Following Cresaean cultural values, which hold gender as relatively unimportant, personal names do not show a person's gender.
An Example
Suppose a husband and wife are called Veidhae and Nujhil, and this couple lives in Doshitá. For the time that the mother (who may not be the wife — read about how Cresaeans raise children) is pregnant, the wife will take notes on all naming suggestions she is given. As the birth approaches, the husband and wife take this list of suggestions, study them for any recurring elements, and then retreat for an evening to an unpopulated area to meditate upon a name for the child. Names rarely mean anything literally, but may contain syllables that remind speakers of certain Asha'illen words.
Suggestion List
For example, suppose Nujhil's suggestion list was as follows:
- Aechali
- Rishille
- Jhalnoc
- Emidhal
Note that cultural norms dictate that one should not suggest a name to an expecting couple without much forethought. Consequently, these suggestion lists rarely become more than ten names long. This example is somewhat short, but not unusally so.
Naming Night
Now assume that the child is due to be born within the month. Veidhae and Nujhil go over this list together, noticing that the syllable al is common, as is some kind of friccative (ch, sh, jh, and dh). With this in mind, the couple leave Doshitá for the night and make camp in the foothills to the east. They will light the Waking Fire and, for most of the night, they will follow the tradition of taking turns being awake with the fire. During this time of solitude, each clears his or her mind of thought and lets sounds run freely.
An hour or so before dawn, they will both be awake to share their two favorite potential names and determine a sort of averaged form based on the suggestions. Say Veidhae proposes Jhille'dha and the previously suggested Rishalle, while Nujhil proposes Shulmi and Challe. They immediately agree that alle will part of the final name because it appears in both their suggestions. Just before sunrise, they agree to name their new child Shalle'dha.
Luckily for the couple, the rest of the child's full name is easier to decide upon, and only the written form of the name will require any more real creativity.
Parental and Locational Names
Full Cresaean names consist of a personal name plus a blending of the parents' names — so that those who raised a child are identified — and a modified form of the birthplace's name. The rules for blending the parents' names and for determining the personal-name form of a location are very standardized. The parents' names are ordered alphabetically (according to standard Asha'ille order) and the first syllables of each name are combined, with an epenthetic vowel (and accent mark) inserted as necessary: Nujhil + Veidhae > Nujhvei > Nújhavei. For locational names, a strict set of sound changes are applied:
- all voiceless consonants become voiced, and vice versa*
- Doshitá > Tojhidá
- the first vowel of the parental name replaces the first vowel of the
locational name
- Tojhidá > Tujhidá
- the first vowel of the personal name replaces the second vowel of the
locational name
- Tujhidá > Tujhadá
- any remaining vowels become their opposites in terms of high and
frontness
- Tujhadá > Tujhadí
Some voiced consonants are difficult to pronounce voiceless, and so change into other consonants entirely: /ɹ/ > /h/, /l/ > /h/, /j/ > [c], /m/ > /p/, /n/ > /t/.
Thus, the child's full name will be Nújhavei Shalle'dha 'sa Tujhadí. The parental name, being considered an adjective, precedes the personal name. The locational name is also considered an adjective, but following word order rules of Asha'ille, the second adjective must follow the noun. 'Sa is the contracted form of alunsa, and is the normal form that links personal and locational names.
Forms of Address
While young, Veidhae and Nujhil's child may be affectionately referred to as Chille'dha, following the standard nicknaming convention of replacing the first syllable with chi-, which means small in Asha'ille. Later, he or she will be known by the adult form, Shalle'dha. (For the rest of this example, let us say that Shalle'dha is a son so that I can refer to him with an English pronoun.)
Within Doshitá, people will only refer to him as Shalle'dha, since with unique names it is unlikely for another Shalle'dha to live in the town. Outside of Doshitá but within the circle of people who know Veidhae and Nujhil, he will be referred to as Nújhavei Shalle'dha. Where people do not know Shalle'dha, Nujhil, or Veidhae personally, he will be referred to by his fully qualified name: Nújhavei Shalle'dha 'sa Tujhadí.
Suppose Veidhae and Nujhil later have more children. The children may collectively be referred to as Nújhaveim (Nújhavei plus the plural marker -im), the first-born as Nújhaveisa, the second-born as Nújhaveida, etc. (Read about numbered suffixes for more information.) If someone knew Veidhae and Nujhil, but not the order of their children, you might inform them of the order by saying their children are Shalle'dha Nújhaveisa, Cornú Nújhaveida, and Onalei Nújhaveiga. However, once this information is established, the numbered suffixes will be dropped.
Finally, in archaic documents or very formal settings, vedá, meaning from, out of (a lociation), is used instead of 'sa. In formal settings (but not old records), birth order is also indicated. Therefore, this individual's modern formal name is Nújhaveisa Shalle'dha vedá'Tujhadí.
All people from Doshitá can be referred to collectively as Tejhadím (note that all the vowels flip-flop height and frontness when not describing a specific individual). Numbered suffixes here indicate specific individuals from the group, much as they function on personal rings (aejhelsa, chishélsa, etc).
Written Names
Asha'ille is normally written with the kateinu yiréb. Proper names, however, have special written forms.
