So, I jumped back into Clash of Clans recently. Fired up the old account, looked at my village, and then saw my name. Ugh. It was something dumb I picked years ago, probably when I was half asleep. Instantly knew I needed something better, something that felt more, well, me, now.
Finding a ‘great’ name though, that’s the tricky part, isn’t it? What even makes a name great? I started thinking about it. Does it need to sound tough? Like Warlord Fury or Skull Crusher? Some guys go for that. Or maybe funny? I saw a base named Sir Fartsalot once, got a chuckle out of me.
My Process Kinda Went Like This:
- First Pass – The Obvious Stuff: I started just throwing common game words together. Stuff like Shadow, Blade, Fury, King, Lord, Doom. You know the drill. Ended up with things like ShadowKing, DoomBlade. Felt pretty generic, honestly. Like I wasn’t even trying.
- Looking Around: Spent some time checking out names in global chat (back when it was a thing) and my clan list. Saw a lot of repeats, lots of names with weird numbers or symbols crammed in because the original was taken. That wasn’t the look I wanted.
- Getting Creative (or trying to): Okay, time to think outside the box. Maybe combine unrelated words? Like Silent Tsunami or Cosmic Potato. Started getting weird looks from my clanmates when I suggested these. Maybe too creative.
- The Pun Phase: Thought about puns. Maybe Barbarian Streisand? Or Archer Enemies? Some were okay, but I worried I’d get tired of the joke fast.
- Checking Availability: This was the real kicker. Found a couple I kinda liked, typed them in… “Name Taken”. Story of my life. It felt like every half-decent combination was already gone. Super frustrating.
I even thought about using one of those online name generators. Clicked around a bit, but it all felt so random and impersonal. Just spitting out combinations that didn’t mean anything to me. It lacked soul, you know?
In the end, I scrapped all the complex ideas. I thought about my favorite troop (probably the Hog Rider, let’s be real) and my general approach to the game (usually rushing in half-cocked). I didn’t want anything too serious or too silly. I ended up mashing together a couple of simple words related to something I find funny personally, something totally unrelated to the game itself. It’s not epic, it won’t scare anyone, but it feels unique to me, and I haven’t seen anyone else with it.
So yeah, that was my journey. It wasn’t about finding the objectively “best” name, but finding one that clicked for me. Took way longer than I thought it would, but hey, at least I don’t cringe every time I log in now.
