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Post by Fia on May 19, 2010 20:19:09 GMT -8
Okay, now, name-freak that I am (we all have our quirks…), I have compiled an extensive list of names that would be completely unacceptable on a self-respecting Warriors RP website such as ours. Unfortunately, when I say extensive, I mean the majority of the words in the English language, and every word in other languages. So instead, here’s a post with examples of the sort of name that wouldn’t work, just to give everyone a general idea of what we’d accept and what we wouldn’t.
So: names that would not work!
- Moon, Night, Sun, and Day! These are the names of the four Clans and therefore cannot be used for cat names. Can-not. Period. Doesn't count for loners/rogues/kittypets, since they're born outside the Clans and don't know/care about the Clans or what they're called. But no warriors. No Moonfrost or Sunstrike or Nightflower or Daycloud. Just no.
- Negative things like Death, Blood, Darkness, Frozen, Broken, Fade, Hate, Anger, Pain, Lone, Poison, Scar. What sort of mom names her baby ‘Hatekit’, after all? DeathClan cats are the exceptions to this, as they tend to be given or adopt negative terms as their names.
- Things like Hope, Dream, Illusion, Love, Brave, Strong, Kind, Sweet. Dreamkit? It’s pretty, but these are warriors, and only medicine cats and leaders are expected to have much to do with mystical matters like dreams and illusions. Brave? Kind? Strong? Nice things to wish for in a daughter or son, but they aren’t guaranteed - no personality traits, please.
- Glitter, Sparkle, Shining Much as we love shiny objects, such words just don’t work for feral names.
- Words that forest cats just wouldn’t know- Blade, Glacier, Jewel/Gem, Acid, Coal, Oil, Volcano. Cool as Blade and Volcano are, pretty as Jewel is, where would feral cats learn these words? Also, mythology-related names such as Poseidon, Artemis, Zeus, and Hades just don’t work- these are Twoleg myths. Stick to warrior mythology, please - TigerClan and the like.
- Non-native animals- Dolphin, Shark, Zebra, Cheetah, Bear, Wolf. Sharktooth might be a cool name, but these cats don’t know what sharks are. Zebrastripe- it’s got a cool ring to it, but our warriors do not have any way of knowing about the existence of African animals. And we don’t have animals like bears and panthers running around our Clan territories. Nor do we have wolves- sorry, people. No Wolfhearts, no Wolfclaws, no Wolf-fangs. No loners named 'Wolf'.
- Animal Breeds- Siamese, Havana, Pointer, Dalmation, Persian, Husky... wild cats don't know these. Naming breeds of animal is a Twoleg thing, and I'd be surprised if even a kittypet knew the difference between a spaniel and a collie, except that one's bigger than the other. No breed names.
- Things that just don’t make sense- Ocean, Whisper, Silence, Bounce, Eruption, Blast, Freeze, North/South/East/West... it goes on. Remember that Clan cat names are meant to be descriptive, to highlight certain characteristics their bearers.
- Star. Self-explanatory, really. 'Star' is reserve for the Clan leader's suffix, and for 'StarClan'.
- Oh, and naming a kit for its eye-color doesn’t work either, since kits are named long before their eyes open; it takes days, at the very least, for kits to open their eyes. And when they open them, they’re blue. Always. They change color when the kits are well over a moon old. It’d be pretty silly for a queen to wait that long to name her kit, yes?
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Post by Fia on Aug 4, 2010 21:57:57 GMT -8
And now…
Combinations! You can have perfectly good words for names, but a lot –a lot– of the time, people combine them in ways that just don’t work. The suffix. Must match. The prefix. Let’s say we have a Rainpaw. Let’s say Rainpaw grows up to be a proud young warrior. Suppose we call him something like… Rainfeather? Wha-? Why? Why? What does rain have to do with feathers? Could we not call him Rainstorm? Raincloud? Rainstream? Rainspots, if he’s got suitable markings? Something that makes sense?
- Or Breezepaw. Breezesong would be okay, for a she-cat. Breezestep, for a swift-pawed cat. But Breezefur? Why, does this cat’s fur blast out gusts of air when he’s angry? (I don’t care if the Erin Hunters have a Breezepelt. One of the writers screwed up. End of story.) Don't let me find a Breezefire or Breezestone.
- Or Lionpaw. We could have a Lionclaw, a Lionfur, a Lionfang, even a Liontooth or Liontail. We could not, however, have a Lionwing (ever see a Lion fly?), a Lionfeather (feathered lions?), or a Lionthorn (now the lion is magically half plant!).
- Or Rosepaw. Pretty, huh? There’s Rosethorn, Roseheart, Rosefur (this works, because some ginger cats do indeed appear pink or reddish. Besides, roses come in different colors.) Names that would not work include Rosefeather (plants with feathers? Really?) and Rosemist (okay, it’s really pretty, but since when do flowers magically poof into mist?)
- Or Stonepaw. Stoneheart, Stoneclaw, Stonetail, Stonetooth. Those are good. Not Stoneflame (the flame of a stone?), Stoneleaf (eh?), Stone-eye (what is he, blind?), or Stone-ear (oh, now he’s deaf as well!).
All we ask is that people be reasonable about names. There is nothing wrong with a name like Brownstripe, or Dustfur, or Birchpelt, or Stormheart. Or Shadowstorm, Hawkflight, Tigerfang, Badgerpelt.
Long story short: simple, well thought-out names are appreciated, bizarre ones make us smack our foreheads and start wondering how to tactfully suggest renaming the characters. Please don't make us do that.
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