World of Warcraft: Forever lets players choose last names

As part of World of Warcraft: Forever’s move to a realmless world, Blizzard is introducing an interesting solution to an age-old problem: what happens when two people want the same character name? The answer is a long-requested feature — last names.

A feature that has traditionally required addons such as Total RP 3 in Midnight, or similar solutions in Classic, will now be available directly at character creation in World of Warcraft: Forever. This gives you another way to personalize your characters. Gone are the days of spelling Legolas 15 different ways just to find one that isn’t taken. Now, you can give your character a unique surname instead.

As someone who already uses addons in Midnight to give my characters full names, I think it adds a surprising amount of personality. There’s a certain charm to having NPCs address your character by their full name during quests, and WoW: Forever will now support that experience natively.

It also opens up some fun possibilities for alts. Giving several characters the same family name can make them instantly recognizable out in the world, allowing you to build a family — or even a legacy — across multiple characters.

Of course, names still won’t be a complete free-for-all. Only one character will be permitted to use a particular full name across each of Forever’s four realm types: PVE, PVP, Roleplay, and, when it launches, Hardcore. So yes, you may still have to fight someone for the right to roll an undead paladin named Arthas Menethil.

If you want a head start in that particular battle, the Epic Skyborne Edition and higher tiers include four-day early access to name reservations ahead of Forever‘s November 4 launch.

So start making your lists, digging through fantasy name generators, and deciding exactly how many apostrophes or umlauts are too many. World of Warcraft: Forever is coming, and this time your character gets a proper last name.

Update — September 17 Q&A

Following the September 17 Q&A, we now have a few important clarifications about how character names will work in World of Warcraft: Forever.

First, we can confirm what the character-creation screens seemed to suggest: last names are required. This is most likely part of the solution to Forever becoming realmless, allowing characters to share a first name while remaining identifiable by their unique full name.

We also received clarification about modern World of Warcraft. The surname system is not being brought to Midnight or The Last Titan. So, if you want your modern characters to have proper surnames and actually see those full names used during quests, addons remain the solution.

For me, that means continuing to use Total RP 3 alongside Total RP 3: Name in Quest in Midnight and eventually The Last Titan.

Forever may finally be making full character names a native part of World of Warcraft, but for modern players, the addon authors are still doing the heavy lifting.