Naming customs

Quoting Dan Jones <dan@...>:

> Also, what's the story behind people's names on the list? Are you
> named after family members, or otherwise??
Both my father's family (the Wiers) and my mother's family
(the Knights) are ultimately from the same Scottish clan,
the MacNaughtons.  My father's line has fairly consistently
named all male children one of three names they deemed to
be "Scottish"*:  Thomas, James, or Robert.  For the last 120
years or so, the eldest male child has always been Thomas.
My greatgrandfather was Thomas Percy Wier, who gave his name
to his son (Jr.)  and thence his grandson (the III).  If that
tradition had been continued, I would be Thomas Percy Wier IV.
My mother (rightly, I think) immediately vetoed that suggestion.
In compromise, I received the same middlename as that of my
mother's father, Randal.  (I don't like this name, but I'm
too tradition-oriented to change it, and it makes little
difference to my success if I do.)

*[Whatever that means.]

ObConlang: Phaleran names always come in a fixed order:
[clan] [tribe] [numerical] [official] [personal].  Normally,
the citation name given for someone is [Clan, Personal], unless
he or she is a noble, in which case usually it is [Tribe, Numerical,
Personal].  In the case of inveterate nobles, who can prove their
ancestry all the way back to Earth, they will always take the
tribal name _Asseli_ (i.e., "of Earth"). People who achieve
high office may also take special numerical or official names
after taking office.  The government of Twolyeo is tricameral:
the _Pyoltigeni Sniluo_ (House of Magnates), the Phrâstyumen
(the Council of Twenty) and the Hretlaimessa (Confederate
Tribal Assembly).  The Pyoltigeni Sniluo is divided into two
groups: inveterate and novitiate gentry. Of these, the life-term
timarchy always goes to a member of the inveterate gentry, while
the decade-long timarchy always goes to a member of the novitiate
gentry (these two offices have veto power over the other).  The
Official name for the first office is _Ahra_ ("Governor",
theoretically the descendent of the last extrasolar governmental
authority), while the second is _Eltri_ ("Superior").  When
individuals acquire office holders, they also add on the an
another Numerical name *after* their personal name.  This means
that you can get full names like:

  Orunsai T'elti Tyul Ahra Cuwannes Nul.
  "Cuwannes, of Orunsai clan, of T'elti tribe, Fourth of that
   line, Governor, the Second of that name. "
  or, alternatively, "T'elti IV Cuwannes II"

(It's important to get the Numerical names right, since the
number of families that as a matter of fact ever hold these
offices is vanishingly small.)

=====================================================================
Thomas Wier <trwier@...> <http://home.uchicago.edu/~trwier>

             "...koruphàs hetéras hetére:isi prosápto:n /
Dept. of Linguistics  mú:tho:n mè: teléein atrapòn mían..."
University of Chicago "To join together diverse peaks of thought /
1010 E. 59th Street   and not complete one road that has no turn"
Chicago, IL 60637     Empedocles, _On Nature_, on speculative thinkers