Given Names and Nicknames
Names of people are rather flexible and adapt themselves to the circumstances. Most people use two names, though some use more. It is uncommon to use only one name, except among family and intimates, and then the name used is a nickname.
Names consist of various parts, such as a given name, a clan name, a guild or temple name, a locative name, an honorific suffix, and sometimes a descriptive phrase. The given name is generally the second name in the sequence, when it is given. The other names can be in any position, depending on how one wishes to name oneself.
Given names are generally two to four syllables in length. The full given name is prefixed with λi- when one is introducing oneself or another person. Given names are often replaced with a much smaller set of nicknames, and these are not given the λi- prefix. Instead they are treated more like an honorific suffix and tend to come last in a name sequence.
Any given name can be given to anyone. That is, they are not necessarily male or female names. However, names that end with -ennon and -aren tend to be given to males, and names that end with -elin and -arne tend to be given to females. Also, names referencing animals or male virtues tend to be given only to males.
All given names have an associated nickname. The nickname is always two syllables, the second syllable ending in -a. The first syllable is usually the first syllable with a long vowel in the given name. So the given names Āliane, Āllennon, Ālnelin, and Ālresēlen all have the nickname Āla. In a list of 1000 given names, there are 212 corresponding nicknames.
λi-Nīrien
Nīra
The clan name is the name of the person's matriline, thus Xāmorte, Āstaña, Lōrraren, etc. When the clan name is in the first position, it is prefixed with an-. The clan name in other positions is prefixed instead with the animate prefix ma- and suffixed with -en. The -en suffix is derived from an old singulative.
an-Āstaña λi-Nīrien
A guild name is, naturally, the name of the guild a person belongs to. Not everyone has a guild name. When the guild name occurs in the first position of someone's name, it, too, is prefixed with an- as in annīseran and anāxteran. When the guild name occurs in a different position, it is changed to the word for person-of-that-guild as in manīsanen and māxtanen.
an-Nīseran λi-Nīrien
an-Nīseran λi-Nīrien m-Āstañen
an-Nīseran m-Āstañen
an-Āstaña λi-Nīrien manīsanen
an-Āstaña manīsanen
A temple name refers to a deity that is important to the person. The form of the temple name is the name of the deity followed by the honorific suffix -wēra. Temple names do not co-occur with given names. Temple names are increasingly rare, and some temple names have become given names instead.
an-Āstaña Ālre-wēra
Locative names usually begin with rū-, and are usually used by travelers and tourists to refer to a hotel. However, they can also begin with sū- and end with -en to refer to a permanent point of origin, as in sūānnien 'Easterner'.
sū-Ānnemēþinen λi-Nīrien
sū-Ānnemēþinen λi-Nīrien m-Āstañen
sū-Ānnemēþinen λi-Nīrien manīsanen
Descriptive phrases or words usually begin with ma- and can take the form of an animate noun maxōλa 'the pretty one', or even a whole sentence, as in maxōλa ñi rū jatāna ālme 'the pretty one who is from across the river' or ma ñi jaλata jakīma tē 'who killed six kīma' (literally, 'who made six kīma killed').
an-Āstaña λi-Nīrien maxōλa
an-Āstaña manīsanen maxōλa
an-Āstaña maxōλa
an-Nīseran maxōλa
Nicknames can only be added to ma- words. Honorific suffixes can only be added to nicknames and to ma- words. So, one cannot add a nickname to the clan name anāstaña, but one can add it to the clan name māstañen after dropping the -n. Likewise with guild names; a nickname cannot be added to annīseran, but it can be added to manīsanen after dropping the -n.
an-Āstaña manīsanen maxōλa-Nīra
an-Nīseran m-Āstañe-Nīra
Nīra-xāna
maxōλa-Nīra
maxōλa-xāna
m-Āstañe-Nīra
m-Āstañe-xāna
manīsane-Nīra
manīsane-tōnta
List of Nicknames
There are currently 237 nicknames in the database. Clicking on a nickname will lead to a list of all associated names.