West Bretic:

Syntax: Old English / Norman - [Name] Fitz*[Parent or Ancestor] d’[Homeland]

Inspirations: Portuguese or Flemish, with small French influence

Examples: Rogier FitzRufus d’Wayrest (Rogier, son of Rufus of Wayrest); Santiago FitzMarcos d’Camlorn

* descended from Old Nedic “filius”

East Bretic (West Reachi):

Syntax: Welsh Names, except ungendered - [Name] (m)ap/(m)ab [Parent Name]

Inspirations: Welsh names, Italian names

Examples: Fortunata ap Dugal (Fortunata, daughter of Dugal, assuming the name is genuine & proper); Dafydd ap Ruidri (Daveth, son of Ruidri)

East Reachi: Gaeltacht Names, Double Patronymic

Syntax: Old Irish, double patronym - [Name] Mac/Ui/Ni [Parent Name] Ó/Ua [Grandparent or Ancestor]*

Inspirations: Old Irish names, Pictish names (all, like, five of them that we know)

Examples: Céileachán mag* Eochagáin Ó Faoláin (Ceileachan, son of Eochaidh, descendant of Faolán***) Saoirse nic Shiúrtáin Ní Bhraonáin (Saoirse, daughter of Siúrtáin, daughter of Braonáin)

* please correct me if I’m wrong about how Irish names work, I don’t speak Gaelige

** c is swapped for g when followed by a vowel

*** Ó Faoláin is a very common name among Reachmen

High / Old Cyrodiilic Style:

Syntax: Pseudo-Latin - [Given Name / Praenomen] [Family Name / Nomen]*, [Nickname or Family Branch / Cognomen] OR Given Name and Patronymic/Matronymic (if a person belongs to no clan)

Inspiration: Roman Names, Italian Names

Examples: Tiberius Valerius Astrantus (Tiberius, descended from “Astrantus” of the Valerius Family); Flavio Edouardo Felice (“Lucky” Flavio of the Edouardo Family); Cadma filia Artoriae (Cadma, Daughter of Artorias) **

Notes: A lowborn Cyrodiil may occasionally be rechristened in High Cyrodiilic by the Elder Council in commemoration of some great act of service or dedication to the Empire. It is considered a tremendous honor, usually reserved for the greatest Generals of the Legions, the Bishops of the Nine Divines, and (historically***) politicians elected to a position in the council.

* The nomen is usually omitted in casual speech in favor of the Cognomen, denoting the family branch or nickname]

** Same as Irish, latine non loquor

*** After the oligarchic reforms under Pelagius Septim II, seats on the council became hereditary positions afforded only to the wealthiest citizens of the Empire.

Low / Vulgar Cyrodiilic: Slavo-Italian

Syntax: English Style, drop the cognomen – [Given Name] [Surname]

Inspiration: Old Church Slavonic names, Greek Names:

Examples: Rislav Larich, Vasilii Alexei

Nordic Name Style:

Syntax: Kind of a blend between Slavic & Old Norse - [Given Name], [Patronymic/Matronymic] [Clan], In casual speech, the Patronymic is omitted among strangers, whereas the Clan Name is omitted among neighbors, friends, and family.

Inspiration: Germanic names, Hungarian Names

Examples: Sven Borgasson Proudmane (Sven, son of Borgas of clan Proudmane); Bael Junsson Iron-Skull (Bael, son of Jun of Clan Iron-Skull)

Orcish Name Style:

Syntax: [Name] gro/gra-[ParentName OR Homeland]

Inspiration: Turkish names, Mongolian names

Examples: Kurog gro-Orsinium (Kurog of Orsinium); Yamarz gro-Azog (Yamarz, (son) of Azog)

Dunmer Name Style:

Syntax: [Great House] [Given Name] [Minor house / clan / family]

Inspirations: Hindu Vedic names, Quenya/Sindarin names

Examples: Indoril Nerevar Mora (Nerevar, from the Mora family of Great House Indoril)

Notes: A person with a great house but no minor house (i.e. Sotha Sil) is either an orphan or a noble born to the main family / branch of the Great House (there’s probably a joke or folktale somewhere in that). Only foreigners and Ashlanders have no Great House.

Khajiiti Name Style:

Syntax: [Honorific]'[Name] OR ]Name]'[Honorific]

Inspirations: Iraqi names, Romani names, Sanskrit names

Examples: Jo'Basha (Scholarly Basha); Zhani'Daro (Clever Zhani)

Notes: Ta'agra does not use surnames, your guess is as good as mine for how their census works

Altmer, Falmer, Bosmer, & Ayleid Name Style*:

Syntax: [Given Name] 'len [Mother] [Maternal Grandfather] [Maternal Grandmother] 'ata [Father] [Paternal Grandfather] [Paternal Grandmother], 'cal [Surname]

Inspirations: Quenya/Sindarin names, Welsh names, Various medicine and shoe brands

*All elves descended from the Altmer have historically used variations of this naming pattern. The Kanuryai (Left Handed Elves), Dwemer, Chimer, Maormer, and Orsimer split off from the Aldmer before this became the standard. Bosmer historically used no last names, instead having adopted the custom from their neighbors (either Ayleidoon or Altmeri)

Redguard / Yoku Name Style:

Syntax: [Surname] [Given Name]* OR [Given Name] [Derivation(s)]

Inspirations: Semitic names, Japanese names

Examples: Gaiden Shinji, Sura al-Sentinel (Cyrus of Sentinel), Frandar do Hunding Hel Ansei No Shira (The Noble Sword-Saint, Frandar of the Hunding Desert)

Okay take two since the first time I made this post, Tumblr ate it.

I'll have to make this into a proper character page later but this is Síomha, a Reachfolk Shezzarine living during the time of Skyrim.

She was an alchemist for her clan, and during the time the Reach controlled it lived in Markarth. Like many others, she fled during the Markarth incident, but was captured by another Clan. They forcibly turned her into a Briarheart without her consent, something she actively did not want and had chosen not to pursue in her home clan. Hircine was not pleased with this, and blessed her with the gift of lycanthropy, which she promptly used to wipe out most of the clan that had visited such violence against her. Turns out a Briarheart werewolf is very hard to kill.

After this, I'm not sure exactly what I'm doing for Skyrim proper; she's not the last dragonborn, that's another character, but she is definitely *present* in some way. I know she'll at least be doing some kind of politicking to get Markarth returned to the Reachfolk. I also know she has a lot of disdain for Nords, most especially Ulfric. And she will have a ship I'm just not sure who that's going to be because she's turned her nose up at most of the usual suspects. *No* Companions specifically; she thinks they're not treating the Gift with the proper respect that they should.

Some other notes I'm not sure where to work into this text block since I'm just kinda lore dumping is that she's a trans woman and also she deals with chronic pain due to being a Briarheart. When she transforms she gets a short amount of time where the pain is dulled or even gone; I figure with her cells getting all rearranged to be wolfy instead of persony that it would take a bit for the pain to pick back up again.

The Forsworn and the lore of the Reachmen is barely brushed upon in Skyrim and TES save for them being ‘old inhabitants of the Reach who were vicious savages’.

Wait. That sounds awfully familiar to me, a Welshman.

A Bit of Hanes Cymraeg (Welsh History) For You:

We were the first people to be colonised by England, and our tribe of the ‘Silures’ was known for being so vicious that we scared the Romans off and fought them back for a considerable length of time before they successfully invaded - considerable enough that the Romans saw it as something worth mentioning. We also scared the Vikings back into the sea.

Now, when England took over, all of our princes were killed. Our language was outlawed and made forbidden. We were annexed to the larger country. Our Druidic beliefs were demonised as backwards and savage, despite our practices being nature-based and rooted in animism. Our Druids were executed.

Witchcraft, however, was rampant. We have always been a witchy country - so much so that when witch trials came to the UK, hardly anybody was executed or tried in Wales because it was seen as something to be revered; we didn’t have ‘witches’; we had ‘wise folk’ who were important and cherished members of our communities.

Another thing to note is that a lot of our history, stories and mythology was erased, and it’s thanks to those who fought for it that we know what we do today (even if it’s meagre).

Cymrophobia and racism towards the people of Cymru is still prevalent in England. It isn’t so bad today, but in the late 90’s, one heinous piece of shit named A.A. Gill described the Welsh as thus:

“Loquacious, dissemblers, immoral liars, stunted, bigoted, dark, ugly, pugnacious little trolls.”

All words you’d likely see the Nords using to describe the Forsworn after ripping their home out from under them.

The Markarth Rising sounds a lot like the Merthyr Rising, too.

Not to mention that the Forsworn, like Duach and Madanach, have distinctly Celtic names. Now, before you start saying “but those names sound Irish/Scottish!” consider the Welsh name ‘Afallach’ - the King of Afallon (Avalon). Now consider that unlike Gaelic, Welsh (alongside it’s little sister, Kernewek (Cornish)) is the closest to Brezhoneg - Breton.

Yes, literally; Breton.

So if Bretons are from High Rock and are Brezhoneg / Gaulish coded, and the offshoot are the Forsworn, that would make the Forsworn Cymraeg.

And it makes sense, too, looking at what information we have about the Forsworn in the game; they were the original, ready to fight ‘savages’ who had their homes taken from them / were forced into poverty by the rich Nords (the same happened in Wales and is still happening with rich English people buying second homes, causing economic catastrophe where none of us can afford houses even though we are native), they were put to work IN THE MINES (literally textbook Cymraeg history), etc.

To Conclude:

I will never fucking side with the Nords. The Reach is for the Forsworn. You can get fucked if you disagree.

“The Reach Will be Ours Again!”

“Ry’n ni Yma O Hyd!”

The Ice Elves divided above and below.

Now vanquished and brutally bound,

One moment had shattered all they did know.