Worldbuilding: Royal Naming Customs
(Used for at least two of my Royal Houses)
"First Given, Second Given, [Regnal Name], Patronym and/or Matronym, [Birth House], of House ____"
The brackets indicate names only given to specific people under specific circumstances.
Given Names:
The First Name is reserved for family/close circles only.
The Second Name is what is used in public. This is the Given name used on documents, and for Shortened Titles.
These names are typically unique to the person.
Regnal Name:
Heirs choose their Regnal name traditionally upon their majority day, but they're not used or publicized until the Coronation Ceremony.
Non-heir princes/princesses do not get a Regnal Name.
Patro-Matronyms:
These are names that reference family; having similar sounds, meanings, or are just the same name from one/both of their parents. Sometimes parents choose to not use their own name, but instead turn to grandparents, or great-grandparents.
Traditionally, fathers choose the patronym for their son(s) while mothers choose the matronym for their daughter(s).
Commonly, the heir gets both a patronym and a matronym, which is hyphenated. It is also common, but less so, that the heir gets their own unique 'nyms' while the non-heir sons share the same patronym and all non-heir daughters share the same matronym.
House Name(s):
House names are typically put after the Patro-Matronyms, styled as "of House ____" after a comma. So it works as both a title and a name.
However, if a person born to a Royal House marries into another Royal House (or a Noble House below their Royal status) they keep their "Birth House" as a name put after their Patro-Matronyms, which is then followed by the "of House ____" title to indicate where they "belong" in the present.












