@@SunneyRabbit ayeeeee my fav was Bella’s sister RileyPool (plz tell me I got that suffix right it’s been so long since I read the bookssss, but I love Rileyyyyy)
@@CrowInAHoodie unpopular opinion: I like the name Billystorm. I'm currently reading SkyClan's Destiny for the first time and I've learned to appreciate it. Egg ftw.
Let's not forget the old classic Runningwind! Dude got the suffix to match an entire clan, and he didn't even belong to the clan. He just supposedly ran fast (not faster than the inevitable fate of a bland side character dying for flavor though).
I think an interesting feature of some good lyrical names is that they exist via word association. Hawkfrost, to me, reads as the "cold" nature of the predatory bird he was named after, which can literally be described as being "frosty" if you were to personify a falcon. To an extent it is also descriptive of his personality and character, though his name conveys a mood rather than a quality or trait.
I love Skyclan’s way of naming cats. Letting kittypet’s keep their names as the prefix of their name is definitely welcome. Billystorm, Curlypaw, Rileypool, Fidgetflake, Kitescratch, and Gravelnose are some of my favorite names in the series. I’m a sucker for weird silly sounding names for cats.
The funny thing is... Squirrelflight is literally called Squirreltail ("Eichhornschweif") in the german translation. A lot of other names are changed as well, such as Whitepelt instead of Whitestorm, Smokefur instead of Ferncloud, and Shadowbrightness instead of Shadowsight.
I’m obsessed with the translated names of some of the cats. Iirc Crookedstar is Stripedstar and they justified in the Super Edition by saying that “he suffered enough” from being called Crookedjaw. Dumb translation but absolutely killer save, they stuck the landing on that one Never heard that he’s called Shadowbrightness. Is Spiresight, Spirebrightness then? Shadowsight was named after him.
@@SunneyRabbit In German, there's also Brokenstar going from "Kinkpaw" to "Browntail" because, as Raggedstar says, "his enemies won't see the bend in his tail but the brown of his fur" if I remember correctly. Speaking of Raggedstar, he was named Kampfstern aka "Battlestar" (?) in Into the Wild but Yellowfang's Secret and Long Shadows have him as "Fetzenstern" which is the straightforward translation.
Oh man the ironic thing about this is in one of the bonus scenes or guidebooks or something Squirrelflight specifically says "Firestar better not name me Squirreltail!"
@@SunneyRabbit The norwegian one has a few too! Yellowfang is Flatface, Whitestorm is Snowstorm, Pebbleshine is Blockbeam (what were you thinking translator) and my favourite, Willowpelt is named Aquamarine for some reason
I kinda like lyrical suffixes because they provide more options for meanings you can assign to names. They don't have to mean anything, but also I feel like "Leap", "Pounce", or "Sight" are much more evocative character trait wise than "Pelt" or "Fur". Also on the subject of off-limit names, "Spirit" as a suffix is actually forbidden by the authors because it was used specifically for the name "Brightspirit", memorializing someone who died in real life.
@@aggressivelyme9657 Yeah, it caused quite the stir in the fandom for the reason you stated, the fans saw the suffix being shared by a protagonist as disrespectful to the memory of the real Brightspirit. I don't recall any statements from the authors or anyone since then that -spirit is forbidden at all (especially since there'd be no need to clear anything up since we both know what name won) though I'd wager a guess that it wasn't off limits to the writers since it was considered in the first place and won out over any other names that could have gone on that poll (I remember one was Rootfall but can't remember the forth option for sure, something is telling me Rootwing). However, if the writing team did hear about the outcry from the fans, *now* it might be off limits.
I personally think all naming schemes are good! I think logically every mother cat will have her own thought process of what prefixes she wants and every leader will have their own style of choosing suffixes. I could see a leader always giving their cats suffixes to go with their prefix thematically or a leader who always picks what flows off the tongue or one who always picks the suffix based on a skill or quality of the cat that stands out to them with no regard to how it will sound with the prefix. That's how I imagine it happens in cannon! I've always thought Bramblestar liked to just pick names off the top of his head and Leafstar started out more traditional as a new leader picking names like the ones Firestar chose for her clan mates but now she likes to be experimental and does what she thinks is most evocative.
Actually i think that Mapleshade’s name describes her perfectly. I might be wrong, but i have always thought that since Maple leaves are red. Her name symbolises how she sees everything and everyone in a red shade, because of her violent nature, and how she blames others for her own actions by seing them in the worst possible way. (Her making up that Appledusk “let their kits drown” and that frecklewish “just stood there watching them,” when she had no evidence at all.)
The red thing could also how she see them before she was exile, she could see that her life was better because she exploited the death of Birchface and use it for her own selfish reason. A part of the reason that Mapleshade is my favorite villain, because her name symbolizes her character and it is also a pretty name.
I think Hollow- refers to a tree hollow! Anyway, I think lyrical names are totally a hit or miss kind of thing. You either get pretty names like Sunbeam and Blazefire or plain weird names like Harelight and Mousewing (maybe this name is referring to bats?? I don't think the series has ever mentioned them tho??). It's no surprise oc names are typically lyrical such as Swansong or Stormsurge (two of my oc names!).
At least 1 bat has been mentioned in dawn of the clans :) Spoilers below: It was the prey Jackdaw's Cry caught at the meeting when they claimed he wasn't fed which led to the first battle!
Couldn’t the names be a combination of both? Fire heart is both orange like fire & has a burning passion for justice & is very proactive like how fire is warm & spreads wide. His compassion for others spreads like a wildfire so fireheart.
I really like when clans combine traditional and lyrical. I have some OC's names being Owlheart, Nightpool, Redfur, and Rowanstripe. But there's also Waspwing, Violetstrike, Sweetspring and Sunfire. Names being able to be unique is one of my favorite parts of naming OC's. Plus, it makes more drama when both a prefix and suffix is changed. One of mine went from a tom named Crimsonpaw (named after his deceased surrogate dad, basically uncle) to a she-cat named Mothwish (after her dead aunt, Mothpaw, and her wish to be she rather than a tom). Also, if I got to rename Twigbranch, her name would be Twigtree. It bears the same message and sounds better in my opinion.
I never really got how Tawnypelt got her name. At first I thought it was because she looked like her mother Goldenflower but they describe Tawnypelt as a Tortoiseshell instead of a light brown furred she cat. But then I kinda gave up really understanding the reason for some of the cats names. Like Ivypool was named after the author friend's kid (according to the wiki). For the suffix pool you would think it may be describing a cat that is gentle or serene like Leafpool (and I am aware the Leafpool was named after finding the Moonpool but it still fits for her), I cant really say Ivypools name fits for her but its a pretty name. Personally with my OC cats I names one she cat Ripplerain. Rain has never been used as a suffix in the warrior books but I guess for me it just sounded like a cute name for the character.
Tawny (the color) had such a wide range from tan to orangish-brown. Tawnypelt’s official art has her being a bright orange that I think lacks the brownish tones. Some fan art has her being closer to tan as opposed to orange-brown Ivypool is a name that sounds like it belongs to a serene dainty cat. Then you see her fan art and her pelt is torn to pieces because she fought in hell when she was a teenager lol Also rain never being used a a suffix yet when we are 7 arcs in is crazy. Warriors should get aboard the rain-train like you have
I've been out of the fandom for a while, so I had no idea there was actual discussion around the categorization of names, but I love this! I'm not really into Warriors the way I used to be, but all the TH-camrs (like you!) that are getting recommended to me lately are making me wanna at least keep up with it :) The naming system was absolutely one of my favorite things about it and... I'm now tempted to find a way to incorporate a Warriors-inspired system like that into my worldbuilding. Which would probably come off a little awkward because I write humans/supernatural humanoid creatures but I personally think it'd be funny lol
Get back into Warriors, it’s worth it! I stopped at Omen of Stars and had a blast re-reading the books. I feel you with the naming system. So many good names come from it that it’s tempting to add it to a worldbuilding project. I have my fair share of Warriors inspired names in my own world
Traditional Naming is something we can use for names in Canon... BUT NOT FOR OCs! Let's people name their cats what they want and shut up. It's their decision not yours. If someone wants to have Indigoeyes, Pinkcloud, Coldheart, Pantherclaw, Timeflow, Bloodpop or Snowball that's their decision. Not yours.
I’m not sure if this comment is directed at me specifically (I hope I didn’t make it seem like I’m opposed to “lyrical naming”) but I agree. There are so many possibilities for OC names that the books haven’t even touched. Read a comment the other day that “rain” hasn’t been used as a suffix yet and that’s crazy to me
For my warriors ocs I basically said f.u. to the entire naming convention in general and gave my cats whatever weird name I wanted. That’s why I have names like Bloodclaw, Freespirit, and Lunapelt 😂
Now that cats can change Clans, it would be nice if they named their kits after the Clan they left to honor where they came from. Like Spireclaw and Fringewhisker having a Skykit or Shellfur and Fernstripe having a Windkit. In one of my fanfics, a SkyClan tom and RiverClan she-cat join ThunderClan and have 2 daughters who they name Skykit and Riverkit after their birth Clans to honor where they come from and where their life has lead them.
That's would be such a cool idea for the books to implement. We already have a Shadowkit/sight; it's not too farfetched to get a Thunder, Sky or Riverkit now
@@SunneyRabbit my 2 favorite names with Clan prefixes are Thundersong and Shadowpool, idk why they just sound nice to me. Especially Shadowpool, this little black she-cat who got her name because as apprentices, the cat the cat that would become her mate (Grassywing) would tease her for her size by saying he always mistook her for a tiny pool of water whenever she curled up for a nap.
Hello! Traditional namer here and while I'm late to the party, I'd like to clarify to you what traditional naming entails! People usually assume it means "sticks to TPB's style of naming with cherry-picked examples" or like what you said "names for what they look like", but neither of those are right! You had it close with the "prefix is color, suffix is trait" thing, but there's a bit more nuance to it. So here's a bunch of random notes about traditional naming. If you have a select setting, you can use flora and fauna from that region, getting fun prefixes like Linden-, Tanuki-, Woodsia-, or even fungal prefixes like Morel- and Agaric-! But if you've got a setting in, say, the Colorado Rockies with a cat named Heatherpaw, that's going to tilt some heads since heather isn't in the region, but you could get stuff like Pimpernelpaw or Sprucepaw. Sometimes Warriors does use an obscure plant or animal for a prefix like Thriftear, which I personally like. Oh! Before I forget, if the prefix is something that's too broad of a color or is colorless, it's not allowed. Flower-, Sky-, and Creek- fall under the "too broad" category since flowers can come in lots of colors, and so does the sky, and what part of a creek are you pinning down with this name? The ripples? The pebbles? The minnows? There's just so much stuff! The colorless stuff are things like Echo- and Breeze-. I don't think I have to explain why these prefixes aren't accepted. For the suffixes, you can have as many suffixes as you want! They all just need to mean something. You've probably seen -claw be used for skilled fighters, but you could also have -thorn and -talon be part of the pool of fighter names for aesthetic purposes, so Copperclaw, Mossthorn, and Bramblingtalon all mean the same thing, "brown tortoiseshell who's good at fighting", it's just open for aesthetics! You can also have -step, -fall, -flight, and -leap mean "behaves like the cats' conception of prefix" that correlate to whatever the prefix is, so names like Lynxstep, Dawnfall, Cherryfall, Ospreyflight, and Cricketleap could be "legal" under your system. Hell, I even got Bearhollow and Rimeface out of my system meaning "large brown hunter" and "beautiful pale gray cat". You could even try to use more modern suffixes to mean stuff, like -shade has gained traction as meaning "stealthy". So in traditionalism, things that aren't necessarily colors and patterns aren't allowed either, like Longtail and Deadfoot (under the presumption that Deadfoot was born with a twisted paw) as it sort of railroads what their warrior name would be. And kittens are usually named right after birth, so all you know is their base pelt color and nothing else. Maybe also their size, but no body types, no fur length, no eye color, and maybe an odd feature like multiple toes or a longer-than-average tail. Sure, you could name your kit Longkit, but then they're destined to be named Longtail and that's just kinda boring? You could multitask with the name, like Lizardkit could work if they're brown since lizards have long tails, and then the possibilities for their name could open up to more than just Longtail. This is why I personally don't care for Little- since Mouse- and Pebble- can mean the same thing _and_ have color inferences. And as for the disability names, I think a lot of (well-intentioned) people shy away from disability names because of the assumption that it's inherently demeaning, but this connotation doesn't have to be. Sure, Brightheart hated the name Lostface and Berrykit was scared of being named Berrystumpytail, but One-eye didn't care she was named after her lost eye. Not everyone will feel the same way towards their injuries and scars - hell, I love swapping scar stories! Scars aren't scary or bad, and in a culture where you're treated like a badass for going through a rough situation and walking out of it still alive, that'd be something to laud or honor! This is why in my Clan cultures, it's a cat's own individual choice for being renamed for their new scar; if Russulapelt, who just escaped the jaws of a hound with a twisted tail to show for it, approached the Clan leader and requested the name Brokentail, that's their choice and it should be respected. Likewise, if Breamleap, who had their leg mangled in a leghold trap, quails at the thought of being named Mangledleg, that's their choice and it should also be respected. Now if someone's forcing the name on them, that's wrong, but that's why it's crucial it should remain their choice. It'd be a neat cultural detail, at the very least. Now, I know canon doesn't follow traditional naming (never had), but canon also doesn't have gay cats, cohesive plotlines and character arcs, or any care for cat biology. I'm not forcing it on anyone else (at best I bemoan another silly name like _Songleap_ or something), you do your silly names, I do my silly names; maybe leave some room for poking fun at one another in good humor, but largely leave the other alone to do as they like. Anyway this is getting long, aheh. Sorry to hit ya with this massive textwall. Have a great day and good luck in your videomaking!
Thank you for this comment! When I was writing the video I was having a really hard time finding more information on what is considered “traditional” and “lyrical”. I’ve always heard it explained as TPB is “traditional” and everything after falls under “lyrical”. There’s way more nuance and information that I either forgot (duplicate names are allowed) or learned afterwards so it’s probably worth an addendum or corrections. Do you mind if I use some of the information in this comment for a later video?
@@SunneyRabbit Absolutely, go on ahead! I'll even give you some resources to start off at! The Tumblr blog ailuronymy is probably a good place to start, as Grey codified the broad strokes of traditionalism. I'd recommend looking at the Almighty List of Prefixes, Hallowed Collection of Suffixes, Name-Change Prefixes, and the Guidelines. There are some guidelines he wrote that people ignore tho, like "no suffixes with the same meaning (save for -fur and -pelt)", as it expands the combination of names from around a thousand to several thousands. People can also use newer suffixes for various reasons, like in one of the projects I have, -dawn and -dusk are synonymous to one another (only differing by which Clan they show up in) and mean "dedicated and loyal, possibly deputy material", even though Grey wrote both of them off as frivolous. People can also chose to have suffix themes, like restricting the suffixes to body parts or whatever. Another thing about the prefixes you may notice. Because the Forest Territories were based on New Forest, England, all the prefixes are stuff you'd find in that region. This would also make some names like Myrtlebloom and Hickorynose illegal, since you'd be hard-pressed to find one outside of a garden in Southern England. This would also make Jayfeather's name technically illegal, as he's named after the blue jay which is found in the eastern US, not the jay species native to the UK, the Eurasian jay, a corvid from a different family that has a warm gray-brown color (but with blue shoulders!). Other resources I'd recommend are Tumblr blogs: sparrow-names-warriors as an (incomplete) guide for help in picking suffixes and meanings for your naming system, and north-american-warriors as a resource for finding what prefixes are local to which areas. Example: you can find arnica in the Eastern US and the Northern Forests, but you're not finding them west of the Rockies or in Mexico, so having a cat in a fanclan setting based of Arizona named Arnicapaw would be... weird. Same for finding Chickadeepaw in a setting based off France. You could also just shrug your shoulders and go, "if you can find it in X biome, you can find it here," and that's how I ended up with a setting that has Korean tigers, Irish wolves, and American lynx all in one area, since all of them feature in the temperate marine climate zone, which was the biome for my region. So yeah, I've been rambling a lot, and I hope this gives you stuff to chew on and look up! If you've got any more questions, feel free to ask! My notifications still bug me about comment replies XD
Well yeah, in my opinion, i like traditional one more than lyrical because you can name your cat based on how they look like. For example, i have an oc which was brown solid cat with golden eyes. It took me for weeks to think for suffixes for lyrical name to match the personality. But for traditional, i just come with brownfur, woodpelt, tawnynose and smth like that.
The fandom separating names into categories never made any sense to me. The authors have just used more and more words as the series has gone on to avoid repeats, like there's only so many -pelts or -claws or -furs that you can have in a row. The definitions of the "traditional" names don't make sense to me either? Like does it have to be noun-bodypart or a compound description? or can "traditional" name parts be used to make a lyrical name? I feel like peachpelt and stonefoot would be considered Traditional but peachstone would not. I see this issue the most in rp groups being gatekeeping assholes :/
its funny cuz in the french series , Squirrelflight's name is actualy traditional ! she is Squirrelfur ( or to be acurate , by how the french names work : Fur of Squirrel / Fur of the Squirrel * edit : more french names for fun ! ( french names acording to google trad ) Hawkfrost is Falconfeather ( traditional too ! ) Ferncloud is Heaterflower Heartertail is Forget-me-not(eye) ?? ( OEil de Myosotis ) what does that mean google trad ???
sorreltail is Chestnutfur brakenfur is Fernhair ( please tell me ii got his name right ) Tallstar is Shootingstar Mousewhisker is Field-mouseleg Leafpool is Leafmoon tell me if you want more !
I was curious, what do you think about the name MintLeap? It's a name I chose for a TPC character being changed to the Warrior Cats universe for an AU. I found your channel a bit ago and I really like your content despite me never really reading the Warrior Cats books and getting most of my info from TH-cam
I love both kinds of naming, I adore the tail suffix, and have a couple cats with it SwanTail, MouseTail, also have one named SparrowFur! Also got OCs like: RobinSpring, AlliumHeart, FlickerFlame Needless to say I love both!
I made a fan clan with my boyfriend and we named it NyxClan qvq the leader is AbyssalStar and his deputy is VoidSwoop lol. We also named some cats from other fan clans of ours stuff like SpringWatcher or DoeCreek and SwiftPoppy. This isn't an important comment I just wanted to share some cool names we came up with
i havent watched this entire video, but i feel like 'spirit' is an off limits suffix due to brightspirit, the character based off of the deceased little girl who was a warriors fan. it's sort of decicded in the fandom by now that you shouldn't make ocs with that suffix as it's disrespectful.
thinking about it now,im wondeirng if there's meant to be a gap when clan names are pronounced. Fire-heart as opposed to fireheart. it also creates the funny image of someone meeting a kittypet named "Snapdragon" or "Dragonfly" and arguing over whether this works as a valid clan name
I FREAKING HATE TWIGBRANCH’S NAME. She is one of my favorite characters and they did her name such a disservice 😭. I personally would’ve named her Twigsong or something similar.
I like lyrical names more, though I think traditional names should stick around to an extent or lyrical names will also get boring. I think names like Squirrelflight make sense as Squirrelflight has a feisty personality like a flapping bird. Names that make no sense are, as you said, Harelight. It doesn't really have any meaning, apart from I guess she's tall and thin like a hare.
Yeah, naming cats after other cats was cute the first few times, some of them did feel earned like Needleclaw and Bristlekit, but not a lot do. The Dark Forest battle losses did feel like something and those cats were important to Lion and Cinder (a mom, a sister and a second mother to all of ThunderClan), but then for them to ignore the other losses come the second litter like the other cats who died were no ones and not a beloved elder, Lion's grandpa and a cat they grew up with. Snaptooth could be Mousetooth (he only gets to be named after Mousefur because the other two would be existing names, if his sisters had different suffixes he'd be Firetooth right now), Flywhisker becomes Foxwhisker and Spotfur becomes Firefur (or even name her after Spottedleaf who saved Sandstorm by making her Spottedfur which while not a big change would change how we view the name as a whole). I also hate that Rootspring was named after someone, I was so happy with my headcanon that Root- was picked because Tree wanted a name to symbolize how he was finally planting his roots somewhere instead of just wandering. Honestly I don't care much about how traditional or lyrical the names are, those can be hit or miss just based on the prefix alone, but I'm never going to like names that are real things. Like, imagine being named Rainstorm when rain storms just exist, or Nightsky, or Stormcloud (I can't tell you how much I fucking hate that name), and hell, I hate how the books went "lol Sunbeam you have the perfect name because you love sitting in sun beams" because it. drives. me. mad. how. awful. these. names. are. Sandstorm is in dangerous territory since I'm not sure the cats would know what a sand storm is but it still irks me because I know it's a real thing they could encounter as wild cats if they were in the right area. Last addition: you say Hopwhisker is a weird name but... what's weird about it? The prefix is fine, it's a plant, and the suffix shouldn't be a weird pick either, there's lots of cats with the whisker suffix and it usually falls under traditional naming conventions. What's strange about it?
I like how skyclan has a habit of naming cats after other cats, and keeping kittypet names as part of their warrior names.
Keeping their kittypet names is really cute! Bellaleaf is my personal favorite
@@SunneyRabbit ayeeeee my fav was Bella’s sister RileyPool (plz tell me I got that suffix right it’s been so long since I read the bookssss, but I love Rileyyyyy)
@@CrowInAHoodie unpopular opinion: I like the name Billystorm. I'm currently reading SkyClan's Destiny for the first time and I've learned to appreciate it. Egg ftw.
@@SunneyRabbit billystorm and bouncefire's mine
I love Billystorm, Ebonyclaw and Echosong 🥰
I love the Skyclan names. I’m Leafstar, and these are my most trusted warriors, Babyflower, Felixclaw, and Mr. Whiskers.
Billystorm my beloved.
Bellaleaf is a personal favorite. It’s so pretty
i will cry if anything happens to her. bellaleaf needs to live forever.
@@emilymonahan5232 I'm not sure if you're just speaking normally or quoting moonkitti but nonetheless, bellaleaf does need to live forever.
i am Steviemoon. my brother is Salempelt, and my sister is Riddleheart.
Let's not forget the old classic Runningwind! Dude got the suffix to match an entire clan, and he didn't even belong to the clan. He just supposedly ran fast (not faster than the inevitable fate of a bland side character dying for flavor though).
Such a flavorful name and yet…such a bland background character
I think an interesting feature of some good lyrical names is that they exist via word association. Hawkfrost, to me, reads as the "cold" nature of the predatory bird he was named after, which can literally be described as being "frosty" if you were to personify a falcon. To an extent it is also descriptive of his personality and character, though his name conveys a mood rather than a quality or trait.
I personally think Hawkfrost is the coolest name for a villain (pun intended)
That sounds perfect for a villain actually
I thought it was because he had a cold personality and brown fur like a hawk
wait I thought it was because he had a mohawk with frosted tips
Frost could also describe his eyes
I love Skyclan’s way of naming cats. Letting kittypet’s keep their names as the prefix of their name is definitely welcome. Billystorm, Curlypaw, Rileypool, Fidgetflake, Kitescratch, and Gravelnose are some of my favorite names in the series. I’m a sucker for weird silly sounding names for cats.
The funny thing is... Squirrelflight is literally called Squirreltail ("Eichhornschweif") in the german translation. A lot of other names are changed as well, such as Whitepelt instead of Whitestorm, Smokefur instead of Ferncloud, and Shadowbrightness instead of Shadowsight.
I’m obsessed with the translated names of some of the cats. Iirc Crookedstar is Stripedstar and they justified in the Super Edition by saying that “he suffered enough” from being called Crookedjaw.
Dumb translation but absolutely killer save, they stuck the landing on that one
Never heard that he’s called Shadowbrightness. Is Spiresight, Spirebrightness then? Shadowsight was named after him.
@@SunneyRabbit In German, there's also Brokenstar going from "Kinkpaw" to "Browntail" because, as Raggedstar says, "his enemies won't see the bend in his tail but the brown of his fur" if I remember correctly. Speaking of Raggedstar, he was named Kampfstern aka "Battlestar" (?) in Into the Wild but Yellowfang's Secret and Long Shadows have him as "Fetzenstern" which is the straightforward translation.
Oh man the ironic thing about this is in one of the bonus scenes or guidebooks or something Squirrelflight specifically says "Firestar better not name me Squirreltail!"
@@SunneyRabbit The norwegian one has a few too! Yellowfang is Flatface, Whitestorm is Snowstorm, Pebbleshine is Blockbeam (what were you thinking translator) and my favourite, Willowpelt is named Aquamarine for some reason
@@aggressivelyme9657 and in german it is switched with "he better Not Name me squirrelflight" xD
I kinda like lyrical suffixes because they provide more options for meanings you can assign to names. They don't have to mean anything, but also I feel like "Leap", "Pounce", or "Sight" are much more evocative character trait wise than "Pelt" or "Fur".
Also on the subject of off-limit names, "Spirit" as a suffix is actually forbidden by the authors because it was used specifically for the name "Brightspirit", memorializing someone who died in real life.
I thought we got a somewhat-hint that it wasn't totally off limits with the Rootspring naming poll. One of the options was Rootspirit.
@@dovewingseyesaregreen5664 Oh interesting, I didn't know about that
@@aggressivelyme9657 Yeah, it caused quite the stir in the fandom for the reason you stated, the fans saw the suffix being shared by a protagonist as disrespectful to the memory of the real Brightspirit. I don't recall any statements from the authors or anyone since then that -spirit is forbidden at all (especially since there'd be no need to clear anything up since we both know what name won) though I'd wager a guess that it wasn't off limits to the writers since it was considered in the first place and won out over any other names that could have gone on that poll (I remember one was Rootfall but can't remember the forth option for sure, something is telling me Rootwing). However, if the writing team did hear about the outcry from the fans, *now* it might be off limits.
I personally think all naming schemes are good! I think logically every mother cat will have her own thought process of what prefixes she wants and every leader will have their own style of choosing suffixes. I could see a leader always giving their cats suffixes to go with their prefix thematically or a leader who always picks what flows off the tongue or one who always picks the suffix based on a skill or quality of the cat that stands out to them with no regard to how it will sound with the prefix. That's how I imagine it happens in cannon! I've always thought Bramblestar liked to just pick names off the top of his head and Leafstar started out more traditional as a new leader picking names like the ones Firestar chose for her clan mates but now she likes to be experimental and does what she thinks is most evocative.
Actually i think that Mapleshade’s name describes her perfectly. I might be wrong, but i have always thought that since Maple leaves are red. Her name symbolises how she sees everything and everyone in a red shade, because of her violent nature, and how she blames others for her own actions by seing them in the worst possible way.
(Her making up that Appledusk “let their kits drown” and that frecklewish “just stood there watching them,” when she had no evidence at all.)
Mapleshade has one of the best names in Warriors
The red thing could also how she see them before she was exile, she could see that her life was better because she exploited the death of Birchface and use it for her own selfish reason. A part of the reason that Mapleshade is my favorite villain, because her name symbolizes her character and it is also a pretty name.
@rat_in_a_bucket9641 that was probably why she was named that, in universe. I’m just talking about the names meaning.
I think Hollow- refers to a tree hollow!
Anyway, I think lyrical names are totally a hit or miss kind of thing. You either get pretty names like Sunbeam and Blazefire or plain weird names like Harelight and Mousewing (maybe this name is referring to bats?? I don't think the series has ever mentioned them tho??). It's no surprise oc names are typically lyrical such as Swansong or Stormsurge (two of my oc names!).
I actually really like Harelight lol
MouseWing also actually sounds pretty good, and flight could relate to being a amazing jumper
@@CrowInAHoodie I never thought of -flight being interpreted that way. You have opened my eyes lol.
At least 1 bat has been mentioned in dawn of the clans :) Spoilers below:
It was the prey Jackdaw's Cry caught at the meeting when they claimed he wasn't fed which led to the first battle!
@@NyokoArts Oh, cool!
Mousewing might be a reference to a type of bird called a titmouse.
Couldn’t the names be a combination of both?
Fire heart is both orange like fire & has a burning passion for justice & is very proactive like how fire is warm & spreads wide.
His compassion for others spreads like a wildfire so fireheart.
I really like when clans combine traditional and lyrical. I have some OC's names being Owlheart, Nightpool, Redfur, and Rowanstripe. But there's also Waspwing, Violetstrike, Sweetspring and Sunfire. Names being able to be unique is one of my favorite parts of naming OC's. Plus, it makes more drama when both a prefix and suffix is changed. One of mine went from a tom named Crimsonpaw (named after his deceased surrogate dad, basically uncle) to a she-cat named Mothwish (after her dead aunt, Mothpaw, and her wish to be she rather than a tom).
Also, if I got to rename Twigbranch, her name would be Twigtree. It bears the same message and sounds better in my opinion.
My favorite canon name is Mistmouse. I love the name and it’s sooo cute
Yes I love that one! Animal suffixes ftw.
I never really got how Tawnypelt got her name. At first I thought it was because she looked like her mother Goldenflower but they describe Tawnypelt as a Tortoiseshell instead of a light brown furred she cat. But then I kinda gave up really understanding the reason for some of the cats names. Like Ivypool was named after the author friend's kid (according to the wiki). For the suffix pool you would think it may be describing a cat that is gentle or serene like Leafpool (and I am aware the Leafpool was named after finding the Moonpool but it still fits for her), I cant really say Ivypools name fits for her but its a pretty name.
Personally with my OC cats I names one she cat Ripplerain. Rain has never been used as a suffix in the warrior books but I guess for me it just sounded like a cute name for the character.
Using non-canon prefixes and suffixes is awesome! Ripplerain sounds super pretty!
Tawny (the color) had such a wide range from tan to orangish-brown. Tawnypelt’s official art has her being a bright orange that I think lacks the brownish tones. Some fan art has her being closer to tan as opposed to orange-brown
Ivypool is a name that sounds like it belongs to a serene dainty cat.
Then you see her fan art and her pelt is torn to pieces because she fought in hell when she was a teenager lol
Also rain never being used a a suffix yet when we are 7 arcs in is crazy. Warriors should get aboard the rain-train like you have
I've been out of the fandom for a while, so I had no idea there was actual discussion around the categorization of names, but I love this! I'm not really into Warriors the way I used to be, but all the TH-camrs (like you!) that are getting recommended to me lately are making me wanna at least keep up with it :)
The naming system was absolutely one of my favorite things about it and... I'm now tempted to find a way to incorporate a Warriors-inspired system like that into my worldbuilding. Which would probably come off a little awkward because I write humans/supernatural humanoid creatures but I personally think it'd be funny lol
Get back into Warriors, it’s worth it! I stopped at Omen of Stars and had a blast re-reading the books.
I feel you with the naming system. So many good names come from it that it’s tempting to add it to a worldbuilding project. I have my fair share of Warriors inspired names in my own world
There are some websites where you can get free pdfs of the books! That can be a great way to get back into the series
Traditional Naming is something we can use for names in Canon... BUT NOT FOR OCs!
Let's people name their cats what they want and shut up. It's their decision not yours. If someone wants to have Indigoeyes, Pinkcloud, Coldheart, Pantherclaw, Timeflow, Bloodpop or Snowball that's their decision. Not yours.
I’m not sure if this comment is directed at me specifically (I hope I didn’t make it seem like I’m opposed to “lyrical naming”) but I agree.
There are so many possibilities for OC names that the books haven’t even touched. Read a comment the other day that “rain” hasn’t been used as a suffix yet and that’s crazy to me
@@SunneyRabbit No not at you. But at everyone else who does that. It just makes me mad.
@@skelly_universe7215 Okay!
You’re completely right. Everyone should have the freedom to create OCs the way they want to!
For my warriors ocs I basically said f.u. to the entire naming convention in general and gave my cats whatever weird name I wanted. That’s why I have names like Bloodclaw, Freespirit, and Lunapelt 😂
Freespirit is a really good name for a Warrior. Lunapelt has very SkyClan vibe to it. LOVE IT!
I always think of how Tigerlily is a completely valid warrior name but also the name of a cat my mom had at one point
Now that cats can change Clans, it would be nice if they named their kits after the Clan they left to honor where they came from. Like Spireclaw and Fringewhisker having a Skykit or Shellfur and Fernstripe having a Windkit. In one of my fanfics, a SkyClan tom and RiverClan she-cat join ThunderClan and have 2 daughters who they name Skykit and Riverkit after their birth Clans to honor where they come from and where their life has lead them.
That's would be such a cool idea for the books to implement. We already have a Shadowkit/sight; it's not too farfetched to get a Thunder, Sky or Riverkit now
@@SunneyRabbit my 2 favorite names with Clan prefixes are Thundersong and Shadowpool, idk why they just sound nice to me. Especially Shadowpool, this little black she-cat who got her name because as apprentices, the cat the cat that would become her mate (Grassywing) would tease her for her size by saying he always mistook her for a tiny pool of water whenever she curled up for a nap.
@@alexismyers6053 I have a list of oc name ideas. Thundercrash might be my favorite.
@@avastoyboxandarcade I like that one!
Hello! Traditional namer here and while I'm late to the party, I'd like to clarify to you what traditional naming entails! People usually assume it means "sticks to TPB's style of naming with cherry-picked examples" or like what you said "names for what they look like", but neither of those are right! You had it close with the "prefix is color, suffix is trait" thing, but there's a bit more nuance to it. So here's a bunch of random notes about traditional naming.
If you have a select setting, you can use flora and fauna from that region, getting fun prefixes like Linden-, Tanuki-, Woodsia-, or even fungal prefixes like Morel- and Agaric-! But if you've got a setting in, say, the Colorado Rockies with a cat named Heatherpaw, that's going to tilt some heads since heather isn't in the region, but you could get stuff like Pimpernelpaw or Sprucepaw. Sometimes Warriors does use an obscure plant or animal for a prefix like Thriftear, which I personally like.
Oh! Before I forget, if the prefix is something that's too broad of a color or is colorless, it's not allowed. Flower-, Sky-, and Creek- fall under the "too broad" category since flowers can come in lots of colors, and so does the sky, and what part of a creek are you pinning down with this name? The ripples? The pebbles? The minnows? There's just so much stuff! The colorless stuff are things like Echo- and Breeze-. I don't think I have to explain why these prefixes aren't accepted.
For the suffixes, you can have as many suffixes as you want! They all just need to mean something. You've probably seen -claw be used for skilled fighters, but you could also have -thorn and -talon be part of the pool of fighter names for aesthetic purposes, so Copperclaw, Mossthorn, and Bramblingtalon all mean the same thing, "brown tortoiseshell who's good at fighting", it's just open for aesthetics! You can also have -step, -fall, -flight, and -leap mean "behaves like the cats' conception of prefix" that correlate to whatever the prefix is, so names like Lynxstep, Dawnfall, Cherryfall, Ospreyflight, and Cricketleap could be "legal" under your system. Hell, I even got Bearhollow and Rimeface out of my system meaning "large brown hunter" and "beautiful pale gray cat". You could even try to use more modern suffixes to mean stuff, like -shade has gained traction as meaning "stealthy".
So in traditionalism, things that aren't necessarily colors and patterns aren't allowed either, like Longtail and Deadfoot (under the presumption that Deadfoot was born with a twisted paw) as it sort of railroads what their warrior name would be. And kittens are usually named right after birth, so all you know is their base pelt color and nothing else. Maybe also their size, but no body types, no fur length, no eye color, and maybe an odd feature like multiple toes or a longer-than-average tail. Sure, you could name your kit Longkit, but then they're destined to be named Longtail and that's just kinda boring? You could multitask with the name, like Lizardkit could work if they're brown since lizards have long tails, and then the possibilities for their name could open up to more than just Longtail. This is why I personally don't care for Little- since Mouse- and Pebble- can mean the same thing _and_ have color inferences.
And as for the disability names, I think a lot of (well-intentioned) people shy away from disability names because of the assumption that it's inherently demeaning, but this connotation doesn't have to be. Sure, Brightheart hated the name Lostface and Berrykit was scared of being named Berrystumpytail, but One-eye didn't care she was named after her lost eye. Not everyone will feel the same way towards their injuries and scars - hell, I love swapping scar stories! Scars aren't scary or bad, and in a culture where you're treated like a badass for going through a rough situation and walking out of it still alive, that'd be something to laud or honor! This is why in my Clan cultures, it's a cat's own individual choice for being renamed for their new scar; if Russulapelt, who just escaped the jaws of a hound with a twisted tail to show for it, approached the Clan leader and requested the name Brokentail, that's their choice and it should be respected. Likewise, if Breamleap, who had their leg mangled in a leghold trap, quails at the thought of being named Mangledleg, that's their choice and it should also be respected. Now if someone's forcing the name on them, that's wrong, but that's why it's crucial it should remain their choice. It'd be a neat cultural detail, at the very least.
Now, I know canon doesn't follow traditional naming (never had), but canon also doesn't have gay cats, cohesive plotlines and character arcs, or any care for cat biology. I'm not forcing it on anyone else (at best I bemoan another silly name like _Songleap_ or something), you do your silly names, I do my silly names; maybe leave some room for poking fun at one another in good humor, but largely leave the other alone to do as they like.
Anyway this is getting long, aheh. Sorry to hit ya with this massive textwall. Have a great day and good luck in your videomaking!
Thank you for this comment! When I was writing the video I was having a really hard time finding more information on what is considered “traditional” and “lyrical”. I’ve always heard it explained as TPB is “traditional” and everything after falls under “lyrical”. There’s way more nuance and information that I either forgot (duplicate names are allowed) or learned afterwards so it’s probably worth an addendum or corrections. Do you mind if I use some of the information in this comment for a later video?
@@SunneyRabbit Absolutely, go on ahead! I'll even give you some resources to start off at!
The Tumblr blog ailuronymy is probably a good place to start, as Grey codified the broad strokes of traditionalism. I'd recommend looking at the Almighty List of Prefixes, Hallowed Collection of Suffixes, Name-Change Prefixes, and the Guidelines. There are some guidelines he wrote that people ignore tho, like "no suffixes with the same meaning (save for -fur and -pelt)", as it expands the combination of names from around a thousand to several thousands.
People can also use newer suffixes for various reasons, like in one of the projects I have, -dawn and -dusk are synonymous to one another (only differing by which Clan they show up in) and mean "dedicated and loyal, possibly deputy material", even though Grey wrote both of them off as frivolous. People can also chose to have suffix themes, like restricting the suffixes to body parts or whatever.
Another thing about the prefixes you may notice. Because the Forest Territories were based on New Forest, England, all the prefixes are stuff you'd find in that region. This would also make some names like Myrtlebloom and Hickorynose illegal, since you'd be hard-pressed to find one outside of a garden in Southern England. This would also make Jayfeather's name technically illegal, as he's named after the blue jay which is found in the eastern US, not the jay species native to the UK, the Eurasian jay, a corvid from a different family that has a warm gray-brown color (but with blue shoulders!).
Other resources I'd recommend are Tumblr blogs: sparrow-names-warriors as an (incomplete) guide for help in picking suffixes and meanings for your naming system, and north-american-warriors as a resource for finding what prefixes are local to which areas. Example: you can find arnica in the Eastern US and the Northern Forests, but you're not finding them west of the Rockies or in Mexico, so having a cat in a fanclan setting based of Arizona named Arnicapaw would be... weird. Same for finding Chickadeepaw in a setting based off France. You could also just shrug your shoulders and go, "if you can find it in X biome, you can find it here," and that's how I ended up with a setting that has Korean tigers, Irish wolves, and American lynx all in one area, since all of them feature in the temperate marine climate zone, which was the biome for my region.
So yeah, I've been rambling a lot, and I hope this gives you stuff to chew on and look up! If you've got any more questions, feel free to ask! My notifications still bug me about comment replies XD
my theory is that suffixes change depending on the leader at the time
How are you so under rated? You seem so professional!
Thank you!
Well yeah, in my opinion, i like traditional one more than lyrical because you can name your cat based on how they look like. For example, i have an oc which was brown solid cat with golden eyes. It took me for weeks to think for suffixes for lyrical name to match the personality. But for traditional, i just come with brownfur, woodpelt, tawnynose and smth like that.
I think the clans use both defantion's of hollow
My personal favorite names are Kinkfur and Whitewater (yes. There is a cat named Whitewater.)
One of my ocs name is bloodkit,bloodpaw,bloodfur,and bloodstar. She is a dark ginger she-cat with amber eyes.
Bloodstar is such a cool name
The fandom separating names into categories never made any sense to me. The authors have just used more and more words as the series has gone on to avoid repeats, like there's only so many -pelts or -claws or -furs that you can have in a row. The definitions of the "traditional" names don't make sense to me either? Like does it have to be noun-bodypart or a compound description? or can "traditional" name parts be used to make a lyrical name? I feel like peachpelt and stonefoot would be considered Traditional but peachstone would not. I see this issue the most in rp groups being gatekeeping assholes :/
one of my first ocs where named startail. He was just a black cat with a white tailtip
In the books it is said that maybe leafpool was named after both
its funny cuz in the french series , Squirrelflight's name is actualy traditional !
she is Squirrelfur
( or to be acurate , by how the french names work : Fur of Squirrel / Fur of the Squirrel *
edit : more french names for fun ! ( french names acording to google trad )
Hawkfrost is Falconfeather ( traditional too ! )
Ferncloud is Heaterflower
Heartertail is Forget-me-not(eye) ?? ( OEil de Myosotis ) what does that mean google trad ???
sorreltail is Chestnutfur
brakenfur is Fernhair ( please tell me ii got his name right )
Tallstar is Shootingstar
Mousewhisker is Field-mouseleg
Leafpool is Leafmoon
tell me if you want more !
Yeah forget-me-not is the name of a flower in english
Also I would love more
I would call a Hollowpaw, Hollowtree or Hollowlog because those are the only things i can think of
I was curious, what do you think about the name MintLeap? It's a name I chose for a TPC character being changed to the Warrior Cats universe for an AU. I found your channel a bit ago and I really like your content despite me never really reading the Warrior Cats books and getting most of my info from TH-cam
How about a medicine cat Tarotweaver?
Once in a name generator I got the name Hollowface
I love both kinds of naming, I adore the tail suffix, and have a couple cats with it SwanTail, MouseTail, also have one named SparrowFur!
Also got OCs like: RobinSpring, AlliumHeart, FlickerFlame
Needless to say I love both!
Here's one I recently added to my oc name ideas list: Vixentail. I've only seen Vixen- once in canon (Vixenleap). I'm a big fan of animal prefixes!
Hawkfrost seems traditional to me, Hawk as in the appearance, Frost as in the frosty blue eyes?
The suffix “frost” didn’t appear until TNP so it’s counted as “lyrical”. Anything from TPB is “traditional” (heart, tail, whisker, claw, etc.)
I always thought it was a reference to white parts of his coat.
Wonder if we'll get hollowheart lol
That would be a cool name for a Dark Forest cat!
Meanwhile my oc Star’Speaker: 😶
Don’t worry guys she’s a medicine cat!
I made a fan clan with my boyfriend and we named it NyxClan qvq the leader is AbyssalStar and his deputy is VoidSwoop lol. We also named some cats from other fan clans of ours stuff like SpringWatcher or DoeCreek and SwiftPoppy. This isn't an important comment I just wanted to share some cool names we came up with
i havent watched this entire video, but i feel like 'spirit' is an off limits suffix due to brightspirit, the character based off of the deceased little girl who was a warriors fan.
it's sort of decicded in the fandom by now that you shouldn't make ocs with that suffix as it's disrespectful.
thinking about it now,im wondeirng if there's meant to be a gap when clan names are pronounced. Fire-heart as opposed to fireheart. it also creates the funny image of someone meeting a kittypet named "Snapdragon" or "Dragonfly" and arguing over whether this works as a valid clan name
I FREAKING HATE TWIGBRANCH’S NAME. She is one of my favorite characters and they did her name such a disservice 😭. I personally would’ve named her Twigsong or something similar.
I think hollow depends on the cat naming them
I like lyrical names more, though I think traditional names should stick around to an extent or lyrical names will also get boring. I think names like Squirrelflight make sense as Squirrelflight has a feisty personality like a flapping bird. Names that make no sense are, as you said, Harelight. It doesn't really have any meaning, apart from I guess she's tall and thin like a hare.
My Oc it’s Called OwlFeather 😂 I’m old
I would like this video but I can't because it has 666 likes
Yeah, naming cats after other cats was cute the first few times, some of them did feel earned like Needleclaw and Bristlekit, but not a lot do. The Dark Forest battle losses did feel like something and those cats were important to Lion and Cinder (a mom, a sister and a second mother to all of ThunderClan), but then for them to ignore the other losses come the second litter like the other cats who died were no ones and not a beloved elder, Lion's grandpa and a cat they grew up with. Snaptooth could be Mousetooth (he only gets to be named after Mousefur because the other two would be existing names, if his sisters had different suffixes he'd be Firetooth right now), Flywhisker becomes Foxwhisker and Spotfur becomes Firefur (or even name her after Spottedleaf who saved Sandstorm by making her Spottedfur which while not a big change would change how we view the name as a whole).
I also hate that Rootspring was named after someone, I was so happy with my headcanon that Root- was picked because Tree wanted a name to symbolize how he was finally planting his roots somewhere instead of just wandering.
Honestly I don't care much about how traditional or lyrical the names are, those can be hit or miss just based on the prefix alone, but I'm never going to like names that are real things. Like, imagine being named Rainstorm when rain storms just exist, or Nightsky, or Stormcloud (I can't tell you how much I fucking hate that name), and hell, I hate how the books went "lol Sunbeam you have the perfect name because you love sitting in sun beams" because it. drives. me. mad. how. awful. these. names. are. Sandstorm is in dangerous territory since I'm not sure the cats would know what a sand storm is but it still irks me because I know it's a real thing they could encounter as wild cats if they were in the right area.
Last addition: you say Hopwhisker is a weird name but... what's weird about it? The prefix is fine, it's a plant, and the suffix shouldn't be a weird pick either, there's lots of cats with the whisker suffix and it usually falls under traditional naming conventions. What's strange about it?
Ayo 😳