Post by Beetlestar on Aug 27, 2014 0:09:41 GMT
While I love Traditional Naming, I would rather not force it upon someone. But, considering this is a board for Rules and Resources, here is a link to the usual site I use to help me name my characters.
ailuronymy.tumblr.com/
Basically, Grey's version of Trad.Naming involves giving character, culture and a more in-depth look into the prefixes and suffixes. It makes naming your cat millions of times more special and fun.
Prefixes are only to name the Cat's appearance, as when a kit is first born, they cannot really show the personality, the skills or other characterisitics, such as eye color, as soon as they are born. So for instance;
Cranekit, Cranekit is a pale silver tabby with dark stripes, his eyes are blue but will most likely change later in life.
Speaking of eyes, no cat should ever have the suffix 'eye(s)' unless it was a name-change for an injury or certain trait, such as One/White-eye from the canon series. She was named for her bad eye.
The reason why no cats should ever have the 'eye(s)' suffix unless via injury/bad trait is because that suffixes do not describe the appearance of your cat. They describe your cat's skills, personalities and abilities.
Now, this isn't to say your cat cannot be average! There are suffixes for an average cat, and they are;
-fur, -pelt and -stripe.
They are there for a warrior or medicine cat who may be good at what they do, but are not so extraordinary that they deserve a special suffix.
Special suffixes? Why yes, most cats with a suffix like these;
-fang, -claw, -foot, -step, -tail, -stream, -cloud, -flower, -storm, -whisker, -nose, -heart, -face and -leaf.
All of these suffixes have specific traits to receive and/or earn them, which are listed below and are accompanied by quotes from the creator of the site linked above.
-foot "represents a cat that is very good at running, and subsequently, very fast on their paws."
-claw "represents any cat with a distinctively exceptional fighting ability and talent in combat. "
-fang "represents a cat who may be reasonably good at hunting and fighting."
-cloud "represents a cat that is gentle in nature, patient and not easily perturbed by anything. To be recognised for his or her personality, the cat must not be particularly excellent in any area of warrior life - they must be average at everything, pretty much."
-flower "A nurturing cat who is incredibly good at raising kittens."
-nose "represents a cat that has particularly acute, and astute, senses and is a good tracker and decipherer as a result of these."
-leaf "represents a medicine cat that is exceptional in the craft of healing."
-heart "A cat with a strong sense of belief in themselves and an idealistic notion of right and wrong."
-step "-step is a correlating suffix, and therefore must work with the prefix. There are two arguments when it comes to this.
The first is that -step works in an adverb manner; Foxstep will step foxily; Heavystep will step heavily. This is supported by canon, as Heavystep of Riverclan is the first - and only - cat with the suffix in the first three arcs.
The second is that -step works in a simile manner; Foxstep steps like a fox; Heavystep steps like a heavy. You will note that the latter example doesn’t actually make sense.
Personally, I support the second argument, for a number of reasons. The second option allows for a lot more use of the suffix - almost all animals step, and step in unique ways, many of which work well in a Warriors context - whereas the first option is limited to under a dozen possibilities in total (many of which are size-related and, as I have said previously, it is unwise to rely too heavily on size prefixes, as size is not necessarily a permanent trait.) While the second option does cut out the possibility of size prefixes, the fauna prefixes it is combined with make for brilliantly specific names, and arguably the most unique in the fandom. "
-storm "A cat with an unpredictable and dynamic nature. "
-stream "represents a cat that is not only athletic and/or agile, but one that is especially good at swimming."
-tail "represents an agile cat with a notable sense of balance."
-whisker "represents a cat with unusually honed hunting skills. "
-face "in this instance, implies a good-looking cat of either gender, with no other outstanding talents or areas of expertise."
(Essentially, it’s a very flattering version of -fur or -pelt.)
Thats it for the normal suffixes. Now, here are some name-change ONLY suffixes.
-eye "When combined with a damage-implying prefix, -eye describes how the cat’s eye/eyes appear. Regardless of whether one or both eyes are damaged, the form is always singular. "
[ More on -eye in the quote box.]
-eye is not to be used as an ordinary warrior’s suffix. It is inevitably correlating; that means it must work with the prefix to describe the cat’s eyes. This would be colour, and possibly shape as well, and could only be combined with colour or fauna prefixes. A cat named golden- might grow up to have golden eyes as well, but that doesn’t mean they should be given the suffix -eye to represent that; why not represent their skills and/or personality? Eye colours are far less noticeable than pelt colour, so -fur/-pelt/-stripe would be preferable.
The most common use of -eye is with fauna prefixes, such as hawk- or eagle-; similar to above, why would you need to represent the appearance of the cat’s eyes, when - for the most part - many predators have similar forward-facing eyes. It’s not saying all that much. The next argument is that it also represents certain traits - such as excellent vision for hawk-, or night-vision for owl-.
Well, cats can see pretty well in the dark, and fairly well in general, so they would have to be all kinds of excellent to deserve that. More importantly, though, how do the other cats know this cat is exception with their vision? They don’t go to optometrists. So this trait must be supported by action - they have great eyesight, therefore they are excellent hunters and can spot prey from ages away. Or they have great eyesight, therefore they are good trackers and notice small details. Or they have great eyesight, therefore they can judge distances very well and rarely slip or fall.
Having great eyesight isn’t enough for a suffix; it’s only a contributing factor for a broader suffix, such as -whisker, -nose or -tail respectively. You can’t know a cat has great eyesight until there is evidence of skill in some area. Because of this, -eye should not be used to denote good eyesight. Name-changes only.
-jaw "When combined with a damage-implying prefix, -jaw describes how the cat’s jaw appears. "
[ More on -jaw in the quote box.]
-jaw, like -eye and -ear, is always correlating. It does not represent a skill or personality in any way. It’s a very straightforward suffix to have: the cat’s jaw is twisted or damaged in some way.
It does not work for colour correlation. The most common muzzle or jaw markings are white, regardless of the pelt colour. Whitejaw on a black cat with a white jaw is not reasonable or sensible. A cat should be named for the majority of their pelt, not small markings.
The other option would be the Himalayan markings (darker face or muzzle, often legs and tail as well) of Siamese and similar breeds of cat. This does not work. Those kinds of cats do not belong in a clan.
Note:
I would like to think that all cats with the suffix -jaw would also have speech difficulties, for obvious reasons. It’s hard to imagine that an injury serious enough to receive a name-change wouldn’t affect their speech in some way.
-ear "When combined with a damage-implying prefix, -ear describes how the cat’s ear/ears appear. Regardless of whether one or both ears are damaged, the form is always singular."
[ More on -ear in the quote box.]
And that is my end of describing Trad.Naming. Grey on Ailuronmy does a much better job, but if I feel the need to edit this then I will.
ailuronymy.tumblr.com/
Basically, Grey's version of Trad.Naming involves giving character, culture and a more in-depth look into the prefixes and suffixes. It makes naming your cat millions of times more special and fun.
Prefixes are only to name the Cat's appearance, as when a kit is first born, they cannot really show the personality, the skills or other characterisitics, such as eye color, as soon as they are born. So for instance;
Cranekit, Cranekit is a pale silver tabby with dark stripes, his eyes are blue but will most likely change later in life.
Speaking of eyes, no cat should ever have the suffix 'eye(s)' unless it was a name-change for an injury or certain trait, such as One/White-eye from the canon series. She was named for her bad eye.
The reason why no cats should ever have the 'eye(s)' suffix unless via injury/bad trait is because that suffixes do not describe the appearance of your cat. They describe your cat's skills, personalities and abilities.
Now, this isn't to say your cat cannot be average! There are suffixes for an average cat, and they are;
-fur, -pelt and -stripe.
They are there for a warrior or medicine cat who may be good at what they do, but are not so extraordinary that they deserve a special suffix.
Special suffixes? Why yes, most cats with a suffix like these;
-fang, -claw, -foot, -step, -tail, -stream, -cloud, -flower, -storm, -whisker, -nose, -heart, -face and -leaf.
All of these suffixes have specific traits to receive and/or earn them, which are listed below and are accompanied by quotes from the creator of the site linked above.
-foot "represents a cat that is very good at running, and subsequently, very fast on their paws."
-claw "represents any cat with a distinctively exceptional fighting ability and talent in combat. "
-fang "represents a cat who may be reasonably good at hunting and fighting."
-cloud "represents a cat that is gentle in nature, patient and not easily perturbed by anything. To be recognised for his or her personality, the cat must not be particularly excellent in any area of warrior life - they must be average at everything, pretty much."
-flower "A nurturing cat who is incredibly good at raising kittens."
-nose "represents a cat that has particularly acute, and astute, senses and is a good tracker and decipherer as a result of these."
-leaf "represents a medicine cat that is exceptional in the craft of healing."
-heart "A cat with a strong sense of belief in themselves and an idealistic notion of right and wrong."
-step "-step is a correlating suffix, and therefore must work with the prefix. There are two arguments when it comes to this.
The first is that -step works in an adverb manner; Foxstep will step foxily; Heavystep will step heavily. This is supported by canon, as Heavystep of Riverclan is the first - and only - cat with the suffix in the first three arcs.
The second is that -step works in a simile manner; Foxstep steps like a fox; Heavystep steps like a heavy. You will note that the latter example doesn’t actually make sense.
Personally, I support the second argument, for a number of reasons. The second option allows for a lot more use of the suffix - almost all animals step, and step in unique ways, many of which work well in a Warriors context - whereas the first option is limited to under a dozen possibilities in total (many of which are size-related and, as I have said previously, it is unwise to rely too heavily on size prefixes, as size is not necessarily a permanent trait.) While the second option does cut out the possibility of size prefixes, the fauna prefixes it is combined with make for brilliantly specific names, and arguably the most unique in the fandom. "
-storm "A cat with an unpredictable and dynamic nature. "
-stream "represents a cat that is not only athletic and/or agile, but one that is especially good at swimming."
-tail "represents an agile cat with a notable sense of balance."
-whisker "represents a cat with unusually honed hunting skills. "
-face "in this instance, implies a good-looking cat of either gender, with no other outstanding talents or areas of expertise."
(Essentially, it’s a very flattering version of -fur or -pelt.)
Thats it for the normal suffixes. Now, here are some name-change ONLY suffixes.
-eye "When combined with a damage-implying prefix, -eye describes how the cat’s eye/eyes appear. Regardless of whether one or both eyes are damaged, the form is always singular. "
[ More on -eye in the quote box.]
-eye is not to be used as an ordinary warrior’s suffix. It is inevitably correlating; that means it must work with the prefix to describe the cat’s eyes. This would be colour, and possibly shape as well, and could only be combined with colour or fauna prefixes. A cat named golden- might grow up to have golden eyes as well, but that doesn’t mean they should be given the suffix -eye to represent that; why not represent their skills and/or personality? Eye colours are far less noticeable than pelt colour, so -fur/-pelt/-stripe would be preferable.
The most common use of -eye is with fauna prefixes, such as hawk- or eagle-; similar to above, why would you need to represent the appearance of the cat’s eyes, when - for the most part - many predators have similar forward-facing eyes. It’s not saying all that much. The next argument is that it also represents certain traits - such as excellent vision for hawk-, or night-vision for owl-.
Well, cats can see pretty well in the dark, and fairly well in general, so they would have to be all kinds of excellent to deserve that. More importantly, though, how do the other cats know this cat is exception with their vision? They don’t go to optometrists. So this trait must be supported by action - they have great eyesight, therefore they are excellent hunters and can spot prey from ages away. Or they have great eyesight, therefore they are good trackers and notice small details. Or they have great eyesight, therefore they can judge distances very well and rarely slip or fall.
Having great eyesight isn’t enough for a suffix; it’s only a contributing factor for a broader suffix, such as -whisker, -nose or -tail respectively. You can’t know a cat has great eyesight until there is evidence of skill in some area. Because of this, -eye should not be used to denote good eyesight. Name-changes only.
-jaw "When combined with a damage-implying prefix, -jaw describes how the cat’s jaw appears. "
[ More on -jaw in the quote box.]
-jaw, like -eye and -ear, is always correlating. It does not represent a skill or personality in any way. It’s a very straightforward suffix to have: the cat’s jaw is twisted or damaged in some way.
It does not work for colour correlation. The most common muzzle or jaw markings are white, regardless of the pelt colour. Whitejaw on a black cat with a white jaw is not reasonable or sensible. A cat should be named for the majority of their pelt, not small markings.
The other option would be the Himalayan markings (darker face or muzzle, often legs and tail as well) of Siamese and similar breeds of cat. This does not work. Those kinds of cats do not belong in a clan.
Note:
I would like to think that all cats with the suffix -jaw would also have speech difficulties, for obvious reasons. It’s hard to imagine that an injury serious enough to receive a name-change wouldn’t affect their speech in some way.
-ear "When combined with a damage-implying prefix, -ear describes how the cat’s ear/ears appear. Regardless of whether one or both ears are damaged, the form is always singular."
[ More on -ear in the quote box.]
-ear, akin to -eye, is always correlating. It doesn’t represent excellent hearing. How could it? Cats don’t do hearing tests or comparisons like that. If a cat had excellent hearing, that would be shown through their behaviour (they might be especially observant or jump at small noises) and their skills (they might hear enemies coming before the others do, or locate prey with ease). These are things that fall under the categories and traits of other pre-existing suffixes. If your cat has great hearing, find out how they use it and pick a suffix with that information. Good hearing isn’t enough on its own.
Unlike some other correlating suffixes, -ear is only for name-changes. If the cat’s ears are a different colour to the rest of them, that’s not enough to give them a prefix of their ear/s colour and condemn them to the suffix of -ear, regardless of their skills or personality. The ears, while a vital part of the cat, aren’t enough to deserve a prefix for their colour. Size is much the same: if the cat is small, it’s assumed the cat’s ears will also be quite small. Even if they’re disproportionately small, name the cat for its skills or personality. Who cares how big his or her ears are?
Unlike some other correlating suffixes, -ear is only for name-changes. If the cat’s ears are a different colour to the rest of them, that’s not enough to give them a prefix of their ear/s colour and condemn them to the suffix of -ear, regardless of their skills or personality. The ears, while a vital part of the cat, aren’t enough to deserve a prefix for their colour. Size is much the same: if the cat is small, it’s assumed the cat’s ears will also be quite small. Even if they’re disproportionately small, name the cat for its skills or personality. Who cares how big his or her ears are?
And that is my end of describing Trad.Naming. Grey on Ailuronmy does a much better job, but if I feel the need to edit this then I will.
