The contents of this page are preliminary. They won't become canonical until the first version of the Tale of Tifa Walbatnuwa Siina is up. - DPH

Imperial Names

As with asiit (or for that matter humans) of most cultures, an asit living in the SSildifian Empire used a variety of forms of her or his name, depending on circumstance. Unlike some cultures, however, none of those could be singled out as official. Legally, a name on a contract or official statement was only required to be precise enough to uniquely identify the individual.

Nonetheless, there were a number of common conventions. The most basic name was one's given name, assigned at birth, or soon after. The method of choosing varied among the different cultures. The given name might have a meaning, but more often was taken from a pool of names for the child's sex common in that culture (or family). This was often paired with a metronymic, which was the mother's name in the derivative case. So, for instance, Tifa Walbatnuwa means "Tifa son of Walbatnu". In most circumstances, especially informal ones, the given name plus metronymic was all that was used to identify someone.

Family names were also used, more in some cultures than others. In the Pozino culture, which Tifa Walbatnuwa Siina was a member of, this was common. Siina was Tifa's family name. (It would be Siinu for an asu.)

Other names commonly used include offices and honors. Tifa's uncle, for instance, could be called EEta Vuwa Jaama Dawalzuxa Domubwaina. EEta was his given name. Vuwa was his metronymic. Jaama was his family name (after marrying). Dawalzuxa was his office (equivalent to an alderman). Domubwaina was an honor. Given name, metronymic, family name, offices, and honors was the usual ordering. This ordering was not always strictly followed, but the given name / metronymic always preceeded the other names if they were used at all.

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