Sims by Izza

My Sims 2 experiences and creations

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Izza's Freakin' Gigantic Townie Name Replacement Mod!

So I've decided this doesn't really need to be a sticky anymore.  However, since LJ has been having strange issues with newly created sticky posts messing up your posts appearing on friends' lists, I'm just copypasting my mod post to here and keeping my sticky post intact, since it's not broken in the way new stickies are, so that I can have a master list/index post as a sticky.  Sadly, this means I'll no longer have all your nice comments, but such is life.

Most Recent Edit - December 23rd 2010: I have added a bunch of new names - 13 male, 66 female, 48 last - 127 new names in total!  I have also completely redone the mod, running my name lists through a list randomizer and typing all the code out again. Somebody once said name mods always start from the same point in the list (no idea if that's for real), but I've decided to do this once a year so that your names are as random as possible forever.  Feel free to redownload and let the file overwrite the old one.  Happy simming!

In case you're wondering about all the blank days on my LJ this month, this is what I've been doing with my time!  I've been working on my own default replacement townie name mod - and it's one of the biggest ever posted!  This is my Christmas gift to the entire simming community and I hope that you'll all enjoy it.


Edit January 7th 2010: By request, I have created a new version of my townie name replacement mod.  This is for those of you with pets installed who liked my townie names but couldn't bear to go back to default maxis stray pet names.  My townie names are exactly as they are in the regular mod, but I have blended in Jordi's pet names (somewhat shamelessly).  I added about five pet names of my own as the names of my real life pet companions, past and present, were sorely missing.  All credit for the pet names should and must go to Jordi.  I only blended his pet name mod in to my own townie name mod.  My own townie names though - credit is still to me and my policy still applies.  Download the version below if you want the pet names too.


Install Live.package in your My Documents/EA Games/The Sims 2/Downloads folder

Credits: Thanks to Jordi for creating the original mod and giving tips on how to make/edit your own, as well as giving people permission to do what they wished with the mod so long as they gave credit. 
Thanks to SimPE for giving me the tools to make and edit my own mod. 
Thanks to my partner, Andy, for randomly yelling out every name he thought of while I worked on this.  I'm sure there are many obvious names I would have missed without his support.

Policy: Edit it to your hearts' content, but DO NOT upload my unedited file elsewhere or claim it as your own.

There are two versions in the .rar file

English Versions will only effect the two English versions of the game.

All Languages
will effect all languages listed below:

Canadian French

Name Count Comparisons Between My Own & The Most Popular Alternatives:

Jordi's (the original):
Male First Names: 488
Female First Names: 500
Last Names (Both): 499
Total Possible Combinations: 430,012

HystericalParoxysm's :
Male First Names: 592
Female First Names: 398
Male Last Names: 403
Female Last Names: 499
Total Possible Combinations: 437,178

Izza's (This One!):
Male First Names: 941
Female First Names: 1416
Last Names (Both): 1604
Total Possible Combinations: 3,780,628

That's right, I've done the math for you, and my mod adds up to a total of 3,780,628 different possible name combinations of names, as opposed to less than 500,000 for either of the other two.  That makes it highly unlikely that you'll ever have two sims with the same name again.  It's possible, since it's randomized, but very unlikely.
How The Mod Works:

This is a default replacement mod which effects what a newly spawned townie or NPC is named.  It will not effect existing townies, just newly created townies.  As soon as you put it in your downloads folder it will be working, but as your game only spawns new townies as needed, it could take a while before you see a new townie with a new name.  It works best on a brand new clean hood, as you will then immediately have new townies and NPCs spawn.  My list of names is much bigger than Jordi's original version or HP's alternative version.  There is one bigger mod out there that I've found, but it uses silly words as last names (eg. Cheese, Ketchup) instead of real last names, and though that's amusing the first couple of times, for my own use I wanted real last names.
How To Use This Mod For Best Effect & Create a Truly Custom Game:

First, I recommend downloading and following the instructions for clean neighbourhood templates for each individual EP here and here.  These will not hurt your existing neighbourhoods, they will only effect any new hood you create and stop the game from dumping Pleasantview's townies in your new hoods.

Okay, so your new townies will no longer be called Goopy, EVER, but the new townies will still look like clones of those ugly old townies.  If this is something you want to avoid, I recommend downloading a new set of default replacement face templates.  I'm currently using a combination of my favorite faces from both spookymuffin's default replacement face templates and Pooklet's "Legacy", but there are literally hundreds of different sets available and there is sure to be a set out there that's perfect for your taste.

But your townies will still spawn with Maxis hair, eyes and clothing.  To avoid this, I recommend a little program called Wardrobe Wrangler.  With this, you can townify all your custom content without having to immediately learn to use anything as complicated as SimPE.  I recommend backing up first in case you make a mistake.  Copy the entire contents of your downloads folder in to a new folder (eg. on your desktop) and open the new folder in Wardrobe Wrangler.  There is a townify button for each file and a thumbnail of what it is.  If you're not sure what something is, it's probably safer to leave it alone.  It is a slow process, but townify a file, hit save, move on to the next file.  I wouldn't recommend townifying facial hair, as it seems to make every single person spawn with facial hair.  Perfectly safe for clothing, hair and eyes (and apparently glasses, though I have never townified glasses in my game.)  To do eyes, there is also a Genetics and Hair tab, which will let you set the genetic value of a custom eye color.  I always give an eye color a genetic value as well as townifying.  From what I can tell, townifying makeup makes no difference whatsoever and your townies will not spawn with townified makeup.  So don't bother.  If you hate the Maxis makeup, search for default replacements of it.  There are plenty out there.  Once you've townified everything you want to, you can replace the files in your downloads folder with your townified files.
If you have followed the steps above and have installed my Live.package in your downloads folder, you are now ready to create a new hood.  In this hood, your townies will spawn with new and diverse names, more attractive faces and a chance of different hair, eyes and clothing from the Maxis originals.  How diverse your townies will be is only limited by the amount of CC you have townified.  It takes a while for your game to spawn a lot of townies, so the hood may feel somewhat empty at first.  If you don't want to wait for your game to spawn townies and NPCs as needed, you can batch create townies instead.  If you want to batch create townies, there is a tutorial here that works just fine.


Do you think you're better than Jordi and HystericalParoxysm?
Not at all.  I admire their work and couldn't have done this without their groundwork.

Can I have this version and one of theirs in my game at the same time?
No.  This will overwrite their mods.  DO NOT rename the file.  Renaming the file can cause extreme game borkage, according to Jordi.

So what makes your mod better/different than theirs?
My mod has many more names for the game to choose from than either of theirs.  Also, theirs are only enabled for English versions of the game, whereas I have enabled mine for several additional common languages that use the same alphabet system.

So did you just put in a million alternate spellings of names?
No.  There are hardly any alternate spellings in my version - I found the idea of doing that lazy and wanted real diversity in my townie names.  Though there are some derivatives of names.  Eg. Catherine, Cathy, Cat.

Did you just take their versions and squish them together?
Nope.  I barely read their versions at all, truth be told.  I scanned them after I was done just out of curiousity.  They were not like mine.  That's all I needed to know.  I also checked on exactly how many names were in their versions so that I could run the math on comparisons.

Did you leave out my favorite townie name?

That depends on what your favorite townie name is.  I have removed Goopy and Komei forever, for example.  Kaylynn is allowed, though the surname Langerak is not (because if I personally ever see another townie named Kaylynn Langerak in my game I think I may scream!)  I tried not to get rid of any names that are commonly used.  You may never have met a Kaylynn, but I have.  However, the likelihood of a Kaylynn is millions of times lower than before.

What can I expect from your mod?  What types of names are in it?
My mod is extremely diverse.  I tried to look at the way the real world works.   For example, imagine you live in a very large, thriving city - a multicultural melting pot of diversity.  Not everybody in that city was born in your country or has the same background as you.  Apart from common and uncommon names from English speaking countries, there are names from a variety of cultures.  Eg. French, German, Russian, Japanese.  There are also some old fashioned names that don't see regular use anymore.  Many old fashioned names are making a comeback and I wanted to include them for this reason, as well as the reason that many are very pretty names.  There are celebrity inspired names.  And names from popular literature.  I have thrown in the occasional nickname.  There are a few very unusual names as well.

What exactly do you mean by unusual?
For example, imagine a child born in a hippie commune.  Or someone who has joined a cult.  There is a chance, albeit extremely small, that a townie could generate with, say, the name Wind Blossom.  There are not a lot of these, but there's a chance.

Why did you create such a diverse list of names?  Isn't it better to have a million John Smiths?
I'll start with a question of my own - why would I want to create a mod exactly like one that already exists? The names are diverse because I wanted my game to mimic real life as much as possible.  In the real world, not everybody has the same culture or background.  By their very nature, names are diverse in real life and I wanted my game to reflect that.
What were your intentions in making this mod?
To make a mod with so many names (without them being stupid words but real names) that I would never need another naming mod.  I figured I should make it as big as I possibly could so that there would be almost no chance of two townies ever having the same name as one another again.

My name isn't included in the mod.  Can you put it in there?
I could, but I don't really want to.  If you have the ability to open the file in SimPE and check whether your name is on the list, you can add it yourself.  I may edit my own version in future to add names I don't have if I think of any real good ones worth adding, and if this happens I will re-upload with the updated file.  But don't hold your breath for me to ever think of another name.  As far as I'm concerned, the mod is finished.

What resources did you use to compile your name lists?

I put in all my favorite names and any name I could think of off the top of my head first (eg. people I have met or friends of mine.)  Then I went through my high school yearbooks (I went to two seperate high schools in different areas, so this helped a lot for last names.)  Then I went through my Windows Media Player library for musicians' names.  Then my DVD collection to get names from movies/tv shows as well as actors' names.  Then I visited many baby name websites.  Then it was a long look at my extensive book collection for authors' and characters' names.  Then I actually browsed many Sims 2 fansites to find names that people liked to use for their sims.  I also asked my partner for any names he could think of.

How long did it take you to compile such a long list of names and finish the mod?
I'm one of those people that once an idea is in my head, I have to see it through to the end no matter how much sleep I miss out on.  For an entire week, day and night, I compiled a list of names.  I went over it ruthlessly, checking and re-checking the spelling on every name and running searches in the list to make sure there were no double ups.  All of this had to happen before I ever even opened the file in SimPE to work on it.  Even after I felt I'd finished I kept thinking of names to add and thus the file was edited many, many times.  I now find it unlikely that I will ever think of another name, thus the mod is considered finished.

Why didn't you make it for all languages?
Because I know that many languages don't use the same alphabet as English.  I only changed the languages I was sure of working out.  If your language is not listed and you would like the same list of names, I will happily re-upload with your language enabled by request.  I don't consider this request the same as adding a name.  I want to help as many simmers as possible to have a new townie name pool and so long as I don't have to change the names to different alphabets, I'm more than happy to help.  I'm aware that a lot of people don't know how to use SimPE to do it for themselves.

Can you tell us some of the names included in the mod?
Yes.  Here is a random sampling of ten names from somewhere in the middle of each list.
Male First Names: Sora, Ashley, Jamie, Sam, Tony, Lewis, Arden, Piet, Malcolm, Pietro.
Female First Names: Joan, Kathleen, Samara, Suzanne, Marlene, Sheri, Valerie, Libby, Antonella, Petronella.
Last Names: Tatem, Harrington, Barjavel, Power, Lafayette, Glam, Pollard, Alba, Pickering, Strummer.

Then I'll comment again just to let you know it still is a great mod. Thank you! :]

Thank you for this! I love how many options you've included.

This is absolutely perfect, and exactly what I was looking for. Thank you!

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