#the first one i'm just too tired to explain rn and the latter two i'm just not 100% on 😵

[arainayeet]

the name post keeps crossing my dash, and the devil is in my ear telling me to just continually rb it until I explain everyone's names, but that would take... many 30-tag rbs to do, which is Not Ideal 😅 so I decided I would Actually make that readmore post about everyone!! plus I am waiting for my mopped floors to dry- this is a good pastime :')

Since I covered the Big Four here, I'll continue on with everyone else below! I’ve got a few different worldstates, and it’s difficult to tell who is what from name alone, so I’ll try to organize this into their relation to my bigger characters.

MAIN WORLDSTATE

Thalis-adjacent

Rumeysa, Thalis’ aunt and Soris + Shianni’s mother, was... somehow... named after stars?? I distinctly remember thinking Cyrion’s name reminded me of Sirius, and that I’d be able to find a name for his sister by traipsing through its Wikipedia page... From what I can tell, my thought process was Canis Major = greater dog = Cyrion, Canis Minor = lesser dog = his little sister. One of the stars in Canis Minor is called Gomeisa, which is where the “meysa” part of her name came from... As for the “ru”, at this point I truly can’t remember 🙈🙈 Maybe I just thought it sounded nice?? In any case, while I was trying to remember how this name came to be, I discovered Rumeysa is a real name, which is awesome! I always loved the sound of it. <3

Dog the Dog’s name is a total joke, beginning with my sister and I going “would that be fucked up or what” during our first playthrough of the game. The mabari’s name was Dog as in dog back then, but when I played through as Thalis, it became Dog as in Doug. The in-universe explanation is that this name Also comes from a character in one of Adaia’s shows. The entire party assumes the mabari’s name is Doug, so when Thalis writes it as Dog for the first time, everyone almost blows a gasket.

Liane, Soris and Valora’s daughter, has a pretty in-universe name. She’s born shortly after the Tabrises and co. infiltrate Tevinter to retrieve all of the trafficked elves from Denerim and miraculously succeed in doing so, bringing a few extra people home with them, too! She’s born after Soris and Valora renew their vows, and things begin to calm down in Ferelden (as much as things Can calm down in Ferelden after the Blight...) For the Tabris family, Liane is like the light at the end of the tunnel or the sun peeking out after a nasty storm, so her name relates back to that! Plus, it has the “ia” phonetic present in so many elven names, ie Shianni, Arianni, Briala... so I liked it very much :]

Occasio Arainai was named in a similar manner to Thalis- I didn't know where to start, so I defaulted to Greek mythology 🏃🏻‍♀️ Originally, his name was going to be Caerus, after the god of opportunity, since I felt that was befitting of a Crow 🐳 But Caerus never totally fit him, so I switched it to the Roman equivalent, Occasio. imo this rolled off the tongue better and fit his Vint origins more. In-universe, Occasio is named so because his mother, a Crow herself, wanted him to have a better, luckier life than she did. She and Clementina faked his death and Clementina snuck him away in the dead of night- for a few years, he flew under the Crow’s radar, but his luck ran out quickly when House Arainai found him. Occasio is always around at the most ‘opportune’ time, but whether these times are opportune for him or for others changes on the flip of a coin.

Clementina Arainai's name was actually originally Elea, kind of in step with Occasio! Clementina's Thing was that she was never supposed to be a Crow, and originally I wanted her name to reflect this- thus she was named for mercy and compassion. After a while, I came to the same conclusion as I did with Caerus- that I didn't want my Crows to have Greek names, so I decided to change it. Part of Clementina's backstory is that her parents are devout Andrastians, so I figured maybe they'd name her after one of the Divines, and Clemence stuck out to me (tbh I can't remember if I was trying to keep that tie to mercy in her name, or if I just like the name Clemence 🙈🙈🙈), but it didn't feel Antivan, so then I was going to go with Clementia? But her parents Also ran a successful winery before their assassination, so I was like... do I get silly goofy with that.. do I 👁️👁️ so Clementia became Clementina, after the citrus 🤪 Her name is kind of long and unwieldy, so I like to imagine she has many nicknames amongst the Crows- Clem, Menti, Tina, etc etc. However, in reverse of Zevran, it's normally the people she's Not Actually That Close With that use those nicknames. Occasio always refers to her as Clementina. Zevran, Taliesen, and Rinna flipflop on it, just because they know the nicknames annoy her 🤪

Wardens

Iori Surana's name is a very in-universe 🥺 name, meant to evoke the idea of a peaceful retreat. I like the idea of their parents naming them that because Iori was their retreat from a crazy world. Unfortunately for Iori, I think the rest of their life after their magic flares up is the furthest thing from a peaceful retreat. 💀

Arrecina’s name derives from Arrecina Tertulla- there’s no thematic or genuine connection between the two, I was just going through the wives of various Roman emperors and thought the name fucked super hard. 😤🤘🏻 Important to note is that Arrecina is a nomen, so it’s not really a Proper name, but. alas.. we yee and we haw in these woods partner 🤠

Arrecina’s younger sister, Luminaria, gets her name from the word luminare, reflecting their parents’ wishes that she would bring light upon the family, as it was obvious she was a mage at birth. Arrecina and the other Vint Wardens get a laugh out of her name, because it can also mean lamp. This annoys her until everyone’s torches burn out in a cave and she uses her magic to cast light- then everyone is pogging and she takes on the nickname Lumi the Lamp with a sense of pride. (With the new group of Wardens, I really wanted to capture the silliness that the Wardens at Soldier’s Peak had with their names)

Ruga the Rogue’s name derives from Spurius Carvilius Ruga, who invented the letter G. I don’t remember how precisely I came to Ruga, as I remember that I wanted to name him after a rebel slave alongside one of his fellow Wardens. (I think his name was originally going to be Cleon?) Maybe I stumbled upon Ruga and ran with it Solely Because it reminded me of the word rogue, and Ruga the Rogue would be a fun name for someone to have...

Castus the Mountain Goat’s name is the one that derives from a rebel slave: Castus, who was one of the leaders in the Third Servile War! In a similar nature to Lumi, the Fereldans get a hoot out of his name because he’s Castus and he casts spells, heehee hoohoo. He never gets a nickname based off of this, though, because he goes crazy once he learns how to use force magic + uses it to get himself into all sorts of mad positions, just like mountain goats. :]

Caecilius’ name is derived from the Caecilius in my old Latin textbook, CLC. 🙈🙈 I know he was a real person, but my group in class used to clown on him so much that he honestly took on a life of his own. Since I was taking a lot of Roman names for my Vints, I knew I HAD to have a Caecilius. Just like CLC Caecilius, Caecilius the Warden est in horto.

The reasoning behind Seia’s name escapes me right now </3 I wish I wrote these down as I went, but alas :[

Lucia’s name was taken from my now quasi-existent Hawke, the first one I ever played DA2 with. 😅 The character didn’t stick, but I liked her name too much to do away with it, so I gave it to one of my Wardens instead. :D

Arlavi!!! One of the guides for elven names I was following mentioned that it would not be unusual for city elves to have names that were Elvhen, although something that was a mix of Elvhen and Trade would be more common. I really liked the idea of a city elf with an Elvhen name coming into the Wardens and coming into contact with Dalish elves, having a ‼‼👁👁👉🏻👈🏻👁👁‼‼ moment because of their name, and learning more about Dalish culture as a result. Arlavi became this elf- I used Katie’s Best Guess at Elvhen and pieced together arla (home) with vi (way), thus making her name something like the way home. (Originally her name was Arlaviera, which is roughly to dream of the way home, but I thought that was too long and split the name into two. Arlavi is one character and Viera is another :D) In-universe, Arlavi is a name that’s been passed down her family for generations.

Jenkins is named after... well.. you guessed it, Leeroy Jenkins. I needed some Wardens that died at Adamant and the name seemed to fit well for that purpose. 😶😔🤘🏻

Warden-Recruit Daniels is not actually a Warden-Recruit, but I like to imagine he spent so long as one that the name stuck even after he survived the Joining. 😭😆 I needed a straight man to Jenkins’ silly man, and the name Daniels is so painfully normal and regular that it stuck.

Yves’ name comes from Yves Saint-Lauren, just because I really like how it sounds. :] Additionally, I like the way Yves and Liselle flows off the tongue!

Ser Lochlann’s name came from a Pinterest caption referring to someone whose nickname was Lochie... Something about that nickname really struck me (I am a big fan of the Wardens having silly/endearing nicknames for each other, as you might have guessed 🙈🙈), so I went digging for a name that it could stem from. As I did that, I also developed his background, deciding that he was a knight from West Hills who had joined the Wardens to avenge his fellow men. This was kind of melancholy, so I wanted a melancholy name to match it and something about Lochlann seemed so lonely to me that I went with it.

I cannot claim any ownership over Dellie’s name- that is 100% the work of the Sims 4 name randomizer button 😆😆😆 Slowly, I’ve been making the Fereldan Wardens in the Sims (and at some point, if I’m brave enough, I’m gonna try to build Vigil’s Keep..), and whenever I make a new person, I always download 500MB of CC 🙈 95% of the CC I download doesn’t end up suiting anyone, so I always put all of that CC onto a throwaway Sim so that I can look at their applied CC in the tray importer and take it out easier... The name randomizer decided to name this throwaway Sim Dellie, which is funny because it could be short for Delete. 🥺😆 For the longest time, she wasn’t an actual Sim or Warden I was going to use, but she’s been around for so long that I decided to make her one... however, my fondness of her didn’t save her from being killed off at Adamant. 🕴 I needed more dead Wardens, and who better for that than Dellie, short for Delete! 💀

Thúy marks a point in which I decided I should have more Vietnamese characters, as I am partially Viet! Her name means water, but I forget if the meaning had importance to me or if I went with it because I really liked the way it sounds..

I found Niall’s name on a website about Irish names and really liked it, so I gave it to one of my Wardens. :] It was long after the fact that I remembered there’s a mage named Niall, but his name is pronounced Ny’all iirc so 🤪🤠 I decided Warden Niall could stay. He’s supposed to be middle-aged man besties with Ser Lochlann, and I really enjoy the way Niall and Lochie sounds 😆

Esteban-adjacent

Booford the Mabari’s name is a play on Beauford and, of course, the word boof. Tbh it was the first name that came to me when you had to name Hawke’s mabari- every know and then, I waffle on whether I want to change it because idrk how well it fits Esteban and his family... Although it is a comical thought that he and the twins named him Booford to make fun of some templar named Beauford. :’)

Aleida Amell... her name drives me insane because I feel like there was Something to her name, but I can’t remember what. 😭😭 I think I went with a Dutch name because the only person I could find irl who had the name Revka was an author, Revka Bijl.

Neima Trevelyan... Okay so truly, Neima is only in this category because she’s a senior enchanter at the Gallows throughout DA2 and also somewhat tied to Aleida (although she’s more closely narratively related to Iori). Anyhow her name! I wanted a name that felt a little older and stabler than my other Inquisitors, as Neima weathers Many Different Storms. I ran across the name on some post here, and it felt really timeless, so I decided to run with it. :]

Corimae-adjacent

Asulahn(dir?), Corimae’s twin brother and the First of Clan Lavellan, is also trans and chose his name for himself. :] It’s comprised of assan, meaning arrow, and sulahn, meaning hope. In my head, this evokes the idea of him flying through the air, refreshed with the revelation of his identity. I also thought it fit his role as First and, during Inquisition, stand-in Keeper. Like an arrow, he has a set path/goal/purpose, but it is one that inspires him and inspires others. I go back and forth about whether his name is Asulahn or Asulahn’dir because I feel like Asulahn sounds a bit too much like Aslan, but imo Asulahn’dir is too long (and I feel like the dir does not contribute enough conceptually to justify adding it officially 😔)

Viera, the former First of Clan Lavellan and Asulahn’s fiancee (wife? I can’t remember...), has the second half of Arlavi’s chopped name. Going off of Katie’s Best Guess, her name would mean something like the path of dreams. When it comes to the Dalish, I feel like the word dreams is very loaded- there’s literal dreams, but there’s also the dream of being one united people again, of unearthing more of Elvhen culture, so forth and so on. So, I feel like her name suits her in both of her roles: when she is a First, she bears the path of dreams in that she is responsible for preserving Elvhen culture and knowledge and guiding her clan through life. When she steps down from this, it is to learn more about the ways of arcane warriors, similarly to Cillian. In this pursuit, the meaning of her way becomes more literal- she is following a dream and trying to unearth something that was lost to the Dalish. In worldstates where she is the Inquisitor, the name bears a whole new weight for her.

Warden Girl Gang Worldstate

Samahla Mahariel’s name is derived from samahl, laughter, and -ala, which Katie noted as a suffix that meant a large number. Thus, Samahla’s name means much laughter. However, Katie and Dalishious both also have ala/alas as meaning earth, which would change the meaning to like... laughter of the earth which OUGH.... pov you are a dalish parent about to give your child THE most tender name ever 😭😭😭😭 I really like the latter, but both work well for her!!

Samahla’s younger sister, Iranehn, has a similar name, although its construction is... dubious... It’s comprised of the words iras, where, and nehn, joy! Literally, it means “where joy”, but I like to imagine there’s like.. an existential “is” somehow thrown in there, so that it becomes “Where joy is”- as if joy just lived inside of Iranenh. There are Definitely better ways to construct this meaning, but I really enjoy how Iranenh sounds so 🥺😭😭 at least for now, it is too late to change it. Iranehn is trans like Corimae and Asulahn (for me, Dragon Age is like.. how many trans elves can I sneak in!!), but she keeps her name because it is one of the few things she has left of her parents. Additionally, she feels that she fully realizes the meaning of her name during her transition!

Janna Amell.... whoo girl this one, I got silly here. When I first made Janna, all I knew for certain was that she was a 🥀 Blood Mage 🥀 and that she had an uncertain friendship with Samahla because she was worried Samahla would be disturbed by her blood magic. I wanted to lean into the spooky evil blood mage exterior (that hides a ✨😁✌🏻✨ interior lol), so I decided to base her name off of Faust! Her grandfather, Fausten Amell, probably had some influence in this naming direction too... I was super invested in the Amell family when I made Janna. XD So anyhow! Janna’s name draws from Faust, Johann becoming Johanna and then getting simplified to Janna. :] Her siblings are also all named after characters related to the myth, although with a German or Dutch spin on them. Her eldest brother, Valentin, is named after Goethe’s Valentin; Eline after Helen of Troy, who appears in Marlowe’s take; Christoph after Faust’s famulus; and Grete after Goethe’s Margarete/Gretchen. Of course, the dynamics between all these characters + Janna and her siblings do not match up, I just thought the links between their names and Fausten would be a fun thing for someone to catch onto. >:]

Elara’lath Surana’s name is comprised of el, “our”, ara “journey”( < < per Katie), and lath “love” (Katie + Dalishious)- thus, our journey of love. She is the daughter of a Dalish envoy and an Orlesian half-elf who couldn’t be together because her father was too old to leave the city he’d spent his whole life in. Thus, I like to imagine that Elara’lath’s name is a testament to or a promise of their love- although her parents’ paths are parallel more often than not, here is their daughter, something they would not have had their paths never crossed! And it will be their daughter that one day brings their paths back together. 🥺 Moving on from her first name... man there’s a lot that goes on with Elara’lath and names... First, Surana is her surname because it is the name of her father’s clan and her mother wanted it to be a part of her identity, even if she and mother could not join the clan. Despite the care put into her name, I think Elara’lath’s mother was nervous about her having a Dalish name while they lived in Orlais, so she frequently called her Ellie. This was fine coming from her mother, but others would call her Ellie too, assuming it was her name, and Elara’lath hated this. When she was taken into the Circle, she abandoned the nickname forever, and would have gone by Elara’lath if people didn’t trip over it. Most of the people at Kinloch call her Surana, save for those very close to her, like Janna and Jowan. She begins using her first name regularly after Samahla comes to save her and Anders from Kinloch’s dungeons; from then on, she is adamant that everyone uses her name. When she is reunited with her family and eventually begins dating Merrill, they begin to call her El’lath, which she.... permits.. although she grumbles about it every now and then 😆

Anqing Cousland’s name is made up of the characters 安 and 晴, which together imply harboring clear weather? Which I thought was befitting a daughter of the Seawolf, of the teyrn of Highever, of a post-war Ferelden. I think it ties really well into her character overall- she helps Oriana and Oren weather the storm that was Howe’s siege, she helps the people of Ferelden weather the Blight, and she helps Anora weather the Everything after the Blight. Anqing is a rock for many around her, and I think this reliability is in part due to her name.

Kien Tabris’ name, 堅, means enduring! Her parents were Night Elves during the war, and I think they knew their daughter would Need to be enduring in the aftermath of it all.. and girl.. between the burning of Denerim’s alienage, the wedding gone awry, the Blight.... they were onto something 😳😳😳😳🆘 Her enduring nature gets her through all of this And the challenges that come with being the bann of Denerim’s alienage afterwards.

Truthfully I am not a big dwarf-player, so I’m not really familiar with Brosca and Aeducan. Brosca’s name at the moment is Miele because I like the sound of it, but everyone else has a fair amount of thought put into their names, so I’ll probably change it. 😷 Aeducan’s name is currently Eram (he is the only guy in WGG, bless his heart 😭😭) and I have NO recollection of where I got the name (maybe I stole it from the Awakening dwarf WC?), but I really like it for him. It has a princely ring to it, you know? :]

 Isaura Hawke’s name is pretty similar to Miele’s, nothing thematically special behind it, I just liked it. :D

Misc

Tony Hawke’s name is. by far. the most jokey one here. It is, of course, riffing off of the skater Tony Hawk- just like the real guy, nobody recognizes Tony outside of the hyperspecific context he was made legendary for. If you encounter Tony Hawke at a bar in the Free Marches, you will have No Idea that is the Champion of Kirkwall. pure dude energies emanating off of tony <3