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The Name Game

The Real Life Origins of Game Character Names

By Mr. Nash

June 4, 2006

As unique, outlandish, or popular as some video game characters have become over the years, it can be fun researching what connection, if any, they may have to real life. Some characters have obvious connections to their namesakes, while it would seem that others got their name simply because it sounded cool.

Today we’re going to look at five different video game characters, and the real life historical / mythological / religious figures whose name they borrowed. We won’t be going out of our way to try and draw a connection between the character from the game, and the figure that originally held the name. If the connections are as bright as day, we will touch upon them. However, we’re not in the business of pulling hypothesizes out of our ass. So if the only thing the two share are a name, we’ll simply discuss the history of the two separately for a moment and move on. (Sometimes it’s all about the hey-neat-factor and nothing more).

Not surprisingly, fighting games and RPGs have the most characters whose names seem to be plucked from the pages of history. This can be attributed to the sheer size of the casts in these games compared to other genres that tend to have a

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small number of central figures. It’s simply a case of strength in numbers. So, let’s begin this little adventure through the annals of history. Some of the faces in the pages ahead are likely of those gamers have suspected held more than a little historical significance, while others will come as a complete surprise.

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