NAMING

Shared Vari First Names

Countless names are shared amongst the Varian-based languages, however these names come in a wide variety of spelling, pronunciations, and other nuances. In the most diverse areas, these names have come crashing into each other forming new and evolving variations. These names have such long histories in multiple cultures that it becomes hard to untangle from which culture the names and spelling truly originate. These names have seen particular favor amongst small-town and rural communities where a sense of community is stronger than individualism.

Modern Common First Names

Alongside the many new, shared, fusion names, this culture has led much of the new name innovation of the last centuries, so much so that these names have begun to influence the cultures it was once reliant on for inspiration. These names are very popular in the densely populated cities and large towns of the Imperial Crownlands and Willonia, where folks look to find additional ways to shine amongst the large swaths of folks.

Family Names

Family Names in the Common language conventions are heavily influenced by the practices of the Willonian people, who put a stress on the importance of the family name in a way few cultures ever did in history. These practices date back to the naval-nomadic times of the Willonians, in which their family names identified one of two things: the boat the owner or belonged to, or (if they were a skilled professional) the name of their profession.

In the modern times we see this practice continuing in a varied way, as the heavy majority of family names fall into one of three categories: location, profession, or in rarer cases, the vaunted names of the bloodlines and ships that plied the seas during their earlier history. Notably, the “Professionalist” names lack much of the flair of their Imperial counterparts, and the “Locationalist” names often still bear the Armadic word ‘Fen’, (often abbreviated as f’ before a vowel), to indicate their homeland, or ‘Cer’ in vaunted names to indication rulership over said location or historical fleet.

Shared Vari First Names

The Hinnish variants of the commonly-shared Varian names are distinct in their appearance in the group, as they represent the least formal (and most pleasant to say) version of each name. This comes from generations of caravan merchants that traveled the world looking to be welcome wherever they roamed. They quickly found the warm, pleasant nature of the names may put foreigners at ease, as the names were vaguely familiar, easy to pronounce, soft on the ears, and quick to remember.

Traditional Hinnish First Names

These Hinnish names have certainly evolved with time, but their ancient roots are apparent, and still tied to historic individuals and legends. These names have most resisted the influences on foreign language, and are most common in areas with long-standing, predominantly Hinfolk communities. These names often push the joyous sing-song nature of Hinnish names to the maximum, and are often used in theatrical art to indicate characters that pose no threat to the protagonist of the performance, and will likely be an unrecognized ally.

Modern Hinnish First Names

Due to the great density of historical and borrowed names in most Hinnish naming convention, names that are distinctly ‘Hinfolk’ have begun to dilute, diffusing into the greater Common and Imperial cultures. While many Hinfolk see this as a good thing, some still hold the concept that personal identity is of growing importance in a world that is become more homogeneous. Not wanting to lose control over their own distinct culture many modern Hinfolk have taken to inventing entirely new names with no representation in other cultures, creating some truly unique names. 

Hinnish Namesake First Names

Unlike any other Varian language culture, Hinfolk have taken strongly to namesake first names. They have gone as far as being responsible for translating and popularizing namesake names from the Tok language cultures. These names are sometimes also favored by those who are preferable to alliterative, rhythmic, or performative full names.

Hinnish Family Names

Hinfolk people treat family names very differently than all of their Varian brethren, who typically view family names as a way to track and display one lineage; instead most people of Hinfolk cultures allow the last name to be a performative part of the full name. Typically these Hinfolk family names are compound names, frequently alliterative, most capable of evoking their wares of trade, accentuating their art or performance, or highlighting personal or family mythos and values. This does mean that in the larger generations, some of the family members break off and take up new names to better identify their new path. These derivative names usually maintain some similarity to the original. It is uncommon however, for a Hinfolk family to abandon their family name entirely, even if it has come into disgrace. Raising your family name up above the distasteful actions of the past is one of the greatest feats a Hinfolk can achieve, as it elevates not just themselves but any ancestors and predecessors that shares the name.

Shared Vari First Names

These names are certainly the most contained of all Grimmish cultural names and are usually only taken by Grimkin who do not live in the Grimlands but cannot bring themselves to disconnect from their Grimmish heritage.

Traditional Grimmish First Names

Lineage and heroic ancestors are very important within Grimkin society. That being said, many ancestral names have survived into the modern era, with few modifications to their spelling and pronunciation. Children will often be given altered versions of one or both of their parents’ names, creating entire lines of ancestral repetition.

Modern Grimmish First Names

Contrary to historical names, modern Grimmish names have taken the opportunity to become as strange and unique as desired, freely stealing from other cultures but dispatching from any sense of formal structure. These frequently take names that are popular in other cultures and flavor them with Grimmish feeling, spellings, and pronunciations, sometimes intentionally flying in the face of expectations.

Grimmish Namesakes

Strongly influenced by the Sylkin influence on Grimkin society, namesakes have grown rapidly in popularity amongst newer generations. While these names have existed in Grimmish culture for millennia, they were typically only taken by those who felt disconnected from their familial roots. This stigma has all but disappeared in the last centuries, which has lead to a rise in namesake popularity.

Family Names

Grimmish family names hold great importance and weight in society, and often connote the achievements, deeds, and ethos of the family throughout history. The strict rigid formality often associated with family names does mean that there is little variation in the types of last names in Grimmish cultures. Due to this, there is a subsection of native Grimkin society that refuse last names and the implied responsibilities that come with them. To fight back against some of this stiffness, Grimmish family names are very frequently alliterative or rhyming within themselves and within the full name.

Shared Vari First Names

Unlike most Armadic names, some of the Vari names remained similar enough to other names on the continent. While they are still quite different, they bear striking resemblance to revivified Dawin names. These names are particularly popular amongst Colonian communities, where having a unique—but uncomplicated—name is seen as a symbol of status.

Modern Armadic First Names

These names may carry the modern moniker, but for the Armadic-speaking people these names are as old as their histories, they are just uniquely classified as they both are still entirely new names to the continent, and particularly had no similar names upon arrival. Moreover, these names have seemed to not garner interest in other cultures as they are too difficult to alter for other tongues, so they have remained exclusive to the Armadian people.

Family Names

The uniqueness of Armadic family naming conventions has all but been completely dissolved as they have been adopted into the Common language practices, leaving them nearly indistinguishable from actual Common language family names. The true clues of an Armadic name are the remnant locational tags (O’, Cer’, Vak, nis, and others) that were not consolidated into the more commonly used ‘Fen’ grammatical consolidation. Similarly many of these names still have strong verbal connections to naval linguistics and terminologies ot the original port towns established by the first Armadians..

Traditional Dawin First Names

Dawin Family Names

Dawin family names seem to have little unifying structure and are often indistinguishable from Dawin first names to non-speakers. They maintain their archaic spellings but do not show as much concentration on the front end of the alphabet. 

Traditional Aero Namesakes

Sylki Family Names

The Faekin who are known to take last names are typically ones who wish to incorporate themselves into another group’s customs. The primary Faekin culture that has a distinguishable second-name culture is the Sylki who have adopted the Grimmish Family name conventions, often choosing alliterative and rhyming names. While these conventions have been adopted, it is also very common that a Sylki join an existing Grimkin family, business, or endeavor, and adopt their family name for a portion of their life.

Traditional MerSylvan First Names

MerSylvan Namesakes

While many namesakes are shared amongst the Sylvan people, Mer namesakes are typically more directly aligned with nature – especially aquatic. Most Bodren people of the greater world do not seem as pulled to these types of names as their Sylvan sistren. Since historical names still hold the strong majority for Bodren, namesakes like the following are most commonly used by isolated bodren of smaller, more naturalistic communities. 

Traditional MerSylvan First Names

The Bodren people are the most likely to adopt second names as they have become more intertwined with the wider world. Unlike others, however, the second name does not serve the same familial identifier. Most Sylvan people live so long that the concept of family is less a concept tied to blood lineage, and more closely to their chosen relations. These family names are increasingly being taken from the Common language Namesakes, seemingly to ensure that most peoples are capable of understanding their second name, despite their typical MerSylvan first names.

Traditional Verdi First Names

Verdi Namesakes

While second names are a rare sight for Forest natives, due to the growing population of Fangren joining the Common world, last names have become a necessity for integration. Similar to the Mer namie conventions, the Verdi names frequently use a simple nature-based Common Namesake, but they have been less linguistically-adventurous with these names than the Mer names.