In honour of CodyDay, please have these notes for a little CodyWan ficlet I’ve been thinking about, focusing on Cody’s name. I’m not sure if I’ll get around to writing it at some point, but I like the concept, so hopefully.
CodyWan (pre-relationship?) talking about names and languages etc.
It's just the two of them, maybe working on datawork or something together, or maybe post-war
Obi-Wan asks about Cody's name - his is a fairly normal name, for whatever metric that can be measured, whereas most Clones have more... unusual names. (He finds a nicer way to say this)
Cody explains that actually, Cody isn't his first name. (first as in... the name he got first, not as in given name or whatever nat-borns call it) - His... real name, for lack of a better term, is Kote, the Mando'a word for 'glory'. But maybe Nat-borns heard it as Cody? and that was easier to say for most people, and didn't have anyone thinking he was a jackass thinking himself glorious in like. a self-centered, self-righteous way. Or something. So he went with it, and now that's what most people call him. (His batch kinda switch between Cody and Kote, depending on who's around, what they're talking about etc.)
Obi-Wan, of course, is nice about the whole thing. He tries it out, Kote, and asks which he would prefer.
When around others, it's probably best to stick with Cody, especially around nat-borns, but... but when it's just the two of them, or when they're with people they typically don't bother with titles around... he'd prefer Kote. He doesn't mind Cody, chose himself to use that mostly, but... but Kote is his name.
Maybe Obi-Wan talks a bit about how he thinks Kote fits him. He can see why some people might find it kind of... pretentious. But that's only because they don't know him. Cody-- Kote is the glory of battle, yes, because he is a master tactician, and fighter too. But Kote is not the glory of the Republic, because the Republic is not about glory. That's not what they fight for. No, Kote is the sunburst on his armor, the glory of a new day rising, of new beginnings, of peace.