Naming conventions of the first (research/speculations)

[Phel]

Main post edited with the information you gave and what I found since last time.

List of changes:

- Dwarves information from Stardrake and Eloah added (thank you both, I still haven't met them, but I think I'm really close to)

- Drahns/Galdjents section : Voeburt information from Daralii added + some additional stems. I think this section is complete, except if we somehow get something about potential surnames.

- Viis naming convention added, with Arzalis hypothesis about the signification of the last syllable

- Very small list of Ronsos names added



What is still needed:

- Anything about Humes and Elves. I've started lists, but they are very short since I started later. I don't think there is any specific gimmick like the Dwarves, Galdjents/Drahns and Mystels, but it's likely possible to find a real life inspiration for the names. I can give the lists when they're a bit longer, but I'm not sure I can find the real life inspiration myself.

- Mystel culture and/or families

- More names for the other races (mostly Dwarves, Ronsos and Viis outside of Fanow). I'm working on it.

Also I don't think clan separation is considered for the First. There just seems to be one naming pattern per race.

I agree too.

On the note of Viis

It's worth noting there are a couple Rak'Tika Viis who seem to defy the -et endings, some of which reside in Fanow itself. The three involved the ritual for the aether current quest come to mind; I can't remember their names offhand though. Maybe the ending of their names has to do with occupation? Ex: names with -et are hunters and the others are related to rituals? Could just be a tribe ending too though.

There's also a few who seem to have totally different conventions all-together: Carna in Eulmore and Bethana in the Crystarium. Lyna too, of course. The names are greek/latin, which stick out a bit. Though maybe the -a suffix are just Viis who left their tribes.

That's very interesting.
As you said later, there doesn't seem to be any living Viis with a different convention. And the "-na" and "-ille" aren't as uncommon in Fanow as it seems as first glance (we see about 5 "-met" before seeing the first "-na"/"-ille", but in fact "-met" are only about a half of Fanow, the other half being "-ille" or "-na").
I didn't think it had any meaning before reading your post, but now I think it is a real possibility.
From what I've quickly checked, confirmed guards/hunters are all "-met", and none of the confirmed non-guards/hunters (cook, shamans) are "-met".
The difference between "-na" and "-ille" would be more tricky. Ciuna and Phyna are both shamans, but their mentor (who is certainly a shaman too), is a "-ille". And the cook is a "-ille" too.
The tribe idea seems a bit more unlikely when you know that only a half of Fanow are "-met", but we know :

There where other villages before the Flood, and the surviving Viis from those villages likely came to Fanow. That would mean there was only three tribes though (or maybe the "tribes" are the original units of the Ronka guard their ancestors are from ?)

I assumed with the Chai's that she takes on his first name as her last during marriage as humans would do with last names

That's interesting too. We really need a Mystel family or an info-dumping Mystel npc, because we can only speculate for now.

So far the possibilities are :

- Men are Surname-Firstname and women Firstname-Surname. And we need to know if the surname is a family name or a tribe name, and how it works exactly (and, like Iscah said, there may be some discrepancies with how Chai-Nuzz is called by other npcs)

- Everyone has their first name first, and take their opposite gender parent's first name (and their spouse's first name for women) as a surname. It would explain the fact that every 'part A' has a male and a female version.

- The name in its entirety is a first name, and the Chais are merely a coincidence. And it's still very likely the names have some sort of meaning.

I forgot to update the Mystel section with this, I'll do it later.

[Daralii]

Yeah, I think you're right. There is at least two "-na" Viis in Fannow too, so it's not really a different convention.

It seems like Viis names are basically 2-3 syllables with the last syllable being the tribe/clan/group ending (ille, et, na, etc.)

That said, there seems to be an usually high number of "-na" Viis outside of Rak'Tika compared to the others. Seems like the "-na" tribe might've left en masse for some reason, with a few electing to stay behind. Could be as simple as a big group of them opting to stick together when they left.

Maybe Lyna can give us more details on that later on. If there's even a major reason for it.

Almost every Viis we encounter(and all of the ones in Rak'tika as far as I could tell) use Veena customization options, while Lyna, insofar as I could tell, uses Rava options. While that's likely just a coincidence, it could be a clan split. We know that the Emperor split his servants between guardians in the east and the priesthood in the west, and that the priesthood was effectively destroyed during the invasion 3,000 years ago. If the priesthood were the Rava equivalent, it would explain the difference in naming and the near-absence of Viis without nearly invisible eyebrows.

[Arzalis]

Just expand on your list of names outside of Rak'Tika, these are the ones I've found while wandering around. Most examples always helps!

Eulmore:
Carna, Casna, Liuina
Rulimet

Crystarium:
Lyna, Bethana (Part of a quest)

I'm sure there's more. Just difficult to find the ones that aren't all gathered around a specific place.

[Phel]

Thanks a lot ! I'm adding your names right now

I try to list every npc I meet, but I started late depending on the race, and sometimes I'm too occupied with the msq to bother, so I need to go back to some places.

Bethana is a bit strange, because while her name works for a viera, it's also a Galdjent/Drahn name. It's certainly a coincidence, but do you remember in which quest she was involved ? I don't recall the name, so I don't think I've done it.

[Arzalis]

She's the NPC who gives you the quest for the Twinning.

Also, in response to which models they use, all the -na Viis use Rava models that I've seen so far. All the others use Veena. Not sure if there's any significance there.

[Elecrom]

Elf Names give me a vague Celtic/Gaelic feel even if right now I don't have any examples for this right now.

[Eloah]

I have theory about that. I think Mystel names mirror miqo'te names more than we might think. I think Chai is his first name and Nuzz his last. Similar to Y'shtola and other miqo'tes where they are given their father's first name as a last name. In this case Nuzz was Chai's father. And when females get married they take on their husband's first name as a last name to reference that they are cared for by them now instead of their fathers. I think it's really similar to Seeker names just minus the tribes and breeding male thing(Tia), since males seem more prevalent on the first.

Also it looks like someone suggested this earlier, my page didn't update, grrr.

[Phel]

The problem with your theory Eloah is that "Nuzz" (or any second name of male Mystels) can't be used as the first name for a male Mystel. I have a list of 40 names, and they all have the same pattern, so it can't be a coincidence.
That's why I said that the males taking their mother's first name as a surname (and females their father's) was one of the possibilities, because there is a female first name that is very close to Nuzz (and there is an equivalent like this for every name).

I think I agree about elf names Elecrom. Here is a short list if somone has an opinion on this:
male names: Mynes, Lamlyn, Eismon, Melboth, Lesthil, Taynor, Nyelbert
female names: Ersabel, Katliss, Evelie, Chantilde


And here's a list of Humes names, while I'm at it :
male names: Colphas, Maril, Varthon, Karnes, Valan, Leineil, Anthibert, Moren, Loythe, Thaffe, Jeryk, Hathenstein, Tofrith, Drery, Cerigg, Minebern, Harlolth, Darmal
female names: Iola, Harvene, Callea, Ovelin, Hargra, Alsa, Ulmie



Something strange I found while talking to a fate npc in Amh Araeng :

What ? No, you don't use Humes names, Ronsos have different names. I don't really understand this.
Maybe that only means that before the Ronsos used names with a signification in their old tongue, and now they just have names without a real meaning, like the Humes ? So they have similar name conventions, but not with the same names ?

[Iscah]

The one oddity with assuming "Chai" is a family name is that people address Chai-Nuzz as "Master Chai" and that phrasing usually uses the person's given name... but then again we've never dealt with any races that don't put their given name first.

Self-correction here... was rewatching the Crystal Tower cutscenes, and Rammbroes addresses Cid as "Master Garlond".

It may be more about how few characters actually have surnames, or at least commonly stated ones.

[Eloah]

something strange I found while talking to a fate npc in Amh Araeng :

What ? No, you don't use Humes names, Ronsos have different names. I don't really understand this.
Maybe that only means that before the Ronsos used names with a signification in their old tongue, and now they just have names without a real meaning, like the Humes ? So they have similar name conventions, but not with the same names ?

I think this is akin to what Roegadyns do between their two clans. The Seawolves use their native language, but the Hellsgaurd use the translated Eorzean equivalent. But one does not have to follow this "rule" as Grynewaht was a Hellsgaurd but had his name in the old language, and was called Green Guard, like most Hellsguards would be.