literature

Turian Family names

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In many cultures a married couple usually chooses one of the partner’s surnames as their ‘married’ name.  In some cases, they combine the two surnames into one, separated by a hyphen.  With turians, they combine the surnames (referred to as family names for now on), but take it one step further.  They take parts of both family names and merge them together to create a new last name.

Here’s an example using one of my own married turian couples:

Panus originally had the family name Hironus, while his wife’s, Nyla, was Traten.  When they married, they took Hiro from Panus’ family name and ten from Nyla’s to create Hiroten.  What family name syllable(s) is used first in the new name is not dependant on the sex of the individual, but rather personal preference:  Panus and Nyla could have just as easily have used Tranus instead.  Many couples also look in the government directory for ‘in use’ family names to see if the one they wish to use is already taken.  If so, they use an alternate merging of their family names to avoid confusion.

For couples whose family names already had similar parts, they keep the part that is the same and mix and max accordingly.  For instance, Tabaken, Cyrus’ family name, came from Taroken (father’s side) and Bamuken (mother’s side).  Since the last syllable ken was the same for both family names, they kept it as part of their married name.

Any children born into a family obtains the parent’s married name, much how it is with humans.  Adopted children, if they are old enough to remember their old family, may choose to keep their original family name, or merge it with their adopted family’s name, otherwise their last name is automatically changed to their adopted families last name.  This is why Mylos, in Bygones, has the last name Hiroten, rather than his real family name of Strathis.

In the case of death, the surviving parent usually keeps their married name, until he or she remarries (much like with humans).  When that happens, they can chose to merge their previous married name with their new spouse’s family name, or just use their original family name in the merger.  Very young children have their last names changed to the new one, while older children can choose to keep their original family name if they wish.  Teen to adult children typically don’t bother changing their family names until they get married themselves.  Any new children born will have the new family name.

Unlike with death, divorce causes the married name to be reverted to the former spouse’s family name.  The changing of the children’s family names is dependent on the age of the child (much like with death) and who gets custody.  Examples of this are the twins Arca and Thanos Jothen: their father was criminal that was sentenced to a lifetime of hard labor and their mother decided to divorce him because of this. Because of the father’s situation, the mother got custody of the twins by default.  However, the twins were old enough to choose to keep their family name and they did in protest of their mother ‘abandoning’ their father.
Disclaimer: This is headcanon, not anything official from BioWare. You’re free to borrow the concept though if you wish. Keep in mind that I may change some things as I get inspired.

Lately turians have been dancing in my head again. Since I lost the harddrive that had my fanfics on it (*sob* all that lost work!), including the Bygones sequel I was working on, Withheld, I have yet to start rebuilding what I lost. This was mostly due to getting a new computer soon and thus I am trying to avoid starting any new (or in this case, restarting) projects in the meantime. I figured I'd at least jot this concept down and share it with you folks, to show that I am not giving up on my stories (I will rewrite what I have lost eventually).

That said, I have a similar concept for their colony markings as well, but that requires my art muse to co-operate, which it isn't. Bah.

(seriously, there's no category for fanfic 'world building/expanding' stuff? Bah....)
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Xanthur34's avatar
I really appreciate it in a fandom when someone goes the extra mile and comes up with even more backstory for a story's universe. It makes being a fan of something all that much more fun, when you get to see what other people can come up with. Working around such ideas and integrating them along with your own can make for a richer experience.

That said, I'm really sorry to hear about your computer. I once lost all data for a college final because of an error, so I think I can sympathize with you on that. Whenever you find the will to rewrite your sequel, I'll be waiting excitedly to read it! I'll make you a promise too, since I'm such a bad commenter/watcher. Whenever a new chapter comes out, I'll be sure to leave a comment :)