Names in Libria

[marphlets]

What's in a name? Very possibly a trip to the incinerator if you live in Libria.

I asked this question over in the Introduction thread, but could a "fanciful" name identify a sense offender? For instance, in a fic I'm working on, I have a cleric identifying a resistance member because she mentions her EC-10 middle name, "Edana" (fire).

I had it in my head that, at some point, DuPont or the Grammaton Council may have issued a list of acceptable names. So any child born after that point, who was given a name not on that list, would at least have sense offending parents. My character's full name, btw, is Claire Edana Shandy. (Please don't touch that. She's a character I created and I'll go to the matresses on her name. a good excuse to use my favorite smiley!) I also made a point of the fact that she has a middle name, and illude to some law stating that childred can't be given middle names.

Thoughts, advice, resources.......?

[Libby]

I've reposted this (and the next one) here now we have new thread...

Today at 2:59am, marphlets wrote:
Hello all! I'm new to the Resistance, but I've been a fan of EQ ever since I saw the movie years ago.

I'm in the middle of an EQ fic for another fanfiction cite, and I had a question about names in Libria.

I noticed no-one seems to have middle names in Libria and everyone's fornames are pretty plain, so I thought maybe some fanciful names might be rated EC-10. I have a cleric identifying a sense offender because she mentions her middle name as being Edana (meaning "fire").Does this idea have any basis in the fandom?

I always thought that Viviana is quite a 'fanciful' name, given...as you said...everyone else's names are fairly plain, but I do 'have a theory' about that.

I wondered if there was perhaps a database of 'acceptable' names for children so that we end up with Lisa and Robbie (and Bobbie Taylor) Mary, Andrew Brandt and John Preston. Parents may not even have a choice, just an allocation.

We never find out if Jurgen is a first or last name.

I haven't read/written any EQfic where a character has a middle name. The origin of the 'middle' or 'multiple' name is debated in various places but I'm only considering ideas about 'western' middle names which might be used in Libria, since other cultures have different ways of putting a name together etc.

Size of the population would have a bearing. Aedh and I thought about how big Libria is and how many people lived there. The larger the population, the greater the need to distinguish one John Smith from another and so on.

Historically, the 'middle' name may have come from a desire to carry on a family name, often on the 'distaff' or female side, where the woman's family name is lost when she marries. My husband's middle name is his mother's maiden name. In the family of another friend, all the children (even the girls) have the same middle name after a loved grandfather. My middle name is for my paternal grandmother. My sister-in-law is Elizabeth Petronella Wilhelmina Juliana, named for the queens of Holland!

In Libria, there is a definite movement towards the eradication of the family unit. As KW sees it, the 'family' in the film is a hangover, but one which is still necessary for the time being. Therefore, the idea of honouring a parent by taking/giving their name is outmoded and indeed would be viewed as an indication of 'feeling'.

Having said that, I could see Sense Offenders having little 'naming' ceremonies, where they take the name of someone they admire/love and are perhaps known by that name in secret by their friends...although that could backfire if the name were used within earshot of a 'loyal' citizen!

Another reason for middle names has a religious/spiritual connotation. Many people are given a saint's middle name and many have a 'confirmation' name. Obviously, as has been discussed at length, the place of religion in Libria...it has none..would preclude this.

Back to Viviana...her name means 'alive, animated, lively'; the feminine form of Vivianus. Perhaps back in the day when she was born, there wasn't such control over naming a child. Maybe it got through because Libria may have been in its infancy and it too had survived and was alive. It's also possible that she was the child of offenders...my EQfic character Kyra was such a child...and so a more 'fanciful' mane was given. Erroll is not common either, but I wouldn't call it fanciful, again it's possible/been explored that he was born before Libria got its prozium together. Since John's parents were offenders and he was taken to the monastery when he was very young, could he have been renamed?

So regarding your fic...why would your character have a middle name? Was it given by her parents and she sees no problem with that? As a 'practising' offender did she choose one and therefore yes, she'd be obvious. And why would she mention it if she's aware of the consequences? Perhaps it's all part of your story plan and you reveal this later!

Edit: you could move this to a new thread in the discussion or EC-10 area since it's an interesting topic that might get lost in the intro thread.

[Libby]

clericjay said:

This are very interesting thoughts, Libby. Some things weren't known to me, e.g. that John was raised in a monastry. _{By the way, are monastries legal in Libria? I don't think so...}

I'd also like to give you the advice to start a discussion thread about this topic, marphlets.

KW actually states:

I had originally had dialogue ...that conveyed that when Preston was an infant, Preston's PARENTS were burned during the Upheaval ... for sense offense and, orphaned, he was taken and placed in the Cleric Monastery, where he was raised and trained by the Grammaton Monks (which is why he's SO darn good)...

Obviously the 'religious' element of the Monastery has been subverted...

...and of course, Robbie is 'in the monastery, on path to becoming a Cleric.'


Edit: Whilst I was looking for the above quote, this was the next KW one, which further supports various ideas we've had...

this world was only maybe 30 years young and to my mind, this would mean that there would still be vestigial remnants of our own time.

[marphlets]

Thanks for reposting those, Libby!

[clericjay]

By the way, Libby, you know a lot of statements from mr. Wimmer.
Where did you find them?

[Libby]

clericjay said:

By the way, Libby, you know a lot of statements from mr. Wimmer.
Where did you find them?

Way back some of us transcribed the commentaries for JenGe and I can always find relevant stuff there, but Jen also has a list of KW comments which cover a lot of ground and where these two came from.

www.equilibriumfans.com/chudindex.htm

[preston782]

Marphlets- I like the name. Claire means "clear" so I think it is a very appropriate name. Maybe hap she had a relative also named Claire so the middle name was utilized to ensure proper identification.

In my fanfic (or NaNoWriMo novel) I did keep this in mind when naming some of my characters. Some where from the Underground though, where they can do whatever the hell they want- like name their kid Anastasia. *giggles*

[marphlets]

preston782 said:

Marphlets- I like the name. Claire means "clear" so I think it is a very appropriate name. Maybe hap she had a relative also named Claire so the middle name was utilized to ensure proper identification.

In my fanfic (or NaNoWriMo novel) I did keep this in mind when naming some of my characters. Some where from the Underground though, where they can do whatever the hell they want- like name their kid Anastasia. *giggles*

Thanks! Actually, I had the idea that Claire's parents gave her the middle name Edana as a direct affront to the increasingly martial Librian government. They instruct her to only use it in the presense of other resistance members.

As far as choosing names for other subjects of Libria I find the www.ics.mq.edu.au/~msjj/name.htmlRandom Name Generator a perfect resource, as it generates the most commonly used names from the US census bureau.