What's with all the single-name characters?

And why does it take so long for some of them to get full names?

This bugs me. I'd expect names in a heavily-populated galaxy to get longer. Instead, we have all these one-name guys like Palpatine, Zsinj, etc. It seems Madonna and Cher would fit in nicely in the GFFA.

And when we do get full names for these people, it seems to take years. Tremayne was first mentioned 13 years ago, and we just got his first name this week.

We'll probably never get first names for Palpatine, Delvardus, Harrsk, Jerec, Teradoc, Zsinj, Daala, Jerjerrod, Panaka... The list seems endless.

Do these people already have full names in the Holocron? We just found out that Tavion is actually Tavion Axmis according to Leland Chee, so are there others? Is there an approval process for naming these people? Can someone please tell me why authors think that single names are a good idea?

 

Well, there are still people on out planet who go by one name; in some cultures it is the norm. In Indonesia, many people go by one name. I see no reason why some people and cultures in the huge galaxy should be forbidden from breaking the American naming conventions. Heck, they already do break them. Most SW characters don't have middle names. Are we complaining about that? Almost thirty years, and we still don't know if Luke's middle name is Anakin or Humphrey.

 

Havac is right -- different cultures have different naming conventions. Some cultures use only a single name, others use multiple names, or even use a name made of multiple words. In Western culture, we use the format:
individual given name + (any middle names) + family name.
in Chinese, generally it goes in this format:
family name + individual given name.
likewise in the galaxy far far away, it makes some sense that different cultures also use different naming conventions. as you know, the chiss seem to combine their family and individual names into one long word, which is usually then abbreviated. wookiees change their names as they become adults. i hope that yoda and palpatine remain one-word named characters. and panaka.

 

Five words: Tenel Ka Chume Ta' Djo.

 

Hart and Parn Gorra Fiola of Lorrd.

 

While it is true that different cultures have different naming conventions.....we know that the people of Naboo follow the first name/last name convention. Yet, we only hear "Chancellor Palpatine" and "Senator Palpatine". I may be jumping to conclusions in that Palpatine most likely must have been native to Naboo to serve as senator, and therefore probably should have a first and last name.



I was reading this really cool web site once, where this one really awesome guy (who is "always scoring" with really hot chicks) who knows Lucas personally revealed that his name is Khamir, so I guess Palpatine does have a first name. Haha.

Carnage

 

what i find interesting is all these people are last name only... while Zekk is apparently first name only (or is that fanon... i don't recall reading that and i'm a fan of the YJK books). i wonder if any of the other one-name wonders are actually firsties too...

 

Supershadow?

 

I don't know why, but Jerec sounds like it would be a first name.

Typho got a first name recently, so Panaka is possible.

 

Murphy Panaka

 

It's better than Gregar.

 

Jerec is definately a first name IMO.





And you forget, we do know Palpatine's first name: Frank

 

Naboo in general seem to use a given name-family name convention, as in Padme Naberrie, Ronhar Kim, Sio Bibble, Arani Korden, Rhys Dallows, Ric Olie, et cetera. So where are Typho and Panaka and Palpatine's full names?

Miraluka seem to use the common naming convention, as in Shoaneb Culu, Noab Hulis, Visas Marr, et cetera. So what's Jerec's full name?

We don't have much of a baseline for Fondor, so maybe Zsinj doesn't have a first name. I wouldn't bet on that, though.

That's what I'm talking about.


I just want a list. I want some author to slip it into some reference book's appendix or some article on wizards.com or something. It apparently happens all the time, like with Mils Giel and Antinnis Tremayne.

 

Typho's is in Death on Naboo: Gregar.

 

Because a single name makes characters more mysterious.

 

The dark and mysterious Allara?

 

Part of it may be just following the movie convention: If it's not necessary, don't give it. What is Captain Needa's first name?

And you're right about some characters getting first names after a long time. One of the things I noticed during DN was that Ghent had a first name. I'd never heard it before.

 

Lorth. For some reason a lot of the EU names for the Imperials really suck. Kendall? Firmus? Maximillian Veers is a good one, though.

 

My favorite is Major General Freja Covell.

 

When I was reading Shards of Alderaan the impression I had was that Zekk was his full name, given that all the people that he met on his homeworld were given only one name as well. It could be a cultural thing, but seeing as quite a few of the characters (many of them not from Ennth) in the YJK series are given only one name, I could be wrong.

 

Apparently not all people. It's not too hard to imagine that even on one planet, there are different cultures that have different naming conventions.

Just because a planet's climate has one way of doing things doesn't mean the people have to.

 

According to the Wookiepedia, it's only fanon that Jerec is a Miraluka.

Curious, are there any major SW cultures that follow this format?

 

It says nothing of the sort, and the source is The Dark Forces Saga.

 

I missed that. Where was it (page #?)



And in the ROTS novel Palpatine is called Palpatine "of Naboo" seemingly as a replacement for a last name, because sometimes it simply sounds awkward to simply call him Palpatine.