A message from korybing

Could you explain the naming conventions of Saratoans? I am curious!

Saratoans’ naming system is an outgrowth of a form of poetry that developed in their culture which uses words welded together to create new terminology. Originally the idea being that the two words would jive together, or create clever twists using the poem’s context. As time went on, the poetry system got more baroque and the combined words drifted away from the more easily identifiable meanings, especially when they started combining already combined words, and dropping the two excess words to make it still fit the pattern.

The switch from the words only existing in poetry to becoming names started with poets giving nicknames to lovers or fictional characters using fitting terms lifted from previous poems or made up on the spot. Then the poets started giving themselves those names. Quickly it spread and became the default.

When Saratoans started interacting more with mainland humans they were exposed to the idea of surnames, and some have picked this up, turning the second word in their names into their surname, but it still hasn’t completely caught on, so while some relatives will have the same “surname” (BoneLatch and RootLatch) others won’t (KiteHook and ThreadFold).

Since their poetry is so convoluted, most Saratoans actually have no idea what their names are supposed to refer to - assuming they refer to anything, since the surname effect can create combinations that never existed in poetry, as well as individuals just plain making up names and just using the same pattern as the real ones so it sounds legit.