The Name Game

[Gegenji]

[align=center]"What's in a name? That which we call a rose[/align]

[align=center]By any other name would smell as sweet."[/align]

- Juliet, Romeo and Juliet, Act II Scene II

 

With all the lore inherent to the names the various races of Eorzea, I find myself looking at people's names more and more as I wander around Balmung. Nunhs and Tias, daughers and sons of parents identified within their surname. And, even while I can't decipher Sea Wolf names through mere eyeballing, seeing someone with one oft makes me want to go see what it's supposed to mean.

 

Of course, there's the names that are more free-form and sometimes even silly - Provoke Me, the numerous Batmans, I've even joked about making a male Keeper at some point named Whyl'li Mi'qote who forever chases Chocobos (still thinking it!) - but especially on a server like Balmung, names have reason. Have history. I thought a discussion on that would be interesting.

 

I'm not so brash as to suggest such a thing without providing a little about my own characters, so I'll open with that.

 

Chachanji's name makes a little more sense when you compare it to his brother - the one I play on an non-RP server - Gogonji. I loved the musical approach to Lalafell naming schemes and thought to myself how I wanted to play with that. I was flitting through a random name generator and anxiously waiting the day that Name Changes became readily available, and came across "Gogomatsu" or something similar as a surname result.

 

Being the massive Final Fantasy nerd I am, I immediately thought of Gogo - the enemy in FFV and secret character of FFVI. The mimic and master of forms, who can do whatever anyone else can. How fitting for a character in a game where you literally can be everything - tank, healer, craftsman, gatherer. My little guy would be named Gogo-something Somethingelse-something.

 

As I was wont to do, I had already started making up the little guy's back-story in my mind - even though it was not an RP server and the idea hadn't even crossed my mind to look for one. I was already borrowing ideas from the older Final Fantasies with Gogo, so I started musing on what would be a good name for a master of everything. Master of arms and crafts. The latter got me thinking, thinking of a pretty famous armor set in the games - Genji armor.

 

With just that idea, a flood of back-story clarification came to mind. A Lalafell from the Far East, son to a smith who sought to make a name for himself and his wares. A conflict of ideals that lead to the boy venturing out into the world to carve his own path. And so, Gogonji Gegenji's identity was sealed, at least in spirit until I got his name officially changed.

 

And when I decided to come to Balmung, I figured using my already established "character" as a springboard would be a great idea. I mulled over all sorts of -njis before noting that "Go-Go" was a style of dance, which oddly fit with the musical naming conventions of the Lalafell. So I started thinking musically and finally thought of a Cha-Cha to counterpoint the Go-Go. Chachanji Gegenji.

 

Almost everything about Chachanji's family and their names was spurred from that simple renaming of my non-RP character to Gogonji to fit with the naming conventions I stumbled across on the official forums. Crazy, huh?

[FreelanceWizard]

On the topic of names generally, one thing I discovered the other day is that the random name generator for miqo'te Seeker males will generate "Nunh" as a surname from time to time, despite the lore complications that result from that. I'm willing to bet many people with the Nunh surname don't know what it implies. (I still wince when I see it, though, even though I know I shouldn't. :blush: )

 

L'yhta's name comes from two sources. One, when I came up with the basic character concept, the name "Lyta" popped into my head, but I wanted it to be compliant with the naming conventions. So, I manipulated it (added the aitch and the apostrophe) to make it work. Her surname, Mahre, was the result of playing around in the random name generator until I hit on a name that I liked.

 

Typically, there's not much more to it than that for my characters, whether PC or NPC. I usually start with a normal name I like and that I think fits the character, then I modify it to make it work within the parameters of lore. Roegadyn are the only exception, as they have fairly particular naming conventions that require a bit more work.

[Warren Castille]

I'm a firm believer than a name has to be right. It's not enough to be cool or clever. I like how you used multiple instances of thematic naming to put your characters together. The Gogo/Chacha stood out to me as did the mention of Genji, and I appreciated your use of the extra letters to not declare anything that might be off-lore later on.

[Steel Wolf]

That was a lot of fun to read! I wanna tell my story nao because people really care, right?

 

...right? <.<

 

So I was immediately drawn to Roegadyn for a couple of reasons--one, because they resembled my beloved Galka from XI, and two because the history and language of the race fascinated me. I love reading about different languages and cultures whose names are part of that, such as the Nordic people. The Roegadyn struck that same nerve.

 

Combining that fascination with a personal draw to Limsa Lominsa, I set to work researching the Roegadyn language and the naming conventions of the race. Steel came together as a half-Hellsguard half-Sea Wolf hybrid as a way to illustrate Limsa's multi-cultural port ambiance, and her being a yeoman of sorts just made her lock right in to place.

 

The full name for her, Sthalwilf Hamerstymmwyn, or Steel Wolf, daughter of Hammer Voice, pretty much wrote her initial backstory for her. Daughter of a smithy father and birthed by a piratess gave her so much Limsa-ness she's probably fit to pop.

 

The final challenge was how she fit in to the game's current story. I hadn't played 1.x an awful lot, so finding a reason for her to suddenly be all "Yo, I'm an adventurer now guys!" had to come to mind. Prior history of the world pretty much eluded me, and so I looked to Carteneau for inspiration. It was there that I decided that her being a bit of a recluse within the boundaries of La Noscea and a widow who lost her husband to that battle made the most logical sense lore-wise. It also gave her a sort of tragic wrinkle, and a reason for her to either live up to her husband's heroic example....or turn in to a wave of rage against Garlemald.

 

Right now, her internal narrative has her leaning towards the second option. Which, admittedly, is a lot of fun. Internally at least. Not really others finding that bit interesting though, I suppose...

 

Welp, there you have it. My thought processes, should anyone be remotely curious.

[Berrod Armstrong]

When I was looking into Highlander names I saw a lot of names along the lines of 'Widargelt', 'Botulf', 'Meffrid' etc. It disappointed me a bit, because I wanted to import the name 'Berrod Armstrong' from my Warcraft warrior. I was very pleased to see that in addition to the names that I saw, it was possible to have names that indicated prowess and skill -- which fit the 'Armstrong' bill perfectly!

[Dogberry]

Dogberry REAL name is Daghbheri Himalspyrsyn. He doesn't go by that name because I wanted to set Dogberry apart from other Roegadyn. I wanted to portray that disconnect, some of which is for reasons beyond his control, and some of which is intentional. Dogberry is simpler pronunciation of Daghbheri. He took the syn off of Himalspyrsyn as a way of declaring himself his own man. And yet, he's oddly reverent toward his family, he'll even proudly share the fact that Himalspyr is the name of a distant ancestor who legend says threw a spear so high it stuck into the sky. He has a soft spot for the Roegadyn language, and tribal Roegadyn customs. He braids his hair and is known for wearing tribal make-up when hunting. Still, on a personal level, he just doesn't feel all that comfortable around other Roegadyn. I gave him a name that stands apart because he stands apart, or at least feels that he does.

 

As for the meta, Dogberry is one of my favorite Shakespeare characters. It's a name I've used in Final Fantasies before when names come up. So I put the Roegadyn name to the name I wanted to give him. "Daghbheri" doesn't mean anything in the Roegadyn dictionary SE provided. It's a throwaway name in character and out. Himalspyr means "Heaven Spear", and I originally pictured Dogberry as becoming a dragoon. That's really not going to happen now that the character has progressed, but he's still a proud spearman.

 

There is one name, very personal to him, that if anyone uses, he'll get upset about. Dhemgeim used to call him "Hundrbera" when they were dating, and it felt more like his real name than Daghbheri. Of course, that all ended after the break-up, but Dhem's still a bit under his skin. When they do talk, he even gets angry when she uses it. This is kind of another aspect of Dogberry's personality. That which is sacred should never be talked about.

[Cassandra Lachance]

There's no story to my name, I simply checked the naming conventions and tried to pick something that sounded like it suited the character I had in mind.

 

I wanted something that seemed appropriate for sort of an arrogant woman who takes herself too seriously. There could've been many choices, but I thought of "Cassandra". It doesn't exactly fit into Midlander naming conventions but I figured it wouldn't be too much of a stretch since it has for quite some time been used as an English name.

 

On the other hand, I also wanted a name that fit into her somewhat roguish nature. Nothing occurred to me until I thought of Lachance. I wasn't going to use it since it didn't at all adhere to Hyur naming conventions, but then I noticed that Elezen names were French, and I decided to keep it. I don't know if I'll come up with an IC story for it, but it's a possibility.

[Aaron]

My name is 50/50 in creativity.

 

The first name Aaron is just my real name coz why not. I always use it and I like my name. 

 

The last one is the creative one. Ice has always been my favorite element and I wanted a character that projected that. White hair, white eyes and pale skin etc so I needed a name to gowwith it. I didn't want the names commonly used like Frost or Snow so I eventually came up using Glacier. 

 

Would have been Iceheart via name change but you know.  . . Shiva and all.

[Berrod Armstrong]

My name is 50/50 in creativity.

 

The first name Aaron is just my real name coz why not. I always use it and I like my name. 

 

The last one is the creative one. Ice has always been my favorite element and I wanted a character that projected that. White hair, white eyes and pale skin etc so I needed a name to gowwith it. I didn't want the names commonly used like Frost or Snow so I eventually came up using Glacier. 

 

Would have been Iceheart via name change but you know.  . . Shiva and all.

I can just see Aaron Iceheart introducing himself and every Ishgardian in range eye-narrowing.

[Aaron]

I know right? Then him running from every Ishgardian to the Benny hill theme.

[Aldotsk]

Creativity is very important to me in terms of name. Anelia as a name is very original and it does not affect too much within midlander lore because midlanders actually have common names or even just original random names like Garlean or Ala Mhigan or Ishgardian. 

 

I didn't think Anelia Sadowyn as a name would be as original it can be, but I think my name is very fitting in FFXIV lore

[Aris]

One of my favourite names that I've seen on Balmung is C'upa Tia. And they said it fits the naming convention. Makes me smile every time I see them. 

 

I just liked the sound of Aris' name and I wish I'd picked something different, but the Miqo'te naming convention is quite strict. The Roe Hellsguard and Highlander naming conventions are my favourites as it feels like you could put a bit more meaning into them.

[Miryn]

Miryn is a name that just came to mind while thinking over RP things in the shower (best place for it, IMO). Same thing with her real name, Marnette. At least for that one I looked over the naming convention rules; I know elezen names are French-based but I have basically zero working knowledge of French. Her surname Lécuyer I took from a name website, meaning "shield-bearer", which fits Miryn's knightness to a T.

[TheLastCandle]

Yvelont's first name came from the name generator after I decided I no longer wanted to be Teveriel Anduin, my Legacy character. Did a server-to-server dance (since it was long before Mogstation had name changes) used a Fantasia and never looked back.

 

Navarre, I'm not ashamed to admit, is a direct reference to a movie called Ladyhawke.

 

One of my favourite names that I've seen on Balmung is C'upa Tia. And they said it fits the naming convention.

 

Makes me smile every time I see them. 

 

I became a fan of C'upa Tia once I found out he was the one who kept killing those "NBO" bots in the Shroud via armies of Treants. Such a battle has not been seen since the Ents' march on Isengard. Every morning before his Ixali dailies. My hero.

[Iex]

In the case of Grave Shadow... it stemmed from my GW2 Charr.

 

Originally, all my Charr characters in GW2 failed to follow the naming conventions... which honestly I did not mind TOO MUCH, but when I finally settled down on a character to get to 80 (it took way too long to pick a class.) I wanted the character to follow some sort of the scheme. So Iex Graveshadow was born.

 

When I came to FFXIV... I attempted to find a way to recreate the name, I went through about 5-6 different races and such from I'ex Tia to Iex Graveshadow. However, I ended up with a Hellguard with the name Grave Shadow and the nickname of Iex. Though I fantasiaed him into a Seawolf for a nice face, he is still a Hellguard.  

 

Apparently... the name Grave Shadow is more clever than I thought.

[Erik Mynhier]

Eirikir Mynhier (shortened to Erik) has been a name I have used for a character name for a long time and even longer in real life as it is my actual full name. Mynhier is by definition a name meaning both "lord" and from Icelandic source "my belief is". The Icelandic wording being "tru min er". Since it is my name I like it and the name origin fits the characters I usually make, stoic religious people who do right despite the cost.

[Merri]

Merri was actually a Hyur back during 1.0, and while I would have been Miqo'te from the get go, males just weren't an option back then unfortunately.

 

I was set on being Miqo'te come ARR, however, and inevitably didn't want to kill off a character I loved and had played for years already. Thankfully, Merri's personality made it easy to play off his not having a tribal name. He never was tribal, nor were his parents, so his given name simply wasn't tribal.

 

I've come to love it dearly. It's made for some really fun and interesting encounters. Whether it's people having heard his name and assumed he was Hyur, only to be surprised to find out he's a Sunseeker when met in the flesh. Or people taking note of his more "civilized" mannerisms and way of speaking, (Not saying all tribals are uncivilized, but you know, stereotypes) which is always fun in a terribly awkward kind of way.

[Oscare]

Oscare Iono is just another recreation of a very long time character that has about 10 years worth of history and this is his like 1092848230987498274th version. I didn't see much of a problem in the name looking at the other examples I've seen before, so. It worked out!

[Kinono]

Kino is a name I've used through a lot of online games. It's inspired by my one of my favorite anime, Kino's Journey. In adapting the name to FFXIV, I figured it'd make the most sense to use plainsfolk naming, but I strongly preferred the physical features/culture of dunesfolk, thus, Kino became a mixed-clan Lalafell.

 

...She also rides around on a chocobo named Hermes.

[Amelia]

Heh... WELL...

 

I've always liked the name Amelia.

 

And being that she's modelled after Princess Garnet, well... Almandine is another word for the garnet stone.

 

There you go. My secret is out. Y_Y; Don't judge me!!

[Jana]

I use the name "Jana" in pretty much everything so my friends in one game can quickly identify me in another. After quickly checking to make sure the name wouldn't be lorebreaking in any way with the race I chose to play as, Miqo'te Keeper, I researched the NPC surnames that were available to look at from 1.0. I found that a lot of them had similarities to names from Turkey, Egypt, and other middle-eastern countries (not really limited to any one language, it seemed). I took an Egyptian surname for Jana and changed the pronunciation to fit the Miqo'te: Simply adding an "h" seems a bit cosmetic when "Ridah" is read normally but it would become "Rida-*hissing sound*" if she introduced herself in a proper way to another Keeper. This hasn't happened since Jana's continued distancing herself from anything resembling tradition over time... But the option is there!

[Elysia]

Heh... WELL...

 

I've always liked the name Amelia.

 

And being that she's modelled after Princess Garnet, well... Almandine is another word for the garnet stone.

 

There you go. My secret is out. Y_Y; Don't judge me!!

 

Judge? Why? I think we need to be friends.  the world needs more Garnet love.

 

I'm enjoying reading everyone's stories on this thread!

 

I'm one of those people who enjoy trawling through baby names databases for naming inspirations - and sometimes because the names themselves have 'personalities' that create the characters. I used to plan these long fantasy stories with piles of characters who existed fundamentally because I wanted to use a particular name I'd found, not because the plot demanded their existence. 

 

I found "Avis" the same way. I was looking for a name that was elegant, concise, feminine but also leaning towards an androgynous 'feel'. Avis means "desired" and also "bird" in Latin. I felt that captured my character's free-spiritedness, so Avis it was for her first name. 

 

"Inkwood" is a last name Avis invented for herself, since she fancies herself a reader and writer. Her real name is "Ingram", which is the rather stereotypical name of a snobbish family a friend and I invented for a collaborative work of fiction, and that was based on - you might've guessed it - Blanche Ingram from Jane Eyre.

[Mae]

I pulled "Kara" out of a pool of names I use in writing and didn't contradict the naming conventions. "Ashdale" was just the first surname that the name generator coughed up that I didn't have an objection to.

 

The Gardener's original name (Malay Nihlo) was me giving a nod back to my original RP run in FFXI -and- part of my gaming tradition where I always have a Mal of one stripe or another kicking around on a character list. Thanks to the new powers of Name Change, though, she's just "The Gardener" now. Choice of that as a 'name' was me wanting a character that -was something- instead of -is someone-.

 

Marsh Mallow... Dunesfolk Lala, the name goes against the conventions, I know. She passes it off that she was named by the Gardener (marsh mallows being the plants that were used to make the original marshmallow treats). Truth is, she's part of something that extends outside of the game and into elsewhere on the internet.

 

Tinne Teine, another Lala, however this name looks closer to the naming conventions. Another one 'named' by the Gardener, the name would actually be pronounced chihnn-uh chihnn-uh... which is why she introduces herself as Holly -- Tinne/Teine is Ogham for the Holly tree.

 

Luc'a... I'm not sure how I came up with his name. I have a vague memory of just seeing other Keeper male names and just making something that seemed in-line with it. I might've gotten "Rhee" from the name generator, though.

 

Whisper's original name was Uli Whisperwillow. My first introduction to Roegadyn naming conventions was... a bit muddled. I just knocked it down to Whisper Willow... though I suppose Whispering Willow would be more correct.

 

"Eltanin" is another name in the pile I pull from often... not exactly lore-compliant, I suppose, but I liked it. "Sellecerre" came from the name generator.

[Zhavi]

I originally wanted to use the name 'Savia', pulled from a character concept I've had for awhile but never formally put into play as actual-fleshed-out-character. However, it didn't quite work with miqo'te naming conventions, so I played around a bit with the sounds until I arrived at Zavi, and then threw in the 'h' both because I wanted the shzuh sound, and for the miqo'te hissing thing.

 

I deliberately used a name-name, as opposed to something more simple and street, despite the fact that Zhi's mother is a whore and city-born (second generation). Zhi's mother was an idealist, a lover, and a dreamer. Though she broke away from her parents (or was kicked out, depending on who you asked), she idealized Keeper culture and picked a name for her daughter that she felt conveyed that ideal.

 

Streetrunner/Gutterborn was my way of contrasting that beloved child with the nasty, crass person Zhi eventually became. Yes, Zhi's mother could have given her bastard child a surname, but 1 - she wasn't about to use her parents', and 2 - she didn't actually know appropriate Keeper surnames. Zhi's mother therefore only gave her child the single name, Zhavi, and it was through Zhi's interaction with others on the street that she essentially became Gutterborn: a street kid who was a bastard and had no claim on an actual surname.

 

Zhi's naming herself Streetrunner was a way of molding herself, of excising herself from a past she feels she's risen above (there is some denial, deep down, towards some of the things that happened in the past, a perception that it happened to the other her who was weak and cowardly, and that she is no longer that person). It's her way of taking herself back from the people who would use her. The irony, of course, is that she's still beholden to any number of people, still a child in many ways, and very much a product of her upbringing. She runs the streets, that's it: when you look at her and what she is, there really isn't anything speshul that makes her any better than where she came from, and there's certainly a lot of things that make her worse than those she openly despises.

 

Which, of course, leads to the name her mother used to use affectionately: Zhio. There's a reason why there was only ever one player-character who used it (Miza Fhey), and why there are exactly two NPCs who use it affectionately, or at least as a means of establishing familiarity. 'Zhio' is my way of recalling her humanity (errr, miqo'te-y?), of showing that she isn't a total lost cause. Even though she's a scumbag and a morally corrupt person, there's still that little girl in there, down deep, wishing for something better and struggling to be someone who matters. Every time I use it in writing it's to establish that she is capable of forming positive relationships, even if they are terribly warped and probably carry unhealthy undertones. It shows that she still accepts, even if it's deeply subconscious, that she's not the cold-hearted bitch she thinks she is who is totally devoid of warmth or emotions. She isn't a completely lost cause -- but she's definitely not on the right path.

[Aya]

Aya was pretty easy to come up with.. it was the shortened form of the character name I had used in TERA, and I was starting FF with the friends I had made in TERA, and I liked the continuity. It fit the theme I was going for, which was generally Scanadanavian/Norse in nature, and it really does seem to fit in with the FF world really well! Its also turned out to be a fun name, since "Yay Aya!" uses only two letters!!

 

The last name was harder. I knew from the start, according to Highland lore, that it would probably not be a birth name, but instead a given name. It took me a very long time to stumble on Foxheart, and I honestly cannot remember the inspiration for it. It did turn out to be just about perfect though, the fox is an excellent symbol for Aya. "Foxy" is also just the nickname for her, so I like it even more