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[FantasticDorf]

Just some more fine controls for adjusting civilization naming conventions for individuals once they reach a notorious or historical status that are set per entity, to go with language & other miscellaneous cultural traits like gem cuttings & hair shape. Supporting the changes toady is implementing, and also alllowing players to adjust their own conventions.

(For old hands that noticed: yeah, "<X> the <adjective>" names are possible now. It's not a language rewrite, but I decided to support that form, which was already possible in the existing structure.)

Examples

Code: [Select]

[NAME_CONVENTION]
[FORENAME]
[SURNAME] //is the most basic convention, one many base typified names, but some may be as brief as to just mention the forename

Code: [Select]

[NAME_CONVENTION]
[FORENAME]
[THE]
[TITLE:FEAT] //For names such as 'Bomrek the Dragon-Slayer' out of megabeasts & [BRAG_WORTHY] people & creatures, sometimes associated with positions, King-Slayer may be a subjective one of them.

Code: [Select]

[MONARCH]
[POSITION_NAME_CONVENTION]
[FORENAME]
[SURNAME]
[OF]
[FAMILY:BLOODLINE] //A slightly more advanced variant used here in a position

Code: [Select]

[CHOOSE_CASTE:MALE]
[NAME_CONVENTION]
[FORENAME]
[SON]     
[OF]
[PATERNAL_FATHER] // maybe your parent was someone important, maybe they weren't, by default without prompting if there is something for a dwarf to gain via notoriety they might use this convention without being explicitly stated for them to do so.

[Azerty]

Good ideas, especially if they could differ between civilizations during generation.

[Miles_Umbrae]

I might mention that even though it was very rare it did happen that daughters with some notoriety of her own could be referred to as ".. daughter of [noteworthy parent].
Equally rare but also possible was that if the offspring had a mother of significant notoriety even they could be referenced in this way.

Just saying...

[FantasticDorf]

I might mention that even though it was very rare it did happen that daughters with some notoriety of her own could be referred to as ".. daughter of [noteworthy parent].
Equally rare but also possible was that if the offspring had a mother of significant notoriety even they could be referenced in this way.

Just saying...

I wasn't denoting any form of inequality or that [PATERNAL_MOTHER] wouldn't be a normally valid choice, when you can easily reference both in the [NAMING_CONVENTION] example structure. Just that historically men usually hold onto titles of power through patriarchal hereditary systems normally just depending on the rules. Dwarven rule or society has no such bias to honor the thirdborn son over the first & secondborn sisters.

It would likely be VERY prominent in gender determinable female led elf society which directly orchestrates itself around queen's & princesses though to heavily namedrop parents in part to their immortality also, or other factors such as the lands they represent or religious belief in the 'force' of the forest they occupy.

[Miles_Umbrae]

Just mentioned it for the nitpicks that might come along and question why you did not mention this, that, or those less common variants...

[Putnam]

For the record, PATERNAL_FATHER is redundant and PATERNAL_MOTHER is an oxymoron; "paternal" refers to lineage from the father. "Maternal" is for the mother.

[SixOfSpades]

Some possibilities from a past thread on the same subject.

All names fall into one of three categories--Given names, Event names, and Surnames. All cultures need Event names at the very least, and usually Given plus at least one Surname.
     Given names date from birth, and have 3 styles: random, limited, and guided. Random is just that: A word grabbed from the pool of names, with no regard for duplication. Limited avoids duplicates, as I described in my previous post. Guided is based on either the hopes of the parent(s) (usually something auspicious, like Tower or Empire), or the baby's traits/personality. Individuals may have more than one Given name, including names of different variations (although dwarves using a Random with limitations name will only need the one).
     Event names are triggered by events such as: becoming a child, becoming an adult, reaching a certain rank in a skill, getting married, becoming a parent, becoming the head of a family (no living ancestors, elder siblings, or elder spouse, must have living younger siblings and/or children), making an artifact, becoming a noble, or killing a significant number of enemies in combat. The styles of names themselves are, ideally, highly dependent on the variation of event: A dwarf who gets married might take his spouse's Given name as his Event name. A dwarf becoming a Professional Carpenter might be given a random or guided name, either by a superior Carpenter or by the general public. A culture might have its own special title meaning "head of household". Etc.
     Surnames are determined by parentage, and point to specific slots in the name of one or more ancestors. Many possible variations exist: Surnames can point to a 2nd Given name, a 1st Event name, a 2nd Surname, etc. The ancestor specified might be the male or the female, the older parent or the younger, or the superior gender (if the culture has that distinction) or the inferior. The ancestor might be 1st-generation (parent), 2nd generation (grandparent), etc.


0.     Dwarf Fortress's current naming system is "Ber Dustgirdle the Twinkling Notch, baron consort", for which the shorthand is:
1[Gr] 2[Gr]3[Gr] the 4[E9r] (of) 5[E9r], ( 6[E8] 7[E4] / 6[E3] )
Which all means--name elements 1, 2, & 3 are of the Given type, random style. Elements 4 & 5 are the Event type, 9th variation (combat kills), random style. And Element 6 can be either Event type, 3rd variation (skill rank), or Event type, 8th variation (nobility), with a special-case for Event type, 4th variation (marriage) to someone who is [E8] (noble).


I.     My own pet system is gender-specific: Boys get
1[Gl] 2[S<+¹1>] ( 3[S<♂¹3>] / if <♂¹3>=null then 3[S<♂²1>] ), which means:
Element 1 = Given type, limited style.
Element 2 = Surname type, pointing at the elder (+) parent's (¹) first (1) name element.
Element 3 = Surname, pointing at either the male (♂) parent's third name element, or (fires only if the father has no third name) the paternal grandfather's first name element.
Meanwhile, girls get the female-lineage version: 1[Gl] 2[S<+¹1>] ( 3[S<♀¹3>] / if <♀¹3>=null then 3[S<♀²1>] ).
Dwarves of both sexes would also get the same titles based on profession, combat kills, and/or noble title that the game currently uses. So an individual dwarf's name would look the same as the current system, but all of their ancestors/descendants of their gender would have the same 3rd name, while all siblings would share a common 2nd name with each other.


II.     GoblinCookie's system:
1[Gr]2[Gr] 3[S<☺Civ1>]4[S<☺SiteGov2>] 5[Gr]6[E4<♥5>] 7[S<+¹5>]8[S<-¹5>] 9[S<♀¹7>]10[S<♀¹8>] 11[S<♂¹7>]12[S<♂¹8>]
"Olondeler Treatycandles Bershorast Vucarurist Asenezum Cogstinthad"
1 = Given name, random style.
2 = Given name, random style.
3 = First word of the individual's home civilization's name
4 = Second word of the individual's home settlement's government's name
5 = Given name, random style. When combined with [6], creates the individual's "marriage two-string". Can be left null until marriage.
6 = Event type, 4th variation (marriage), pointing at the spouse's 5th name element. If the dwarf has no spouse, this name is null.
7 & 8 = The marriage names of the dwarf's parents, older one first.
9 & 10 = The marriage names of the dwarf's maternal grandparents.
11 & 12 = The marriage names of the dwarf's paternal grandparents.
Plus, I assume, the game's current profession / combat nickname / noble rank titles.
Of course, that's with the level of generational tracking set to 2. If it's increased to 3, these additional names are tacked on:
13[S<♂¹9>]14[S<♂¹10>] 15[S<♂¹11>]16[S<♂¹12>] 17[S<♀¹9>]18[S<♀¹10>] 19[S<♀¹11>]20[S<♀¹12>]
13 & 14 = the marriage names of the dwarf's father's maternal grandparents.
15 & 16 = the marriage names of the dwarf's father's paternal grandparents.
17 & 18 = the marriage names of the dwarf's mother's maternal grandparents.
19 & 20 = the marriage names of the dwarf's mother's paternal grandparents.
After the dwarf's profession/rank and possible combat titles are included, you're looking at a name about 24 words long. If the generational level is set to 4, the name increases to be 40 elements, and cranking the generations up to 5 (the highest that's been non-sarcastically mentioned) results in a name a staggering seventy-two words long. Truly the dwarven version of Johann Gambolputty.


III.     In contrast, the shortest name system that I consider plausible:
"Litast Mason"
1[E1l] 2[E3]
1 = Event name, 1st variation (becoming a child), limited style.
2 = Event name, 3rd variation (attaining an appreciable rank in a given skill).
This suggests a culture that uses the names for nothing but identification: They don't even bother to name you until you've proved that you're healthy enough to survive your first year, and then the only other thing people care about is what kind of work you do. No noble rank, no combat nicknames. Just the bare bones.


IV.     A hypothetical matriarchal / militarist society:
"Udib Bomrek Ingot" becomes "Udib the High Dagger of Trumpets"
1[Gl] ( 2[S<♀¹1>]3[S<♀¹3>] / the 2[E9l] 3[E9l] of 4[E9l] )
1 = Given name, limited style.
2 = Your mother's given name, the same as all your siblings.
3 = Your mother's family name . . . until you manage to get some combat kills, at which point your family names are stripped away & replaced with your battle title. The only way to escape your mothers--you belong to the army now, and any children you bear (IF you're female, of course) will carry part of your blood name for as long as your line endures, or until they replace it with their own. There is no mention of any father, or even marriage--the males in this society could conceivably be nothing more than sperm donors.


V.     A more vanilla setup, but playing with the order:
"Oar of Tragedy the Macedwarf, Theaterlobster Mafol"
( 1[E9l] of 2[E9l] the 3[E3] / 3[E3] ), 4[S<♀¹4>]5[S<♂¹5>] 6[Gl]
1, 2, & 3 = combat title and combat profession, if applicable
3 = civilian profession, if not
4 = mother's family name
5 = father's family name
6 = personal given name
In this society, what you do (especially if you do it well) is announced before your own name: Your reputation literally precedes you. Your family comes first as well, respecting the fact that you are an offshoot of them.


VI.     An oddly-ordered patrilineal system:
"Muthkat Bembul, Carpenter, of Shorast (Udib)"
1[Gr] 2[Gr], 3[E3], of 4[S<♂¹4>] (5[S<♀¹4])
1 & 2 = Given name, random style.
3 = Event name, profession.
4 = Father's (and dwarf's) surname.
5 = Mother's surname.
The parentheses around the mother's surname denotes its secondary importance. This would work well in a male-dominated culture, where the only reason to carry the mother's name at all is so that if your uncle dies leaving no sons, you could still inherit through your mother.


VII.     A gender-balanced double-barreled surname, proposed by Thundercraft:
"Likot Cogdatan"
1[Gl] ( 2[S<♂¹2>] / if <♂¹2>=null then 2[S<♀¹2>] ) 3[S<♀¹3>]
Element 1 = Given type, limited style.
Element 2 = Surname type, pointing at the male (♂) parent's (¹) second (2) name element.
Element 3 = Surname type, pointing at the female (♀) parent's (¹) third (3) name element.
Similar to the previous one, but with two equally-weighted lineage names; males (that have kids) will pass down their second name, and females will likewise pass on their third. A nice feature of this setup is that bastard children are easily handled: If the father's surname is unknown, the child simply inherits both of the mother's surnames.

Possibilities abound for procedurally-generated name formats. Given names, Event names, and Surnames can be placed in any order.

[FantasticDorf]

For the record, PATERNAL_FATHER is redundant and PATERNAL_MOTHER is an oxymoron; "paternal" refers to lineage from the father. "Maternal" is for the mother.

It doesn't have to be transcribed literally to your last direct descendent its just a code tag, it also applies to grandfather, his grandfather & his grandfathers father onwards all the way to a recognisable heroic figure if you or your parents felt presumptious enough to add it to your title. Or you could reference your parent's lineage in tandem with the other with a few corrections to the presented code.

(it may have not been the intention but im glad you raised the point, ill uh, pretend that's what i meant. Yes of course. )


"Descendant of the legendary hero Oddom Brushwicks" (I should probably scribble that down; [DESCENDANT:PATERNAL_FATHER] or would that be [FATHER:PATERNAL:DESCENDANT] as a more suitable example with clarity?)

If you wanted some hero character continuity between playing as your adventurer children living with your over-successes in a failing adventuring market because your predecessor(s) killed all the valuable monsters for quests & fame.

[Dorsidwarf]

Putnam means that the tag name itself is nonse, I think. It would be like having a tag called CHILD_ADULT. or the various species being called DWARF_DWARF, DWARF_ELF, DWARF_GOBLIN etc