Naming Practices

Started by Batureang 🦈, September 12, 2018, 04:48:46 PM

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Batureang 🦈

Names are something that is very important across all cultures and worlds, as far as I can tell.  Name shave meaning, names have power.  What you call something is what helps others to know what you are referring to.  But I have seen nothing in these forums about naming practices of the Na'vi.  Do parents name their children?  To they choose their own names after coming of age?  Do names have literal translation meaning (naming someone 'Flower' or 'Strength') Do the Na'vi name their Ikran and Pa'li the same way we name our pets?  Is there any precedence on names at all>

Tirea Aean

Quote from: theAfanc on September 12, 2018, 04:48:46 PM
Names are something that is very important across all cultures and worlds, as far as I can tell.  Name shave meaning, names have power.  What you call something is what helps others to know what you are referring to.  But I have seen nothing in these forums about naming practices of the Na'vi.  Do parents name their children?  To they choose their own names after coming of age?  Do names have literal translation meaning (naming someone 'Flower' or 'Strength') Do the Na'vi name their Ikran and Pa'li the same way we name our pets?  Is there any precedence on names at all>

So far as we know from the film characters, it is assumed that the Na'vi name their children, and the names have no meaning but rather are sequences of valid syllables.  But in the video games, there is at least one character (Sänume, I think it was) that is literally named after a legit word. Also, in the game, some character names contain invalid syllables, such as Tan Jala and Beyd'amo. (This is most likely an oversight resulting in the underestimation of the interest in the language, that people would notice that these arbitrary names are inconsistent with the definitions of the language) Many names in the game, such as those listed, don't follow the form given in the film "Given te Family <Mother'ite | Father'itan>". For this reason, the video games are something that I myself don't consider canon on many grounds like this.

We don't know for certain yet. Much about the culture is still unknown, since the author of the culture is James cameron. Paul Frommer is the only person we have regular contact with, and he only holds domain over canonizing new vocabulary words in the regular language, such that it doesn't step into cultural bounds to be determined by JC.

EDIT: Beware the edits :P :D