Miqo'te Unconventional Naming

[sindurion]

Hey there guys! So having just left WoW behind I'm getting started on FFXIV and I'm loving the lore so far, I really am, but I have a couple of problems I was hoping fellow RPers could help me out with!

 

First off, let me just say that I love the conventional intricacy of Miqo'te lore, I do, but me, personally? I tend to be a little...OCD with my characters, I like them to be utterly perfect for me, that is to say I want to personally enjoy every aspect of them, from their looks, to their personality to their names.

 

That said, what I love is the simple grace and striking look of the Miqo'te, what I don't love, for my own personal character is the conventional naming for either Keeper or Seeker and general tribal nature. From what I have gleamed looking over the forums a lot of people seem to have City-dwelling Miqo'te who still retain the conventional naming of the Tribal clans.

 

My question, or rather statement is this, What I would like a lot, is a Miqo'te that has been city-raised if not born, amongst a Hyur household and with more importantly a non-tribal name, perhaps even a Hyur name. My biggest worry with just picking out a name from the air, a Hyur name that is, is that I'd hate for other RPers to get the wrong impression that I disregard lore and the like.

 

So guys, what should I do? Bite the bullet and go conventional? Not be a Miqo'te at all?

[Naunet]

As a player with a Seeker whose in-game name is not abiding with lore in a direct manner, I say do what you want! Just be prepared to have an excuse to explain why your character has the name they do - which it sounds to me as though you do.

[Magellan]

Don't overthink it ._.

 

Rp is supposed to be fun. First of all, a Hyur raised Miqo would have a Hyur name. That's lore accurate.

 

Second of all, tribal miqo'te have a full name (take mine for instance) A'kaitis, and a more formal name: she is called Kait, Kat, or Kit.

 

She bears the tribal name above her head, but being raised in Limsa, she has a much more informal approach to her name. She prefers Kat over everything else. So... she could, in fact, bear the tag Kat over her head and still be lore accurate.

 

As long as you know what change you are making, and why you are making it, you're usually ok !

[sanguineFenrir]

I've seen some people get around this by having their character be adopted by another race (keeping their first name and tribal letter, but taking their adoptive family's surname for greater variety.) I've also seen some say that their character dislikes tribes or left theirs for whatever reason, and thus they drop the tribal letter or come up with a completely new pseudonym for city life. I imagine the same thing would work for Keepers who want to have a more individualized name not tied to their mothers.

 

My character has been around for many years in my own writings and some other games under this name or another, and I really wanted to play him as a Keeper due to the lunar aspect and facial features/native-esque appearance, but calling him by anything else other than his name wouldn't be right for me.

 

The rationalization I came up with is that his father was friends with and deeply respected many of the Roegadyn he met in his travels, and so he wished to pass down a bit of their individualistic culture to his son. Since Kevaraan and his family traveled through city-states for most of their life and might have been seen as outliers, this works well enough (and "Kevaraan has that Nordic/Scandinavian feel soundwise, even though it doesn't directly translate into the Sea Wolf language. It has become incorporated into his RP a bit--he's still very much a Miqo'te, but speaks like a formal, educated city-dweller, and I've had a few characters who met him over a linkshell be surprised at his race in person.

 

From what I've heard, as long as you have a suitable, plausible explanation as to why you're using a non-tribal name, you should be fine. Maybe your character wants to distance himself from or was exiled from his tribe for whatever reason, and disdains their customs. Maybe he was taken in by a kindly Hyur ignorant of Miqo'te customs. Perhaps he has a tribal name, but wants a more Hyuran equivalent because he's tired of people mispronouncing it.

[Swift Nightclaw]

This is my miqo'te, a traditionally tribal raised child.

 

What's that? His name isn't traditionally appropriate?  Pfft, that's because most of you can't even pronounce our names right.  This is close enough for you.

 

I consider his real name to be K'Swhift Tia, but after leaving his tribe some of the, um, work he's done he picked up being called Nightclaw and took it as a name.  As for his first name? Swift is essentially how it's going to sound when pronounced by non-miqo'te.

 

Also, I would note for folks debating this:

"In colloquial speech amongst close friends and companions, sometimes the tribe letter will be dropped from the first name."

 

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/61150-Miqo-te-Naming-Conventions

[LiadansWhisper]

This is my miqo'te, a traditionally tribal raised child.

 

What's that? His name isn't traditionally appropriate?  Pfft, that's because most of you can't even pronounce our names right.  This is close enough for you.

 

I consider his real name to be K'Swhift Tia, but after leaving his tribe some of the, um, work he's done he picked up being called Nightclaw and took it as a name.  As for his first name? Swift is essentially how it's going to sound when pronounced by non-miqo'te.

 

Also, I would note for folks debating this:

"In colloquial speech amongst close friends and companions, sometimes the tribe letter will be dropped from the first name."

 

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/61150-Miqo-te-Naming-Conventions

 

This is, quite honestly, brilliant!  I love it!

[Swift Nightclaw]

This is my miqo'te, a traditionally tribal raised child.

 

What's that? His name isn't traditionally appropriate?  Pfft, that's because most of you can't even pronounce our names right.  This is close enough for you.

 

I consider his real name to be K'Swhift Tia, but after leaving his tribe some of the, um, work he's done he picked up being called Nightclaw and took it as a name.  As for his first name? Swift is essentially how it's going to sound when pronounced by non-miqo'te.

 

Also, I would note for folks debating this:

"In colloquial speech amongst close friends and companions, sometimes the tribe letter will be dropped from the first name."

 

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/61150-Miqo-te-Naming-Conventions

 

This is, quite honestly, brilliant!  I love it!

 

Thanks!

 

My friend had a mithra named Swift in FF XI but I picked up the name from a character we're creating for a comic series we've been discussing.  He's making his miqo'te with "Swift" as the last name.

 

We're debating getting more complicated in my miqo'te (male) and his (female) being siblings with the son/father names being variations of one another (K'Swihft and K'Swhift).  Siblings with opposite paths in life and intense sibling rivalry with her being a paladin and him, eventually, being a ninja. 

 

Ironically, he likes thinking of a bit of personality and background to his characters, but doesn't RP. Hehe

[Shae'ra]

I know of several Miqo'te who have unconventional names and are claiming that they are raised by Hyur or that they abandoned their tribe name and changed it when they moved in to the city.

 

As long as there a reason behind it for IC purpose, I think you're safe.

[FreelanceWizard]

As long as there a reason behind it for IC purpose, I think you're safe.

 

Yep, this. It's a big world, and there's lots of reasons why a miqo'te's name will, or will not, match the "normal" naming conventions. You just need to make sure you have an explanation for it, as it'll probably come up in conversation. Likewise, it's good if your IC justification also carries some narrative benefits -- that is, it should do something to expound on your character and open up avenues for additional RP.

 

Continuing on this thought, a miqo'te raised by hyur will likely be very different from other miqo'te, as they wouldn't have been exposed to their traditional tribal culture (or even the echoes of it that city-dwelling miqo'te might have). So, you should ask yourself, how does your character feel about other miqo'te? What about other hyur? Is there any "stranger in a strange land" alienation? Your concept gives you a lot of options to come up with a unique background, so you should take advantage of it.

[sindurion]

As long as there a reason behind it for IC purpose, I think you're safe.

 

Yep, this. It's a big world, and there's lots of reasons why a miqo'te's name will, or will not, match the "normal" naming conventions. You just need to make sure you have an explanation for it, as it'll probably come up in conversation. Likewise, it's good if your IC justification also carries some narrative benefits -- that is, it should do something to expound on your character and open up avenues for additional RP.

 

Continuing on this thought, a miqo'te raised by hyur will likely be very different from other miqo'te, as they wouldn't have been exposed to their traditional tribal culture (or even the echoes of it that city-dwelling miqo'te might have). So, you should ask yourself, how does your character feel about other miqo'te? What about other hyur? Is there any "stranger in a strange land" alienation? Your concept gives you a lot of options to come up with a unique background, so you should take advantage of it.

 

Thanks for all the replies and feedback guys! You helped a lot! And Indeed I was thinking the same thing about a Miqo'te raised by Hyur's being very different, I in fact really wanted to play on that fact, the fact he would most likely find Tribal and Traditional Miqo'te customs so odd and foreign, since a lot of my friends are playing as very tribal and traditional Miqo'te I feel this will somewhat help me feel like I'm not just playing the same thing and ought to make for some interesting interactions!

[Michikyou]

As long as there a reason behind it for IC purpose, I think you're safe.

 

Yep, this. It's a big world, and there's lots of reasons why a miqo'te's name will, or will not, match the "normal" naming conventions. You just need to make sure you have an explanation for it, as it'll probably come up in conversation. Likewise, it's good if your IC justification also carries some narrative benefits -- that is, it should do something to expound on your character and open up avenues for additional RP.

 

Continuing on this thought, a miqo'te raised by hyur will likely be very different from other miqo'te, as they wouldn't have been exposed to their traditional tribal culture (or even the echoes of it that city-dwelling miqo'te might have). So, you should ask yourself, how does your character feel about other miqo'te? What about other hyur? Is there any "stranger in a strange land" alienation? Your concept gives you a lot of options to come up with a unique background, so you should take advantage of it.

 

Thanks for all the replies and feedback guys! You helped a lot! And Indeed I was thinking the same thing about a Miqo'te raised by Hyur's being very different, I in fact really wanted to play on that fact, the fact he would most likely find Tribal and Traditional Miqo'te customs so odd and foreign, since a lot of my friends are playing as very tribal and traditional Miqo'te I feel this will somewhat help me feel like I'm not just playing the same thing and ought to make for some interesting interactions!

 

http://fandango.exp.jp/name-generator.php

 

In the future, this may help.

[Lan Darklyn]

I am with those that say go with what you want, but just be prepared to explain why your toon has that name. Lan here was raised by a Midlander family so he has a more Hyur sounding name.

[Chisae]

Until I get a way to change my Miqote's name (not Taijha), she will be stuck with the name Masikha Rosewood. *sigh* She was a hyuran until I used my vet reward to change her. >.>

[Roda]

http://fandango.exp.jp/name-generator.php

 

In the future, this may help.

The character creator has one built in now, and it has far more names than that generator!

[Chisae]

chargen name generator offers up surnames for elezen that are not even in the game npcs (that I've seen), the fandango site however, does. I think the site one is based off 1.0... or perhaps XI.

 

They are both good tools though, don't discount the site just because it offers fewer names for some races (supposedly). I spent nearly another pushing generate on elezen and had well over 30 different surnames.

[YesGood]

I would personally like to see a Miqo'te child who has been abducted from their family and sold to Hyur parents. *nods sagely* I mean, adoption is swell, I whole-heartedly support it, but after participating in another thread about Miqo'tes being abducted and turned into exotic dancers and slaves-- I start to wonder if there isn't some demand for Miqo babies. I imagine they're adorable.

 

Anyhow, their Hyur adoptive parents might not be terrible at all. Maybe the child doesn't even remember what happened when they were tiny babies. I just like to see things spiced up too, once in a while.

 

On another note, I don't mean to do this -at all- but I kind of assume when I see a traditional Miqo'te name that the person is an RPer. That's not necessarily the case, and adversely, there are plenty of Miqo characters with 'unconventional' names. I just sort of automatically assume from the name like, in wow, if I saw a troll with a name like Jin'tok, I might assume they were an RPer over someone whose name was Tusksaplenty.

 

Though on the other hand, I suppose I usually wait to see if the person is RPing anyway, so the name doesn't entirely matter most of the time! I'm always interested to hear the reasons behind names, OOCly and ICly, and Siobhain only recently realized that all Miqo'tes named 'Nunh' aren't related to each other. Until recently, she kept her dealing with Miqo'tes limited.

[Lament]

I have a Miqo who was sired by a Tia and (according to my headcanon for her original tribe, which I am leaving up to debate just in case it conflicts with anyone's headcanon for their own tribe) this caused her parents to be cast out of the tribe, so she doesn't have a tribe consonant, or the name of her sire as her last name. Instead she has her given name. Since not having a last name would be inconvenient (she does mercenary work for a living) she took on her mother's given name as her last name. Her brother uses the father's.

 

There are plenty of reasons why someone could have a name that doesn't fit the lore, so I vote to get creative! Alias, nickname, picked their own name... lots of possibilities.

[Otte]

I named my Miqo'te during open beta before I knew I was going to preorder the game. Then, after I'd gotten interested in the game and decided to buy it and RP in it, I read about the lore and found out about Miqo'te naming conventions. I didn't want to reroll the character though, so I got creative and created Otte's background around his unconventional name. His birth name was V'otte Tia, but because of personal reasons he has left the tribe, and threw away the tribe letter when he joined an Arcanist guild in Limsa Lominsa. He picked his own surname, thinking Dreamwalker sounds grandiose and eccentric, which in his eyes is perfect for someone practising arcane arts. But usually he only introduces himself as Otte.

 

So, my ramblings aside, it's all about being creative and having a reason for unconventional name, as others have said many times before me.

[Alothia]

I named my character back during beta of 1.0 before I knew anything of lore, and before I knew anything about RP. Once the information came out, there was no way I was going to change it at that point. It made no sense.

 

I also wasn't too keen on the ideas of mating in the tribes. I figured that Alothia's parents, since I had them be a monogamous married couple, wouldn't have liked it either. So they left the tribes, and in order to strike away from there, they took names that were more Hyuran and Elezen in nature. So when Alothia was born, they named her after that style as well.

 

*shrug* I'm sure you'll figure out some way to work it out!

[Tabrett]

I agree with many people here in that as long as you can stand behind your reasons, you can do whatever you want. 

 

For Kerr, part of it was that I named him before lore came out, but I was lucky enough that I could twist his name and reasons to make it more conventional. When Kerr was forced to abandon his old life, he left his name behind as well. As much as he treasures the name his mother gave him (its all he has left of her), he can't reasonably got by it in some places. 

 

Also, as someone else stated: it's easier for hyurans and the like to say! V'khrr can trip up some people's tongues who can roll their r's. Kerr is simpler. He took his mother's first name as his new surname, so he still has ties to his tribal name. And he still uses V'khrr with special people.

[Val]

Like what most people say, so long as you have a reason I don't think it should matter. Val's Seeker name is actually W'Val, but he goes by Val for IC reasons

 

I'm not sure if that was something you were really looking for, but it's what I do for him.

[T'salmaveth]

T'sal is a 'Half'... his parents both left their respective clans for their own reasons... so he gets his first name from his Seeker papa and his 'last' name from his Keeper mama. A nod to both backgrounds and to the fact that they wanted their child to be raised outside of either in the Limsa melting pot.

[Oriane Suhzu]

Just adding in my little two cents here. I have a Moonqo'te with an Elezen name! Which I think is just fine.

 

My Moonqo'te's original name was Rhela Viqqoh. Upon travelling away from her tribe for various scholarly reasons, however, she discovered a whole bunch of new cultures. The first being the Elezen. I decided not to have her exiled or in disagreement with the Moonqo'te in any way, but to be more.. curious about outside influences and other races. So when she basically abandoned her tribe on a "scholarly adventure", she took up an Elezen name full on since that was the first culture she truly fell in love with. She still loves the Moonqo'tes, and even misses them to the extent that she's named her chocobo after a fairly Moonqo'te-ish name.

 

But yes! I think if you can come up with a good reason for it IC, it can work just as well as a traditional name.

[E'irawen]

I have two sunseekers, neither of which use traditional naming.

 

My first is a male who goes by K'aworu Rhea, which Rhea was his mother's last name. Technically, his last name should be Tia, or even Nuhn considering he and his mother lived alone and thus could be considered their own tribe. However! Due to some specific reasons in his upbringing, he adopted using his mother's surname, which is actually a Moonkeeper trait.

 

(He has since found closer family and now adopted their last name, Demiir, for his own reasons.)

 

The second one I have is Venalis Drocell. He wasn't raised among any other traditional miqote at all. He was born in Ala Mhigo!

 

So I think it really just depends on what you want. I know a lot of people who pick unconventional names simply because they don't like the lore ones, which is fine, and then a lot of people who make up specific stories and reasons behind it.

 

I know that most people I know are actually 1.0 players and none of this information had been made available until earlier this year. So the fact was that most of them just weren't going to ret-con and change their names (understandably) and muss up 2-years worth of roleplaying.

 

 Either way, RP is about having fun and enjoying your character. =] Do what you want~

[Aysun]

While we had zip for official lore on naming when I created Aysun, I did notice quite quickly that there were naming conventions in place in the game. I noticed that virtually all the Seekers of the Suns' names began with a letter and an apostrophe, seemed to be very odd/difficult to pronounce, and favored h's.

 

Soooo I made up a "traditional" name for Aysun, A'eyshn, and said that she used "Aysun" because her traditional name was difficult for people to pronounce properly. The names are pronounced the same to her, one is just the Hyurized-spelling so that it can be read easier by non-Miqo'te. Her surname was from her mother because her dad was POS and her mom would never want to pass on his name (surname, I assumed, not forename)! Luckily my assumptions were later alright with the lore.

 

I got lucky. Not all of us from 1.0 were.

 

I fully support people utilizing the naming conventions now that they are available to us. If they don't, I like to see reasons why IC!