|
I'e been struggling to come up with a last name for a character I've been developing. His basic backstory is as follows:
Orendel is a half-elf who was born in a tiny village on the border between Nirmathas and Molthune, which changed hands between the two nations often. His dad was an elf and a part-time bandit/part-time freedom-fighter, while his mom was a human villager. His dad would visit but sometimes be gone for years, and so Orendel came to resent him, eventually enlisting in Molthune's army. Later his dad ambushed and massacred his company, sparing Orendel out of a mix of spite and paternal love. Since he was technically a deserter, he couldn't go back to Molthune, and he was basically a traitor to Nirmathas, he ran and sought to start anew as a mercenary in Varisia.
According to James Jacobs, the resident elfxpert on Golarion, elven surnames are always personal, rather than used to delineate family lines, and they tend to mirror the surnames of the surrounding human culture. For instance, Shalelu's last name, Andosana, is actually Varisian in origin. The trouble for Orendel is I've no real clue what a Nirmathi last name might be like, as we only have two major examples: Nirmath (from which Nirmathas derives its name) and Gavrik. Could some of the more linguistically minded Paizonians please assist me with this?
|
|
PunchBeef, McLargeHuge, HardCheese, ThickNeck, BigFlank, VanderHuge, DeadLift, RockBone, BlowFist, SlamChest...
...REALLY?! D:<
I like MST3K as much as the next Paizonian, butI'm trying to go for something a bit more serious here.
Well, let's see. Nirmathas is one of those countries that hasn't had a ton written up about it as far as I know. So you have fairly free rein when it comes to what "sounds Nirmathi" since there's really not much to extrapolate from. That being said, the examples we're given sound European-ish in nature (rather than, say, Tian names), though with only two of them, it's hard to determine any sort of pattern.
Personally, I get a sort of Eastern European feel from what I've read of the place, particularly Ukraine and Poland, but that could just be me.
You could look at Chelish names as well, since both Molthune and Nirmathas were originally part of Cheliax.