Bloodlines

[Tamarin]

All the childbirth talk got me thinking about bloodlines and names.  In a lot of cultures, children are simply given the name of their parents.  I recall reading there are some on Zalanthas that do this, but I can't be sure.  Are there any tendencies to doing this among the large civilisations, in the form of sometihing like:

-- Daddy's name is....Daddy.
-- Kid's name is al'Daddy...or something.

I.e. a suffix or prefix that's added to the name to make it the same, yet different, from the parent's?

[Mr.Camel]

Arabet do that. A boy is given the name of his father's father while a girl is given the name of her mother's mother, I think.

[spawnloser]

Nobles have formal last names...which last name they take is dependant on the marriage contract, of course.  One noble couple could have multiple children, some of which are of the family the parent nobles are members of...and the other children of the family that one of those parents used to be a member of.

As far as non-nobles go, it could all come down to personal family traditions.  "The first born son in my family is always named after his father...I will not break that tradition."  That kind of stuff.  Otherwise, it would come down to tribe, for those that are members of tribes, at which point it wouldn't be a familial decision...but I suppose you could consider it such, as members of a tribe are usually all related in some fashion, perhaps distantly depending on the tribe, and if some actually do not share blood relations, they usually consider themselves part of a large family anyway.

[Bestatte]

Toss out the modern family units, folks. In a world where monogamy is only one possible option, and the likely minority, the identity of the father will not always be known. In fact, I'd take a guess that not only is this true, but that most people (families and individuals alike) won't really care.

If anything, the last name (other than noble and merchant *official* unions) would be taken from the mother rather than the father.