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Names, Identity, and Belonging

A name in Thesalon can identify a person, connect them to a household, place them under an institution’s protection, record an office, preserve a lost homeland, conceal them from an enemy, or state who they have chosen to become.

Many people use more than one name.

A person may have:

• a birth name known to relatives;
• a household name used among family;
• a public name used in trade;
• a formal name entered in records;
• a ship name used by a crew;
• a temple name received through initiation or adoption;
• a refuge name recognized by a sanctuary;
• a professional name earned through work;
• a title attached to an office;
• a chosen name adopted later in life;
• a hidden name withheld for safety;
• a returned name claimed after exile, resurrection, or recovery.

These names are not necessarily false or contradictory. Each may be valid within a different relationship.

A sailor may be known by one name aboard ship, another in Highharbor records, and a third among relatives in Suthrane. A person born in a Vorrakian Skill House may use a camp name, a preserved family name, and a Caerlonian refuge name. A ghoran may retain one personal identity through several bodies while using different public names for each body. A returned prisoner may reclaim a birth name without surrendering the name under which they survived captivity.

Names establish connection, but they do not by themselves prove ancestry, culture, faith, citizenship, morality, or allegiance.

On This Page

• Using This Page
• What a Name Can Mean
• Types of Names
• Name Structures
• Names and Social Recognition
• Multiple Names
• Birth, Childhood, and Coming of Age
• Adoption, Marriage, and Chosen Family
• Office, Profession, and Service
• Exile, Refuge, and Displacement
• Death, Resurrection, and Returned Identity
• Constructed, Awakened, and Transformed People
• Names Across Caerlon
• Names Across Vorrak
• Names Across Suthrane
• Names Across Veyrskold
• Names Across Marithel
• Names Across Ilyr
• Names in Selvarin
• Sensitive and Dangerous Names
• Translation, Pronunciation, and Renaming
• Choosing a Character Name
• Who Knows Which Name
• Name and Identity Examples
• Pathfinder 2e Character Use
• What Most People Know
• Related Pages

Using This Page

The naming patterns in this chapter provide structures rather than ancestry-specific name lists.

A character’s name should be connected primarily to:

• household;
• cultural community;
• language;
• place of upbringing;
• adoption;
• profession;
• faith;
• political authority;
• migration;
• personal choice.

An ancestry may possess inherited naming traditions in some communities, but no ancestry uses one universal naming system across Thesalon.

A dwarf raised in Windrider may use a Maritheli harbor name. A human raised in Dromgard may use a giant-road household structure. A goblin adopted by a Suthrani temple may use both a birth name and a temple-family name. An elf raised in a Marcher settlement may bear a place-name connected to a reconstructed road.

When building a character, choose the community that named them before deciding whether their name should resemble an ancestry-associated tradition.

What a Name Can Mean

A name can answer several different questions.

Question	Possible naming element
Who are you personally?	personal or chosen name
Who raised you?	household, family, temple, ship, or adoption name
Where are you from?	place-name, harbor name, road name, hold name
What work do you do?	professional name or occupational byname
What office do you hold?	title, rank, regnal name, or civic name
Who protects you?	refuge, temple, court, or sanctuary name
Who recognizes your identity?	registry name, witnessed name, legal name
Who were you before?	birth name, prior name, exile name, former office
What do you conceal?	hidden name, sealed name, or private household name
What have you become?	chosen name, returned name, new-body name

A person may use one name to answer several of these questions, or several names to answer them separately.

Types of Names

Personal Name

A personal name identifies the individual in ordinary speech.

It may be:

• given at birth;
• chosen later;
• changed through custom;
• translated;
• shortened;
• expanded;
• replaced after a major event.

Birth Name

A birth name is the earliest recorded or remembered name assigned to a person.

It may not remain the person’s primary name.

Birth names are especially important in:

• family records;
• adoption networks;
• inheritance disputes;
• missing-person searches;
• return hearings;
• resurrection cases;
• ancestry or lineage claims.

A birth name does not override a later chosen name in ordinary social use.

Household Name

A household name connects a person to the people who raised, adopted, sheltered, employed, or accepted them.

A household may be:

• a family;
• a temple;
• a ship;
• a caravan;
• a hold;
• a military company;
• a stewardship circle;
• a refugee house;
• a work crew;
• an envoy house.

Household names can be inherited, granted, earned, or voluntarily adopted.

Family Name

A family name connects someone to a recognized kin group.

Family names may pass:

• through either parent;
• through a designated household elder;
• through adoption;
• through marriage;
• through matrilineal or patrilineal custom;
• through a negotiated combination;
• through no fixed inheritance at all.

Place-Name

A place-name indicates birthplace, residence, claimed homeland, former home, or responsibility to a location.

Examples of structures include:

• of Highharbor;
• from the Seven Kitchens;
• Bellweather-born;
• of the Lower Lens;
• Root-at-Mistwell;
• Underbridge;
• Northfire;
• of the Third Well.

A place-name may remain after the place is destroyed or abandoned.

Public Name

A public name is the name used in trade, travel, civic life, or ordinary introduction.

It may differ from a formal registry name or private household name.

Formal Name

A formal name is used in:

• court;
• temple records;
• contracts;
• diplomatic introductions;
• military rolls;
• succession hearings;
• major rites.

A formal name may include titles and household affiliations omitted in ordinary speech.

Registry Name

A registry name is the name entered in an institution’s records.

Different institutions may record the same person differently.

A Highharbor registry name may not match a Varkul death record, a temple adoption roll, or a ship ledger.

Chosen Name

A chosen name is selected by the person.

It may mark:

• adulthood;
• transition;
• independence;
• recovery;
• rejection of family authority;
• new faith;
• new profession;
• return from exile;
• survival after captivity;
• embodiment in a new form.

Chosen names are widely recognized socially, though formal records may take time to change.

Refuge Name

A refuge name is issued, accepted, or witnessed by a sanctuary institution to protect a person whose original identity is unsafe, unknown, or disputed.

Refuge names are associated with:

• Blue Lantern houses;
• Low Lantern Refuge;
• Highharbor;
• temple sanctuary;
• Mistwell protected arrivals;
• Hidden Lantern routes;
• foreign witness houses.

A refuge name may be temporary or permanent.

Hidden Name

A hidden name is deliberately withheld.

It may be concealed from:

• courts;
• creditors;
• military authorities;
• Varkul registries;
• hostile relatives;
• magical beings;
• political enemies;
• those who might misuse it in ritual.

Not every culture believes names possess direct magical power. Concealment is often practical rather than mystical.

Temple Name

A temple name may be received through:

• initiation;
• adoption;
• ordination;
• healing;
• pilgrimage;
• service;
• sanctuary;
• resurrection;
• dedication to a god or saint.

A temple name does not necessarily replace a personal name.

Ship Name

A ship name identifies a person within a vessel or fleet household.

It may describe:

• duty;
• watch;
• berth;
• behavior;
• origin;
• an event aboard ship;
• relationship to the vessel.

Ship names can become permanent, especially among shipborn people.

Caravan Name

A caravan name connects someone to a route, wagon, well, season, family convoy, or repeated market.

Professional Name

A professional name is earned or adopted through work.

Examples include names linked to:

• pilots;
• scribes;
• healers;
• smiths;
• guides;
• wardens;
• sailors;
• bridge workers;
• advocates;
• performers;
• hunters;
• navigators.

Oath Name

An oath name is taken or granted when a person accepts a continuing obligation.

It may remain only while the oath is active.

Court Name

A court name is used within a royal, princely, noble, or Great Seat household.

It may indicate:

• patron;
• office;
• service rank;
• political relationship;
• ceremonial identity.

Court names may be dangerous outside the court.

Regnal Name

A ruler may take a regnal name upon accession.

The name can connect the ruler to:

• an earlier dynasty;
• a saint;
• a military victory;
• a political program;
• a claimed territory;
• a divine mandate.

Disputed claimants may use the same regnal name.

Military Name

Military names may be:

• callsigns;
• unit bynames;
• campaign names;
• ranks used as names;
• names given after a battle or failure.

A military name does not necessarily survive retirement.

Nickname

Nicknames may be affectionate, descriptive, insulting, occupational, or memorial.

A nickname can become a person’s most recognized name without becoming formal.

Translated Name

A translated name changes form when used in another language.

The translation may preserve:

• sound;
• meaning;
• title;
• household;
• social function.

Some people accept translated names for trade but reject them in family or ritual contexts.

Post-Resurrection Name

A person returned from death may:

• reclaim an earlier name;
• add “Returned” or a similar identifier;
• use a new name;
• distinguish the current life from the former;
• use different names in different jurisdictions.

New-Body Name

A person whose body changes substantially may adopt a name for the new form.

This is common among some:

• ghorans;
• leshies;
• fleshwarps;
• awakened people;
• automatons;
• reflections;
• yaoguai;
• people restored through unusual magic.

Name Structures

Personal Name Only

Used in small communities, crews, monasteries, and households where context is sufficient.

Examples:

• Maera
• Thol
• Issen
• Varka

A byname may be added when confusion arises.

Personal Name and Family Name

Common in cities, courts, merchant houses, and settled communities.

Structure:

Personal Name + Family Name

Personal Name and Household

Common in ship, temple, caravan, refugee, military, and stewardship communities.

Structure:

Personal Name + of/within + Household

Examples:

• Sera of the Blue Lantern
• Edrin of Third Mast
• Kava of Two Births
• Oren within Riverroot

Personal Name and Place

Used where location carries strong identity.

Structure:

Personal Name + Place

Examples:

• Mara Underbridge
• Jalen Northfire
• Tela Highfall
• Corren of Bellweather

Personal Name and Parent

Patronymic, matronymic, parent-based, or guardian-based names identify a parent or raising figure.

Structures include:

• child of;
• daughter of;
• son of;
• raised by;
• household of;
• seed of;
• apprentice of.

The precise form varies by language and culture.

Personal Name and Profession

A professional name can replace or follow a family name.

Examples:

• Vara Lenskeeper
• Hadrin Bridgehand
• Selka Reedwright
• Toren Corpse-Auditor

Personal Name, Family, and Place

Used in diplomatic, legal, noble, or formal settings.

Structure:

Personal Name + Family or Household + Place or Polity

Personal Name and Title

Titles may precede or follow the personal name according to local custom.

Examples:

• Warden Essa
• Ralen, Keeper of the Third Seal
• High Pilot Nara Veil
• Mera Ashfall, Speaker for West Hearthvale

Name and Service Line

Some military, court, ship, or work communities identify a person through a chain of service.

Example structure:

Personal Name + Unit/Ship/House + Current Office

Layered Name

A layered name preserves several forms.

Example structure:

Birth Name / Public Name / Household Name / Formal Identity

A person may not speak all layers during an introduction.

Names and Social Recognition

A name becomes socially meaningful because other people recognize it.

Family Recognition

Family may recognize:

• birth name;
• childhood name;
• lineage name;
• secret household name;
• place in a kinship chain.

Neighborhood Recognition

A neighborhood may recognize a person through:

• residence;
• work;
• witness;
• participation;
• known family;
• repeated obligation.

Ship Recognition

A ship household may recognize:

• ship name;
• berth;
• watch;
• crew service;
• adoption by the captain or household.

Temple Recognition

A temple may recognize:

• initiation name;
• adoption name;
• sanctuary name;
• ordination name;
• funerary identity;
• returned-person identity.

Polity Recognition

A polity records names for:

• citizenship;
• taxation;
• office;
• military service;
• contracts;
• property;
• legal judgment;
• travel.

Guild Recognition

A guild may recognize a person through an apprenticeship, professional mark, or earned name.

Refuge Recognition

A refuge institution may recognize a person under a protective name without certifying every detail of their earlier identity.

Magical or Divine Recognition

Some beings, relics, wards, oaths, and sacred institutions may recognize:

• the name under which an oath was made;
• a soul identity;
• a family lineage;
• a body;
• a title;
• a chosen name;
• an older name.

Such recognition is specific, not universal. No single magical method resolves every identity dispute.

Multiple Names

Using several names is ordinary in many parts of Thesalon.

A person may use:

Context	Name used
family	childhood or household name
work	professional name
trade	public name
legal hearing	formal or registry name
ship	ship name
temple	temple or initiation name
refuge	refuge name
court	title or court name
hidden community	concealed or cell name
old homeland	birth or family name
new homeland	translated or chosen name

When Names Conflict

Names may conflict when:

• records use different scripts;
• a person changed identity;
• family refuses a chosen name;
• a court insists on an old title;
• a creditor pursues a former name;
• two people claim one identity;
• a returned person finds their name reassigned;
• a child was entered under several households;
• a refugee name became permanent;
• a person cannot safely reveal the original name.

Name Order

When listing several legitimate identities, a person may choose:

• current name first;
• birth name first;
• household first;
• title first;
• host-language form first;
• formal name only.

The person’s preference should guide ordinary introduction.

Birth, Childhood, and Coming of Age

Naming at Birth

Birth naming may occur:

• immediately;
• after survival of the first days;
• at a temple presentation;
• after a household council;
• after environmental signs;
• when a child is entered into a ship, caravan, or civic roll;
• only after the child’s preferences can be considered.

Childhood Names

Some communities use childhood names that are expected to change.

Childhood names may be:

• affectionate;
• descriptive;
• deliberately incomplete;
• connected to birth circumstances;
• chosen for easy household use.

Coming-of-Age Names

A new name may mark:

• legal adulthood;
• completion of apprenticeship;
• first voyage;
• first independent harvest;
• acceptance into a hold;
• stewardship responsibility;
• military service;
• temple initiation;
• successful pilgrimage;
• recognition by a ship or caravan.

Self-Selection

Some communities formally allow a young person to choose or alter a name during adolescence or early adulthood.

Others consider renaming an ordinary personal decision requiring no public rite.

Adoption, Marriage, and Chosen Family

Adoption Names

An adopted person may:

• retain the birth name;
• add the adoptive household;
• replace a family name;
• use both households;
• receive a temple or ship name;
• choose no change.

The House of Two Births often preserves both birth and adoptive identity where known.

Temple Adoption

Temple-adopted people may carry:

• birth name;
• temple-house name;
• sponsor name;
• chosen adult name.

Temple siblings may share a house designation without claiming biological kinship.

Ship Adoption

A ship household may name an adoptee through:

• vessel name;
• watch;
• berth;
• captain’s household;
• an event of rescue;
• a crew vote.

Stewardship Adoption

Ilyrian stewardship communities may name a person through the place they accept responsibility for.

Marriage

Marriage may cause:

• no name change;
• one spouse joining another household name;
• both spouses combining names;
• both retaining earlier names;
• creation of a new household name;
• different names in different jurisdictions.

Multiple Marriages and Conflicting Customs

Cross-cultural marriages may require negotiated naming agreements for:

• spouses;
• children;
• household property;
• inheritance;
• religious records;
• ship registration;
• foreign citizenship.

Separation and Divorce

A person may retain, return, combine, or reject a name used during marriage.

The social consequences depend on community custom rather than one global rule.

Office, Profession, and Service

Office Names

Some offices carry a name that temporarily replaces ordinary identity in formal settings.

Examples include:

• key-bearer;
• bridge witness;
• harbor pilot;
• seal warden;
• envoy;
• court speaker;
• refuge steward;
• grain auditor;
• temple registrar.

A person may lose the office name when removed or retired.

Inherited Office Names

A household may repeatedly use the same office title, creating confusion between role and person.

Professional Bynames

Professional bynames often begin as nicknames and become permanent.

Examples include:

• Lenskeeper;
• Rootmender;
• Tidecaller;
• Stonehearer;
• Ropehand;
• Bellwright;
• Name-Witness;
• Gatewalker;
• Ash-Mender.

Guild Names

Some guilds grant names after examination, apprenticeship, or public work.

Military Names

Military names may conceal identity, simplify command, or recognize service.

After the Caerlon invasion, some people abandoned military names because those names connected them to failed commands or atrocities.

Court Names

Court names can place a person under a ruler’s authority. Retaining one after exile may imply loyalty, nostalgia, or unresolved status.

Exile, Refuge, and Displacement

Names become especially important when a person crosses borders without secure documents.

Refuge Names

A refuge name can be:

• selected by the person;
• offered by the institution;
• based on a temporary location;
• taken from a ship;
• based on a witness;
• entirely unrelated to the birth name.

A refuge name is intended to prevent immediate harm. It is not proof of criminal concealment.

Return Names

A returnee may use:

• original name;
• refuge name;
• both names;
• a new chosen name;
• a translated form;
• a name granted by the returning community.

Exile Names

An exile may preserve a title or homeland name to assert a claim.

Another exile may abandon the old name to reject the authority that expelled them.

Names Lost Through Record Destruction

When records disappear, identity may be reconstructed through:

• family testimony;
• neighborhood witness;
• ship logs;
• temple records;
• work rolls;
• military records;
• correspondence;
• burial records;
• remittance accounts;
• magical evidence.

False Names

A false name is a name used to deceive.

Not every alternate name is false.

A refuge name, chosen name, translated name, or ship name can be socially valid even when it differs from a legal record.

Temporary Names

Temporary names may be used during:

• sanctuary review;
• prisoner exchange;
• quarantine;
• medical treatment;
• secret travel;
• witness protection;
• military operations.

Names of Destroyed Places

Displaced people often preserve lost place-names as:

• family names;
• neighborhood names;
• child names;
• ship names;
• titles;
• memorial names.

Death, Resurrection, and Returned Identity

Death does not end every naming dispute in Thesalon.

Death Names

A death name may be used in funerary records or memorial practice.

It may include:

• full formal identity;
• household;
• office;
• circumstances of death;
• chosen name;
• name preferred by surviving family;
• name preferred by the deceased.

Names of the Missing

The missing may remain recorded under:

• birth name;
• military name;
• ship name;
• last confirmed public name;
• several possible identities.

Declared-Dead Names

A person declared dead may later return to find:

• name transferred;
• title inherited;
• spouse remarried;
• property reassigned;
• debt closed;
• memorial established.

Resurrected Persons

A resurrected person may face questions such as:

• Is the person legally continuous?
• Which name is restored?
• Does an office return?
• Is a later chosen name recognized?
• Does the family accept the return?
• Is the returned body considered the same public person?

No single answer applies throughout Thesalon.

Samsaran Names

A samsaran may use:

• current-life name;
• remembered prior-life name;
• spiritual lineage name;
• temple-confirmed memory name.

A prior-life name does not automatically restore property or status.

Ghoran Names

A ghoran may maintain one name through several bodies or use a body-specific public name.

Some ghoran houses distinguish among:

• enduring personal identity;
• seed lineage;
• current body;
• legal office.

Skeleton Names

A sapient skeleton may retain, reclaim, or reject the name used in life.

Some skeletons choose names describing:

• place of awakening;
• person who recognized them;
• recovered memory;
• refusal of a former identity.

Returned Prisoners

A returned prisoner may have:

• birth name;
• camp name;
• court name;
• false escape name;
• refuge name;
• current chosen name.

Forcing the person to abandon all but one can erase part of their lived identity.

Reflections

A reflection may resemble another person or possess copied memories. It remains an independent person and may choose an independent name.

Using the original person’s name may create legal and social conflict, but resemblance does not make the reflection property.

Constructed, Awakened, and Transformed People

Automatons

An automaton may retain:

• maker-assigned designation;
• awakening name;
• recovered ancient name;
• chosen modern name;
• household name;
• service title.

A designation is not automatically the person’s preferred name.

Androids

An android may use:

• recovered identifier;
• chosen personal name;
• name assigned by discoverers;
• archive classification;
• translated version of an ancient name.

Poppets

A poppet may awaken with a name already used by a household or child.

It may retain, alter, or replace that name.

Being named as an object before awakening does not invalidate later self-identification.

Awakened Animals

An awakened animal may:

• keep a call name;
• choose a personal name;
• use a household or place-name;
• reject a name associated with ownership;
• adopt a translated version of an older sound or sign.

Leshies

A leshy may be named for:

• body material;
• season of awakening;
• garden;
• summoning household;
• spirit identity;
• chosen personal quality.

A new body does not necessarily require a new name.

Fleshwarps

A fleshwarp may retain a pre-transformation name, choose a new one, or use both.

Renaming should not be assumed merely because the body changed.

Yaoguai

A yaoguai may be named for:

• original object, plant, or animal form;
• location;
• long service;
• awakening event;
• chosen purpose;
• relationship to a household.

Some reject names that identify them only as the thing they once were.

Conrasu

A conrasu may use a mortal-language approximation of a cosmic identity or choose a practical local name.

Changed Bodies and Public Recognition

A person whose body changes may need witnesses to establish continuity in formal settings. Socially, the person’s stated identity remains central.

Names Across Caerlon

Caerlonian naming varies strongly by region.

Crownward

Crownward names often use:

• personal name;
• family or civic household;
• office;
• district;
• formal title.

Administrative settings favor complete names. Neighborhood use is shorter.

Common structures

• Personal + Family
• Title + Personal + Family
• Personal + of District
• Personal + Civic Office

Identity emphasis

• civic service;
• archive record;
• household;
• political office;
• district belonging.

Common reasons for name change

• appointment;
• marriage;
• archive correction;
• restoration of an erased family;
• rejection of a royalist title;
• return from exile.

Estenmark

Estenmark names often emphasize:

• household;
• tower;
• road;
• patrol;
• settlement;
• military service.

Common structures

• Personal + Household
• Personal + of Tower/Watch
• Rank + Personal
• Personal + Road or Signal Byname

A retired soldier may keep or abandon a rank name.

Heart Plains

Heartplain names often connect to:

• family;
• village;
• field;
• seed house;
• granary;
• river;
• market.

Common structures

• Personal + Family
• Personal + of Village
• Personal + Seed/Grain Byname

Key-bearing offices are titles rather than inherited family names unless a household deliberately preserves them.

Torin

Torin names commonly include:

• bridge;
• span;
• ferry;
• ward;
• witness household;
• Freehold affiliation.

Common structures

• Personal + Underbridge
• Personal + of the East Span
• Personal + Ferry Household
• Personal + Witness Title

A Torin name may be valid locally through witness even when absent from continental records.

Highharbor

Highharbor contains many naming systems.

Names may include:

• family;
• dock ward;
• ship;
• crew;
• registry name;
• refuge name;
• foreign household.

Common structures

• Personal + Family
• Personal + Ship
• Personal + Dock Byname
• Refuge Name / Registered Name

The Harbor of Names regularly records several legitimate names for one person.

Marches

Marcher names often connect to:

• present settlement;
• rebuilt road;
• militia;
• work crew;
• lost village;
• occupancy.

Common structures

• Personal + of Current Settlement
• Personal + Lost Place
• Personal + Work or Militia Byname

A family may preserve the name of a destroyed village while being fully part of a new settlement.

Silveredge

Silveredge names often indicate:

• hold;
• depth;
• surface house;
• archive;
• pass;
• apprenticeship.

Common structures

• Personal + Hold
• Personal + of Surface House
• Personal + Apprentice Line
• Personal + Seal Office

Verdant Principalities

Names may record:

• house;
• estate;
• garden;
• living succession;
• body continuity;
• court.

Common structures

• Personal + House
• Personal + of Garden/Estate
• Personal + Current Body Name
• Title + Personal

A returned heir may use both diaspora and court forms.

Elderidge

Elderidge names often include:

• oath;
• witness line;
• road;
• maintained structure;
• released or active obligation.

An oath name may be removed when the oath ends.

Names Across Vorrak

Vorrak contains many naming systems divided by court, subject community, resistance network, and mobile people.

Kharzug-Maul and Maw Court Territories

Names may indicate:

• feast household;
• hunt;
• protector;
• challenge;
• subject village;
• provision role.

Common structures

• Personal + Feast House
• Personal + Hunt Byname
• Personal + Protected Settlement
• Personal + Challenger Title

A court name may change after public defeat or service.

Varkul Neth-Kharn

Names are often layered through:

• living identity;
• death identity;
• body custody;
• registry number;
• household claim;
• inherited office.

Common structures

• Personal + Registry House
• Personal + Death Status
• Personal + Custodian
• Former Name / Current Name

Varkul records may treat names as claims that can be inherited, sealed, suspended, or seized.

Drakkar-Grim

Names may connect to:

• fortress;
• pass;
• eyrie;
• dragon agreement;
• military household;
• cliff settlement.

Common structures

• Personal + Fortress House
• Personal + of Pass
• Personal + Wing/Stone Byname
• Rank + Personal

Varkhûl-Ashak

Names may include:

• Skill House;
• forge;
• furnace;
• technical rank;
• worker number;
• hidden family name.

A worker may have an official production name and a private household name.

Urgath-Korr

Names often connect to:

• road;
• Iron Table;
• convoy;
• well;
• tribute household;
• vehicle or route.

Common structures

• Personal + of Table
• Personal + Well Name
• Personal + Road Household
• Personal + Caravan Mark

Blackwood

Blackwood names may connect to:

• covenant;
• grove;
• medicine house;
• route;
• refuge;
• spirit relationship.

Names are not necessarily revealed to outsiders in full.

Common structures

• Personal + Covenant Place
• Personal + Medicine House
• Personal + Boundary Role

Red Waste Kharruk

Names may reference:

• route;
• well;
• seasonal camp;
• caravan;
• parent;
• significant movement.

A person may change a route-name when joining a new travel group.

Dreadshore

Names may include:

• eyrie;
• signal house;
• ship;
• cliff;
• flight group;
• military title.

Gaping Coast

Names may connect to:

• brood;
• tide;
• channel;
• reef;
• protector;
• adopted household.

Brood names do not always indicate biological kinship.

Hidden Lantern Communities

Members may possess:

• birth name;
• court name;
• true name;
• cell name;
• escape name;
• foreign refuge name.

Only a small number of people may know the full set.

Names Across Suthrane

Suthrani naming often reflects river, temple, household, adoption, pilgrimage, profession, and sacred law.

Anuth-Selai

Names may include:

• personal name;
• family;
• river landing;
• court office;
• temple affiliation.

Common structures

• Personal + Family
• Personal + of Landing
• Title + Personal
• Personal + River Household

Anointed River Communities

Names often connect to:

• ferry;
• canal;
• village;
• boat;
• flood marker;
• household elder.

Grand Temple Precincts

A person may use:

• birth name;
• temple name;
• ordained name;
• house name;
• saint-associated name;
• legal name.

Different temples follow different structures.

House of Two Births

Adoptees may use:

• birth name;
• temple-house name;
• adoptive family;
• chosen adult name.

Records preserve earlier identity where known, but public use follows the person’s preference.

White Cord Houses

A missing or returned person may be recorded under several names.

A white-cord name may preserve the form used when the person disappeared.

Ivory Floodplain

Names may connect to:

• family;
• estate;
• village;
• levee;
• field;
• ferry;
• seasonal office.

Tenant families may reject estate names imposed by owners.

Mereth-Kai

Names may include:

• harbor;
• ship;
• island;
• underwater district;
• fishing household;
• admiralty office.

Osseran and the Sunroad

Names may connect to:

• caravan;
• well;
• route;
• wagon;
• market;
• household.

A person may be known differently at different recurring stops.

Kharad-Sur

Names often indicate:

• gate;
• pass;
• mountain household;
• toll office;
• alternate route;
• craft.

Names Across Veyrskold

Veyrskoldic naming frequently emphasizes household, hold, hearth, road, rescue, oath, and place.

Skeldheim

Names may include:

• hearth;
• household;
• street;
• winter office;
• rescue sponsor.

A person adopted through emergency shelter may take a hearth name.

Iceflow Holds

Names may connect to:

• hold;
• ice river;
• seasonal settlement;
• fishing ground;
• moving house.

Boreal Moot

Some people acquire a Moot name used across northern communities.

Stonewake

Names may indicate:

• seal house;
• warning station;
• archive;
• oath;
• recovered designation.

Specialists often distinguish between public name and restricted project identity.

Dromgard

Names may include:

• giant-road household;
• mixed settlement;
• oath line;
• speaking platform;
• road office.

Names may have different forms in mortal and giant languages.

Shattered Spine Jarldoms

Names may connect to:

• household;
• valley;
• hall;
• sworn leader;
• inherited title.

Emberdeep

Names often include:

• forge;
• vent;
• fireward;
• work crew;
• deep district;
• surface origin.

Hrafnvik

Names may include:

• ship;
• rescue crew;
• oar house;
• harbor;
• lost vessel;
• winter route.

A rescue name can become more important than a family name.

Names Across Marithel

Maritheli naming is highly flexible because of ship households, mixed harbors, freeports, family networks, and constant movement.

League Harbors

Names may include:

• personal name;
• family;
• harbor;
• ship;
• trade house;
• guild;
• title.

Harbor identity may matter more than island of birth.

Whiteglass

Names often connect to:

• lens house;
• lighthouse;
• pilot line;
• signal office;
• glass workshop.

Pearlglass

Names may combine:

• surface and undersea forms;
• reef;
• pearl farm;
• aquatic household;
• harbor district.

A person may use different spoken or signed forms in air and water.

Ropefall

Names often include:

• yard;
• work crew;
• ship;
• ropewalk;
• sail loft;
• apprenticeship.

Grainwake

Names may connect to:

• island;
• warehouse;
• oven street;
• farm;
• Caerlon Steps;
• relief convoy.

Coinmast

Names often include:

• merchant house;
• ledger house;
• bonded warehouse;
• ship share;
• contract office.

A public trade name may differ from a private family name.

Debtwater

Residents may have:

• personal name;
• Passage House name;
• creditor-assigned record name;
• refuge name;
• chosen name after release.

A contract name does not override personhood.

Far-Treaty

Formal introductions may list:

• personal name;
• household;
• mission;
• political affiliation;
• office;
• language form.

Stormgate

Names may include:

• chain station;
• pilot house;
• guard unit;
• passage office;
• channel.

Highfall

Names may connect to:

• tower;
• cliff;
• light;
• aerial watch;
• lost ship.

Windrider Freeport

Windrider accepts broad naming variation.

Residents may use:

• birth name;
• ship name;
• neighborhood name;
• refuge name;
• translated name;
• chosen name;
• temporary name;
• Freeport record name.

Free Name Morning provides public witnessing for adopted, restored, or retired names.

Blue Lantern Communities

A protected resident may use a refuge name until danger passes or for the rest of their life.

Saltglass Principalities

Names may include:

• court house;
• island;
• glass house;
• marriage alliance;
• princely title.

Drowned Reef Cantons

Names may connect to:

• reef;
• wreck;
• island;
• canton;
• salvage household;
• underwater village.

Sirenward

Names may be altered or supplemented when survivors return with damaged memory, changed speech, or uncertain continuity.

Farwake Navigators

Navigators may use route names, chart-house names, or voyage names kept within the profession.

Ship Households

A shipborn person may use:

• vessel name;
• berth;
• watch;
• crew household;
• first shore of registration.

Names Across Ilyr

Ilyrian names frequently emphasize stewardship, place, household, living systems, sponsorship, and personal relationship to land.

Aelora

Names may connect to:

• bridge;
• platform;
• canopy household;
• water system;
• sponsor;
• stewardship role.

Guest Platforms

A guest may preserve an earlier name, add a sponsor household, or choose a local public form.

Permanent recognition does not require abandoning an older name.

Saren-Tel

Names may reference:

• channel;
• floating market;
• reed house;
• boat;
• seasonal boundary;
• fishing route.

Place-names may change as channels move.

Emerald Crown

Names may connect to:

• plateau;
• spring;
• terrace;
• grazing circuit;
• storm refuge;
• household.

Namarra

Names may include:

• healer household;
• garden;
• Recovery House;
• seed line;
• medical office;
• body continuity.

Patient records may preserve earlier names while daily life follows the person’s chosen name.

Root-and-Bowl Households

Plant-bodied people may use:

• enduring personal name;
• seed or spirit name;
• current-body name;
• household name.

Mistwell

Names may be layered for security.

A person may use:

• hidden name;
• guide name;
• waiting-ground name;
• public foreign name;
• witness-protection name.

Thornward

Names may include:

• patrol;
• border household;
• stewardship;
• settlement;
• extraction-survivor community.

Living Harbors

Names may possess surface, aquatic, spoken, and signed forms.

Living-Land Custodians

A custodian may add the name of a place while responsible for it. The place-name may be removed if the relationship ends.

Names in Selvarin

Selvarin contains nearly every naming system in Thesalon.

A person may use one name in:

• envoy service;
• municipal life;
• family;
• foreign citizenship;
• translation work;
• court;
• religion.

Envoy-House Names

An envoy-house name may indicate service rather than ancestry or citizenship.

Diplomatic Names

Formal diplomatic names often include:

• personal name;
• office;
• represented polity;
• household;
• recognition status.

Translator Names

Translators may maintain standardized professional forms for use across languages.

Stateless Names

A stateless person may be recognized through:

• Selvarin residence;
• professional guild;
• household;
• witness;
• former mission;
• municipal record.

Exile Names

Exile families may preserve obsolete titles and place-names.

Later generations may retain, translate, shorten, or reject them.

International Household Names

A mixed household may create a new name unrelated to either family’s older national identity.

Sensitive and Dangerous Names

Some names attract political, legal, religious, or social attention.

Vaelor Names

Names connected to the missing Vaelor crown may imply:

• dynastic claim;
• royalist loyalty;
• family service;
• deliberate provocation.

Using a Vaelor-associated personal name is not itself evidence of royal descent.

Ashen Banner Names

Some surnames or unit names remain associated with the Ashen Banner betrayal.

Families may:

• conceal them;
• defend them;
• alter spelling;
• use a maternal line;
• publicly reclaim them.

Vorrakian Court Names

A Great Seat court name may indicate:

• former service;
• patronage;
• family captivity;
• inherited status;
• court birth;
• no current allegiance.

Synod Names and Marks

Names or titles connected to the Dread Synod attract scrutiny, especially in Marithel and Caerlon.

Saintly Names

Naming a child after a saint may express:

• devotion;
• gratitude;
• family custom;
• political statement;
• hope for protection.

It does not prove formal temple membership.

Names Recorded as Dead

Using a name recorded as dead may trigger:

• identity review;
• inheritance dispute;
• Varkul claim;
• family conflict;
• accusation of fraud.

Noble Names

A noble name may carry obligations without wealth.

Stolen Names

A stolen name is used to claim another person’s:

• property;
• office;
• credit;
• protection;
• family;
• legal identity.

Stolen-name cases are distinct from translated, refuge, chosen, or shared household names.

Magical True-Name Claims

Some occult and religious traditions claim that a hidden true name grants power.

No universal system of true names exists. Such claims must be evaluated according to the specific magic, being, oath, or tradition involved.

Translation, Pronunciation, and Renaming

Translating Sound

A name may be approximated because another language lacks certain sounds.

The person may prefer:

• closest pronunciation;
• shortened form;
• translated meaning;
• written form preserved despite changed speech.

Translating Meaning

Some names are translated by meaning for trade or diplomacy.

A name meaning “First Light” may be rendered into another language while the original remains in family use.

Titles

Titles should be translated by function where possible rather than sound alone.

Mispronunciation

Repeated refusal to learn a person’s name can be insulting. Accidental error is common in multilingual cities.

Simplifying a Name

A person may simplify a name for travel without abandoning the complete form.

Forced Renaming

Forced renaming occurs through:

• slavery;
• imprisonment;
• military service;
• court assimilation;
• creditor control;
• conversion under threat;
• bureaucratic convenience.

A forced name may remain part of the person’s history without remaining their preferred identity.

Reclaiming a Name

Reclamation may require:

• no formal act;
• family witness;
• neighborhood ceremony;
• temple record;
• court petition;
• Free Name Morning;
• return hearing;
• public declaration.

Choosing a Character Name

Step 1: Choose the Naming Community

Who first named the character?

• birth family;
• adoptive family;
• temple;
• ship;
• caravan;
• military company;
• court;
• stewardship;
• refuge institution;
• maker;
• the character themself.

Step 2: Choose the Primary Structure

Select one:

• personal name only;
• personal and family;
• personal and household;
• personal and place;
• personal and profession;
• personal and title;
• layered name.

Step 3: Choose the Public Name

What name does the character use with strangers?

Step 4: Choose the Private Name

Is there a name known only to:

• family;
• temple;
• crew;
• old comrades;
• resistance cell;
• prior household;
• the character?

Step 5: Choose Whether the Name Changed

Possible causes include:

• adoption;
• marriage;
• coming of age;
• exile;
• refuge;
• profession;
• religious initiation;
• resurrection;
• transformation;
• rejection of family;
• political protection.

Step 6: Choose Who Rejects the Name

A person or institution may insist on another form.

Examples:

• parent uses childhood name;
• court uses former title;
• creditor uses contract name;
• Varkul uses death record;
• homeland relatives reject translated name;
• host authorities reject refuge name;
• old crew uses ship name.

Step 7: Choose a Name-Based Obligation

The name may connect the character to:

• household;
• title;
• debt;
• oath;
• lost place;
• political claim;
• family expectation;
• professional duty;
• sanctuary.

Who Knows Which Name

Use this worksheet for a character with multiple identities.

Person or institution	Name they know	Relationship
Birth family
Adoptive or chosen family
Current community
Employer or guild
Temple
Ship or caravan
Refuge institution
Government registry
Enemy or creditor
Adventuring companions

Questions to answer:

• Which name feels most personal?
• Which name is safest?
• Which name carries the most authority?
• Which name carries the most danger?
• Which name would the character want used at death?
• Which name appears on old records?
• Which name would reveal their origin?
• Which name do they refuse to answer to?

Name and Identity Examples

Highharbor Returnee

Birth name: Erena Tal Camp name: Fourth-Scribe Refuge name: Erena Westlight Current public name: Erena Westlight Tal Recognized by: Highharbor Return House and surviving relatives Conflict: A Vorrakian registry still claims Fourth-Scribe as a court asset.

Windrider Shipborn Character

Personal name: Karo Ship household: of the Blue HeronHarbor record: Karo Heron-Windrider Family use: Little Mast Conflict: The Blue Heron disappeared, and Coinmast creditors claim its household records.

Suthrani Temple Adoptee

Birth name: Unknown Temple childhood name: Nami of Two Births Chosen adult name: Nami Selai-Reed Formal record: Nami Selai-Reed, formerly of the House of Two Births Conflict: A Caerlonian family claims Nami under another birth name.

Marcher Reconstruction Resident

Personal name: Orven Lost settlement: Grey Hollow Current settlement: New Bellweather Public name: Orven Greyhollow Civic record: Orven Greyhollow of Bellweather Conflict: Return officials insist the old settlement name is no longer valid.

Varkul Escapee

Birth name: Sela Registry identity: Sela Neth-Record 61 Hidden Lantern name: Quiet Reed Refuge name: Sela Reed Conflict: White Cord witnesses recognize Sela, but Varkul claims the birth name belongs to a legally dead person.

Ghoran Court Official

Enduring name: Varesh Current body name: Red-Bloom Office: Steward of the Eastern Garden Formal name: Varesh Red-Bloom, Steward of the Eastern Garden Conflict: A rival argues that Varesh’s office ended with the prior body.

Automaton Warden

Recovered designation: Unit Seven-Copper Chosen name: Sevra Household: Stillfire House Formal name: Sevra of Stillfire, formerly cataloged as Seven-Copper Conflict: A sealed site responds only to the old designation.

Selvarin International Character

Personal name: Lio Maternal household: Vannor Paternal envoy house: Mereth Municipal record: Lio Vannor-Mereth Professional name: Interpreter Lio Conflict: Two foreign states record Lio under different citizenship and name orders.

Pathfinder 2e Character Use

Names have no automatic mechanical effect unless a specific spell, feat, curse, oath, item, or campaign rule says otherwise.

They can support:

• background;
• Lore;
• language selection;
• contacts;
• social reputation;
• legal complications;
• disguise;
• investigation;
• character goals.

Background Connections

Naming history can support backgrounds such as:

• refugee;
• emissary;
• servant;
• scholar;
• sailor;
• merchant;
• artisan;
• guard;
• pilgrim;
• criminal;
• noble;
• farmhand;
• laborer;
• translator;
• court worker.

Useful Lore Skills

• Name Lore;
• Genealogy Lore;
• Heraldry Lore;
• Refugee Lore;
• Highharbor Lore;
• Varkul Law Lore;
• Temple Adoption Lore;
• Ship Household Lore;
• Court Lore;
• Archive Lore;
• Genealogy Lore;
• Legal Lore;
• Heraldry Lore;
• Underworld Lore.

Society

Society may help a character:

• recognize naming structures;
• identify likely region or institution;
• understand titles;
• distinguish household from family names;
• recognize political implications.

A name alone should not prove ancestry, guilt, citizenship, or allegiance.

Deception and Impersonation

Using another name is not automatically Deception.

Deception becomes relevant when a character intentionally misrepresents identity or authority.

Diplomacy

Correct use of a preferred, formal, household, or title name can improve trust where culturally appropriate.

Occultism and Religion

These skills may identify traditions in which names interact with:

• spirits;
• oaths;
• wards;
• curses;
• divine recognition;
• funerary practice.

No general true-name rule should be assumed.

What Most People Know

Most people in Thesalon understand that one person may use several legitimate names.

They know that:

• family names do not always indicate ancestry;
• household names may come through adoption;
• ship names can become permanent;
• refuge names provide protection;
• professional names may be more familiar than birth names;
• titles can end while personal identity continues;
• returned people may use names absent from current records;
• foreign names may change in pronunciation or form;
• a name associated with Vorrak does not prove loyalty to a Great Seat;
• a court, temple, harbor, family, and individual may disagree over which name is correct.

Names matter because they express relationships.

A name may identify the people who raised someone, the place they lost, the work they perform, the oath they accepted, the ship that carried them, the sanctuary that protected them, or the self they chose after surviving something that changed their life.

No institution has complete authority over every form of identity.

A registry can establish how a polity records a person. It cannot determine every household relationship, private name, cultural belonging, spiritual continuity, or personal truth.

The most respectful ordinary practice is simple:

Use the name a person gives, ask before using another, and understand that learning an older or hidden name creates responsibility rather than ownership.

Related Pages

• Culture Is Not Ancestry
• Ancestries and Species
• Peoples and Cultural Identity
• Diaspora and Mixed Communities
• Refugees, Exiles, and Displaced Peoples
• Languages of Thesalon
• Regional Languages and Dialects
• Trade Languages
• Signs, Codes, Cants, and Nonverbal Communication
• Literacy, Records, and Scribes
• Migration, Exile, and Reconstruction
• Historical Knowledge and Disagreement
• Temples, Saints, Cults, and Religious Law