Elvish Names

After deciding to join Lórien, you will be asked to create a name that fits the Elven theme of the Golden Wood. There has been much written by Professor Tolkien and his son regarding the history of Elves, a history that should be drawn upon to make your character's name as thematic as possible. This helpfile will attempt to guide you along the decision making process in order to successfully create a thematic name for your character.

What Makes an Elvish Name?

When deciding upon a name for your character, it would serve you well to remember that the native tongue of Lórien is Sindarin (Grey-elven). Many Lórien Elves have their names formed from words common in this language. A player's name need not be Sindarin in context or hold a specific meaning corresponding to a direct translation, however. Your name may consist of direct translation, including the use of Quenya, or a combination of letters that do not have any direct translation so long as the name "appears" to be Elvish.

In order to maintain an Elvish appearance for your name, you should work very hard to avoid using the letters J, K, Q, X and Z or special characters like the apostrophe as these symbols do not appear in the Elvish tongues. Additionally, if you do choose a name with a translated meaning, you should endeavor to make the translation fit within the theme of Elves. Names with translations like "horrific suffering" or "evil wolf of death" do not fit the general up-lifting feel of hope projected by Professor Tolkien onto Elven societies.

Generating and Setting a Name

The easiest way to come up with a good name is by utilizing the Name Generator in the Newbie Haven located in the Lorien OOC Haven (++ELF OOC). Once in the Newbie Haven, just type NAMES and a random list of possible names and meanings will be shown. You can run this command as many times as you wish until you find a name to your liking.

Another idea for quickly creating a name is to use a common Sindarin name suffix attached to any Sindarin word. Feminine suffixes include -iel, -ien, -wen and -dis. Masculine suffixes include -ion and the usually masculine -dir. An example of this type of nomenclature would take the Sindarin word "gil" (translated to mean "star") and adding one of the aforementioned suffixes, the result of which could be the names Giliel ("Star Daughter"), Gilwen ("Star Maiden"), Gilion ("Star Son") and so forth.

Once you have decided upon a name, you will have to use the @NAME command to set it upon yourself. The way that command works is @name me=(new Elvish name) (your character's password). You can type HELP @NAME to learn more about how this command works.

Additional References

If you would like to learn more about the topic of Sindarin names, you may be interested in examining the following resources:

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