even more years later his name is similar to Astarion (best boy in baldur's gate 3) is just a happy coincidence! 

Gamers - this one may feel very simple and low-effort and, well...yeah kinda, I won't deny it haha! there IS thought behind it though, small as it may be. a friend of mine I admired a lot at the time (and still do, don't get me wrong) had a similar-sounding name for their pony, and that name stuck with me. naturally the copy-cat teen I was I also wanted something similar, especially the "mers" at the end. weell since my pony is a gamer, all I would have to add is an s.. Gamers. boom! simple name with a needlessly un-simple story behind it hah. 

Split - this one however IS very low-effort and straight forward. take one look at his face and you'll understand. that's it! there's no deeper meaning behind it or anything. yeah...I wasn't very creative with this one.

Blue - her character (and parts of her design) was originally inspired by a character named Blue in the anime Wolf's Rain, so I went the easy route and just copy+paste. I am in the process of writing new lore and I realize that blue is such a boring name and doesn't at all fit in in this new world I'm making.. when I start digging into the details of the story she WILL be getting a new name, that's for sure! I just have to find one that fits her.

Snake - I generally like Snake from the metal gear solid games, and I was a dedicated watcher of a streaming group for many years where one of them was called Snake because of his deep voice. needless to say the name stuck, there really isn't much more to it than that. fun fact: he used to be named Alpha Snake, as an homage to Solid Snake. 

Nimera - she was quite simply named after the person who designed her; Nemerium. they later went on to change their username to BlackNemera and I can't help but secretly feel like I had a part to play in that new name idea hehe..

Tyrien - his original name was Tryndamere, which is a character from league of legends. I don't particularly like that character, never really have, I just used the name because...reasons, I guess, I don't actually know.. many years later I decided I don't want to use potentially copyrighted names for my story so, like with Avarion, I sounded out different similar-sounding stuff until Tyrien happened. also gives me a good chance to use Ren as his nickname cuz Kylo Ren (in his first appearance) is a pretty cool character! 

Annariel - when I bought this design she came with a name, I chose to keep it since I had loved this character for a long time before she was sold to me and I felt no need to change anything! she has since become a landmark of how I approach—and especially name—my celestial characters.

Lyrah - her name is also the case of naming her after her design inspiration. in this case it's a side character from Wolf's Rain; Leara. ngl, just like her name her whole design is a very copy+paste and I'm not even gonna try to hide that fact anymore.. but I love her too much to change anything, so it is what it is, I honestly don't care anymore. 

Vix - this one is tricky, her original idea was to just be an anthro assassin's creed version of Alice, so she was called Assassin Alice. but over time their designs diverged and drifted further apart, when Alice became more dragon-like I eventually turned "Assassin Alice" into her own character. I started calling her Vixen, which means female fox, and after years of not really giving her a proper name I decided to just call her Vix. short, simple, a bit on the nose and honestly not a name that I've particularly liked on her, but she's around a decade old and putting another name on her now just feels...wrong. I might make Vix short for something, like it's just the nickname she lets others use and her full name is a well guarded secret only a select few may know of.. we'll see.

-more TBA soon-