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Ireth_Telrunya
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Post Elven naming customs?
on: April 03, 2016 01:56
I understand the Noldor have traditions surrounding names, such as a child being given a name by their father and mother, and sometimes other names later in life. But what about the other kindreds? The Vanyar, for instance? I haven't found much information on them and their customs.

[Edited on 04/03/2016 by Ireth_Telrunya]
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Gandolorin
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Post Elven naming customs?
on: April 04, 2016 04:01
Ireth_Telrunya said:I understand the Noldor have traditions surrounding names, such as a child being given a name by their father and mother, and sometimes other names later in life. But what about the other kindreds? The Vanyar, for instance? I haven't found much information on them and their customs.

I would guess - and I think with some good reasons - that the lack of information on the Vanyar (or Teleri, for that matter) lies in the heavy emphasis on the Noldor in 'The Silmarillion' (not just the posthumously published book but the relevant parts of 'The History of Middle-earth'). They are the focal point of what goes wrong in Valinor after the (Light) Elves (Calaquendi) move there, they rebel against the Valar, they return to Middle-earth to - futilely - war with Melkor / Morgoth. In fact, the 'Quenta Silmarillion', the central part of the published Silmarillion, was at an earlier time called 'Quenta Noldorinwa'. They ARE the Elves of the First Age (of the Sun, especially). Everyone else is supporting cast.
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Elthir
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on: April 07, 2016 04:38
I would say that the naming customs noted in The Shibboleth of Feanor concern the Eldar in Valinor, which would include the Vanyar. The customs here (briefly noted in this post) include:

True names

Father-name

Mother-name

Afternames

Nicknames, names given by others

Self-names, names of personal choice*

*since this is the later text compared to the one from Morgoth's Ring (which I describe in brief below), Christopher Tolkien adds his own note after the mention of the names of personal choice: "16 [The wholly different account of "Chosen-names" in Laws and Customs Among the Eldar (X. 214-215) appears to have been abandoned]."

____________________ ____________________ ____________________

The customs noted in Morgoth's Ring (Laws and Customs Among the Eldar) start off concerning the Noldor.

True Names

Father-name (public)

Chosen-name [the ceremony could not take place until the child was ready and capable of lamatyave, or "individual pleasure in the sounds and forms of words"] (private but not secret)

Added names or given names

In the essay Tolkien seems to widen the scope to the Eldar here, rather than only the Noldor, at least in the context of explaining a variety of names borne by the Eldar. And he also describes, regarding the Chosen-name: "among those of the Eldar that had the custom of the essecilme," which was in my opinion earlier suggested to be a Noldorin custom, although the fictional writer of the text had written that, on this point, "maybe" the Noldor differed from the other Eldar. Anyway, in this category we have:

Mother-names [regarded as true names when given solemnly] (public)

All other given names were not true names, although these could be adopted or self-given.

This second text is the longer account (again I've not given all the detail for either account), so maybe it's possible that the Chosen-name remained a Noldorin custom, and simply didn't get mentioned in the shorter account? On the other hand, maybe the later account is meant to replace the earlier description, and the Chosen-name (among Elf children) was dropped, just like Christopher Tolkien suggests might be the case.

Or something

[Edited on 04/08/2016 by Elthir]
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