Benacian names

[Kaiser Mors IV]

Since Ric is doing his Elwynnese names, I figure I ought to go over the naming practices of the Benacian language in more depth than has otherwise been covered. Ah, to be a copycat...The typical Benacian name consists of three terms. 1. The first is a personal name, corresponding to our first names. Personal names generally fall into a number of categories (which can and do overlap, of course):-traditional names, whose meaning is often lost to time but which have retained common currency through inertia.-idolizing names; that is, someone is named after a figure of the past. These are most often local heroes, or esteemed older family members.-naturalistic names; someone is named after something from nature whose attributes are seen or hoped for in the child thus named. Flowers, for beauty... rock or stone for strength and endurance... various types of animals, etc.-situational names; names having to do with special circumstances, or parental feelings, around the time of the named child's birth. "Hope" is one that occurs in English, but in Benacian these can be considerably more complicated and less cheery, if there's a disaster or war going on when a child is born.A few possible categories of personal names are generally avoided. It is not, for example, considered appropriate to use adjectives as personal names, such as "Lucky". This is partly just a cultural and linguistic convention, but there are also practical reasons, which will be discussed later.Some individuals, particularly those of noble birth, may have one or two extra personal names as further marks of distinction (similar to middle names). In this case, the "primary" one, the one by which the individual will be most often called, is placed last, just before the lineal name.2. Another category of names that is not used often is those of great heroes, kings, and gods. An incredibly long history of foreign domination has often caused the mighty foreign rulers of Benacia to be regarded as nearly demigods in the popular eye; and as most of the great Benacian heroes were often fighting those rulers, this same religious quality has been imparted to them as well. As a result, to name a child after one of this class of figures is seen as presumptuous, and to take such a name oneself borders on the heretical. Only those of very high social standing are considered worthy of such names.The second term of a Benacian name is the bloodline name, or the lineal name. This name is used to signify descent through a particular chain of ancestors. In this sense, it is similar to the English last name, in that a son would normally have the same last name as his father, which was also the same as that of his grandfather, great-grandfather, etc.There is a difference, however, in that the lineal name is inherited only by children of the same gender as the one who holds it. Thus, a man's sons will get his lineal name, but his daughters will get their mother's lineal name. Lineal names also do not change with marriage. In this way, the lineal name is more fundamentally connected with one's descent than the English last name.The lineal name is often the personal name of an honored ancestor who originally founded the line of descent. Since this involves changing away from the lineal name that that ancestor had himself used, this is rarely done, and in fact less than five native bloodlines have been founded in the past thousand years. Sometimes lineal names are named after certain virtues, and a few are unique, being names that only occur as lineal names; names of these types are more prevalent in the older bloodlines whose origins are unknown.3. The third and last term of the typical Benacian name is the clan name. The Benacian clan, or ta, consists of members (and often spouses of members) of bloodlines with a historical connection, usually by common descent from an ancestor, but occasionally through political or economic arrangements. The clan maintains a high level of cohesion through collective clan activities and benefits for clan members; as a result, the clan is as much a social entity as a genealogical one.Membership in a clan, therefore, is more fluid than membership in a bloodline. A child is born belonging to the clan of zir mother, but upon growing up and getting married, one spouse (usually the husband, although the couple can arrange otherwise) will take the name of the other and become part of zir clan. One can also change clans by being adopted into a new one, also this is considered a major undertaking and not often done; also, some crimes are punishable by exile from one's native clan and being branded with a special criminal clan name.The clan name is prefixed with "ta".-----Example name: Hakerá Thynnír Murtil ta MeshíliharThis is the birth name of Kaiser Mors IV. Although the Line of Mortis is not native to Benacia, they have in recent years adopted a number of elements of local culture.-Hakerá: Secondary personal name; like English "middle name". Benacian form of H'Graa, the God of Wrath.-Thynnír: Primary personal name; "first name". This is a reference to an old Benacian folktale about a man who crushed stones to powder with his fists.-Murtil: Lineal name; Benacian form of Mortis. After Mortis Raynor M'Jilliad, the third son of Raynor I and progenitor of the Line of Mortis.-ta Meshílihar: Clan name; Benacian form of M'Jilliad/Me'Jiliad, the family name of Raynor I and his Khaz Modanian ancestors.Few other foreigners can have their identities adapted so well to the Benacian naming system, having no good equivalent of a clan in their background, or a different system of assigning lineal names. Although ways around this can and have been devised, a usual tactic is to bypass the traditional naming system altogether and take a cue from local nobility.It has long been custom in Benacia for leading magnates and nobles to refrain from using their full names in a public capacity, instead adopting names more suited to their fame. This is done by taking the personal name of the individual in question (if they have more than one, they can use any of them; but it is considered more "formal" to use a secondary one), and adding after it an epithet describing a notable attribute.For example: Sicáre Fenta Achénalar ta Mitúr is a well-known merchant heiress in Port Benacia, the owner of a shipping line. This is her full name, which would be used mostly in official records. She is known as Fenta by her close friends and relations, who have no need to know her full name; in official documents where some form of brevity is needed, she might be called Hala (which is Miz, or Madam) Achénalar ta Mitúr. But when referred to by those who do not know her, especially in the media, she is called Sicáre Shinnaché (Sicáre the Golden, a reference to her wealth).Most foreigners visiting or living in Benacia, therefore, who wish to use a Benacian-style name, do something similar, using their first name with an epithet. This may seem pretentious, given the high-class associations of its usage, but as many Benacians look upon foreign visitors as a sort of nobility in their own right (even if they are confused and ignorant, they are usually richer), there are usually no questions asked.