Na'vi names

[N'wah]

Meuiatu te'leywat

I like the flow of that one!  Wow, thanks for all of the help!  That name retains meaning of my forum name, both meanings of my favourite Japanese word, personality description, AND my real names etymological roots haha  !

[kewnya txamew'itan]

Gah! Don't add apostrophes!

They're important in na'vi remember. Te shouldn't attach, it should just appear before the surname, more like the German Von than an O' or Mc/Mac.

So it should be meuiatu te leywat (unless you want to obfuscate the first name a bit in which case it would be muyat te leywat)

[Rangtsulfätu]

As the people here who play Dragon Cave know, it's getting harder and harder to come up with names. Now I'm trying to figure out how exactly last names work in Na'vi to overcome this problem.
The only full Na'vi names I could find are:

Neytiri te Tskaha Mo'at'ite
Sylwanin te Tskaha Mo'at'ite
Tsu'tey te Rongloa Ateyitan

The problem is that I can't figure out what the bold words mean exactly. Anyone here who has any idea?

[Meuia te Stxeli Tstew'itan]

As the people here who play Dragon Cave know, it's getting harder and harder to come up with names. Now I'm trying to figure out how exactly last names work in Na'vi to overcome this problem.
The only full Na'vi names I could find are:

Neytiri te Tskaha Mo'at'ite
Sylwanin te Tskaha Mo'at'ite
Tsu'tey te Rongloa Ateyitan

The problem is that I can't figure out what the bold words mean exactly. Anyone here who has any idea?

Those are clan names. There is no real special meaning.

[kewnya txamew'itan]

As the people here who play Dragon Cave know, it's getting harder and harder to come up with names. Now I'm trying to figure out how exactly last names work in Na'vi to overcome this problem.
The only full Na'vi names I could find are:

Neytiri te Tskaha Mo'at'ite
Sylwanin te Tskaha Mo'at'ite
Tsu'tey te Rongloa Ateyitan

The problem is that I can't figure out what the bold words mean exactly. Anyone here who has any idea?

Those are clan names. There is no real special meaning.

Tribe names, not clan names. Neytiri and Tsu'tey both belong to the omatikaya clan, but they belong to different tribes within that clan (the Tskaha and Rongloa).

[Rangtsulfätu]

Tì'eyngìri oe ayngar irayo seiyi, ma eylan.

[Kì'eyawn]

I'd also like to point out that, at this time, we don't know how tribal affiliation is decided—so, for example, it's not clear if Neytiri is from the Tskaha tribe because that's her father's tribe or her mother's.  Same with Tsu'tey and the Rongloa.  All of the following (and more) are possibilities:

All Na'vi are affiliated with the tribe of their fathers
Sons are affiliated with the tribe of their fathers, daughters with their mothers (or vice versa, though i've not heard of it in Earth cultures)
All Na'vi are affiliated with the trive of their mothers

And all those assume that Na'vi marry outside their own tribe, in accordance with a kind of "incest" taboo (yes, incest is defined very differently by different cultures).  Alternatively, the opposite might be true, though i don't think so: Na'vi might be expected to marry members of their own tribe.  Or, at least, it might not make a difference.

Just thought i'd add to the discussion.  Apologies if this is actually covered in the ASG, i've never had my hands on the book.

[kewnya txamew'itan]

And all those assume that Na'vi marry outside their own tribe, in accordance with a kind of "incest" taboo (yes, incest is defined very differently by different cultures).  Alternatively, the opposite might be true, though i don't think so: Na'vi might be expected to marry members of their own tribe.  Or, at least, it might not make a difference.

I don't think it is covered in the ASG, but given the two tier tribal-clan system they've got the incest-marriage thing gets more tricky because they might be expected to mate within their clan but not tribe, or outside both, or if a tribe can be split between two clans possibly even outside of the clan but within the tribe.

[Kì'eyawn]

And all those assume that Na'vi marry outside their own tribe, in accordance with a kind of "incest" taboo (yes, incest is defined very differently by different cultures).  Alternatively, the opposite might be true, though i don't think so: Na'vi might be expected to marry members of their own tribe.  Or, at least, it might not make a difference.

I don't think it is covered in the ASG, but given the two tier tribal-clan system they've got the incest-marriage thing gets more tricky because they might be expected to mate within their clan but not tribe, or outside both, or if a tribe can be split between two clans possibly even outside of the clan but within the tribe.

Well, we know Neytiri was "supposed" to mate with Tsu'tey, and i got the impression he was always Omatikaya—although, of course, we don't actually know.

[kewnya txamew'itan]

I'd assume the same, but the leaders could easily be an exception, I mean Caligula may or may not have got away with incest whereas the ordinary Roman citizen (let alone slave) wouldn't be able to.

[Kì'eyawn]

Good point, hadn't thought of that.

Tangent:  I would love to know how the next Tsahìk and Olo'eyktan are decided.

[Pxia Säsngap]

Tangent:  I would love to know how the next Tsahìk and Olo'eyktan are decided.

Of course we don't know, but here's my suggestion:
I guess the child of the current Olo'eyktan and Tsahik is one of them. And then they probably arrange some kind of marriage with another powerful family's child. That's how Tsu'tey came to that position I guess.
Or they take the best taronyu/tsamsiyu/... to be the other part of Olo'eyktan and Tsahik. That's also how it might be when the current Olo'eyktan and Tsahik don't have any child. And when they have more than one, the oldest child seems to be the best next clan leader.
At least this is how most other peoples did/do make such decisions, and it sounds logical to me(even if I don't think that this is the best for the people).

[Kätsyín te Zotxekay Tsyal’itan]

I'd also like to point out that, at this time, we don't know how tribal affiliation is decided—so, for example, it's not clear if Neytiri is from the Tskaha tribe because that's her father's tribe or her mother's.  Same with Tsu'tey and the Rongloa.  All of the following (and more) are possibilities:

All Na'vi are affiliated with the tribe of their fathers
Sons are affiliated with the tribe of their fathers, daughters with their mothers (or vice versa, though i've not heard of it in Earth cultures)
All Na'vi are affiliated with the tribe of their mothers

I believe it was explained somewhere that if you are a male, your tribe affiliation is paternal(from your father's tribe) and maternal(from your mother's tribe)  if you are female, so yes, i believe you are correct.

[MIPP]

Good point, hadn't thought of that.

Tangent:  I would love to know how the next Tsahìk and Olo'eyktan are decided.

Jake will be the next Olo'eyktan as he killed the former one, Tsu'tey (it's not on the movie but it is in the script). The Tsahìk is Neytiri as she's "married" with jake.
Was that the doubt?  

[Muzer]

Having killed the former one doesn't strike me as a good way to decide who is the next olo'eyktan - how was Tsu'tey chosen, for example? He obviously didn't kill Eytukan...

[P.A.'li makto]

Having killed the former one doesn't strike me as a good way to decide who is the next olo'eyktan - how was Tsu'tey chosen, for example? He obviously didn't kill Eytukan...

It is very true, and brings an interesting question. So... how...?

[MIPP]

Having killed the former one doesn't strike me as a good way to decide who is the next olo'eyktan - how was Tsu'tey chosen, for example? He obviously didn't kill Eytukan...

It is very true, and brings an interesting question. So... how...?

I guess that what happens is the following:

If the olo'eyktan's child is a boy, a son he'll be the next olo'eyktan and the woman that he chooses will be the tsahik.
If the olo'eyktan's child is a girl or he had none, the next olo'eyktan will be the best taronyu or someone relatively close to the family.

[P.A.'li makto]

Maybe. But we DO NOT KNOW, do we?

[MIPP]

Maybe. But we DO NOT KNOW, do we?

Don't think so. I'll search.

[P.A.'li makto]

Good idea. Let's find it out!