Names

The facename is the primary name used to uniquely identify someone, and doesn’t usually change over the course of one’s life. It is always positioned last amongst one’s names. Use of the facename alone is reserved for friends and intimate partners.

Facenames can either be assigned prescriptively by parents, be asserted by the child themselves, or emerge naturally from the child’s interactions with others.

Addressing Strangers

Leaving out someone’s facename when addressing them directly is normally considered rude, except for the following cases:

• in temporary interactions, where names are either not known or not necessary, such are talking to a vendor or customer. In these cases it is common to use two auxiliaries, for example “Jubilant Vendor”.

• mythical figures or deities, who usually only have one name.

• when mentioning unknown persons (who are present) in the third person, citizens may substitute a gendered pronoun along with at least one auxiliary, for example “Citizen Him” or “Vendor Dym”.

• For persons who are not present, or talking about theoretical people, eliding the facename is not an issue. For example “High Representative”, meaning ‘whoever is the representative of High Commons’, whoever that happens to be.

Once a citizen is of-age, it is likely that their primary peer groups will have settled on a fairly stable set of names that are known and used by regularly by almost everyone they know. This process is called ‘earning one’s names’, and the set that results are their ‘day names’.

The vast majority of people will go by one auxiliary, usually an adjective, giving them two day names. People of notable status or fame will sometimes have 3 or more day names. It is considered improper to try to choose one’s own day names, similarly to how trying to give yourself a nickname at school never goes well. Day names are not always proper auxiliaries, depending on what happens to stick.

Auxiliary names are the set of names that come before one’s facename, and can change based on who is addressing you and in what context.

There is rough agreement about the order in which names are applied, which goes:

Lineage name → [ all others in any order ] → Title name → Facename

Besides these conventions, there is not really a ‘correct’ way of addressing someone, but amongst regular company, their day names are expected.

Auxiliary names don’t have to come from any of the below categories, and are sometimes bespoke terms reflecting some prominent quality of the person as reflected by their peers.

Categories of Auxiliary Names

Title Names

Title names are the most common type of auxiliary to include when addressing well-known people along with their facename, and usually reflect the direct relationship currently being regarded between the two subjects. It is placed closest to the facename in auxiliary order. Even among family members, it is normal to use a title name, such as ‘Father Soren’.

The default title for strangers is ‘Citizen’.

Note that ‘friend’, ‘peer’, etc are not eligible as title names - since it is more proper to address one’s friends by their facename alone. The same applies to intimate partners.

Lineage Names

Lineages are a tiny minority of familial structures in Longbridge, so lineage names are very rare, but when they do apply, they come first in the list of auxiliaries. Distinct from the ‘actual’ name of the family itself, the ‘lineage name’ is that name plus a suffix which declines based on the subject’s gender:

• -lin for female subjects (pronounce “line”)
• -lyn for nymi subjects
• -lon for male subjects
• -land when the subject’s gender is not known, or speaking abstractly

The female declination is most common due to the cultural tendency for leadership duties to fall to women. In the cases where the suffix makes the lineage name difficult to pronounce, the suffix sometimes replaces or is blended into the last syllable of the family name.

Residential Names

A demonym derived from the name of the enclave, or relative direction where they are currently residing, originated from or are most strongly identified with. Residential names are typically in the form of an adjective.

Irregular Cases

• Both students and teachers living in the University dormitories take the name ‘Learner’ and ‘Learned’ respectively, despite technically living in The Middle.

• Librarians living in the dormitories at the Library of Eloryn take the pseudo lineage name ‘Eloryland’.

• Residents of Makren take the lineage name Makreland as their residential name.

• Members of the Cult of the Hand take the pseudo lineage name ‘Handeland’.

• Pulser’s Clave is recently founded and has not yet developed a residential demonym.

Enclave	Name
Workhome	Welcome
New Commons	Seated
Loom	Draped
Abreast	Lofted
Respite	Serene
Foundry	Forged
Conservatory	Cultivated
The Mint	Minted
The Middle	Key
High Commons	High
Union	United
Jubilee	Jubilant
Makren	Makreland
Haven	Kept
New Start	New
Leans	Strident
Pulser’s Clave	-
Far Echo	Warsung
Irregular Cases
Cult of the Hand	Handeland
Librarian	Eloryland
University	Learned / Learner

Vocational Names

Similar to a title name, except that a vocational name describes what one typically does for money or board, or a notable skill or practice, rather than the direct relationship between them and the speaker.

Vocational names and titles names are often the same word, for example if someone is both a vendor to you personally (sells to you regularly or is is currently engaged in a transaction with you), and a vendor professionally in general, you would call them ‘Vendor’ in both cases, but in one case you are using their title name, and in the other their vocational name.

Deed Names

Deed names reflect notable achievements or (infamous misadventures) and are usually used when talking about historical or mythical figures who are well known for one specific trait or. Deed names are commonly phrased using the present participle like ‘Singing’, or as an adjective like ‘Victorious’.

Deed names often tend towards being poetic or evocative rather than practical. When using a deed name in combination with a residential name, the residential name should be for the location at which to notable deed took place, rather than the current (or final) place of residence of the subject.