Chapter Text
Eridian names and identities are separated into three parts: a first name that expresses a virtue or hoped-for trait, a last name that expresses the place of their birth, and a family crest which shows whose children they are. For this document, we’re going to use Rocky’s name: Steady-Handed-Work From-Where-the-Low-Hills-Meet-the-Everlasting-Plains, and go through how each name would come about.
All languages on Erid are, according to Andy Weir, about six times more information-dense than human languages on average. There is a separate naming language that most Eridians use, which is distinct from common speaking language. You would never, for example, hear an Eridian say that someone is steady handed, and then have Steady-Handed-Work immediately perk up as if his name had been called. It’s considered polite to introduce yourself slowly with your full name, and then offer a nickname, or simply allow for a first name. This full introduction is also where the family crest is pressed together on an Eridian’s arms, and we can see it in the first time Rocky introduces himself to Grace. To introduce the names of another person, it is considered polite to make some motion to indicate the person being spoken of, to avoid confusion. When Rocky mentions Adrian’s name, he motions to the side of him that they normally stood next to.
And now we can get into the parts of the name!
First name: Steady-Handed-Work
This name, as explained in the start of this document, is a virtue or hoped-for trait in an Eridian. Eridian children are only given names when they begin to develop personalities, which comes at around 6 Earth years, or IV+ Eridian years. Before that, they are referred to as “Child [Hatching order] of [Parent name].” For Rocky, his given name is Steady-Handed-Work, variations of which are common among families with historically large traditions in pottery, textile weaving, architecture, or engineering. The hoped-for trait is an inclination towards working with precision and steady hands, which not all Eridians naturally have. Rocky got his name from his preferred childhood game of carefully stacking rocks on top of each other!
When Eridians have fully introduced themselves, they will often choose a more casual way to be referred to, the most casual of which is individual chunks of a name. For example, Steady-Handed-Work will happily be called Steady-Handed by coworkers, or Steady by close friends. When Grace named him Rocky, he chose to shorten his name further to an equivalent of “Stead/Stea”, since he wanted to fit in with Grace’s shorter human name.
Last name: From-Where-the-Low-Hills-Meet-the-Everlasting-Plains
Last names, also as explained in the start of this document, are reflections of where an Eridian was hatched. This is important as it stops accidental inbreeding. Eridians are raised in large family groups, and tend towards polyamory. While it is common to see mated pairs, most Eridians take on anywhere from two to five other partners. Not only that, but clutches can sometimes be separated by lengths of time upwards of a human century. Family groups have their own places where they will hatch clutches, and the usage of these sites can go as far back as tens of thousands of years. The oldest continually used clutch site is believed by some Eridian archaeologists to be one hundred thousand years old. Because of this, having precise locations of where an Eridian was hatched can prevent relatives who may not know they are related from partnering.
One important thing to understand is that, with Erid’s linguistic density being six times that of Earth’s, the English translations given here aren’t nearly as precise as what would actually be said by an Eridian. To any Eridian listening to a last name being spoken, it would be heard as an address, and they would be able to locate exactly which group of low hills bordering the everlasting plains Rocky hails from.
Family Crest
Family crests are unique patterns reflecting parentage. As stated in the previous section, Eridians can take on from two to five partners. Family crests include a central mark that reaches across two limbs to delineate the eggbearer (in this particular work, Eridians hold onto the eggs for several days while the worker cells from the eggs exchange information and merge), as well as a unique mark to delineate the other egg provider, and lines radiating off of it to indicate other partners of the parents. Extra details may sometimes be added as a stylistic flourish.