Savhalla ha’hren. First of all, thank you for Project Elvhen! If you have a moment, I was hoping to confirm the meaning of my Inquisitor Lavellan's name: Maren. I believe it could be translated as “Yours.” Mar [your] + -en [many, plural]. If correct, the name is perfect for her as she is incredibly giving of herself to others. Ma serannas – keep up the great work!
Firstly, I would state that trying to name characters based upon features, instead of naming them as a parent would name a child, usually results in disappointment. That’s my first part of advice.
Secondly, unfortunately, no, Maren would not mean ‘yours.’ You’re mistaken the -s in ‘yours’ for a plural, when it is not. The difference between your and yours is a declension that denotes the grammatical difference between the dependent possessive (your) and the independent possessive (yours). This is also sometimes called the possessive and the possessive determiner.
In Elvhen, -en is not used to indicate the difference between the dependent and independent possessives. Instead, the dependent possessive is mar while
With that said, however, Elvhen names do not follow the traditional grammar rules. It is perfectly acceptable to use Maren to mean ‘yours’ instead of using Nar, especially if the parents decided that they simply just liked the sound if Maren better than Nar. It is also possible that it is a name that has changed sounds over time. For example, it could have originally been Maran (your place) or Marain (your little one). It could have also possibly originally been Miran (the place ahead) or Mir’ara’aan (the great journey forward). So really, it’s up to you.
Hope that helps.
