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I'm starting a Dalish Elf playthrough, and I've got his face perfectly designed. Now I'm struggling with the most important part: his name. As the Dalish have Welsh accents in Dragon Age II, I figured this'd be a perfect opportunity to go all Arthurian, but have run into a problem. Arthurian names tend to fall into one of two categories: Ancient and Medieval.
Ancient names are very evidently Welsh, but have hard consonants and other pronunciations that don't sound very "elven." For example:
Gwalchmei
Medrawd
Peredur
Gwalchaved
Bedwyr
Medieval names flow a bit more easily, but because these names were written for the French-speaking Normans, they don't feel very "Celtic." For example:
Gawain
Mordred
Percival
Galahad
Bedivere
I also don't want to pick a name that's too obviously cribbing from Arthurian myth, or are "elfy" but sound too much like they were ripped from Tolkien. Here are a few that I've found, but am unsure as to how they'll work out. I'd like some opinions, please:
Galoain (this is the name of a minor villain from the poem Erec and Enide, but also sort of sounds like a hybrid of Gawain and Galahad, who were both seekers of the Grail, my concern with this one is that it's too "Norman" or "French" and that it almost looks like an anagram of Loghain)
Paredyr/Paretyr/Peretyr (Peredur revised to feel a bit more "elfy," but I'm worried it may sound too much like "parrot" which would by silly)
Artaius (Apparently an agriculture deity that was worshipped by the Celts in Gaul and associated by the Romans with Mercury, translates to Artur or Artay in the Celtic language, and thus may be a mythic precursor to King Arthur when combined with the story of the Romano-British warlord, my major concern is this may sound too "Roman," which works better with Tevinter names as they're the Roman stand-ins)
Amaethon (A Welsh agricultural god, very similar to Artaius above, but has virtually no connection with Arthurian myth)
Gwynn (A Welsh deity of the hunt and underworld, apropos for a Dalish Hunter. Again, connection with Arthurian literature is tenuous at best, and I'm concerned the name may sound too much like Wynne's name)
Any suggestions? Comments? Criticisms? Am I overthinking this? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you! smilie
I prefer simple names, myself--like Valen or Caerwyn.
