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Roegadyn - Sea Wolves
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At a glance, Sea Wolf names can oft appear like an amalgam of seemingly random letters, pounded out by a starved monkey chained to a thrift store typewriter.

Ah, but that is where you are mistaken! There actually is a pattern!

Male

Sea Wolf names are actually all formed from two words taken from the ancient Roegadyn language that the race's ancestors spoke before they came to Eorzea. For example, Ahldskyf is a combination of Ahld (meaning 'old') and Skyf (meaning ‘ship’). Rostnsthal is a combination of Rostn (rusty) and Sthal (steel). Pronunciation of the names can be a bit easier after splitting the name into its two parts: Ahld + skyf (read "ald-skeeff").

- Greintoum (grein + toum = bronze dream)
- Mytemyrgan (myte + myrgan = middle morning)
- Ahtmhas (aht + mhas = eight scars)

Fun Fact: The word Roegadyn actually means ‘people of the rain’: roega being a distorted form of the word ‘roegan’ (rain) and ‘dyn’ (people), as the weather in northern islands from which they hail fluctuates from thick fog to torrential downpours...and that’s when it’s too warm for snow.

Female

Female first names follow the same rules as male first names, except that the second word used in the names is almost always one of the following:

- Swys (Sister) -> Aermswys (Poor Sister)
- Thota (Daughter) -> Klynthota (Small Daughter)
- Wyda (Willow) -> Dyrstwyda (Thirsty Willow)
- Geim (Jewel) -> Rhotgeim (Red Jewel)
- Wyb (Woman) -> Merlwyb (Sea Woman)
- Rael (Doe) -> Doesrael (Two Does)
- Lona (Gatherer) -> Styrnlona (Star Gatherer)
- Bhyda (Bride) -> Blyssbryda (Blossom Bride)

Surnames

Sea Wolf last names can appear even more imposing, but in fact, they follow rules similar to the first names. A last name simply takes the father's name and adds either Syn (meaning 'son') or Wyn (meaning 'daughter'). For example, Limsa Lominsa Admiral, Merlwyb Bloefhiswyn could be broken down like this:

Merl (sea) + wyb (woman)
Bloe (blue) + fhis (fish) + wyn (daughter)

In other words, "Sea Wife, daughter of Blue Fish"

Both ‘thota’ and ‘wyn’ translate as ‘daughter’; however, the use of wyn is exclusive to last names. You will never see it used in a first name (such as Klynwyn), as you will never see a last name that uses thota (such as Bloefhisthota).

Click here for a list of known Roegadyn words.

The term “known” is used here because many Roegadyn words have been forgotten after generations of disuse, with only popular terms being passed down through names. Every so often, however, a new (or should I say old) word is rediscovered in an ancient tome and added to the list for further generations to use (or ignore).

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Roegadyn - Hellsguard
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You will find the "old language" used in a lot of Sea Wolf names, as the Sea Wolves tend to adhere to the ancient traditions and customs the northern islands from which they hail. The Hellsguard, on the other hand, are more prone to adapt to their surroundings, and often choose to 'translate' their names from the old language to modern Eorzean. That said, the lines between the two clans aren't set in stone, and you will find some Hellsguard have chosen to use the old language in their names, and some Sea Wolves have given themselves "translated" names.

Male

Male names are formed from two words (usually a descriptor and a noun), and tend to draw heavily from nature, whether it be vegetable or animal, inanimate or animate, abstract or concrete.

Tall Mountain
Spinning Blade
Anonymous Moose
Still River
Bloody Catapult

Female

Female Hellsguard names follow the same rules as those for male names. In addition, there are no restrictions on the second word (as exist in Sea Wolf forenames). The only real difference between male and female Hellsguard names is that the latter tend to include plant imagery (though there are many which do not). On the other hand, the use of trees, flowers, etc. is not exclusive to female names, as there are also many male names which incorporate them.

Blue Lily
Weeping Orchid
Diving Sparrow
Silent Moss

Surnames

Highly independent in nature, Hellsguard despise being defined by the actions of anyone but themselves, and therefore those who leave their mountain homes for the city-states of Eorzea, will often completely drop their family names, choosing only to be referred to by their first.

Pronunciation

When pronouncing Sea Wolf names, you can, for the most part, follow the rules of English. There are, however, some exceptions:

Vowels:

AE: Somewhere between the 'e' in 'egg' and the 'ai' in 'air' depending on the consonant that follows it
Aerg (ambitious) would be pronounced like 'airg'
Aent (duck) would be closer to 'ent' (rhymes with 'sent')

Aergaent (ambitious duck)

Y: A long 'e' such as the 'ea' in 'eat' or the first 'e' in 'Steve'
Alyr (alder) would be pronounced 'ah-leer'
Blyss (blossom) would be pronounced like 'bleece' (rhymes with 'fleece')

Alyrblyss (alder blossom)

OE: An 'ooh' sound such as the 'ue' in 'blue' and the 'oo' in 'I pity the foo'
Broen (brown) would be pronounced 'broon' (like 'broom')
Loef (leaf) would be 'loof' (rhymes with 'goof')

Broenloef (brown leaf)

Consonants:

PF: Closer to an ‘f’ than a ‘p’
Pfym (five) would be 'fim' (rhymes with 'slim')
Skapf (sheep) would be 'skaff' (rhymes with 'staff')

Pfymskapf (five sheep)

TH: More like a hard 't' than a soft 'th'
Thosin (grey) would be 'toe-sin'
Sthal (steel) would be 'stall'

Thosinsthal (grey steel)

W: Somewhere in-between a ‘w’ and a ‘v’: nowhere as hard as the ‘v’ in ‘villain,’ but with a little more zing than the ‘w’ is ‘west’ (and nothing like how Chekov pronounces ‘vessels’ in Star Trek IV)
Wyzn (white) would sound like 'vee-zin'
Wilf (wolf) would sound like 'vilf' (rhymes with 'filth')

Wyznwilf (white wolf)

G: Almost always hard (like the 'g' in 'guilt' but not the 'g' in 'page')
The 'gin' in Swygyn (silent) would be NOT be pronounced like the drink 'gin' but like the 'gin' in 'begin'
Agat (amber) would be 'ah-got'

Swygynagat (silent amber)

J: A 'y' sound like in 'year' and 'yummy'
Jungh (young) would be pronounced 'yoong'

H: When paired with a vowel (before or after), almost always silent
Smhid (smith) would be pronounced 'smid' (rhymes with 'kid')

Junghsmhid (young smith) http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/61152-Roegadyn-Naming-Conventions

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Elezen
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Both the Wildwood and Duskwight Elezen are proud clans from a proud race. The forenames and surnames used by them have changed little since the time when they first crossed into Eorzea from the north. However, over the ages, due to bad blood between the two tribes, the surnames once commonly used by both, have been claimed by one side or the other. Now, you will find that while the structures and spellings of the names are extremely similar, and they follow the same phonetic rules, a Duskwight and a Wildwood Elezen will never have the same last name.

The spelling and phonetic rules are extremely similar to those of French, and while there are no set-in-stone guidelines for male or female names, there are some distinguishing features.

Female

Female names tend to end in “ne,” “ette,” or “elle” or on extended vowels like “ie”, and be shorter than the male names.

Tivionne
Elviane

Jainelette
Saulette

Etoinelle
Pimelle

Jannie
Ceaulie

Male

Male names are longer, and will end in x, such as ‘loix’ (pronounced ‘lo-ah’) or ‘aux’ (pronaounced ‘oh’), or end in a silent t, such as ‘mont’ (pronounced ‘moan’) or geant(pronounced ‘john’).

Raitmeaux
Mourechaux
Nogeloix
Padilloux

Vairemont
Carrilaut
Aurifort
Bertennant

One will also notice that some of the Elezen names appear familiar to those of the Hyur.

Louis vs Louisoix
Eugene vs Eugenaire
Arthur vs Arthurioux

Gwen vs Gwenolie
Hilda vs Hildie

There are Eorzean historians who believe that these similarities in names may be proof that the two races are of similar origin─’open-minded’ Hyuran historians claiming the Elezen are a bastard race spun off from the Hyurs (and not the other way around). Elezen historians, on the other hand, simply deny any blood relation whatsoever. http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/61148-Elezen-Naming-Conventions

(07-21-2013, 05:20 PM)Tivahlt Wrote: Vashies I'm not sure if you're aware or not, but all of this information is already available on the RPC wiki. No offense, but I don't really understand the need for these threads.

(07-21-2013, 07:02 PM)Vashies Alexander Wrote:

(07-21-2013, 05:20 PM)Tivahlt Wrote: Vashies I'm not sure if you're aware or not, but all of this information is already available on the RPC wiki. No offense, but I don't really understand the need for these threads.

oh! I was unaware sorry... I didn't see it.... haha maybe i should look harder next time.