I am writing a story that will have a platoon of mercs in it. They are going to be used in other stories based on how well I write this story so most of them need names. It is company sized, but right now I am really only worried about one platoon.

So far, I have

Mylow
Lofive
Post Modern sleaze
City
Dreamer
Snow Spirit
Pain Doc
Blue
Halo
Trick(I am trying to find cool words that mean those)
treat
Gipsy Girl
Xone Control
Shark
chef
Zerochild
Expax
Gioia
Tiga
Quake
Deviled one
Wildchild
Dances in light

You know... Not everyone of them needs a fancy name. Names like Mac, Jack, Tommy-boy still have use, you know?

Names like Kyle, Rupert, and Fenton would also be cool.

Make sure you don't end up trying too hard.

Like people said, not everyone is going to have a really weird name, some might not have a street name at all, other might have a fake name, but a "normal" one... Others might be the kind of people that always go by their last name (real or fake), and never use the first name, or somone who just goes by his initials, like "J.D.", or something. Or you might have one guy who's just "Sargent".

I agree. Especially in military-style outfits (outside of pilots ), it's more common just to use surnames and/or rank, and save given names, nicknames and shortforms for informal use.

Thor
Odin
Tyrant
Rex
Fingers
Twister
Blackie
Killer
Lass
Kid
Big Bear, Little Bear
Cyndane

Pink Princess
Huggle Bunny
Sweetcakes
Candy
Pretty Girl
Seductress
Cutie Pie
Britney Spears

Grumpy
Sleepy
Dopey
Bashful
Sneezy
Happy
Doc

Hell, last night I got saddled with Susan.
(Never again will I quote Bullet-tooth Tony.)

Don't forget "Sarge". Also a lot of guys get names because of something they've done at some point too (alot of times something stupid )

Sue.

"What's that guy's name, again? Sue?"
"Sue. Yeah, his dad was a big Johnny Cash fan, from what I understand."
"Oh, right, right, right, with the song."
"Yeah, boy named Sue, right. So I figured that's why he's such a mean cat."
"That guy?"
"Oh, he's a bad guy. He don't look it. He's, no, he's mean, man. I see him in a fight once, he just got a guy, was just fucking smacking his fucking head into the curb, like his mouth, just fucking smash, his teeth came out, just fucking like whack whack whack, just fucking blood came out of his fucking mouth. It was nasty, man. Nice guy, though. That guy's cool."

Boomer (male)
Boom-Boom (female and blonde)
CrackerJack
SteelToe
Tosser
Tank
Fly-Boy
Rookie
Knight
Father (as in priestly)
Pops
Sugar-baby
Sugar-Daddy
Hercules
Kong
'Zilla
Gunga Din
Bishop
Angel
Brute

John Le Mesurier
Conrad
Padre
Wildcat
Jaeger
Bastille
Lemmy
Bob
Reggie
Bo
Blondie
Angel-Eyes
Tuco
McCall
MacDougal
Standwell
Red

~J

BOB you have to have a BOB!

torz x

In the EXCELLENT book Generation Kill by war journalist Evan Wright, he says all of the marines had nicknames. But often they would simply use their last name, or in special circumstances their first names. I mean, on the base it's one thing to be talking about "The Iceman", but when in the field they didn't refer to him as "The Iceman", just his last name.

Jeff & Jiff, the twins

all those cool sounding names like shadow, ice, nitro, dynamite, killer, hunter

and not to forget: Medic! (just recently watched band of brothers. the guy whos name was called most often was the sani/medic, for obvious reasons )

You know, in those old war movies, there alwies seem to be charictors nick named after where they are from.

Agreed.

A few more I remember from my own past: (Insert last name here), Big Ed, Little Ed, Dipswitch, C.R. (stood for Cradle Robber), Babe (for a really big guy).

Oh yeah, soldiers never get tired of calling people LT, Sarge and Doc.

Mr. Perkins.


-karma

The 8' troll with body 10 named "Tiny"...
The diminutive elf named "Tank."
"Doc," the field medic.
"Mouth," the guy who never shuts up.
"D.O.M." Dirty Old Man
"Top", the NCOIC, usually the 1SG


Other common name usages...
"Chief," there's always someone being called Chief, or one guy who calls everyone Chief. This guy usually has a dip in, and has been around for ever. Maybe not too bright, but a very "helpful" person.
"Boss" See Chief
"P.G." the Platoon Guide
"Smoke," usually the Platoon Sergeant, especially if there's ever been field artillery involved with the CO, XS, or Platoon Sergeant's careers.

A lot of units use call signs for tactical radio speak...some units refer to each other by call sign, even in person...tactical call signs are normally alpha numeric in nature ie, one-one-delta, two-three-charlie etc.

I hope this has been some help...

These are actually people I know:

Dee-Bo
"Filthy" Sanchez
Bo
Monkey
Freaky Dutch Bastard, a.k.a. FDB
Farva (from Super Troopers)
Hedgehog
Armadillo
Jew (he's not really Jewish)
Cootch

I'll probably think of more later.

Now that I think about it, even in civilian jobs people will give you nicknames.
My short list of RL nicknames given to me includes,
Meltdown <- given to me in high school
Biggie <- from current job
John, sometimes Big John (either way not even close to my real name) <- from first job
Sleepy <- from firefighter training school

I like the names from Full Metal Jacket:
Joker
Animal Mother
Gomer Pyle
Eightball
Rafterman
Cowboy
Touchdown
Crazy Earl
Payback
Doc Jay
Poge Colonel
Hand Job
Snowball

Who was called Hand Job?

My nickname in the Corps was Road Dog, a play off my last name (Roederer). Another one I earned was Car Wreck, but that's a looooong story.

As far as common military nicknames go, don't forget Red.

Concerning "Chief" I've been in for a while, and we had this E-6 (SSG) living in our building, and he would call everyone "Chief." I think it's because he couldn't remember people's names. He was field artillery, and he said a lot of wierd things.

All of your suggestions suck.

Yeah, want to start something? You want to go? Yeah, I have issues with my dad.

Ummm, I've seen this movie ovr 50 times and still have no idea what you are talking bout. Is it a deleted scene or something?

Look I don't really care how much you like that movie. I would like for you people to stop talking about on this thread, kay?

I happened to dislike it,and I would really hope people would forget about it.

Cynic project:

Yeah, stop being such a communist. Fucking terrorist. I bet you want to take my tv and redistribute it to the poor or something.

Where's that punch-in-the-face computer program when you need it?

I believe what you are searching for is the fabled Internet Face Stabbing Device of olde. Many have searched. None have returned from their journeys.

Then I propose another. Who among ye is bold enough to join me on this perilous endeavor? For if we should succeed, our names shall known far and wide until the day that time ends! What say ye, men?

I'm with you!

Yes, you can. What you can't do is make that person shut up.

~J