Character Names: Putting MY money where YOUR mouth is

Those are good costumes.

My usual approach to these things is to throw out as many options as possible, since I don't really know that what I like is what you'll like. So forgive me if I toss out a lot of not very good options here to see what might stick.

1. Dr Cryo (no period), Doc Cryogen, Doctor Cryogen, Professor Cryogen, Doctor Nitrogen, Professor Nitrogen, Doc Refrigerant, Cryogentleman, Doc Cryogenic, Doctor Cryogenic, Sir Cryogen, Sir Cryogenic, Professor Cryogenic. All of those are available, some work better than others. A cryogen is a liquid refrigerant such as liquid nitrogen, and cryogenics is the study of the production of low temperatures... I don't think those are very obscure, and you can use the word Cryonics for this as well. Personally of those I found free I like Doctor Cryogen, although I realize that the ideal four-color comicbook name on these lines would probably be Doc Cryo, which is taken.

Cryonically-Frozen is also available by the way. ^_^ There's not enough letters for "Cryonically-Frozen Brain". Probably not a good name anyway.

2. Serpentine Knight, Serpentine Shadow, Nightfangs, Shadowfangs, Midnight Serpent... eh, I think I'm coming up with worse names as I keep going. I was thinking along the lines of "Fangs of..." something, but I kind of don't like the word fang anyway. I like Serpentine, so the first two are probably my best suggestions. Something on a Moon Knight/Dark Night/The Shadow kind of theme I guess, but the dragon/serpent symbol kind of drew my attention. I like Serpentine Knight best of these options.

I did not attempt any combination of Dragon and Knight however, I knew better than that. ^_^ Also combos with Midnight or Twilight are probably all taken.

3. Shanghai Shark, Shanghai Ace, Shifty Dealer, Ace Shark, Ace Dealer, Shark Ace, Sharkace, Cardshark Ace... eh, not sure I like any of those, maybe Ace Shark (surprising that's not taken) and I should probably explain that Shanghai is a card game my family likes to play, so that's the first thing that popped into my head. I like that name myself, probably wouldn't work if you didn't have that connection in your head though.

Steel Gambler, Blade Gambler, Fortune Gambler, Fortunate Gambler, Chance Ace, Death Ace (why is this name still available?), Ace of Fortune Uh... some pretty good names there that may not work for what you're going for. Realistically, I can find names that work for me for all of these costumes, but you're going for something very specific and iconic and that's really the crux of the "names are easy" vs "names are hard" debate. ^_^ But someone out there on Virtue should be using Death Ace and Ace of Fortune, if you ask me! Probably Shanghai Shark also, though maybe not for a card-themed character. But it's a nice name.

Poker Terms:

Angle Shooter angle is a technically legal, but borderline unethical, play. For example, deliberately miscalling one's own hand to induce a fold, or placing odd amounts of chips in the pot to confuse opponents about whether you mean to call or raise. A player employing such tactics is called an "angle shooter".
Backraise
Blind Stud Stud Poker with all cards facedown
Bottom Dealer he's cheating in other words. ^_^
Boxed Card Card that winds up face up in the deck by accident.
Buy-In
Call the Clock
Cashing Out another name that someone should be using for something...
Cripple the Deck, Deck Crippler, Crippled Deck eh... no.
Dead Blind I like this just as a name... although the card reference may be obscure... "A blind that is not "live", in that the player posting it does not have the option to raise if other players just call."
Donk Bet I just like the sound of this phrase, heh.
Double-Ace Flush, DoubleAce Flush
Drawing Dead
Drawing Thin
Dry Ace
Forced Bet
Free Card
Inside Straight
Misdeal
Negative Freeroll probably not a good character name but a fun word combo anyway ^_^
One-Eyed Royals Sadly "One-Eyed Royal" is already taken. Good name too.
Position Bet
Post Dead
Quads ie four of a kind. (yes, this name is also free).
Qualifier
Rabbit Hunt
Railbird ie spectator at a poker match.
Royal Card probably not a poker term but it's free
Runner-Runner A hand made by hitting two consecutive cards on the turn and river. Also "backdoor". Compare to "bad beat" and "suck out". (probably not a good name but I find some of these terms are just fun anyway).
Scare Card A card dealt face up (either to a player in a game such as stud or to the board in a community card game) that could create a strong hand for someone.
Semi-Bluff
Sevens Rule
Side Game
Smooth Call
Squeeze Play I have no idea why this name is free
Stand Pat I have no idea why this name is free either
Strategy Card
Stud Poker
Stud Card
Suited Connectors
Third Man Walking
Three of a Kind
Thee Pair
Up the Ante Oooh, and free! I like that one quite a bit.

A lot of those terms would work well for a character name... I like Angle Shooter a lot, and Up the Ante quite a bit, but Royal Card could work, and I think Bottom Dealer, Inside Straight, Misdeal, Squeeze Play, and Dry Ace are all pretty good names for someone to be using.

Sent you a bunch, don't like posting names publicly for fear of nabbing.

All reserved for the moment, although I know my naming sensibilities differ from most. Still, I thought it worth trying to help.

1- Model Zero Kelvin
Glacial Reproach
2- Waning Fortune
I'd personally go for Nishapati (Indian lunar deity, the name means "Lord of the Night,") but I suspect this doesn't fit your criteria.
3- Capped Bet
Hard Count

As a magician/person that can do card tricks I have a few suggestions for character 3 based on techniques we use:

Double Lift
False Shuffle
Charlie Shuffle
Backslip
Force
Key Card
Force Fan
Riffle Shuffle
Spring
The Palm
Sleight of Hand
The Overhand Shuffle
Cuts
Double Cut
The Turnover
The Pass
The Reverses
The Glide (One of my favorite card techniques)
The Glimpse
Overhand Shuffle
Hindu Shuffle

Maybe you would like one of those?

For character one, perhaps a frost-based pun isn't what you're looking for. His costume looks rather tall dark and handsome (minus the brain-in-jar comical effect, of course) so perhaps something more like a proper name is in order?

Something like:
Drumstrang
Make him a german scientist from the 30's who froze himself to escape persecution, then after he woke up, was overwhelmed by emotion after discovering what happened in his absence. Could also work as a villain just by switching the timing of his freeze process. Could yo-yo back and forth across the purple line by having retcons in his backstory.

For Dude 2, "Moon Dragon" sounds cool, is that taken? His costume has simple parts, so going for a complicated name is just going to seem out of place. Phantom Midnight, Crescent Serpent, Stellar Something, all seem like okay names, perhaps you can get something that sticks from that.

Person 3 seems weird to me. the goggles remind me of nite owl, and I've always disliked playing-card themes. in everything.

For the third one:

9mm Joker
9 Mil. Joker

Both plays on 9mm pistols. I've grabbed them on Virtue.

"Moon Dragon" was my first thought for #2, but because it sounded familiar, I checked first, and Yup. Already a Marvel comics character by that name, so you may have trouble with the Generic Police.

1. I was thinking Doc. Coldthoughts.

2. Oddly enough "Serpent Knight" isn't taken on Virtue. Calling him a "knight" is of course a pun. ("Hawkknight" is taken though, as is the even more fitting Owl Knight)

3. You're going to kill me for this, but... Cardiac Arrest.

I groaned myself at that one.

For the third character Trump Shot is free on Virtue (which would also work well with the different costumes since in many trick taking games the trump suit changes during the course of the game).

the huge number of excellent suggestions in this thread just PROVES how impossible it is to think up a good name that hasn't already been taken!







=P

1. Ed Trauma

2. Warp Wraith

3. (The) Card Cheat

All names are reserved on Virtue by me but they're available if you want them.

I don't think any of these three would show up on the name of a comic book, but here is what I might have called them:



Brain in a jar with eyes guy: Peeping Dom



Snake guy: Slaughter Moccasin (I would water as a power set)



Card guy: SWAT Machine



All names are available on Virtue as of 7-15-12.