Dwarf Fortress > DF Suggestions

Family Units and Lineage-Based Last Names

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Shazbot:
The randomly generated last names are an opportunity to communicate meaningful information to the player, but at present this is wasted by RNG-depth.

I hate being unable to easily identify families without digging into sub-screens, legends exports and external utilities. In the real world this was solved with last names and "son of" surnames, yet here all last names are randomly generated at birth. A package of tokens and associated behaviors could solve this.

Just spitballing here.

Caste tokens:
[GIVE_LASTNAME] Applied, for example, to the human male caste to give their last name to spouses and children.
[TAKE_SPOUSE_LASTNAME] Applied, for example, to the human female caste so that they take their husband's last name.
[INHERIT_LASTNAME] Children take their parent's name.
[NO_LASTNAME] Designates a caste which doesn't warrant a last name, or perhaps dragons all think one name is enough.
[NOTEWORTHY_LASTNAME] Individuals who accomplish some heroic historical deed can assume a new last name, possibly drawn from words associated to the deed. Thorin Oakenshield is a literary example, but we may see an artifact-maker name himself Urist Floodgateforges and passes this on to his offspring, founding a new lineage. Noteworthy lastnames may, with the [GIVE_LASTNAME] tag, go on to spouses and children with [TAKE_SPOUSE_LASTNAME] or [INHERIT_LASTNAME]. Adult children will not change names.

Additional development of family units could include families sharing room ownership beyond spouses sharing a bed to include such things as extended families sharing little complexes inside your forts, and being able to view family trees rather than abstract lines of who's-who's cousin.

Later comments added to the OP.


--- Quote ---There are 2,325 words in [DWARF] so I presume first names are drawn from a more limited number of the total words. Otherwise GoblinCookie's concern seems be entirely moot.

Having 2,325 first names would mean any duplicate first names in a fortress of 200 isn't that much of an issue. Either way, duplicate first names are relatively uncommon and even duplicate first names and last names from whatever family relationship will still have each dwarf running the gamut of possible profession names.

I suppose it is a question of each name being one of (3x2325)12,568,078,125 nonsense strings, or 2,325 possible first names and a finite number of family names which can become familiar to the player. This is the so-and-so clan over here, that's the so-and-so clan over there, I see the mayor's office went from one family to the other, etc. Right now you have to break out a microscope to see through the clutter of nonsense last names to discover these story elements, and there is really no need for it to exist this way.

Complexity =/= Depth. If you can't see the depth for the complexity or are mired in interface and third party utilities to sort through it, that depth is functionally meaningless. For example, I didn't notice my chief medical dwarf was the wife of my dying, bed-ridden speardwarf until after he died and I got the emotional shock notice from his death, cheating me from the tension of the surgery scene and only being told how tragic it was after the fact.

Add to this the first generation of worldgen not inheriting last names and we have a formula for a lot of lineages being created in even a young world. Then add great heroes, craftsmen, kings and necromancers making their own last names. This makes storytelling easier as family relations are drawn to the forefront, being quite possibly the first detail a player or adventurer might notice. Oh look, a mercenary to hire. Urist McDragonslayer, son of Lobok McDragonslayer, son of Rovod McDragonslayer, who slew the dragon Golddevours in the year 23. I bet this guy is ready to live up to his line.

And it can add the life goal of "Make a name for oneself" among the glory-seeking.

This adds so much. What's the occasional reused name on forgettable background characters?
--- End quote ---


--- Quote ---Starver, what I suggest allows for a lot of customization and tailoring to the individual so I think this is compatible. Notably, [TAKE_SPOUSE_LASTNAME] could just as easily be given to the male caste instead of the female caste.

I would not, however, have these systems procedurally generated when they could be defined by raw tokens, unless one raw token is to procedurally generate a system. Pleasing everyone in a game this easily modded is fairly simple; don't hard-code.

In fact, GoblinCookie really considers this a step backwards, there's always [RANDOM_LASTNAME] on his dwarf castes. There, we all get what we want.
--- End quote ---

GoblinCookie:
Everyone in the same civilization is related to everyone else very closely.  There really are not very many distinct families to actually keep track of, it only really matters in relation to artefacts in which case you just go around the government officials until you find someone of the right family, since pretty much everyone with a family is a government official. 

Randomly generated last names is actually useful because it allows us to keep track of individuals that have the same first name, of which there are a large number, since you will essentially never end up with the same combination of random words combined with the same first name.  Replacing that system with family names is actually a step backwards. 

Shazbot:
That single concern doesn't seem terribly insurmountable.


Last name inheritance could exclude the first generation of worldgen, creating a massive number of first INITIAL FAMILY names.
A marriage could generate a new last name if the couple has low tradition values.
Larger initial civilization populations would begin with a larger pool of names.
Repeating first names in the same family means Urist McUrist may beget an Urist McUrist II.
Duplicated first names generate middle names.
The pool of first names could be expanded.


All of these produce something other than Random McRandomRandom, which as a name is as functional as a hex string. It is a unique identifier, but otherwise meaningless. Replacing randomness with meaningful systems is never a step backwards.

KittyTac:
To expand the pool of first names, the number of language words would have to be expanded too, because all name components are language words. Urist means dagger, for example.

Starver:
It's a subject been mentioned before. (And will be again.)

I like that there is no inherent patronymy (nor assumed matronymy, if switched the other way) as it implies an equality. Older suggestions of Mothername RandomLastname and Fathername AlsoWhatever begetting Urist MothernameFathername (or FathernameMothername, perhaps either) goes some way towards the "they all have beards, who really cares except themselves?" life as exemplified in the Discworld Dwarf model.


To develop the option given above, maybe a variation of the Icelandic system (Urist Uristson/Uristdaughter), the Russian one of Urist "Uristevich" Uristova (either already a manual option via nickname handling, but if you use nicknames like me they would get in the way of using them as job-management hints) or clannish (Urist McUrist, Urist O'Urist, Urist ap Urist) so that it might last across generations and even be taken up sideways to cover a wider familial/allied gathering under the clan-chief umbrella.  But in all cases the parental/ancestrsl Urist here is maybe not fixed to being the father (only the mother in rare exceptions), it's based off of some form of relative significance assessment.

The Roman system is another alternative. It is "Praenomen Nomen Cognomen" at its common core, added to, changed and bulked out as family and political acts of clientage (plus personal achievements) change the situation) and a version could already be adapted. Maybe little baby Urist is forevermore Urist X Y, with X mostly fixed as the significant family(/ies) featuring in their parentage at birth (master/apprentice relations could give rise to changes?) and Y being a nickname (based on personal factors that always has an option to change). To aid with uniqueness, the changable elements should purposefully avoid repeating other (known) character names. Defintely current and present, perhaps old (but since changed) and off-site too.

To aid in this, parents stsrt off by being unable to name subsequent kids the same name (to avoid the need to stsrt off with a baby cognomen equivelent to "Secundus" just to tell Urist McUrist Septus from Urist McUrist Primus, Urist McUrist Secundus, etc) and "Urist son-of-Urist, the Dagger" would probably be wise to keep away from, on thr basis that informal name use might casually omit any of the three "Urist"s that form that name and confuse with other formatiins that degrade to "Urist Urist" through similar omission.


But no single system will please everyone. I actually suggest that there should be multiple options, procedurally chosen between. Your civilisation might go with "Popularname Birthname Descendencename (player-given Nickname)" or "Birthname Mother'snameFather'sname (pgNickname)" or "pgNickname Descencencename Popularname", depending on the possible worldgen choices made available in cultural/civilisation settings. Other-civ immigrants who petition for.citizenship should perhaps readopt (or re-present, as their current but acceptibly temporry form) their new home's methodology, digging deep into their origin story if they need to add in the patronymic they never previously used (or going for the "You know nothing Urist Snow!" placeholder option).


Complex though. If it's not already hidden somewhere in there as a development goal then I'm sure it could be, as a major part of flavour development that coud takr some time. (And something tells me that it's something that Threetoe might be more important in the envisaging than Toady, to avoid distracting from some of the current goal developments that are already in the coding pipeline.)

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