Names

Personal Names

A person may have any number of names (including, if very unfortunate, none): they are cumulative. I describe first what forms names take, and then what sort of names are common.

Form

A noun phrase of any degree of complexity can be a name. In practice, one is called by the head noun of the phrase in most cases (except to avoid ambiguity, or in introductions, etc). It must be of the appropriate gender (feminine for women, masculine or neuter for men), both grammatically and semantically (this latter is a complex issue; broadly, semantic gender is a matter of what grammatical gender most words of similar meaning are).

Although there are exceptions to this rule, the name should not generally mean a person of any sort (which would lead to ambiguity, since the article would not then distinguish between a name and a common noun). This is less of a problem when there is a difference of two ranks beween the senses: bobboy tjesjnjí, a king, and Bobboy pavnjí, King (a commoner), will not often be confused.

Names are usually unique within the group with which they are associated (see below), at least in their full forms. Sometimes someone will be named after someone else (usually only after the latter is dead), but even so the normal practice is for the full forms to be differentiated.

Types

There is no theoretical limit to the sorts of names one can have, but some sorts are more common than others. All names are associated with a relationship with another person or group. The giver of a name can (in most cases) withdraw the name, thus breaking off the relationship; for instance, if one is disowned one's clan withdraws one's birth name ipso facto.

• Birth names are given by the father or clanhead (according to local custom) at birth, and represent one's relationship with the clan.
• Adult names are given by the local community of adults of the same sex, and represent both one's relationship with that community and one's adulthood generally. It is the name one is most likely to be called by casual acquaintances. Its withdrawal cuts one off from the community and makes one's status as an adult is somewhat ambiguous.
• Marriage names are given first to the wife by the husband and then to the husband by the wife at the wedding. As a case of reciprocal naming, it can only be undone with the consent of both parties.
• Organisation names represent one's belonging to an organisation such as a guild. See also Titles, below.
• Friend names are given (usually mutually) as a sort of oath of friendship. This is a serious sort of friendship, not undertaken by everyone.
• Enemies names are the equivalent for sworn enemies. They too are optionally reciprocal. Note that to refuse such a name (or any other) is both damaging to one's honour and a grave insult to the namer, so they are generally accepted, and sometimes even borne proudly, no matter how insulting.

A person with no names left at all is by definition a social outcast, and is in very deep trouble.

Titles

A unique title (such as Duke of X) is just another sort of name, although usually (though not always) with a more transparent meaning.

Such things as rank within a guild may or may not be made clear in the organisation name: it varies with the organisation. Sometimes the head of a guild always has the same name/title; sometimes he gets the same phrase (like ‘guildmaster’) incorporated into the name; sometimes it is not shown. In the case of non-unique ranks, either of the last two cases may hold. In no case does one have two names for belonging to the same organisation: a change in status may result in a change of names, but not in more names.

Clans

Anyone with a birth name also has a clan and a ‘greatclan’. The name of the clan is one of the names (usually the adult name, but sometimes otherwise, especially to try to make the clan name unique) of its founder; the ‘greatclan’ name is the name of his former clan. The ‘greatclan’ is important because of the incest rules: you cannot marry anyone who shares either clan name with you.

Introductions

When introducing oneself one lists all one's names (optionally specifying what sort of name each is and/or who the namer was), and gives one's clan and ‘greatclan’. Fortunately for those with vast numbers of names (such as the king), it is acceptable for someone to do this for you. The other party responds in like manner. An example will be added here at some later time.

As a rule, the person will tell you the name he would like you to use last (so you can remember it!), but you are entitled to use any of his names. Most commonly, husbands and wives call each other by their marriage names; within clan the birth name or adult name is used; in an organisational setting the organisation name or adult name is used; sworn friends and enemies call each other by their special names; and otherwise the adult name is used. Of course, this supposes that the person has such names; children, for instance, generally have only a birth name and are called by it alone.

Place Names

Place names are an altogether simpler affair. Most places do not have great numbers of names, and one is not expected to list them all if they do. The names tend to be descriptive, and settlement names are often semi-systematic; for instances, settlements along a river are likely to be named after their location on the river.

(Olgul is semantically typical of this (the crossing [gul] of the Hol) but not formally: most such names are in multiple words. Ol- for Hol- is due to local dialect.)