If Golarion is now a world where being called a half-elf or a half-orc is (at best) a cultural faux pas or (at worst) a racial slur, and people with mixed ancestry are so culturally ingrained that they instead have their own unique names... then why are halflings still called halflings?
I mean, there are plenty of small races; surely someone of that heritage would bristle at the notion that they're only half-of-a-human? At least no less than someone with exactly one human parent would?
... huh. That's actually a good idea.
What if we call them... habbots? That seems original.
But for real, DO they have their own name for themselves?
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The true name of those everyone calls halflings is taboo.
The halfling survivors of the first meetings with other ancestries described how its utterance drove those into unstoppable fits of murderous rage for reasons they could not fathom.
It was as if the whole of reality hated their very name.
So they forever banned their true name from being ever uttered.
Even though they always wondered what could be so wrong about
It could be that like Catfolk, halfings consider their own name for themselves to be private, and they don't appreciate outsiders using it.
I feel like the actual reason is that a lot of people have an idea of what a Halfling is like, and Paizo hasn't come up with a really good diegetic name for these people. I mean, even if we know they call themselves Amurruns and Ysoki the books still say "Catfolk" and "Ratfolk."
I wanna say this is even the stated reason, somewhere, though I couldn't tell you where the source was. Maybe PF1E's Halflings of Golarion?Most likely, Halflings just don't care what other ancestries call them, and don't really feel the need for a term to refer to themselves other than 'us'...
After all, why make things more complicated than they absolutely have to be?
I searched on the word "name" in Halfings of Golarion and did not find a direct statement about the name "halfling," but I found other indications that they don't want their own name for themselves.
halflings of Golarion
The most amazing feature of halflings may be that so many of their good features go unnoticed. When viewed objectively, halflings show themselves to be a courageous, intelligent, kind-hearted, loyal, and clever race. Yet for those whom they live among, halflings are forgettable, if useful, figures who keep to themselves and fade into the background.Halflings wouldn’t have it any other way. They know better than any what strengths and weaknesses their race possesses. They require no external validation, no immortality through song and legend. A halfling who blends in, a halfling whom others rely on and then forget about, a halfling who slips into the woodwork—this is a halfling who survives. Halflings are smaller, weaker, and slower than most races, and thus less able to defend themselves from physical threats. Their forgettable demeanor is their shield against a violent world. When halflings are seen as cheerful, harmless supporting figures instead of heroes, they become less likely targets.
Another section talks about halfling neighborhoods in human cities.
Human citizens are the ones who often name halfling districts, and halflings willingly adopt those names when speaking to non-halflings. As gnomes generally prefer living near halfling areas where appropriately sized buildings and goods can be found, many human cities refer to shared halfling and gnome districts as Little Town or some variant of the name.
Thus, it appears that halflings prefer indirect references to themselves rather than a clear name. Call them "halflings" or "shortfolk" or "quiet people."
I believe the real world reason is that they've been "halflings" since TSR was sued by Tolkien Enterprises for using some Middle Earth names (ents [treants], hobbits [halflings], balrogs [Type VI demons/balors]).
Around the same time they had to pull the Cthulu and Elric references in the original Deities & Demigods because of a lawsuit by Chaosium...
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I imagine most halflings accept the name simply because it's so common, and given their long history of being enslaved, and enslavers usually having little interest in what their property call themselves, whatever "actual" name they have in their own language hasn't caught on among their neighbours.
Alternatively, perhaps halflings see having one name for their species as unacceptably reductive? We know that there are names for many halfling ethnicities, such as Jarics, Mihrinis, Song'o, Nearics, Uhlan, and the (perhaps ancestral) Othobans, they might simply not appreciate being lumped in together as if Jarics and Mihrinis were the same thing?
I believe the real world reason is that they've been "halflings" since TSR was sued by Tolkien Enterprises for using some Middle Earth names (ents [treants], hobbits [halflings], balrogs [Type VI demons/balors]).
...and then decades later when Paizo decided half-elves and half-orcs needed their own ancestry names, for real-world non-fantasy reasons, I suspect they forgot about halflings.
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Why? Because there is absolutely nothing offensive or atrocious or belittling about the word "Halfling." Not even a little bit.
If Paizo wants to publish a diegetic name to placate the sad little woke people that feverishly want to find something intrinsically wrong with something plainly innocuous -- they can use something like "Hairfeet". Everyone will know that 'Hairfoot' is the new word for 'Halfling' and was introduced to placate the sad little social-justice-warriors desperate to fix the world from invented atrocities in their Crusade of intolerance and closed-mindedness.
If they don't, you can use the word "Kender" in your Homegame and at least everyone in your Homegame -- and when you talk about gaming with other gamers -- they too will know what you mean by "Kender." Obviously, Paizo can't use that word for IP legalities. But you can.