Development Update #14 - Dwarf Names
[h2]Greetings, Dwarven Lords![/h2]
Today we would like to talk a bit about dwarf names. We wrote a couple of posts ago that we are fans of both, Tolkien’s world and Old Norse mythology, and it is common knowledge, that Tolkien used names for the dwarves taken from the Poetic Edda (a collection of Old Norse narrative poems).
We also intend to use dwarf names that were used in the Old Norse texts. Currently, we have about 200 names attributed to male dwarves, which we mostly took from “Dwarf-Names: A Study in Old Icelandic Religion” – the research article written by Ch. N. Gould in 1929.
In the image: an excerpt from “Dwarf-Names: A Study in Old Icelandic Religion” shows some names with explanations of their meanings.
[h2]Missing Female Names[/h2]
But what about female names? While talking about female dwarves we already mentioned, that there is a problem with the names for them. “The reason why we do not hear anything about female dwarfs is probably that the gods (not the male dwarfs themselves!) did not need them. Assuming that only male dwarfs engaged in activities that were of direct interest to the gods, such as production of weapons or other objects with magic characteristics, suggests the gods did not have any tasks to be carried out by female dwarfs” (Mikučionis, 2020). That is probably the reason why there are so few mentions of females – those texts mostly talked about gods and their needs.
So what we did was take various Old Norse names that were used for female warriors, mythical beings and queens. As a result, currently, we have about 60 of them.
[h2]Hundreds of Dwarves[/h2]
But our goal is to have hundreds of dwarves! And although 260 names are technically hundreds, we thought we could expand this number.
In the olden days, in the Old Norse territories, they used to give a first name and a patronymic. A patronymic is simply a name that means “Son-of-”. In Old Norse, we see names such as Snorrason (son of Snorri) or Grímsson (son of Grímr), so we thought we could give patronymics to our dwarves as well. So instead of just being Fíli the dwarf could be named Fíli Durinsson. This means we would have more than 50 000 unique combinations!
What do you think? Should we add patronymics? Or should we make them optional with a setting?
P. S. Fun fact, patronymics were phased out in most of the Scandinavian countries more than a hundred years ago, except in Iceland, where they are still used instead of surnames.
Best regards,
King of the Dwarves Team
Today we would like to talk a bit about dwarf names. We wrote a couple of posts ago that we are fans of both, Tolkien’s world and Old Norse mythology, and it is common knowledge, that Tolkien used names for the dwarves taken from the Poetic Edda (a collection of Old Norse narrative poems).
We also intend to use dwarf names that were used in the Old Norse texts. Currently, we have about 200 names attributed to male dwarves, which we mostly took from “Dwarf-Names: A Study in Old Icelandic Religion” – the research article written by Ch. N. Gould in 1929.
In the image: an excerpt from “Dwarf-Names: A Study in Old Icelandic Religion” shows some names with explanations of their meanings.
[h2]Missing Female Names[/h2]
But what about female names? While talking about female dwarves we already mentioned, that there is a problem with the names for them. “The reason why we do not hear anything about female dwarfs is probably that the gods (not the male dwarfs themselves!) did not need them. Assuming that only male dwarfs engaged in activities that were of direct interest to the gods, such as production of weapons or other objects with magic characteristics, suggests the gods did not have any tasks to be carried out by female dwarfs” (Mikučionis, 2020). That is probably the reason why there are so few mentions of females – those texts mostly talked about gods and their needs.
So what we did was take various Old Norse names that were used for female warriors, mythical beings and queens. As a result, currently, we have about 60 of them.
[h2]Hundreds of Dwarves[/h2]
But our goal is to have hundreds of dwarves! And although 260 names are technically hundreds, we thought we could expand this number.
In the olden days, in the Old Norse territories, they used to give a first name and a patronymic. A patronymic is simply a name that means “Son-of-”. In Old Norse, we see names such as Snorrason (son of Snorri) or Grímsson (son of Grímr), so we thought we could give patronymics to our dwarves as well. So instead of just being Fíli the dwarf could be named Fíli Durinsson. This means we would have more than 50 000 unique combinations!
What do you think? Should we add patronymics? Or should we make them optional with a setting?
P. S. Fun fact, patronymics were phased out in most of the Scandinavian countries more than a hundred years ago, except in Iceland, where they are still used instead of surnames.
Best regards,
King of the Dwarves Team