Only your GW1 character names are reserved come launch, and given they have to be 2 words long or longer, ALL 1 word names are up for grabs. However, I noticed during the beta weekends that ALL my preferred 1 word names were gone by the time I went to build my character. So.. if you’re keen on the idea of having a character with a one word name, here’s something you can do to secure it!
– As soon as you can log in to the headstart, create a default character. There is a default option for every part of your story/character/gender/etc, just keep clicking the next button.
– Type in your one word name and click finish.
This will obviously secure the name for your character, however in Guild Wars 2 you can delete your character and that characters name stays associated with your account for you to use again for 1 day. So then you can take your time building your pretty character however you like!
Stealthy..
As an addendum – GW1 names are only secured for the first 24 hours after launch (so 4 days from beginning of headstart), and you need to have logged into your GW1 account sometime between Jan 1st and July 31st this year for your GW1 name to be reserved for your use.