~Veire

I gots me two betta fish the other day. One preeeetty crowntail and one normal (pink!), Cyprus and Miko. Had fun searching for names for them and, while I did so, I came up with a fun little naming system for the Godspawn and those like them. First name, surname, what number child you are. Middle names are optional between the first and the surname are also an option, butyeah. In the case of Godspawn, who's parents have no surname to give them, they take their parents' names. So Inanis, Vain's best buddy, would be Inanis Passion Depravity Nona. This means that her parents are the Gods Passion and Depravity and that she is their ninth child (holy crap >_o). For girls, their mother's name goes first, but for boys, it's their father's name. Thus, one of her brothers would be (name) Depravity Passion (number). Which really means she's got a different surname than her brothers. She's Inanis Passion, while her brothers are all (name) Depravity. Or at least when it comes to, say, signing her name on something. There is no other Passion and there is no other Depravity so, for Godspawn, this tends to work out fairly well. Most people know which God is married to whom, so it's pretty straightforward as to who's related to who.

The Godspawn would be: Vice Vicious Secundus (only one parent, so only one surname), Vainglory Vicious Tertia (feminine form for the girlies; at least I know enough not to butcher this simple kind of Latin ^^), and Vex Vicious Quarta. And then there's also Serpsis Vicious Primus. I don't think I've mentioned him before. Probably because he's hardly in the comic at all. >_> Well, he's not a Godspawn, and technically he has a surname before his mother's name because his father was human and, as such, had a surname to give him. I just haven't decided what that name is yet. But really he's Serpsis (something) Vicious Primus. Ah! I almost forgot. No matter what the gender of the child, if one of their parents is mortal and one a God, the mortal's surname goes first. Always. Thus the reason Cadmus has his mama's surname: Cadmus Odell Honor Primus. ^^ Speaking of which, the wife taking the husband's name--well, usually; this is still a modern world, after all--works the same way. Unless the woman is something important like a hero or a demi- or semi-god and her husband isn't. Then he takes her surname.

Anyway, the same applies to created beings (usually called chimeras), like Vex's favorite chimera Orcus. Albeit, he's not fully created yet so he really doesn't need a name or anything at the moment, but whatever. Once she "finalizes" him, his name would be Orcus Vex Primus, under the assumption that he is the first creature she finishes creating.

I haven't quite figured out orphans, though. Marisela is easy since they knew who her parents were and how many siblings she had before, y'know, bad things happened and everyone died (yes, Marisela's an orphan; orphans are taken care of by priests in Vicious' lands and are then trained and initiated into priesthood themselves; after five years of service as a full priest, they are allowed to leave the priesthood; it's really a good deal since they provide the kids with whatever education they need in order to achieve whatever it is they want to do after serving as priests). I don't know what they'd do with abandoned orphans, though. That's why Farouk is only Farouk. There were never any parents in the picture. I guess he could take the name of the priest who looked after the brood he was in (five children per priest is the general rule of thumb, though that would, of course, depend on whether or not there's an excess of children to look after). Or they could've just called him Farouk and left it at that. Perhaps they'd give him a number name for a surname depending on how many kids his priest guardian had gotten before him. Like, Farouk Sextus if he was the sixth. Or maybe the name of the temple/orphanage he was raised in, or the city/town he was (supposedly) born in.

I dunno, I'm just batting this idea around in my head. There's really no significant point to it, but it might be a nice change to have characters with a different system of naming than I'm used to.

Hm, I'd be Rebekkah Klandrud Quarta. Or Rebekkah Gail Timothy Quarta if my parents were Gods.

Edit: Fathom's parents are worse than Inanis', though. Inanis is the last, Fathom is the seventh of eleven. And her mother is mortal. >_o

Actually, on second thought, let's have her daddy remarry at some point. So Fathom's mom is wife number two because wife number one hit menopause and then died of old age years and years later. Then her demi-god daddy remarried and she was their first daughter. Big age gap between her older sister and her. Since there were already children in the family, despite being her mother's first, she's still Fathom Tumult Septima, the seventh. Because adoptions count. And her mom adopted her dad's first six kids when she married him. So...yeah.