SWTOR Name unavailable, please choose another.

If you try to create a character in Star Wars: The Old Republic, you may come across this error: Name unavailable, please choose another.

This error means that another player on your server has already chosen this name, so you can’t name your character with the same name as they have already taken.

As the game as been out for 10 years now, it can be difficult to find a name that isn’t already taken. Almost all common names or nicknames will have already been taken since the game’s launch – for example, don’t even both trying names like Michael, Jessica, Matthew or Ashley. Most pretty English word names will have also already been taken – for example the names like Sun, Moon, Rose, aren’t worth trying either. Even the Random button name is almost always already taken.

Alternate Name Generator

So how do you find a name you can actually use, that isn’t a garbled string of letters? The answer is you will need to settle for a name that isn’t already taken, be creative, and take advantage of the rules that the character name creator allows.

  • Use my Alternate Name Generator to quickly generate other options of your favorite name.
  • Don’t waste time and frustration trying basic names like Christopher or Emily, or cool word names like Dawn or Midnight.
  • You can use up to 21 letters or characters in your name, so don’t feel you have to pick a short name!
  • You can add a last name in the character creator by using a space. The name Midnight is likely taken, but the name Midnight Eclipse or Midnight Blossom might not be.
  • You can also give your character a realistic first name and last name like Christopher Smith which also might not be taken. The ability to add a space to your name was added later in the game’s lifetime, so there are still many unique two-word names available! Remember, it’s never a smart idea to use your first and last name as your character name, as other nefarious players may take advantage of this knowledge to find out who you are, where you work, and who your family is, which can lead to harassment online and off.
  • You can also try “Star Wars – iffying” a name! For example, Leah is considered the most common spelling for the popular girl’s name – but in Star Wars, we got Princess Leia. Try switching around some vowels, add extra consonants and see what you can make up – for example, the common name Jacob can be Jakob, Jaccob, Jakkob, Jacobb, Jaekob, and on and on. The really simple letter switchouts are probably taken, but you might be able to find something more obscure like Jackeobbe.
  • The name creator allows you to use up to two apostrophes and one dash in your character name. Apostrophes and dashes are common in Star Wars names. So if you wanted the name Sarah, that’s likely taken, but you might be able to make something like S’ara’h or Sar-rah.
  • If you really want a single word name that’s already taken, you can use Alt Codes. Alt Codes are letters that have accents over them, and are usually used for non-English languages. For example, the name Sofía in Spanish has an accent over the i. So while plain old Nicholas might be taken, Nichölas might not be.
  • You can also give your character a code name. Many characters and classes in Star Wars taken on nicknames or code names – for example, when you make a Trooper character, you’ll meet Havoc Squad, and each member has a nickname including Gearbox, Wraith, Needle and Fuse. Your character’s true name might be something simple like Hannah or Taylor, but everyone else knows them by their nickname. Unlike many beautiful names or common real-life names, there’s all kinds of fun nicknames that haven’t been taken yet.
  • If you are a creating a Sith, you can also give yourself a Darth name. Eventually both the Sith Inquisitor and Sith Warrior can earn the Darth title, so you can pick a name that would sound good with that, as most Sith Lords take on a new name that is related to power or darkness – for example, Darth Sidious is a short form of the word Insidious, Darth Tyrans is similar to Tyrant, and Darth Malak is similar to the word Malice. If you want to take advantage of this, you’d give your character the second part of the name, for example you could name your character Depravus, and then later on choose the title Darth for your character, making them Darth Depravus.
  • Use other languages. There are thousands of languages in the world, and each one has unique children names and names for what they call the world around them. If you wanted to name your character Serenity but find it’s taken, you could try the French spelling, Sérénité, which looks very similar. Or you can try a name that’s completely different – for example, in German, the word for Sunflower is Sonnenblume. These easiest way to find some translations is to search for English to French or English to German or whatever other language you want to use, and a quick translator should show up in the search results. Even better, if you have an international friend that players, ask their ideas for some cool sounding names – just make sure to double check the meaning online to make sure they aren’t giving you funny suggestions without you knowing.

Name Generators