How long should a D&D character name be?

Two syllables is the sweet spot, three is fine, four is a mouthful nobody will finish. If the full name is long, make sure there is a one- or two-syllable form the table can use.

Should my character have a last name?

Only if their culture would give them one. Elves, halflings and most humans do; orcs, goblins and many dragonborn use epithets or clan names instead. A surname you never use is dead weight on the character sheet.

Can I use a name from a book or a game?

You can, but it drags that character's baggage to your table. A generated name built in the same style gives you the sound without the comparison.

How to Name a D&D Character (So the Table Actually Uses It)

The short answer Pick the race's sound first, not the meaning. Keep the given name to two or three syllables so the table can say it after the third session, avoid names that start with the same letter as another player's, and add a surname or epithet only if your character's culture would. Then say it out loud in a sentence a DM would use.

Every table has one: the character whose name nobody can remember, so for three campaigns he is “the dwarf”. The name was probably fine on paper. It failed at the table, which is the only place a D&D name has to work. Here is a method that produces names people actually say.

1. Start with the race’s sound, not a meaning

Players often begin with a meaning (“I want a name that means shadow”) and then hunt for a word. The result is usually a real-world word with the vowels changed, and it sounds like it. Meaning is the second step. The first is sound.

Every race in the game has a phonology players recognise by ear. Elves are liquids and long vowels: l, r, s, th, ae, ia, open endings. Dwarves are hard stops and heavy clusters: th, d, g, k, br, gr, with names that shut on a consonant. Halflings are soft and rural, two syllables, a vowel at the end. Orcs are guttural and back-of-the-mouth. Tieflings are infernal-Latin or a single abstract noun. If the name has the right sound, the table will accept it before they know what it means. If it has the wrong sound, no meaning will save it.

The D&D name generator routes each race to its own grammar for exactly this reason, and the dedicated pages (elf, dwarf, human) add style options within the race.

2. Two syllables, three at most

Say the name of the character you remember best from your last campaign. It was almost certainly two syllables. Names get shortened at the table whether you like it or not, so decide the short form yourself. Thalindrel becomes Thal. Brunhild Ironhewer becomes Brun. If the short form is bad, the long form will never be used.

A practical test: the DM has to say your name under pressure, mid-combat, while tracking initiative. “Thal, you’re up” works. “Thalindrelion Silverbough-of-the-Western-Reach, you’re up” does not.

3. The same-initial rule

Before you commit, look at the other players’ character names. If two characters start with the same letter, one of them will spend the campaign being called by the wrong name. This is the single most common naming mistake at tables and the easiest to avoid. If the party already has a Kara, do not be Kael.

The same applies to rhyming names and to names that share a stressed syllable. Torin and Corin at one table is a bad night for everyone.

4. Decide whether the culture gives surnames

A surname is not a default. Whether your character has one, and what kind, is a cultural fact about them, and getting it right is free characterisation.

Elves carry family names built from nature words, and use them formally.
Dwarves carry clan names, often spoken with more pride than the given name.
Halflings have family names that sound like places (Bramblefoot, Underhill) and use them constantly.
Humans vary by region: patronymics in the north, trade and place surnames in the heartlands, house names among nobility.
Orcs and goblins rarely use surnames at all; an earned epithet does the job (Gruk One-Tusk).
Dragonborn put the clan name first and the personal name second.
Tieflings often have no surname, and may take a virtue name (Hope, Reverence, Havoc) instead of or beside their infernal one.

If you are not going to use the surname in play, do not give the character one just to fill a line. A character known only as Vesk is more memorable than one with a surname nobody says.

5. The sentence test

Say the following out loud, filling in the name:

“Roll a saving throw, .” ” kicks the door open.” “We buried ___ at the crossroads.”

If any of these sounds wrong, silly or unpronounceable, change the name now. The third sentence matters most: a name has to carry weight at the moments the campaign becomes serious. Snickerdoodle Bramblefoot is a fine name until the funeral.

What about meaning?

Now, and only now, bring meaning in. A good generator shows what a name’s parts mean so you can pick one whose meaning fits without hunting for it. Silvar means silver-wind; a ranger named Silvar has a story. Meaning is a bonus you get for free once the sound is right, not a starting point that will lead you to a bad sound.

A worked example

You are building a dwarven cleric. Sound first: dwarvish, so hard and short. Two syllables: the generator gives Brunhild, and the short form Brun is fine. Same-initial check: the party has a Bram. Reroll. Thorgar, short form Thor, no clash. Culture check: dwarves carry clan names, so Thorgar Emberhammer, and the party will hear the clan name whenever a dwarf is being formal. Sentence test: “We buried Thorgar at the crossroads.” Works. Meaning: -gar is spear; Emberhammer is ember plus hammer, a smith’s line. Now you know his father’s trade, and you did not have to invent it.