Aurë Entuluva!

To start with, Finwë marries Indis during the early teenage equivalent years of Fëanor. Part of the reason was Finwë needing a partner to help with the ruling of an entire people, peacetime notwithstanding, and hoping for Fëanor to have a grounding maternal influence in his life. Spending much of his early life seeing these rumors and the Statute of Míriel coming into existence had a more lasting impact on Fëanor and his desire to dislike anything Indis related on principle outweighs the potential help that Indis tried to provide in the early days of their relationship.

Findis’ is born around Fëanor hitting his late adolescent period, which drives him to spend more time away from this family and leads him into Nerdanel’s path. They marry shortly after reaching adulthood, and the rest of Findis’ childhood passes away without much note.

On the next topic of ages, I faced a lot of difficulty on deciding who would be the olde, primarily from Maedhros’ line in the Silmarillion: “Still the kingship would rightly come to you, the eldest here of the house of Finwë, and not the least wise.” I put a lot of thought into this, and will be placing Maedhros as older, if only by what amounts to several moments, than Fingolfin. The line Maedhros speaks will then refer less to physical age and more so to being among the older generation and closer in bloodline to Finwë.

After the courtship and marriage of Fingolfin and Anairë Lalwen is born, and as she is over the halfway point to adulthood Fingon is born. It’s near this point where the rivalry between Fëanor and Fingolfin starts, though it will take several centuries before it reaches the animosity noted at the end of the Years of the Trees. Maglor then has a gap of several years between him and Fingon.

Before Maglor has reached maturity, Celegorm and Caranthir are born, being near scandalously close from the current traditions of waiting until the child is near, or at, adulthood before having another child.

Turgon is born as Caranthir firmly reaches adolescence, and as an unfortunate side effect of getting dragged to the House of Fëanor often as a child (in no small part due to Maedhros and Fingon’s friendship) has developed no love for the sons of Fëanor, as Caranthir was closest in age to him and had no desire to spend time with his half cousin, and certainly made that known.

Finarfin is born among the same time as Curufin, though they do not spend much time mingling through their childhood.

Turgon and Elenwë wed at a similar time as Finarfin and Eärwen, and to round out a very joyful time among the House of Finwë, Aredhel is born! Despite the increasing tensions among Fëanor and Fingolfin, and Turgon’s horror, she becomes fast friends with Celegorm and learns much of hunting from him during her childhood and adolescence.

There’s a notable gap between the time Aredhel, the current youngest, reached adulthood and the birth of Finrod, and later, Idril. Not soon after, Curufin is married, much to the delight of Fëanor and his brothers.

Orodreth is born just as the House of Fëanor takes a backseat in terms of childbearing, and there is another long pause before Angrod, Argon, and Aegnor are born within respectable times of each other, with Argon falling close in age to rod.

There is another long gap before Celebrimbor is born, and shortly after Galadriel. As she reaches her maturity Ambarussa are born, and thus ends the generations of Finwë in the blessed lands. Of special note, though I am still undecided in terms of parentage, the following birth order remains: Gil-Galad, Ëarendil, Elros, Elrond, Celebrían, Elladan, Elrohir, and Arwen.

If you didn’t want to read through my musings and explanations, here is a list from oldest to youngest of the House of Finwë:

Fëanor

Findis

Maedhros

Fingolfin

Lalwen

Fingon

Maglor

Celegorm

Caranthir

Turgon

Finarfin

Curufin

Aredhel

Finrod

Idril

Orodreth

Angrod

Argon

Aegnor

Celebrimbor

Galadriel

Starting with the Noldor, because that’s the easiest, one receives a father name and mother name, as well as a patronymic. One can receive additional names and titles (Russandol, the Valiant, Finrod etc.) throughout the course of their lives. Mother names are always considered more insightful on the actual person (on account of the mother’s intuition and/or birth visions) and in some groups it is considered rude to use a mother name if you’re not close to the individual. Father names are given at, or shortly after, the birth and is what a child will be referred to until a mother name is given or they decide what name they want to go by in more formal registers. They also tend to be the group that gains the most names, but whether that’s because the actually like it or because the house of Finwë who are hoarding names like they’re poker chips are an outlier and shouldn’t have been counted are yet to be seen.

The Vanyar follow much of the same rules, having an insightful mother name given either at the birth via vision or after their children get older. The father name tends to reflect more of an attribute or field of a vala they want their children to attain, and some have asked the valar or maiar for suggestions when thinking of naming their children. They do keep patronymics but also give a later name which is used more often to denote what field the child has chosen (which tends to be aligned with the valar and their domains).

The Teleri are fairly similar to the Vanyar, although the father will turn to their work or the ocean for inspiration of a father name. Mother names are also kept more private, and is more of a name only the mother and/or lover would use because of the importance held to the insights given. Matronymics and patronymics are used depending on personal preference, with no specific organizational purpose.

Shifting the moriquendi, I’ll start on the two Sindarin groups. The Falathrim and the Mithrim. I believe they stayed in fairly decent contact until Morgoth began making moves again the girdle of Malian became a more difficult boundary to cross. They receive either a father name or mother name at birth, and any secondary names are given on account of notable achievements or attributes. After Beren and Lúthien, it also becomes customary for courting to involve giving a name to your intended, speaking of their virtues.

The Nandor are a little similar to each other, with Silvan elves have a tradition to ask the grandparents to name the child which will result in anyway from two to four names, with an internal family name being used through their adolescence. In formal registers they take on a patronymic to use as well as the chosen name from their birth. The Laiquendi also use this system, but tend to only ask the mother’s parents, on account of the chance of insight coming through the maternal side. The also organize by matronymics instead!