Aconite

Rossetian names come in 3 parts similar to English ones, a first name, middle name, and a surname. The first name is a unique name, the middle name like a sub-surname is meant to show what Faction you are part of, and the last name is the surname that shows your relation to the House line as a whole. The Faction heads choose their own middle name to give to their kids once they got married and split off, and those kids will pick their own middle name (if they're a jack) to use for their new Faction when they grow up and get married, but everyone still keeps the overarching last surname of the grandparents/Heads of House. People with only a first and last name are unmarried and/or kids. Staff may be given a new last name based on what Faction/House they are working in if they’re going to be living there long term. Houses have long standing history and often have reputations associated with them!!!The surnames are passed down paternally, since the patriline is how House property/roles are inherited. Using your mother's surname (from whatever House she was at before she married into your House) is a common way to distance yourself from your own House. The wife takes the husband’s name when they get married and it’s the male Head of house whose last surname is used. Last name changes arise when Houses split.

Example: Neera’s whole name is Neera Callough Gentmy, meaning she was a part of House Gentmy, faction Callough (gentmy being her grandfather’s name/the House name, Callough being her father’s chosen middle/faction name). Gentmy is associated with teachers/the academic realm in the local area she grew up in because most of them have held those jobs, but its mainly because the name sounds similar to bigger academics-famous Houses. Xers wasn't very famous or big/long established (xer great-great-grandfather split from xis House to make this one, so they're fairly new compared to others).

Prectikar usually use a first name followed by multiple family 'surnames?' based on the groups in the tribe your family is connected to, usually coming out to 6 parts in the common convention used by Drah and Drah adjacent groups (Jell, Ew, and Jaw). That is as follows: a given first name followed by naming the mother’s family/the family you were born into (determined by the Matron, based on her name), naming your mother's mother (your Elder), naming your father's family, and then naming your father's mother. It varies a lot, though, for example Leki also add their occupation to their names and Or’ add a self-description to theirs (ex. Describing a feature they have been told is prominent about themself). Introducing yourself, most only use a nickname. Using your actual given first name is seen as too personal/too casual for most. Using your full first name in addition to adding on the family relations is used in formal settings or during the season so people can tell each others' Matrons the respective groups of the people theyre interested in to see if theyre allowed to pair or take the other as a partner. When looking at Rossetian names, they see it as weird to take the fathers name, first of all, and second of all they think it's weird that the mothers House isn't mentioned either!!

Example: Ralaoh's name that they use around most people literally does just mean "Bent", cus of xeir tusk (xey decided to just make peace with it lol). xeir big full name is: Aghjel"l-g'Eguibo'l'Halaj--gh'R'ueh"l'Baogh (Aghjel, daughter-son of Eguibo family, elder mother H'alaj, fathered by R'ueh family, elder mother Baogh) which represents two of the four families in xeir tribe. Most prectikar languages are gendered and there isn't a nonbinary person category, so xei added the l-g/ -son bit to mix it up) I'm not too sure on how it's written yet but yeah.

Kixeli are given a name when they hatch for record-keeping convenience and add parts to it themself over time with influence of the nicknames/descriptors their community mates give them. These parts vary on the community but normally follow a convention where you state the community/communities you are a part of or travel to first, then the name you go by, your given name at hatching, other names you have been known as, your occupation/skills, and often your status as a caretaker/your sexuality and gender identity (more common for Arasit since coming into a community during spawn season to clown around is a big part of their whole traveling thing).Often, because they are very long and meant to be spoken rapid fire like this, names are structured to sound good when said all together (changing to bitonal or adding bits to the word to make it rhyme, for example). Giving your full name isn't done unless you're going to be a permanent community member or are an Arasit performing your entrance to the community with your name song.

Example: WaraWara. This is not xer community's name, she is using her chosen name here and normally only introduces herself as that even to other Kixeli because xes not big on group things. She could introduce xerself as (same with the kar Im spelling very badly in English I don't have the real phonetics down here bear with me): Sawawaktat (current community name)-warara (call me this) waojara (what I was born as so youll know if youre related to me)-Sooaktit-taktitjara (flier, dredger, daring)-oopajiktat-tooakhikara (not a caretaker but down to hookup), spoken in ascending then descending tone for each word. Idk

Cerest have a public spoken name, a less private silent name, and a very private silent name. The spoken name is used around non-Cerest, widely considered your " very public" name and one that has little importance inside your unit/clan because from their view it has very little information about yourself or your relation to others. Often very simple/only one part and only containing syllables they can pronounce (lots of R, K, S, and T.) so that even untrained vocalists or those without an implant can use it around other species. Many also opt to use a sign name (in a sign language the aliens can use), or even just not even share a name with the xenos around them (preferring to go by "the Dorest" or "Rox" or similar), it depends. The highly private silent name involves their unique pheremone self-identifier and scale sign. This is what your unit/clan mates refer to you as, though how they do it depends on your status vs. their status and the purpose behind the name sharing. Using the whole thing for someone is for equal status or above-you status people since it is more direct and personal, and is rarely done outside legal documentation or between lovers or introducing yourself to a new family/new family members for the very first time. For example, no one in a Drecu unit is calling their Arch by xeir full private name or even a part of that name, theyre using just the "Arch" title to respectfully note xeir position (the sires can use xeir name though ❤️). They also have the slightly less private silent names for use in identifying themselves with Cerest not of their unit. For example, if a Dorest were out on behalf of their Arch, they would introduce their Arch using a piece of their name+ title (ex. Arch [X]), information on the unit the Arch runs (ex. Of unit (X]), the Arch's original birth unit if applicable, the location Sector/Unit [X], then their units class. Same for if introducing another Dorest etc etc. Using more of the name means closer in status/closeness to the other person; so something like scale signing out most of their name or mimicing their self-identifier signal means youre close to them/is done in private (in public youd refer to them as like the first 3 letters and their title). Drecu spoken names are shorter for lower class and longer for higher class (it could just be a one syllable vs two syllable difference though, the idea is to show that youre more skilled at speaking as a higher class person because youve had the privelege of time, lessons, or an implant).

Sundyne spoken names follow a similar convention to Drecu, except shines/Crowns have much longer names than sights/Prongs. Male's silent names are also longer, meaning it's much more personal/a sign of status to use more of their name than for someone to use a sights full name (which is shorter/easier to get "close" to).

Example: Maro's spoken name is "Maro" (obviously) and her mother's spoken name is Ekes; even with the "Empress" and "female heir" honorific attached both are very short in comparison to her father's name: Vresskik-Savfrees (the inclusion of an "f" sound in xis name is very special too since it's hard for them to make with their beak and such. Mr. Pretty Emperor over here with a fancy pretty Emperor name).

Drecu Example: Kerik uses "Kerik" as her public name, but has a completely separate private name. Some of her clutchmates spoken names are Sei, Cet, and Tesk for reference on the significance on her two syllable name/Primary status. Xei have shared their semi-private and very private silent names with the other Cerest at the public housing xei stay at.

Muttreazik are kind of similar to Cerest in that they have multiple names for different uses, even Easterners who follow more of their host's structure. There's usually a given name from the host family (if they wanted to keep that) or a chosen name/nickname, plus a "worm name" which you say with your eye (kind of like your own special song, basically acting as "me" "my" "I" etc conversely to how we do names). Westerners have a bigger culture around identity/concealing it and use different names in different Soverign states outside of their own, in different social groups, and even for use with different people. It's just a matter of if they want the other person to "know" them or not. Many names are not even unique words and instead just "bird" or "deer" "gray eye" in relation to what features they have if they want to be very impersonal with someone/don't trust or like them. They also have a "secret" name they don't tell anyone even if they are very very close (seeing it as their truest worm-self name, deeply inside and personal/connected to your rebrith)

Vam-ko is signalling a pretty intense case of 'please please please please talk to me i'm literally so nice'; all four ear batons are up and tilted towards Nar-it, his eyes are crazy big and also looking right at her. He has held out his hand patch to her to request the conversation (and therefore its implied he's accepted the responsibility if the conversation goes badly), and has exposed the hand patch not in use as well even though its only touching the ground.

To counteract this very direct focus he's keeping his head lower than Nar-it's and stretched his arm out very far to allow her to take his hand well away from his personal space. He has shuttered his lower eye set, a common calming signal which also softens his stare. He is slumped over and has his legs in an awkward position to get up from, signalling he can't lunge or attack her easily. He is also keeping his tail still, not even his short tail is moving ('short tail' is classed as the end half, wagging this is an interest signal which can be positive or negative. Lashing the long tail (the whole thing) is an aggression signal). he is also touching the 'thumbs' of one foot together, in a cute little 'crossed fingers' gesture.

all in all he's showing that's he incredibly investing in this contact but is also in control of himself and wants it to go well.