Names on the Whorl

David Stockhoff · 06 Sep 2010, 21:41 · from 2010-September.txt.gz

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From: dstockhoff at verizon.net (David Stockhoff)
Date: Mon, 06 Sep 2010 17:41:24 -0400
Subject: (urth) Names on the Whorl
In-Reply-To: <823343.85599.qm at smtp818.mail.ukl.yahoo.com>
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	<823343.85599.qm at smtp818.mail.ukl.yahoo.com>
Message-ID: <4C856004.5010301 at verizon.net>

  I meant the family name would remain, but would be unspoken, not that 
the son's name would become the new family name. As I said, family = 
animals, children = parts. Or more like, patriarch = animal.

Blood would be Blood (Pike), and his children Scale and Fin (Pike). It's 
a system that would only work if everyone honored it, obviously. But why 
else are some people animals and others animal parts? Why are strangers 
animals, but those characters whose families are intimately known always 
parts? Horn is presented as a child, not a man/patriarch. Do we know his 
father?

You're right that Horn's animal "source" is never named. But that isn't 
really a problem. Just another mystery.

Another problem is female names. But since male/female names are 
parallel, they don't need to be related. Rosemary's daughters could be 
Thyme and Sage, regardless of their father's identity. Icelanders do 
something similar.

Obviously I have not gone through the books to check this against every 
character.

On 9/6/2010 4:45 PM, Mo Holkar wrote:
> At 21:25 06/09/2010, David Stockhoff wrote:
>>  Is it possible that paternal/family names are animals, and 
>> children's/first names are usually parts or products of those animals?
>>
>> It just occurred to me that someone said Blood was Pike's son. That 
>> would be a third case, after the Horn/Sinew/etc. system and the Silk 
>> from Tussah system. If Blood had a brother, it might be Scale or Fin.
>>
>> No?
>
>
> Horn's children are named after co-parts of a similar animal, not 
> after parts of a horn.
>
> And what might Blood's sons be called -- Corpuscle? Platelet? You'd 
> really be grasping after a couple more generations.
>
> While some fathers may name their sons according to a part/product 
> system, clearly others don't, so it would probably be rash to try and 
> deduce non-obvious family relationships on such a basis.
>
> Mo
>
>
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