(08-18-2013, 02:02 PM)FreelanceWizard Wrote: You can definitely name your character whatever you want. That said, if your character doesn't conform to the naming conventions, it's a good idea to decide why -- if nothing else, it's an opportunity to develop your backstory. Since your character already has an unconventional first name (tribal Seeker names start with a letter, then an apostrophe, then the given name), it's worth thinking through how he got that name. Was he raised by a miqo'te family in one of the city-states? If so, are they unaware of tribal culture (i.e., the family moved there long ago) or do they actively choose not to follow it? If they choose not to follow it, why not?
Once you've hammered that out, you can decide what the surname would be. If, for instance, your character's parents are unaware of tribal Seeker culture because their families moved to a city-state long ago, perhaps they've adopted hyur surnames; for midlanders, for instance, those are often based on professions, such as Miller or Boatswain. If they live in Limsa Lominsa, they might have adopted roegadyn surnames. Perhaps they decided to stick with one part of Seeker culture -- using the name of the father as the surname -- but didn't want to do that for the given name, since they're no longer tribal.
All that said, one thing I would avoid is going against the naming conventions, then saying your character is a typical tribal Seeker -- because in that case, he's not. You should have an explanation for why your character isn't "typical," because it has a reasonable probability of coming up in RP. Additionally, it helps flesh out your backstory, giving you a narrative benefit for being "different."
Cheers, wasn't quite expecting such a in-depth answer. You've helped a lot.