Names in Culture

[Mystery]

How do your conculture perceive names, are they a thing of power or just something normal? Are there any customs while picking the name?
Are there surnames and middle names? Is there a "name limit" one can have or in theory a person could have a name for each letter of the alphabet?
And lastly, do your conculture make a difference between "boy names" and "girl names"?

[clawgrip]

I've written this before, but I'll put it down again. I will outline my most detailed naming system. People in this culture have two or three names, the first being the name of the deity ruling the day they were born, the second being the individual's name, and the third being a name of lineage, place, or description. Honorific titles are also commonly used. The name is important because it usually reflects the person's status both in the spiritual and social world.

Deity name
certain days have androgynous deities while other days have male and female deities that share the day. If someone is born on a day ruled by an androgynous deity, they take that name, while if they are born on a shared day, they take the name of the appropriate deity.

Individual name
This varies by region, but these are some possibilities:
1. natural descriptive name, e.g. plant, animal, or geographic feature. They are usually made up of two elements: Tounloun (frog pond), Hadgakīp (pious mantis) Hūbul (mighty oak), Ṭwēwaṇṭyaid (berry-gather).
2. describes desirable characteristics of the individual: Wasġabayīd (lordly face) Weyangshouṭ (long life) Wongkōhudu (strong body)
3. single word name like 1. or 2. above: Ṭēyōū (cliff), Sang (intelligent)
4. Common in northern areas, descriptions of the deity that represents the individual:
-born under Hewich (associated with fire): Kothayu (dark ash) or Xyalouŕawong (burning hot)
-born under Sheyaḍ (associated with interiors and protection): Wangġŕōh (under-roof), Latke (inner one)
5. Common in central areas, descriptions of the deity in opposition to the one that represents the individual:
-born under Hōūs (associated with wind): Ōm̃ēxaich (round hill)
-born under Hīhit (associated with forests): Xyūdarpūwam (smooth line)
6. Common in southern areas: something that their parents hope them to become or become similar to (often with prefix chin- (like; as)
Chinhīyek (like a soldier), Chinwasaġ (like a lord), Chiṇḍūṇa (like a river)

In the north and south, the deity name may be dropped, but in the central areas it is considered important and is rarely dropped. So Yama-Tounloun in the north or south may be called simply Tounloun, while in the central areas would usually remain Yama-Tounloun.

Names of place or lineage
Pabīng "the younger"
Pabshwōū (də yōūs) "(one from) Peb Shwoo"
Xaicha (də yōūs) "(one of) the hill"

Honorifics
Children receive the title wash "child" and have a parent's name appended with a special suffix.
A child named Weyaṇḍūṇa, born under the deity Xeŕin, to a father whose personal name is Chīfadyīg, will carry the full name of Wash Xeŕin-Weyaṇḍūṇa Chīfadigī də yōūs, where Chīfadigī də yōūs means "one of Chīfadyīg"

After completing the coming-of-age ceremony and becoming adults, new titles are given. A man receives the title sī "man" while a woman receives the title grou "woman". Reference to parents is usually dropped upon becoming an adult, so:

Wash Xeŕin-Weyaṇḍūṇa Chīfadigī də yōūs becomes Sī Xeŕin-Weyaṇḍūṇa.
Wash Sheyaḍ-Youbanak Fīdsōū də yōūs becomes Grou Sheyaḍ-Youbanak.

Leaders or chiefs receive the title ŕak, and priests receive the title sok.

Kings and so on may have longer names:

Hūha Wasaġ Xeyine k Hīborkes Yuja k Ibibwongka Hūxūə
The king, Ibibwongka, of Yuja, born of Xeyin, the Great Lord

Is there a "name limit" one can have or in theory a person could have a name for each letter of the alphabet?

People cannot change their deity name because it is given to them by the gods. People also do not tend to change their personal name. Their title changes, however, as I have outlined.

And lastly, do your conculture make a difference between "boy names" and "girl names"?

As I said, certain deity names only apply to boys or girls. Also, there are some individual names that are more likely to describe men or woman and thus may be considered boys names or girls names, but the rest are free to be used either way.

[Ars Lande]

How do your conculture perceive names, are they a thing of power or just something normal? Are there any customs while picking the name?
Are there surnames and middle names? Is there a "name limit" one can have or in theory a person could have a name for each letter of the alphabet?
And lastly, do your conculture make a difference between "boy names" and "girl names"?

I've put a bit of thought into names for an SF setting.
To be perfectly honest, if you're familiar with the Culture novels, you'll find this rather familiar. Honestly, I found the idea of long-winded names so good that I just couldn't resist stealing the idea. But I've used a different model; the naming conventions are kind of similar to aristocratic names. (This is supposed to reflect a society that places quite a bit of importance on places and extended families).

That being said, let's get on with it.

Taking an example, let's consider a guy named Gêbau Qerian.
His full name is actually Gêbau Jai Qhêŋ Taerie Qerian m Beŋaur n Samane n-Man, dēta ô Marajir-en-Dratō
Let's break it down a bit:

1. Personal names

Gêbau, Jai, Qhêŋ, Taerie are all personal names. There's usually chosen among the personal names of the immediate family; it is customary to include the personal names of those that have raised the child (Typically, the biological parents). In our example, Gêbau will serve as a first name, and is probably the name of a deceased relative (a great-great-grandfather, possibly). Jai is the name of a distant relative, a great-uncle or a cousin. Qhêŋ and Taerie are the parent's names.

2. Clan names

Qerian, Beŋaur, Samane and Man are clan names; they reflect the extended families the person is associated with. A person belong to the extended families of the people that have raised them: that means that a person raised by his biological parents will inherit both sets of extended families, which could lead to an unwieldly set of family allegiances. Typically, any individual gets involved in the activities of one, maybe two families, and is familiar with one or two others.

3. Place names

dēta is a title; roughly equivalent to 'Mr./Mrs.' or 'Citizen'. It's also, the most common title; it basically indicates that the person is an adult, and a citizen. The title is conferred upon coming of age.
Marajir-en-Dratō is the place Gêbau considers his home. Marajir is the name of the local community; Dratō is the name of the space habitat it is located within.

Let's take another example; let's consider another guy named Menere Phares. His full name is actually something like:
Menere Ruseu Sem Beri Phares n Khay n Herme, khena ô Epekhi rem Harê-en-Baritsē


The pattern is similar to the previous one; there is one interesting difference:
The title khena means, roughly, 'ship-captain'.
Epekhi is the name of the ship, Menere Phares spends enough time aboard it to consider it home and add it to his name. (Travel times being what they are, this is rather common).
rem introduces the place of origin; in this case, Menere Phares is originally from a place called Harê, in a space habitat called Baritsē.

How people are actually called depends much on the circumstances; most of the time, these two people will go by Gêbau Qerian or Menere Phares. If you're being formal, though, Gêbau Qerian is dēta Qerian at home, and dēta ô Marajir abroad - or even dēta ô Dratō. Likewise, Menere Phares is khena Phares aboard his ship; khena ô Epekhi otherwise.

And lastly, do your conculture make a difference between "boy names" and "girl names"?

Personal names, often enough, derive from early family names, and were unisex to begin with. They remained mostly that way, though some of them have acquired male or female connotations. (I think, for instance, that Gêbau is probably a predominantly male name).

[Chagen]

Azen naming systems are...not that complex.

Each person has 4 names, in this order: Given-Family-SubClan-Clan

Given is...well, a given name. Usually a given name is the stem of a verb, or a noun/verb/adjective with a special name suffix. Sometimes they're combinations of two words. Rarely given names are bare nouns or they are completely unique words used only for names.

Family is what you'd expect. It is usually formed the same as given names.

Sub-Clan and Clan are; well, there's about 35 clans in the Azenti homeland of Azen tol Harghreto, stemming from the original Azen tribespeople who settled there. Each clan has about 15 sub-clans, and each sub-clan has numerous families in it. The clan names are all nouns describing people, in the plural: Ratrasor ("warriors"), Bhotonami ("thinkers"), Rafenami ("seers"), Carrarnami ("sailors"), and so forth. The sub-clans are all adjectives--so a subclan-clan name would translate to, say, "Blazing Warriors" or "Illustrious Warriors", or "Flying Skeptics" (they can get....surreal).

As such, an example Azen name could be...Zadhna Mur Feruta Ratrasor--or, more literally, "One-who-heals Pray Blazing Warriors", or, getting a little more flowery, "The blazing warrior healer who prays".

In other countries, on Thooselqat, the Azen are stereotyped as having very...ostentatious names.

[maıráí]

I have one conculture with really ridiculous naming practices, so here's the simple one first;


Habaan names mostly reflect stature in society.

All members of the true royal family have a one-word name. Examples:
King Maaan "large piece of gold", queen Huai "willow branch", and princess Laua "clear sky".
No other person in the country can have these in their personal names, so long as that member lives. (Such names always become popular among common folk when they die.) If the names are common words, they are typically prefixed with mo "low, lesser" or a similar word, during their lifetime. (E.g. momaaan, mohuai, molaua.)
A citizen is required either to change their name when royalty is born with it, or to go to the capital, provide proof of birth, "But I had the name first", etc, and get permission to use it directly from the royal family. Travel is not an issue, so the latter is more common than one would think.

Clan royalty have two names, one for the clan, and one personally. No other member of their clan may have the same personal name, but they are usually very obscure characters. Clan names typically reflect some important natural aspect of the lands they control.
high lord Shuu Raaang "shade of a tree, deep valley"
high lady Aan Bioum "smooth pebble, roaring waterfall"

Clan nobility have three-part names, which include what subset they belong to; common divisions are the seasons, the elements, and cardinal directions.
lord Naio HumRaaang "flying bird, deep valley in autumn"
lady Suoing OnBioum "spring water, northern roaring waterfall"

Regular citizens have a four-part name; personal names are of two words, and they either take the sub-clan's name, or the main clan's name, with something like mo "low" or taaa "under" added to it. Those born in the capital district, or who are otherwise clanless, can take a variety of names, typically something like VoiaDooon "citizen of the center" or TaaaHoiin "under the crown".
MoaiBain VoiaDooon "flowering field, citizen of the center"
NaorHa LiiiGaaim "rushing warrior, beside the throne"
InVaao HumRaaang "second scholar, deep valley in autumn"
InMoai TaaaBioum "second bloom, under a roaring waterfall"

Citizens sometime trace their own little family lineages, e.g InMoai "second bloom", daughter of RamMoai "summer bloom", but this is frowned upon. (In- is normally appended to second children's names.) The particularly rebellious will add separate words, e.g. InRamMoai; truly scandalous and thus increasingly popular.

Foreigners' names are left alone unless they are of a low syllable count, in which case they will be followed up with "humbling honorifics", or the foreigner is given the option to pad the names themselves. This is rather rare, given Habaan's phonotactics.


Outside of explicitly gendered words like "girl", "son", there are no real biases for masculine or feminine names, but this depends on the area. A boy can be an InMoai as much as a girl can be a NaorHa. While names are not very magical in Habaan, it is believed that naming in this manner can have a good effect, and the contrast can be attractive; the son will be out-going or proud, the daughter will not be cowardly. It is the meaning of the words that matters.

[GrinningManiac]

In the Dwarfen kingdoms names often repeat - there are not that many unique names for your average dwarf - so many go by honorifics, patronymics, nicknames and so on.

The famous Dwarfen warrior Kaþgan is better known to history as "Drúchðr Kúru" - the Short Warrior - for his stature (no, he wasn't short because he was a dwarf. He was short by Dwarfen standards, you racist you)

[sirred]

Chompi naming:

There are three major Chompi name sources. The first category is natural phenomena. So, a child may be named Ashim (thunder) or Tan (rock, stone). The second category is for aspirational names. So, a child might be named Tiimoten (wealthy) or Mełak (devout). The third category is for 'misdirecting' names. These are names which are thought to bewilder hostile supernatural forces. So, a child might be named Kuop (shit) or Shinem (corpse). One name with a similar rationale to the ‘misdirecting’ names is Tekkatem (protected by a shrine).

The parent does not pick their child's name. Instead, it is assigned by a cleric who is guided to the correct name by divination. Giving the child the same name as a close living relative is taboo. The child is not named until their first birthday. A spiritual explanation is that the Chompi believe that it takes souls this long to develop and that soulless things should not be given a personal name. This also may help parents cope with grief in a society which traditionally has had a high infant mortality rate.

Chompi generally go by one name but there are methods to distinguish one Ashim from another. One way is to use a matronym of the form Shaanol Kett Ashim. Shaanol is the genitive form of child. Another is to use the clan’s name in a similar way, Shaanol Nahonyem Ashim.

[tezcatlip0ca]

Most of my modern cultures use the Satheiran system (given name, patronymic, family name), but the Arıvadha had an interesting method of naming.

Most people have five names, although the aristocracy may take multiple given names, apart from their titles.
First is the family name, which is passed down from mother to daughter. A majority of family names have uncertain etymologies, but some are occupations, nature-based, or clan names from the Mailinian era.
The matronymic is the mother’s given name, or if she was underage, the instrumental case of her day name.
Each of the 431 days of the year had an associated spirit, and a person’s day name would be that of their date of birth. These can be nature-based, god names, or cultural objects.
The given name would be chosen by them at their coming of age. This would usually be a participle or adjective they’d describe themselves by, but it could also be any arbitrary word.
The place name is the genitive of the closest city to their place of birth.

Let’s take the example of a woman named Azınora Mıtasvi Čeduvet Dherilhana Sıkairın.
Azınora [adz̩ˈnɔɾa] is her family name, from Mailin atъnaura “farmer", from the root *atъn “oats”.
Mıtasvi [m̩ˈtazvi] “dark-skinned” is her mother’s given name.
Čeduvet [ˈtʂɛduvɛt] “hazel” is the name of the 115th day of the year.
Dherilhana [ðɛɾiˈʎana] “knowing” is her given name.
Sıkairın [sz̩kaˈiɾɨ̃n] is the genitive of Sıkaira, the fifth largest Arıvadha city.

[prettydragoon]

Among the Rireinukave, the normal thing is to have two names, a given name and a surname. The given name (isuime) is given by the parents, usually immediately after birth. The most common custom is to name the newborn after one of her comother's parents. The surname (peaime) is inherited from one's birthmother.

Names are not thought of as having any intrinsic meaning; they are seen as mere labels. Their main perceived value is that they join one into the chain of her ancestors.

As a totally random example, let us say that a person has the name Sari Kaniraya. Then Sari would be her isuime, and Kaniraya her peaime.

[hwhatting]

The original (pagan) naming system of the Tautínai is the inherited IE system - two-member compound names and a patronymic for disambiguation. E.g. a typical male name would be Orxucortus Orxunartar (sunus) "bear-sturdy bear-strong's (son)", a typical female name Orxuflómu Orxunartar (duchter) "bear-flower bear-strong's (daughter)". The compounds don't always need to make sense, it's often seen as more important that elements of a parent's name are incorporated in the name. From the first names short names can be formed based on one element of the compund (e.g. Orxus or Cortus in the male example, Orxu or Flómu in the female example), and then from these hypocoristic names could be formed by adding various suffixes.
After they became Christianized, the Tautínai started to use Christian names as well, although the traditional naming system is also still in use. From longer Christian names, shortened names are formed as well; in the North, they are mostly based on the first or first two syllables, in the South mostly on the penultimate and last syllable:
Ambrósis - N Ambrus, S Brósis
Maddaléna - N Madda, S Léna
Other designations can be used to disambiguate - the name of one's genor (clan), one's frátrí (monastic group), home town, profession, nicknames -, but they don't form part of a fixed naming system. Family names as we know them are only used by royal and some noble families.

[Pazmivaniye]

Let's consider a Palethian name: Kadoro Najítu bai Balomy e Fasa*. In literal English, she is "Kadoro Najítu ship Balomy of Fassa". The first part, Kadoro, is the given name, selected by one's parents at birth. The second part (Najítu) is the family name, which is usually given by a husband to his wife and children, but about a third of the time these days it is the wife/mother's. These are the only parts of a name that are usually required, i.e. for legal signatures and name tags.

But now it gets interesting. The third part, bai Balomy, is the name of a ship (air, water, space? who knows), which is obvious because bai means "ship". This slot is filled by the name of one's permanent residence, and the practice of naming long-term crewmembers after their ships dates to antiquity. Other names usually have a town, city, or sometimes a space station (prefix saura) in this space.

The fourth and last component, e Fasa, tells you this Kadoro Najítu is from the town of Fassa originally. If she were born on the bai Balomy and living in Fassa, her name would be Kadoro Najítu Fasa e bai Balomy.

All I can say about other names in my conworld is that the other North Annumean cultures use about the same rules. For example, the Nilyawese equivalent name is Qadurā Nayixtul bat Balomy i Pasa**.

*[kadoˈɹo naˈʒitu bai̯ baˈlomu̯i e ɸaˈsa]
**[qʼæˈtuɾɒ næˈjiʃtʼʊl pæθ pæˈlumi i ˈpʼæsæ]

[Megandia]

Naming in Drăsgaran tends to be duller than others, I think. A married woman would have three while a man will have two.

Traditionally a child is not given a name until they are about thirteen years old. Until then they could be called anything from first child, second child, son, daughter, ect. In modern times, however, The people tend to just name their child what they'd like them to become, or achieve. Boys will typically have strong names that have meanings of strength, or of strong animals. Women can have strong sounding names but they would be in combination of something considered feminine. Like Nydrarga /nɪdʰɾaɹgʰǝ/ which means a large flower. Size is viewed as strength as well.

The second name derives from the city, countryside, area, or even state/country they grew up in or were born. This is because for a long while the Drăsgar were spread out all over the world and many names were reused so once they all resettled in one land, they had to have a way to differentiate from one another. The suffixes -nem was added to the place to change it into a name. It's akin to 'from place'. In more modern times, the place suffix -bŭl, or even -bem, is used instead. -bem tends to sound more reserved and aristocratic than -bŭl so it isn't used as widely.

Third names were typically only for women. They acquire this after marriage. They take the name of their husband and add the suffix -ir, which means 'wife of'. However, in recent years men have taken a third name in honor of their fathers. (And a bit of cultural jealousy that their name wasn't as 'big' as their women's.) For men, they use these suffixes: -maer /meɹ/ 'son of', or -taemyr /tʰemɪɹ/ also 'son of', or -aly /alɪ/ 'born of/from'.


Example:

1st Alysaeŭ /alɪseʌ/ – Beloved of the father
2nd Roshaenem /ɾoʃenɛm/ – From Roshae
3rd Aumoyir /ɒmoɪɹ/– Wife of Aumo

This isn't a good example of a third name for Alysaeŭ, however. Her third name should be Ramarŭsir /ɾamaɾʌsɪɹ/ , but due to circumstances she dropped her husband's name after he died because his name became taboo in the culture. Long story short, he led a nasty rebellion and tried to overthrow their leaders and start a genocide of all the humans. But that's another story.

Male example:

1st Ramarŭs /ɾamaɾʌs/ – Exalted
2nd Aumonem /ɒmonɛm/ – From Aumo
3rd Rarsedtaemyr /ɾaɹsɛd tʰemɪɹ/– Son of Rarsed.

They don't think of their names as something of power unless they do something great. Then there is a bit of power attached to that name. Hence the name Ramarŭs becoming taboo to either say let alone name their child.

The main difference between female names and male names is the words used. In theory, a man could be named after a flower, though he would not be seen as being strong. So while each name is unisex, there is some cultural bias towards using names typically for women for men. The name given for the female example could be used for a man as well as a women. However, Nydrarga would really be used for women. You might find a few men in modern times with that name, but they would probably change it unless they moved to live in another country.

[Jūnzǐ]

Fym people do not use surnames or kin-related naming conventions (personal names are mononymous). Chosen by both the family, the community and the community's leaders in a naming ceremony shortly (generally twenty days) after the child's birth, personal names are always gender-neutral and unisex, as well as always being meaningful – the Fym have a tradition of naming children in accordance with beauty, the dreams and will of the community and in accordance for what is desired in the newborn's character.

Furthermore, Fym people often use one or more names in addition to their personal name. These may be of various types – normally, with the exception of casual nicknames, which are often self-selected, acquired from the community or influential leaders or role models in their life, in accordance with their abilities: An example would be a pen name, a style name (c.f. Chinese bǎozì), a scholar's name or even a special hero's name. It is expected that one earns these names, as names are seen as having a sort of "soft" power in and of themselves.

[Jūnzǐ]

Let's consider a Palethian name: Kadoro Najítu bai Balomy e Fasa*. In literal English, she is "Kadoro Najítu ship Balomy of Fassa". The first part, Kadoro, is the given name, selected by one's parents at birth. The second part (Najítu) is the family name, which is usually given by a husband to his wife and children, but about a third of the time these days it is the wife/mother's. These are the only parts of a name that are usually required, i.e. for legal signatures and name tags.

But now it gets interesting. The third part, bai Balomy, is the name of a ship (air, water, space? who knows), which is obvious because bai means "ship". This slot is filled by the name of one's permanent residence, and the practice of naming long-term crewmembers after their ships dates to antiquity. Other names usually have a town, city, or sometimes a space station (prefix saura) in this space.

The fourth and last component, e Fasa, tells you this Kadoro Najítu is from the town of Fassa originally. If she were born on the bai Balomy and living in Fassa, her name would be Kadoro Najítu Fasa e bai Balomy.

All I can say about other names in my conworld is that the other North Annumean cultures use about the same rules. For example, the Nilyawese equivalent name is Qadurā Nayixtul bat Balomy i Pasa**.

*[kadoˈɹo naˈʒitu bai̯ baˈlomu̯i e ɸaˈsa]
**[qʼæˈtuɾɒ næˈjiʃtʼʊl pæθ pæˈlumi i ˈpʼæsæ]

So Palethian names are sort of like "John Smith who lives in Cleveland, born in Brisbane"?

[spidermilk]

• People have two given names (The name of your clan isn't considered part of your name.) The first name is the Public Name. The second name is the Private Name.
• Using both names together is acceptable. The Public Name alone is more common, but using the Private Name by itself is very insulting, (Unless you're extremely close to that person.).
• All names are ether male or female. Although girls often have a male Private Name, but never a male Public Name. Unusual names are taboo. It is also taboo to name you kid after somebody (using both names). You can invent a new name, but it must follow several conventions, and be considered a quality name. Which it more then likely won't. (Names have to be approved.)
• Names aren't considered sacred, but it's basically considered child abuse to give a kid a "bad" name. Using the Private Name is looked at almost like a violation of personal space. Akin to getting in someone's face.