Alizé Names: A Primer

[Metaphorphasis]

Good afternoon,

It has come to my attention that a goodly number of residents of Port Katherine are somewhat confused as to how Alizé names work. This is fair. I shall endeavor to explain as succinctly as possible.

The first thing to know is that the Alizé family is large. Very large, and widespread. As a result, your typical family member will not know the names of everyone in the family. I am sure that there is a family member who does, but I have not had the privilege to meet this person.

This leads us to our second point: that the names are meant to be functional. Because the family is so large, and operates on all the islands, having a shorthand to know more or less who the extremely distantly related person standing in front of you is is invaluable.

So, to begin: a breakdown of all the parts of an Alizé name. I will use my own name as an example throughout the explanation.

Given name: This can be almost anything. It is what people call you in conversation, and subject to nicknames and other forms of familiar address as normal.

(Example: My given name in full is Teodora Serafina Valencia della Rossa. There is a reason I go by Téa.)

Branch names: Every branch of the Alizé family has its own unique name. They are used to denote where a given member was born, and which branch they currently work for. Each family member has two branch names. The first name is permanent; you can’t change the branch you were born to, but many members of the Alizé family work at multiple branches throughout their lifetimes, and that second name will change accordingly. If a member serves at the branch of their birth, rather than repeating the name, the member puts “al’” in front of the house name in question.

(Example: My two branch names are Cieleone and Teuthida respecitively: Cieleone because I was born in Tojima, Teuthida because I work for the Port Katherine branch. Before I moved to Port Katherine, I worked for the Tojima branch, meaning that my branch name at the time was al’Cieleone.)

The different branch names are:

Tojima: Cieleone

Drevnia: Zayats

Zlota: Orzełbiełik

Chepstone: Kershawi

Port Katherine: Teuthida

People who have married in to the family (this name is used in place of branch of birth): Hirun

Surname: This is simply the family name: Alizé. This ends a family name, unless you are from Chepstone, in which case the name will end with the Great Family name in whichever configuration the person in question desires.

(Example: With the final note of the surname, my full name in its entirety becomes Teodora Serafina Valencia della Rossa Cieleone Teuthida Alizé)

So, to sum up, the order an Alizé name is constructed as follows:

[Given name][Branch of Birth][Branch of Current Service][Alizé][Chepstone name, if applicable]

Which, for me, translates to:

[Teodora Serafina Valencia della Rossa][Cieleone][Teuthida][Alizé]

I hope this helps clear up any confusion. I am, of course, perfectly happy to answer any further questions you might have.

[thethornedrose]

A few further notes:

Nobility
The Alizé family has comparatively few nobles who are still formally members of the Alizé as many noble houses are of sufficient rank that the person marries into their family. Our noble members are primarily located in Tojima. A noble member of the Alizé’s name would look something like [Given name][Noble House Name][Branch of Birth][Branch of Current Service][Alizé] or [Given name][Branch of Birth][Branch of Current Service][Noble House Name][Alizé] or [Given name][Branch of Birth][Branch of Current Service][Alizé] of [Noble House Name]. Generally all members of a noble house will do this same style, unless a member of the family is making a particular point. I myself have currently taken Teuthida until my house is more than myself. It seemed quite the overstep to assume that a house could be merely myself and thus, my focus will be properly on the success of the Teuthida venture. It also simplifies my name. [Yes, I can hear your raised eyebrows]

Address
You may have noted that we call each other all cousin. As Tea mentions above, we are mostly all related in some fashion, but that ranges from first cousin to “if I wanted to, I suppose I could track how we are related but eh”. We simply address each other as cousin.

In addressing most of us, our given names or a title of respect used in conjunction with a given or surname is acceptable.

My name
I’ve received several questions regarding it and how to address me. For your edification, an explanation lies below.

Full Name: Countess Rukiye Maryam Nai’ma bint Maital v’Yasamin v’Jacinta no Kershawi Teuthida Alizé min bayt Amira

Parts of the name:
Countess- Title, Rukiye Maryam (birth given name, what I use as the shortened version of my given name), Nai’ma (3rd of my given names added after I was ennobled, primarily used in formal situations), bint-daughter of, Maital v’Yasamin v’Jacinta- the names of my three most influential parents, v’-and, no-of, Kershawi-born to the Chepstone branch of the Alizé, Teuthida- my current branch of service, the PK branch, min bayt-of the house/family of, Amira-my Chepstone Great Family.

Acceptable formal forms of address in order of formality
The first 3 are more “I’m being introduced to her/writing out her name/what a herald at a ball would say/ legal documents etc” - my full name or Countess Rukiye Maryam Nai’ma no Kershawi Teuthida Alizé min bayt Amira or Countess Rukiye Maryam no Kershawi Teuthida Alizé min bayt Amira or Countess Teuthida Alizé min bayt Amira or Countess Rukiye Maryam no Kershawi Teuthida Alizé Amira or Countess Rukiye Maryam no Teuthida Alizé min bayt Amira or Countess Rukiye Maryam no Teuthida Alizé Amira

Acceptable informal forms of address in order of formality- Countess Teuthida Alizé min bayt Amira (acceptable for after introductions after a formal event to be quite formal) or Countess Alizé min bayt Amira or Countess Alizé or Countess Rukiye Maryam or Countess Rukiye or Lady Alizé or Lady Rukiye or Rukiye Maryam or Rukiye or Ruki (this is a nickname and I surely hope you would be close to me to use this)

[OOC- Note 1-There are many ways you could refer to this character, the most important bits if you are trying to be formalish is her title, her given names and getting in at least her surname and Great Family.
Note 2-I have a character in another game named Rafaela who goes by Rafi, so if you say anything R (vowel)( consonant)(vowel) as if you are addressing someone, I’ll likely at least assume you are speaking to me. I can’t promise that Rukiye won’t throw shade at you for messing up her name, but you’ll get my attention.]