Winter in Salzburg
I am currently playing Sims 3, but I started with the first version. The main reason I love playing this game, is the possibility to name generations of families. In my Sims world, the definition of a “normal” name is reversed. Therefore, you may encounter multiple Sims called Hugo and Ottilie , but there is only one Sarah (the name was an accident). Furthermore, I often choose names that have a connection to something I hear or read of. Many Sims “born” last summer , for example, have names influenced by the Olympic Games in London.
The following sims were the children of the first person I created in Sims 3.
Mother:
Sojourner May
Children:
Austen Winter (b)
Evangeline
Helena Wren
Rory Pilgrim
Ottilie Maeve
Pandora Alice
Harper Bronte (g)
Sojourner May was the first person I created in Sims 3. She was named after Sojourner Truth, the famous American women´s rights activist. Austen´s namesake was the English novelist Jane Austen. The other sims just received names I liked. You may wonder why Harper Bronte is the only girl with a unisex name. I felt that Harper Bronte would complement the sibset and hoped that a boy would be born. However, I only got girls and I didn´t want to waste the name, so the last girl received it.
Oh, lovely sibset! Helena Wren is so pretty.
I wonder if all the games requiring you to make up your own names is encouraging greater freedom in naming real babies? I have heard a few parents say they ended up choosing their baby name from a handle used in a game, for example.
I think that naming various characters gives you the chance to try something new. You might fall in love with names you never considered before. I, for example, liked the name Ottilie, but I didn´t love it. However, after I named a sims so, I started to love it. And now it is one of my favourite names.
Yes I think must make parents a bit more daring and imaginative in their naming – and in a way it’s like naming a child after a character in a book or movie. Except you invented the character yourself, so it’s much more personal.