dotadota-2
In WC3 DotA, you would occasionally (1 out of 10 times) get little fun nicknames for your hero instead of their actual name (for instance, Puck!! for Puck, Clinkz Eastwood for Clinkz, YaphetS for Shadow Fiend, etc).
My question is, is this feature part of DotA 2? If not, is anyone aware if Valve plans to add those names, or are some of them copyrighted by Blizzard?
So unlike League of Legends, Heroes of Newerth wasn't just designed to feel like DotA, but to actually be DotA. From Heroes, to items, right down to the default map, it is very much a DotA clone... and S2 was really OK with this. So if you're looking for a gameplay difference, then they're few and far between.
I admit this list is a little strapped for items, but when you design a game to be the same... don't be surprised when its the same.
On the other hand, if you're willing to look outside of gameplay, the major advancement HoN has over DotA is a ranking system and matchmaking. For those people who didn't resort to third part products, you are probably familiar with how frustrating finding the game type you want is with DotA or finding people with equal skill to play with. HoN solved both of these problems exceptionally, using an Elo system to rate and allowing the searching of games types and restricting certain games by rating.
Finally, HoN allowed for the creation of new maps to aid in different game play style (one bizarre example is a map that has everything cleared out of it, and only 1 lane).
In all likelyhood, he is the shopkeeper for the store.
DotA has no real plot to speak of.
Best Answer
Unfortunately, Dota 2 heroes do not have "fun" names - picking a hero will give you a unit with their regular name.
Since the game is still in closed beta, I can not say with 100% certainty whether or not fun names will be added later, but I do recall a few of the names used in the past (I believe Kimahri might've been a nickname of Phantom Lancer?) are probably copyrighted by their respective source's companies.