0 of 0
About this mod
Redoes all the racial name generation (except Redguards and Khajiit for now) to bring it more in-line with the rest of Elder Scrolls lore
- Permissions and credits
So you've probably heard or realized on your own at some point that the names in Arena and Daggerfall borrowed a lot of inspiration from existing contemporary and classic fantasy. This was of course before the world of Tamriel had been properly developed and before BGS had a full idea of its character and history. A lot has changed over the years and I felt that going back to Daggerfall could be made a little less jarring for modern fans if its naming conventions reflected these changes a little better.
So no more "Gondor", "Mordor", "Sauron", "Saruman", "Legolas", "Aragorn" or "Gandalf"
No more "Elyzyvyra", "Kelkemmera" "Cymbaginia" or "Zenosephona Thromwatch" /:
No more "Hercules Germanicus" or "Alexandros Meggulus" the Argonian xP
No more "Vanikik R'zamenar", "Ugina Shadyshade" or "Erebimar S'thbruk", sorry ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Instead many of the combinations should sound a lot more familiar - "Ulfrik", "Astrid", "Elenwen", "Fargoth", "Balen", etc. Although for the Breton names I tried to shoot more for the original intended Anglo-Welsh inspired convention than the Frenchified names we saw in Morrowind and later titles. I just simplified them to look a little less spaghetti or silly-sounding. So "Andwyck" isntead of "Andywyck", for example. I think this gives them a sound sort of like a middle ground between the Celtic-style indigenous names (like those of the Forsworn) and the more whimsical phonotactics of Altmeri
There are two versions for Argonian names, one for Jel and one for Tamrielic, just pick whatever version suits your tastes.
Wood Elves do not feature surnames as they were removed in later titles.
High Elves have surnames based on the region their lineage comes from. Just like how "Direnni" means "of the Diren (River)", my surnames are simply the Tamrielic correspondent - so "Ondolemar of Auridon" (where "of Auridon" is technically the surname) since High Elves are all about original lineages and whatnot.
Khajiit names I may or may not change - even though they're different from most TES games they actually are kind of similar to Khajiit names in ESO, and lots of people seem to like how Khajiit were handled there so maybe I will leave them. Let me know what you think
To install just drop NameGen.txt in directory StreamingAssets\Text, should work out the box!
Android users with file permission issues check out CX File Manager on the app store it's awesome
- Note that SDF Font Rendering must be enabled in settings to display special characters, they will not appear correctly otherwise
(if you don't like DFU's default consider using a font mod such as Interkarma's "Alkhemikal" font or something similar to retain the retro feel)
Players using Imperial race mods will probably get Argonian names generated for their player and need to just name themselves manually unless those mods use their own NameGen logic, I'm not sure since I haven't looked into it
Aside from that it should be compatible with most mods!
It is compatible with saves in the sense that everything will still work, but you may notice differences between names in your quest log vs. how they appear in-world
0.8.5 update, February 19th - changed Breton surname suffix 'ward' to 'cliff', as 'ward' was an existing suffix for forenames and I felt this was a little redundant
(eg no more "Edward Ashward", he's Edward Ashcliff now lol)
Some guides for my intended orthographies, if you're curious:
for Breton names
y = unstressed ɪ/ɝ (ih) & stressed 'i (ee)
i = stressed 'ɪ
ë = unstressed i
so:
Gwynynna = gwih-NEE-na
Chrystynna = krih-STEE-na
Elysilda = el-ih-SIHL-da
Morgwë = MOR-gwee
Ylyra = ih-LEE-ra
Lysyra = Lih-SEER-ah
Carinda = car-IHN-da
Belladwë = BEL-la-dwee
Glynette = glih-NET
and so on, to convey varying stress like in English phonotactics
Altmeri has a somewhat more defined stress where if it ends with a vowel sound, stress is penultimate
if it ends with a consonant sound, stress is antepenultimate
ultimate stress is marked with geminates
(though with r's it's a little weird, but that's generally true of languages lol)
so:
Termendë = ter-MEN-dee
Linenwen = LIH-nen-wen
Faraline = FAR-ah-lihn
Selesse = seh-LESS
Minara = mih-NAH-rah
Tilalda = tih-LAHL-dah
Nord surname generation is based off clan name + 'sen' (son), but these clan names seem to be somewhere else other than the NameGen.txt file, for some reason. I don't know where they are and I'm not sure if they can be changed or if they're hardcoded, but if I can change them I'll add that in the future
btw, for the nord names "Sj" = like Sh but more forward, and "Jh" = "J(ay)" sound (like Jhunal), not y
Aside from Khajiits, the ones I might touch up on in future updates are Nord females. Though it's particularly hard to make them as diverse as in tesV since female Nords in Daggerfall actually have a narrower range of combinations for their names than the average which is weird lol (average is 12 forename suffixes, female Nords have only 7 for some reason)
So no more "Gondor", "Mordor", "Sauron", "Saruman", "Legolas", "Aragorn" or "Gandalf"
No more "Elyzyvyra", "Kelkemmera" "Cymbaginia" or "Zenosephona Thromwatch" /:
No more "Hercules Germanicus" or "Alexandros Meggulus" the Argonian xP
No more "Vanikik R'zamenar", "Ugina Shadyshade" or "Erebimar S'thbruk", sorry ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Instead many of the combinations should sound a lot more familiar - "Ulfrik", "Astrid", "Elenwen", "Fargoth", "Balen", etc. Although for the Breton names I tried to shoot more for the original intended Anglo-Welsh inspired convention than the Frenchified names we saw in Morrowind and later titles. I just simplified them to look a little less spaghetti or silly-sounding. So "Andwyck" isntead of "Andywyck", for example. I think this gives them a sound sort of like a middle ground between the Celtic-style indigenous names (like those of the Forsworn) and the more whimsical phonotactics of Altmeri
There are two versions for Argonian names, one for Jel and one for Tamrielic, just pick whatever version suits your tastes.
Wood Elves do not feature surnames as they were removed in later titles.
High Elves have surnames based on the region their lineage comes from. Just like how "Direnni" means "of the Diren (River)", my surnames are simply the Tamrielic correspondent - so "Ondolemar of Auridon" (where "of Auridon" is technically the surname) since High Elves are all about original lineages and whatnot.
Khajiit names I may or may not change - even though they're different from most TES games they actually are kind of similar to Khajiit names in ESO, and lots of people seem to like how Khajiit were handled there so maybe I will leave them. Let me know what you think
To install just drop NameGen.txt in directory StreamingAssets\Text, should work out the box!
Android users with file permission issues check out CX File Manager on the app store it's awesome
- Note that SDF Font Rendering must be enabled in settings to display special characters, they will not appear correctly otherwise
(if you don't like DFU's default consider using a font mod such as Interkarma's "Alkhemikal" font or something similar to retain the retro feel)
Players using Imperial race mods will probably get Argonian names generated for their player and need to just name themselves manually unless those mods use their own NameGen logic, I'm not sure since I haven't looked into it
Aside from that it should be compatible with most mods!
It is compatible with saves in the sense that everything will still work, but you may notice differences between names in your quest log vs. how they appear in-world
0.8.5 update, February 19th - changed Breton surname suffix 'ward' to 'cliff', as 'ward' was an existing suffix for forenames and I felt this was a little redundant
(eg no more "Edward Ashward", he's Edward Ashcliff now lol)
Some guides for my intended orthographies, if you're curious:
for Breton names
y = unstressed ɪ/ɝ (ih) & stressed 'i (ee)
i = stressed 'ɪ
ë = unstressed i
so:
Gwynynna = gwih-NEE-na
Chrystynna = krih-STEE-na
Elysilda = el-ih-SIHL-da
Morgwë = MOR-gwee
Ylyra = ih-LEE-ra
Lysyra = Lih-SEER-ah
Carinda = car-IHN-da
Belladwë = BEL-la-dwee
Glynette = glih-NET
and so on, to convey varying stress like in English phonotactics
Altmeri has a somewhat more defined stress where if it ends with a vowel sound, stress is penultimate
if it ends with a consonant sound, stress is antepenultimate
ultimate stress is marked with geminates
(though with r's it's a little weird, but that's generally true of languages lol)
so:
Termendë = ter-MEN-dee
Linenwen = LIH-nen-wen
Faraline = FAR-ah-lihn
Selesse = seh-LESS
Minara = mih-NAH-rah
Tilalda = tih-LAHL-dah
Nord surname generation is based off clan name + 'sen' (son), but these clan names seem to be somewhere else other than the NameGen.txt file, for some reason. I don't know where they are and I'm not sure if they can be changed or if they're hardcoded, but if I can change them I'll add that in the future
btw, for the nord names "Sj" = like Sh but more forward, and "Jh" = "J(ay)" sound (like Jhunal), not y
Aside from Khajiits, the ones I might touch up on in future updates are Nord females. Though it's particularly hard to make them as diverse as in tesV since female Nords in Daggerfall actually have a narrower range of combinations for their names than the average which is weird lol (average is 12 forename suffixes, female Nords have only 7 for some reason)