Lore talk:Nord Names

Clans vs. Titles

I see both clan names and titles put into two different categories with no clear distinction between them. Does anyone know if it's confirmed in-game what makes a name a clan name or a title, or if titles are specifically mentioned to even exist? -- kertaw48 12:58, 11 January 2012 (UTC)

It seems somebody made the assumptions that hyphenated names are automatically "clan names" rather than just titles. While it's certainly true that SOME hyphenated names have been indicated within the lore to be clan names, I'm not sure if that can necessarily be said of all of them, particularly since the vast majority of them only appear once. Nor is it necessarily the case that non-hyphenated names cannot be clan names. Certainly the "titles" appear to be more descriptive of the individual in most cases, but I'm not sure this is a hard and fast rule. (And some of the hyphenated names do seem to be more like individual descriptions as well.) Maybe it would be better to treat these the way we treat Argonian Names, and split them between "hyphenated" and "non-hyphenated" names, without the speculative implication that this distinction necessarily implies clan names vs. titles. --TheRealLurlock ^Talk 13:55, 11 January 2012 (UTC)

I think that titles are what the vast majority of them are. Seeing that many nords simply have just a given name, it seems clan names are only used if they're of a clan of high repute (Shatter-Shields, Gray-Manes, Stone-fists, etc). --MadCat221 04:21, 13 April 2012 (UTC)

I'd like to reopen this discussion and suggest we sort by clan names versus titles. In Skyrim at least, the distinction seems very clear to me: Battle-Born, Gray-Mane, Black-Briar, Snow-Shod, Cruel-Sea, Shatter-Shield, Silver-Blood, Ice-Blade are all clearly and exclusively clan (or family) names. On the other hand, the other names carried by more than one person (One-Eye, Stone-Fist, Wind-Strider) are all easily understood as individually descriptive. The same seems to be true for Morrowind (clan name Ice-Mane vs. Half-Troll and Hard-Heart). I cannot judge about ESO, so I would just leave that list alone for now. On the whole, the disctinction seems very interesting and relevant for this page.

As for hyphens, they mostly just appear wherever a title or clan name consists of more than one word, to make it more readable (e.g. Pure-Spring, not Purespring which could be read as Pu-res-pring). I simply do not see the point of putting them in a different section.

Relatedly, is "title" even the appropriate word for this? I have only ever seen this usage in fan language. Byname (or epithet) appears more correct to me. I would understand "title" to mean something more formal and usually awarded by some kind of authority, such as military or nobility titles. --Ethruvisil (talk) 20:38, 6 January 2024 (UTC)

A list of Viking names

This technically has nothing to do with TES and therefore shouldn't be in the article, but I figure that many people come to this page looking for inspiration for naming their own character.

Here, then, is a list of Viking names: [1]. You will find many Nord names in that list! — Unsigned comment by 188.222.105.229 (talk) on 9 May 2012

Rikke listed as female Nord name

Is there anything that supports that Rikke and the other Nord Legate's names are actually just Nord names, instead of a clan names? "Tullius" from General Tullius is listed as a family name, so wouldn't it be consistent to consider Legate Rikke's name a family/clan name as well, or are we just assuming that these Nords do not have clan names at all? — Unsigned comment by 185.5.8.142 (talk) at 16:10 on 16 April 2017 (UTC)

The styling doesn't match any other clan name since the Daggerfall era. all clan names are descriptive, describe the person, so "Rikke" is her name and not referring to her clan. Nordic and Imperial name stylings are different, so making both consistent would be more problematic. They probably have a clan name, it's just not given information. --AKB ^{Talk Cont Mail} 16:10, 16 April 2017 (UTC)

Skaal Names

Perhaps I missed a discussion somewhere, but why are Skaal given names listed separately on this page? Skaal "family names" are listed along with all other Nord names under Clan Names and Titles, so why do the given names merit splitting out? — Wolfborn↝^(Howl) 11:11, 20 February 2021 (UTC)

Guri Nail-Face

I see Guri Nail-Face listed among the names here, cited with the pocket guide Skyrim. I only see the name in some Redguard concept art and unofficial work, what's up here? Mindtrait0r (talk) 20:14, 14 December 2022 (UTC)

What's up is that everything is done properly. The art of Guri appears on page 3 of the Pocket Guide; in fact it takes up a good 40% of the page. Our versions of the Pocket Guide just don't have all the photos for certain reasons. Redguard concept art and Pocket Guide art were produced concurrently and overlap a lot, hell S'rathra concept art is used to depict Khajiit in the Guide. The Rim of the Sky (talk) 23:58, 14 December 2022 (UTC)