Naming Among the Alomar

 

I’m well into the second chapter of book four and I’m still discovering new things about the Alomar culture. Let me give you the latest example.

I’m working on a scene in which a number of characters are introducing themselves. After I had written a couple of the introductions, I got to thinking about the patronymic “son of” language that those first few characters were using. The more that I thought about it, the less convinced I was that the Alomar would consistently prefer the patronymic way of naming themselves. They allow queens to rule in their own right and the rule passes from the ruler parent to the firstborn child, regardless of sex.

And so it occurred to me that the way it would work in Alomar society would be that the language used would depend on which parent held the highest “rank.” Thus, as a child of Egan, the one-time leader of Cresswell, Keri (Lauren’s aunt) would introduce herself as Keri, daughter of Egan and Anders would introduce himself as Anders, son of Aerman. The fourth High King of the Federation, however, would introduce himself as Jaret, son of Adelene, since his mother had been High Queen.

So, that’s how the Alomar name themselves. I don’t think I violated that in the first three books, but at some point I’ll need to check.