Chlouvānem/Names

The Chlouvānem people have a naming tradition which strongly reflects the traditional matrilinear society and the fact that names come from a variety of sources, due to the Chlouvānem people having absorbed many other different cultures and their names being kept, sometimes regionally in the territories of the Inquisition, some other times nationwide.

All names are adapted into their language, and follow its phonological rules and nominal declensions.

Chlouvānem names are made by three different parts: the matronymic (in Chl. nāḍimāvi), the surname(leliėmihaloe), and one or more personal (or given) names (lilahaloe, pl. lilahalenī— commonly just haloe/halenī). This is the standard for people everywhere in the Inquisition, but note that ethnic Bazá people from Tūnambasā diocese may also be called with the standard names for the Bazá people; anyway in the last two decades the Chlouvānem standard has grown from being used by 25% to 93% of all Bazá people living in Tūnambasā diocese; titular ethnicities in other ethnic dioceses follow the Chlouvānem standard.

The standard format is matronymic - surname - personal name(s) ; the latter are usually romanized in italic in order to better distinguish them.

Matronymics (nāḍimāvīye)

The matronymic or nāḍimāvi (from nāḍima, honorific word for "mother") are always the first part of the name and are also the simplest to form, by adding -āvi to the mother's (first) given name. For example, the children of a woman named Līṭhaljāyim will all have the matronymic Līṭhaljāyimāvi.

A few names have particular matronymics:

• Martayinām (and other rarer names compounds of -yinām) has Martayināvi
• Nouns in -ė make their matronymic in -yāvi, e.g. Lairė → Lairyāvi
• Nouns in -ca or -cha make their matronymic in -šāvi, e.g. Lañekaica → Lañekaišāvi

Surnames (leliėmihalenī)

The surname or leliėmihaloe (from leliėmita "family", and haloe "name") is of newer formation when compared to the matronymic, especially in rural areas. Chlouvānem people have a huge number of surnames, and there are different possible origins:

• Some have been derived by ancient matronymics (keeping the one of the grandmother of the first generation which had this surname), and are distinguished by ending in -æha or -æša instead of -āvi. As this has a popular origin, the original name may not be recognizable, especially because of heavy shortenings and/or vernacular influence. Some examples include Lænkæša, Nākāyæha, Ñæhūvæša, Lūmāvæha, or Jėliāvyæša.
• Some names have been derived by "extended" genitives in -iai/-ьai (sometimes also seen in placenames), often with otherwise -mi- root extension and ablaut. The original roots are often common places or professions; examples are Yālcai, Lanæmiai, Ṣveimiai, Mahāmiai (from amaha “abode”), Hāliai, Lūlulkaicai (from lūlulkita, a cocoa tree plantation), or Šītmiai. A common subpattern includes the many different, vernacular-influenced, variations on vīhatam "farm", like Vīhešai, Vaihātiai, Bahāmiai, Vīšmi, or Bīhašai.
• A few surnames are derived by prefixing or suffixing the older genitive particle ga’': these are mostly originary of those areas where the local vernacular has a genitive with that origin, like the central-western Lāmiejāya plain; examples are Galeli, Nānega, or Pomega.
• Surnames derived from toponyms (of small places), especially through genitives or -ųu. Many of these toponyms, like in all of the Inquisition anyway, are of non-Chlouvānem origin due to them having displaced earlier cultures. Examples are: Paramaiti, Yuitani, Jāṇųu, Murtųu, Halьcaici, or Nuiñjuyai.
• A few surnames derive from occupations or tools, either in genitive case (e.g. Ṣāṭi, Kolьcañī) or in direct case (e.g. Kumis, Drāṇīn).
• Many Eastern surnames have their origins in Kans-Tsan clan names, like Yatakoma, Laranamon, Hantokan, Futahira, or Līkāntām.
• Many surnames have unknown origin, most probably from non-Chlouvānem now displaced languages, especially in the jungle area. Examples are Nāʔahilūma, Jāmatthāla, Naiñoʔamė, Lamichlīkyah’' or Nājihaufram.

Personal names (lilahalenī)

Chlouvānem personal names (lilahalenī, from lila "person" and haloe "name") have a large variety of origins.

Names inherited by the Proto-Lahob culture, or the earliest Chlouvānem names, are usually made by two elements compounded together (a kind of bahuvrihi compound), like for example the male names Gāṇakvyāta "steel hero" or Hånitakas "friend of toucans", or the female ones Martayinām "city protector" or Ñaiṭasamin "star child". There are also names made by a single Laceyiami word, like Lairė "sky", Yānāh “innocence” (both female) or Hånia "toucan" (unisex but mostly female).

Anyway, possibly the majority of nationwide Chlouvānem names are not inherited from Proto-Lahob, but originally from cultures of the central Lāmiejāya plain in prehistoric times, many without a known meaning. Such names include for example the female Hæniląuya and Namihūlśa or the male Lælithiam and Nuikthalin. Other names with a known origin are for example the female Kūldendėla or Nariekaiṣa and the male Kāltarvān or Kāljivaṃṣān, all of Ancient Yodhvāyi origin (once spoken in the current-day dioceses of Galiākñijātia and Yodhvāya). A few nationwide given names also have Ancient Kūṣṛmāthi or other origins, but they're much rarer.

-likā and -mitā are usually used to form female names from common words; male counterparts to female names are formed by changing the final vowel, usually -a, with -mun. This is part of a pattern that sees most male nouns being grammatically of lotus gender and most female ones of the parrot one. Only a few nouns are unisex, for example Kailnenia (though female in the vast majority of cases), Terintān, or those ones formed with unisex names, like all of those with -samin (child).

Many areas of the Inquisition also have their own "local" names, taken from pre-Chlouvānem local languages; this is particularly common in the East with Kans-Tsan names, which often spread outside that area. Special mention also for the Dabuke female names Amabu and Nīmulšāmi, which have spread outside the local area and are commonly given nationwide.

Most common given names at the 4E 131 census

The 4E 131 Inquisitorial census found these names as the most common among the population of the Chlouvānem Inquisition.

Female names:

1. Martayinām
2. Lairė
3. Huliāchlærim
4. Yārachilgėn
5. Amabu
6. Mæmihūmia
7. Nimahuilė
8. Læhimausa
9. Namihūlśa
10. Kælidañca

Male names:

1. Kāltarvān
2. Jardām
3. Bhārmatah
4. Khālbayān
5. Kāljivaṃṣān
6. Darkhām
7. Nuikthalin
8. Jalgudām
9. Gāṇakvyāta
10. Mūńcangām