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Dalish Names


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#1
JTBehnke

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I'm starting a Dalish Elf playthrough, and I've got his face perfectly designed.  Now I'm struggling with the most important part: his name.  As the Dalish have Welsh accents in Dragon Age II, I figured this'd be a perfect opportunity to go all Arthurian, but have run into a problem.  Arthurian names tend to fall into one of two categories: Ancient and Medieval.  

Ancient names are very evidently Welsh, but have hard consonants and other pronunciations that don't sound very "elven."  For example:

Gwalchmei
Medrawd
Peredur
Gwalchaved
Bedwyr

Medieval names flow a bit more easily, but because these names were written for the French-speaking Normans, they don't feel very "Celtic."  For example:

Gawain
Mordred
Percival
Galahad
Bedivere

I also don't want to pick a name that's too obviously cribbing from Arthurian myth, or are "elfy" but sound too much like they were ripped from Tolkien.  Here are a few that I've found, but am unsure as to how they'll work out.  I'd like some opinions, please:

Galoain (this is the name of a minor villain from the poem Erec and Enide, but also sort of sounds like a hybrid of Gawain and Galahad, who were both seekers of the Grail, my concern with this one is that it's too "Norman" or "French" and that it almost looks like an anagram of Loghain)
Paredyr/Paretyr/Peretyr (Peredur revised to feel a bit more "elfy," but I'm worried it may sound too much like "parrot" which would by silly)
Artaius (Apparently an agriculture deity that was worshipped by the Celts in Gaul and associated by the Romans with Mercury, translates to Artur or Artay in the Celtic language, and thus may be a mythic precursor to King Arthur when combined with the story of the Romano-British warlord, my major concern is this may sound too "Roman," which works better with Tevinter names as they're the Roman stand-ins)
Amaethon (A Welsh agricultural god, very similar to Artaius above, but has virtually no connection with Arthurian myth)
Gwynn (A Welsh deity of the hunt and underworld, apropos for a Dalish Hunter.  Again, connection with Arthurian literature is tenuous at best, and I'm concerned the name may sound too much like Wynne's name)

Any suggestions?  Comments?  Criticisms?  Am I overthinking this?  Any advice would be greatly appreciated.  Thank you! :)
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#2
Corker

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A suggestion: It's been noted that there's strong affinities between Hebrew and the elven names in DAO, if you're willing to back off from the Welshiness.

"Garahel" was the elven Warden who defeated the fourth Blight, and I actually just Googled him thinking he was from the Arthur cycle. Must've been thinking of Gaharis and Gareth together. (Actually, Gareth isn't too bad, either, if you don't mind your 'Welsh' coming from a 15th cen Englishman.) Your Warden could be named for him.

You could take one of the names you're calling "ancient" and tweak it slightly. Change 'Peredur' to 'Beredur' and you fit the elven language patterns a bit better. "Bethwyr" for "Bedwyr" also works for me.

Amhar sounds good. 'Anharel' would be an elven word meaning "trickster place."

Yosef (going with the Hebrew and the Arthurian - Joseph of Arimathea?

Kahedin

Lanval (possibly related to vallaslin?)

Urien - change one letter to "Uriel" and you're back to Hebrew again.
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#3
JTBehnke

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If I changed Gwyn to Gwyon of Gwion, would that work better?
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#4
Corker

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I haven't seen a "gw" sound in the elven, but they do have a hard 'g'. Sure, why not?
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#5
Karach_Blade

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For my playthroughs, I tapped into Aramaic and Icelandic as well as toyed around with different sound patterns.
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#6
Guest_Faerunner_*

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I personally look up Dalish words and construct a name based on a Dalish meaning.

It's also a good idea to look at the names of other Dalish characters and pick one that sounds like it can blend in. The Irish and Welsh accents were not added to the Dalish until DA2, and to be honest many Welsh names sound or are at least spelled nothing like Dalish names. (We're talking very smooth, roll-off-the-tongue names with a lot of "hah"s, "ehl"s, and "len"s like Garahel, Maharel, Marethari, Merrill, Fenarel, Ashalle, Ilen, Tamlen, Maren, etc.) So I would personally hesitate to shoe-horn in a Welsh name for a DA:O/DA:A Dalish character without at first making sure it sounds natural within the fantasy setting.

Modifié par Faerunner, 05 décembre 2013 - 10:13 .

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#7
Mahtan1987

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Might I suggest Irish gaelic!



#8
Riverdaleswhiteflash

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If you're using the Dalish mage mod, you could go with "Glyndwr."


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#9
luna1124

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I usually go with whatever sounds good to me. My Canon fem Dalish mage was Sulli, another was Reylin.

Sulli :)

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