Naming Systems #2
Elves and Drow, part 1
(and people descended from them)
Given names | Surnames (Houses)
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Given names may in fact be a big deal, as are clan and house names. Elven names are not the most pronounceable in the world.
Shockingly(!) the elves have a stupid amount of lore and then I got carried away examining sourcebook names and created a self-indulgent monstrosity. Once again, this is one part canon and one part educated guessing.
Long post:
Elves have their given names and their surname.
For surface elves the surname is the name of the commoner clan or noble House (or high House) they were born into. Although apparently: "they tend to dislike the term “clans” as being “too dwarvish”", so even if you're not a noble you're liable to refer to your family as "house [name]." The line between noble and commoner families is blurrier and more prone to fluctuation amongst elves anyway.
For Lolthite drow only the nobility and those who hold titles may use the House name as their surname. It is also forbidden for a House to have a name that begins with L, lest we tempt Lolth's wrath or amusement (depending on her mood). Both moods are to be avoided.
Houses all have family crests and house colours, the latter of which I believe members of the house (meaning relatives and servants who work for the family) are supposed to wear to show their affiliation.
Some moon elven houses, and a few wood elven, appear to have officially translated their house names into Common. "Moonflower," "Hawksong," "Silverspear." The gold elves have not, likely because the majority would sooner see their lineage go extinct before doing that. Even the progressive ones are raised in a culture that considers preservation of unchanged elven culture as a god-given duty.
Noble houses all have their histories and colours and etc, and they took up an insane amount of space so a brief overview of those is a part 2.
In the meantime here are some vague surface elven house names who don't have detail that I know of, so you can make up whatever:
Surface: Amalith, Braegen, Calaudra, Eveningfall, Laelithar, Moondown, Tarnruth, Arruar
And here are some commoner drow surnames:
Xiltyn, Ghaun, Luen, Illistyn,Jusztiirn, Dalael, Hune, Vrinn, Abaeir, Pharm, Quavein, Blaerabban, Blundyth, Argith, Omriwin, T'sarran, Veladorn, Dhuunyl, Mlezzir, Naerth, Olonrae, Zaphresz, Xarann, Wyndyl, Tlintarn, Seerear
Yogh'il'rymmin
Performers and such may take "stage names", and elves who are going to be misbehaving will also take aliases "to avoid having their deeds reflect on their family (and perhaps mar ongoing house negotiations with others)."
An elf not using their house name usually goes for a sort of portmanteau in Common: "Fireblade," "Eveningfall," "Neverdeath."
"Many elves who live and work among humans (i.e. members of an adventuring band) adopt a “humans can call me this” surname that’s a portmanteau of a hue and a living thing/natural feature (like Blackrose, or Bluewater)"
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Every example of naming children that I've seen in the Realms involves the parents giving their child a multisyllable name at birth, which they use for the rest of their lives. Nobles are known to name their heirs after themselves; so you can get Garynnon I and his son Garynnon II. There's a trend of giving half-elven children gender neutral names.
Apparently discarding/changing your name is frowned upon: "An [elf] can of course have almost any birth name, and will rarely change it out of shame."
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"Faerunian elves don't normally use D or F or hard-K to begin names"
Although there are exceptions, because I've definitely seen names beginning with D, F and K.
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Vowels may shift. Saevel and Saeval may be seen, -ian, might become -ien or -ion.
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Masculine endings tend to end in consonants, which can be feminised by adding an "a" or "e" onto the end. The "e" doesn't get pronounced, apparently, it stresses the final consonant. ("Kele" = "KeLL"). Sometimes elves and half-elves - particularly genderfluid and nonbinary elves - drop or add the vowel as per their current mood. An example given was a genderfluid half-elf who goes by either Phandarl or Phandarla.
Names aren't necessarily exclusively male or female because of that; you can still find elven guys with vowels on the end of their names and ladies who don't.
I observe that Drow women seem more likely than surface elven women to not bother with the feminisation of their names. Or possibly it's not part of the dialect.
"all the elven names ending in "ael" can be used by any gender"
"All of the "-une" elven names can be used by any gender."
"Many half-elves in the Realms seem to bear the "une" and the "ael" names as given names"
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Three syllable names seem to be the average. Two-syllable and four-syllable names are also possible.
It seems like the longest, hardest to pronounce names are favoured by nobles.
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No dark elves, regardless of faith, will have names that sound like the name of a deity. It's viewed either blasphemy or inviting bad luck.
The drow dialect has harsher sounds: harder and more frequent consonants, more double consonant's ("mm", "nn", "rr") and buzzing/hissing ("zz" "sz" "ss"), and include a lot of ' , which I think means glottal stops? "Si'Nafey" or "Do'Urden".
Names begining with "Ch" tend to be drow.
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" "Ph" is used for "F" ." Although it seems that the first f becomes ph, while if it's not in the start of the sentence it is written "f". So Phandarl, but if you add a third slyllable, Arlfandarl.
"Y" is apparently pronounced "ee", in surface elven, anyway.
Judging by Angaradh, "dh" is pronounced like a soft "th" (sooth) and "an" at the start of a word/name is pronounced "awn", like "awww, how cute". SImilarly "am" -> "awm", "arav" -> "awrav," etc
We're entering hypothesis stages now, but as time goes on you begin to realise there's a lot of Celtic stuff here (like literal Welsh names like Rhys) so I'd imagine that "th" is a harder variant ("that")
"dd" is probably a dialectal variant of "dh", so soft th again.
and "ch" is a kind of back-of-the-throat growl/hiss noise. If you speak German or Arabic or something you probably get the idea, liebchen.
While there are differences between dark elven and surface elven (and they come in dialects, beside) there is still overlap, so you could still build a drow name out of the same syllable pool as surface elves.
"Nym" remains a common name for elves of all subraces.
Example drow names:
Feminine: Sabrae, Faeryl, Phaere, Olorae, Alauniira, Angaste, Briza, Chalithra, Elvanshalee, Quarra, Lualyrr, Si'Nafey, Li'Neerlay, Xune, Vierna, Talice
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Masculine: Nym, Sorn, Belgos, Guldor, Solaufein, Bhintel, Hatch'net, Tluth, Welverin, Seldszar
Example surface elf names:
Neutral: Alael, Imizael, Lune, Lyrune, Belrael, Cathael, Tarune, Eluael, Rune, Gelthael
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Masculine: Galan, Glaranal, Llombaerth, Elandorr, Eltargrim, Imbryl, Filaurel, Jharym, Maiele, Uthorim, Ardryll, Tehlmar, Iefyr, Delmuth, Dhoelath, Faerondarl, Luthais, Lhoris, Ornthalas, Naeryndam, Braern, Ajaar, Laosx, Edicûve, Uldrein
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Feminine: Elandorr, Braerindra, Melarue, Alea, Shalantha, Saelihn, Tiatha, Meira, Ildilyntra, Halanaestra, Nuala, Yrlissa, Namyriitha, Itylra, Talanashta, Maaleshiira, Eallyr, Gylledha, Anaharae, Ysmyrl'da, Symrustar, Nlaea
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And now the part where I lost my mind while breaking up the names of elves in Cormanthyr: Empire of the Elves and Elves of Evermeet.
If you're not here to bash together vaguely "canon" sounding elf names there's no more canon to glean from here on.
This was entirely self indulgent.
As with the human name post, the idea is you take syllables from broken appart canon elven names and stick them together with the endings.
So pick a syllable (Bel) pick an ending (-uth) = Beluth. Then you can make it sound "more feminine" by sticking on a vowel. Beluthe, Belutha, Beluthae, whatever.
Some elven names are three syllables or more, so (A) Abeluth, (Orn) Belornuth.
I feel like mixing syllables that begin with vowels and syllables starting with consonants works best.
A, Aer, Aul, Am, An, Ath, Arav, Al, Ala, Ana, Aun, Aur, Aush, Aja, Ahsk, Ahren, Ash, Axil, Ard, Arl, Aneir, Anth, Aath, And, Alaun, Alys, Ang, Angh, Ans, Arath, Ava
Bel, Byr, Bra
Car, Cel, Cor, Cath, Con, Cys, Clu, Cshar
Cheyr
Daun, Daunt, Delm, Dosh, Da, Dath, Das, Dyf, Dann, Dil, Dilyn, Din
E, El, Eil, Enor, Elid, Ey, Eyr, Ed, Edyr, Eis, Eval, Er, Erev
Phyr, Phae, Phan, Phand, Phra
Fel, Fen
Gal, Gar, Gelth, Glyn, Gyl, Gw, Goron, Garyn
Ha, Han, Hen, Has, Hanal Hang, Har, Hara, Hael,
Iliv, Ilyr, Imiz, Im, Is, Iliph, Ilph, Ilf, Isc, Ief, It, Il, Illit, Ili
Jas, Jon, Jast, Jhaum, Jaon, Jhar
Kend, Khal, Khys, Kuorn, Kaeth, Ker, Kiss, Kus, Kusk, Kat, Kiar
La, Lath, Lav, Lyr, Lhor, Luth, Las, Lash, Leoj, Lysan, Lov, Lif, Les, Lym,
Min, Mol, Mord, Mand, Mour, Mar, Myr, Maal, Moth, Mi, Myrdd, Mei, Myrl
Naeth, Narth, Nym, Nam, Naer, Ny, Nu, Nel, Nyl, Nid
O, Orl, Orn, On, Otaerh, Om,
Par, Pyw, Pel
Quam, Qaer, Que
Rath, Res, Rui, Rhis, Raer, Raeth, Rath, Rathi, Rai, Raib, Ruv, Rhang, Rych, Rynnhm, Rhys, Rhal, Rel, Ril
Se, Seh, Sol, Ser, Sel, Sash, Saev, Sym, Syn, Sa, Sand, Susp, Sab
Shi, She, Shy, Shyr, Shiir, Sha, Shal, Shel, Shri
Tra, Tel, Tar, Tath, Taen, Taegh, Tal, Talin, Talind, Thal, Tehl, Thiil, Tan, Tiath
Thel
Un
Var, Vrae, Vaer, Vhaer, Vand, Ves, Vest, Vier, Vyr, Vor, Vorl, Ven, Vol, Vet
Wyl, Wylch
Yas, Yauv, Yal, Yr, Yn, Yrth, Ys
Xan, Xand
Zorth, Zan, Zand, Zaor, Zil
Sounds more common with Drow:
Akor, Af, Ax, Agg
Briz, Bur
Clav
Chal, Char, Chess
Div, Driz, Duag
Gin, Gauss, G'eld, Grey, Gul
Hatch', Houn
Jeg
Kren, Kel, Krond, Kron, Kal,
Lauf, Lau
Omar
Que, Quil
Rizz,
Ssap, Sab, Sol, Szor, Szord
Ul, Url
Vic
Wu, Waer, Wen, Wel, Wod
Yond, Yon, Yazs
Xull
Zak, Zeb, Zar
Sticking a "th", "v" or "r" in front of a vowel sometimes happens.
M: -ar, -as, -al, -all, -an, -ash, -am, -aud, -arl, -aln, -arm, -ais, -aern, -ael, -aor, -un, -el, -ell, -eth, -ew, -eith -edd, -enn, -edh -iah, -ian, -is, -il, -in, -im, -ik, -iith, -iis, -iir, -iil -oun, -os, -on, -uth, -unth, -yr, -ym, -yk, -yf, -yl, -yll, -ymn, -yrm, -hyn, -rik, -ryll, -rys, -ros
F: -adh, -ae, -ie, -aeris, -ea, -ue, -ain, -ra, -ta, -ya, -lissa, -icca, -ii, -nii, -eyr, -ali, -'da, -ria, -la, -aar
N: -uil, -ael, -une, -as, -rynn, -ynn
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Endings that seem to be drow-exclusive:
N: -ee, -aste
F: -ace, -it, -ice, -yrr, -fay
M: -ab, -agh, -ast, -iz, -ica, -ild, -aen, -et, -erd, -een, -fein, -ig, -izzt, -oj, -oth, -ozz, -orl, -olg, -oos, -omph -ahc
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