Fininte naming conventions

[duskDN]

Now I am probably not the only one to complain about this, but I feel I must do so for the record. In my creation of my character I discovered that you cannot have the first OR last name of someone else.
This is rediculous as not only are there many people with the same last name, there are many people with the same first time. Some people even have the same first AND last name, but of course that would be going too far. If I want to be 'Greg Smith' for example, it shouldn't matter if there is a 'Greg Emmerson' OR a 'John Smith'... only if there is a 'Greg Smith'... not that I'm saying I want to be Greg Smith...
Please make the system more leniant.

[Caarrie]

Talad had requested at one point to have the restriction on last names removed, but as you can see that has not been done. the restriction on first names will not be removed untill the day that we can tell who players are by some other method, the buddy list as well as a few other things work off the unique first name so this will not happen soon if at all.

[zorbels]

Then again is this issue really that big of a deal? I mean I don't know about you but I like being the only one to have my name. It makes us all unique. Something this game prides its self on. 

[Raa]

Never seen anyone complain about this before; most people don't really care about it. Think, this may be a world where names have deeper meaning than our modern society, just like in orthodox Judaism where God must be replaced with G-d. A name is specialized for a certain person and no one else. Plus, there are only 750 cycles of recorded history in Yliakum, so people aren't likely to share the same name.

Characters can already share a last name, just not in character creation (a GM can let you share a name with someone, or you can get married). If you were the first person with the surname Yarglarbithoqar, wouldn't you be annoyed if some random person, who your character was definitely not related to, had the same surname when you were the one who created it?

Aaand... sharing the same first name would screw with /tell since it requires the recipient's first name to be sent.

[Erisnas]

I have a few interesting thoughts on this.  First, my character is meant to have no surname, it is part of his past.  Now luckily I created one early enough to not have to make one but I would be annoyed if a surname was forced.  If anything when introductions are required could you release only your first or last name?  It might really affect role-play.  Second, are surnames passed down as in the U.S. or taken from your fathers name like often done elsewhere and in the past?  If it is the former then due to Yliakum's closed society last names would greatly affect everything.  You would have families with hundreds of members stretching back centuries, much like how dwarf clans are represented in-game. 
   As Raa stated do you really want someone you didn't know taking on your surname?  Perhaps we could form families independently by choice, it would allow for a great range of role-plays.  It would not only allow you to easily recognize friends you haven't met before because if they are in the family you can trust them. Also it would allow you to role-play children, at least adult children.  If you wanted you could even role-play having several generations with a legacy or heirloom. 
   Personally I would prefer this method of choosing who would be in your family over almost random selection.

[Raa]

Second, are surnames passed down as in the U.S. or taken from your fathers name like often done elsewhere and in the past?  If it is the former then due to Yliakum's closed society last names would greatly affect everything.

The US uses the father's name. It's like that everywhere.

[Phinehas]

Second, are surnames passed down as in the U.S. or taken from your fathers name like often done elsewhere and in the past?  If it is the former then due to Yliakum's closed society last names would greatly affect everything.

The US uses the father's name. It's like that everywhere.

Umm... actually the US uses last names(surnames).

[Under the moon]

Actually, in the US you take the married surname of your parrents. That is not always the father's surname.

[Phinehas]

Actually, in the US you take the married surname of your parrents. That is not always the father's surname.

True, but traditionally...

My point was that it's not the father's name as it is in other cultures like Bob Johansonn whose father's name was Johan...

[Erisnas]

Let me clarify overall most U.S. families choose to pass down the same surname.  John Smith -> Phil Smith -> Will Smith

In other areas of the world, especially in the past you took your father's name.  John Smith -> Phil Johnson -> Will Philson

Phil is probably not the best example but I believe you understand the overal point.

[zorbels]

Well these days it can go either way. You can take your soon to be husbands last name or you can keep your own surname or you can both change your last names and come up with a new ones. Question is ..... who cares?

Note: Edited what was no longer applicable.

[bilbous]

You all forget, of course, hybrid names which are more common than before. you could have the smith-jones. Also in the upper classes it has not been unknown for a man to take his wifes surname if her family was more important.

[Erisnas]

Moving the subject back on topic... Would the system I suggested above be any real use?  I think it could but might end up like guilds which would be a conflicting issue.  Hopefully though a system would be worked out.

[SerqFeht]

I think a good fix could be to be able to use names of people who have been inactive for, say, 6 months. There are a lot of 3 year old accounts that were played for minutes, and they have names that could be used. Duplicate names wouldn't be that big of a problem then, and they could even get around the /tell and guild things, by putting a number next to them in that aspect. Let me clarify:

(This is a made up name)
John Smith logged in for 3 minutes 2 years ago, and never returned.
You want to be John Johnson. It has been a long time, so you are able to use his name.

John Johnson says: This is me in main chat

/tell John2: This is me in tells

Group/Guild:
John2
Erisnas
Bilbous

Guildchat: John says: The 2 disapears when I talk.

Is this reasonable?

[neko kyouran]

numbers in names will never ever under any circumstance be acceptable anywhere a name is used.

so no.