Are there any sources that give generalized examples of surnames or family names for humans of ethnicities other than Chelaxian? In the Inner Sea World Guide, Chelaxian seems to be the only human ethnicity for which examples are given of surnames shared by an entire family -- but I do recall seeing surnames given for some humans are clearly not Chelaxian -- for example, Varisian NPCs generally seem to have surnames of some sort. Ulfens, on the other hand, seem to have surnames that are individual nicknames.
So -- Are there any published guidelines for non-Chelaxian surnames? I know that some ethnicities tend not to use them, but others (such as Taldans and the aforementioned Varisians) clearly do.
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It's neither official nor a Paizo product, but this Pathfinder Name Generator generates surnames for Chelaxian, Keleshite, Taldan, Tien, Ulfen, and Varisian ethnicities.
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It's neither official nor a Paizo product, but this Pathfinder Name Generator generates surnames for Chelaxian, Keleshite, Taldan, Tien, Ulfen, and Varisian ethnicities.
Darn, I was just about to suggest that very generator. Although I find it works best if you start with a vague idea of what you want the name to sound like (or indeed, mean in the real language from which the fictional language you're using ribs), and cycle through until you find a decent fit.
Thank you! Just running that generator 2-3 times for each ethnicity known or assumed to use family names was very informative.
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There's a section on Keleshite naming conventions in the upcoming Qadira book.
I used the aforementioned name generator some for a Chelish knight, although I found to names a little bit too Latin-esque for my character. It's pretty god for the most part though.
It may also be worthwhile perusing the categories on Pathfinderwiki corresponding to each ethnicity, as the list of "inhabitants" for each gives a fair sample of names in most cases.
That is a good idea on its own, but it could also be regarded as a list of names not to use -- especially for the more notable or high ranking NPCs.
I used the aforementioned name generator some for a Chelish knight, although I found to names a little bit too Latin-esque for my character. It's pretty god for the most part though.
This actually bugs me, too. I've had fixing this on my to-do list for a while now, but the few times I've poked at merging another ethnicity (or subset) into the generator I was not happy with the results. It's going to take some more careful picking and choosing of seed names than I have time for at the moment, but I do want to make this one better so it is going to happen. I just don't know when.
If one of you can make the demands of my day job a little less brutal that would help. ;)
It may also be worthwhile perusing the categories on Pathfinderwiki corresponding to each ethnicity, as the list of "inhabitants" for each gives a fair sample of names in most cases.That is a good idea on its own, but it could also be regarded as a list of names not to use -- especially for the more notable or high ranking NPCs.
There is a entire category for pages about families found Here Some of these families may be big names, as you suggest. Others are just A merchent and his wife/children in town in the back of a module. They were mentioned, but didn't have enough information for their own pages, so got grouped into a family page.
Ah, that is more like it -- thanks! The older Pathfinder Wikia page basically just had the ruling families.