Ruritanian names

Ruritanian names follow a common general pattern: GIVEN NAME + PATRONYM + FAMILY NAME.

Given names

All masculine given names end in -o and all feminine given names end in -a. Some given names are simple Ruritanian words: Lupo “Wolf”, Bela “Pretty”. Most, however, come from the same European stock of names, mostly classical and biblical, that make up a huge amount of first names across the continent: Elzabeta “Elizabeth”, Giusefo “Joseph”. As in other languages, many names for one gender are derived from the other: Guiliamo “William” > Guiliamina “Williamina”, Mariya “Mary” > Mariyo “Mario”.

Patronyms

After their given name, Ruritanians have a patronym, which is an altered form of their father's given name. Most patronyms end in the suffix -itzo, but some have irregular forms (frequently using the suffix -icio and/or altering the root of the name). The patronym for any given name is listed alongside the name itself in the dictionary of names. Women's patronymics change the final -o to -a.

For example, Gergio Micelitzo Androvo has a son and a daughter, Giohano and Racela. Their full names are Giohano Gergitzo Androvo and Racela Gergitza Androva. We can also see from his own patronym that Gergio's father is named Micelio.

Sometimes a matronym is used instead, derived from the mother's first name rather than the father's. Matronyms are used for children whose mother is much more socially prominent than the father (for example, the children of a reigning queen), or whose father is unknown or has no legal rights to the children. An increasing trend since about the mid-1970s is giving sons patronyms and daughters matronyms, though this is by no means the norm. Matronyms are typically formed using the suffix -atzo: Giuliatzo, Claratzo, etc.

Family names

Like many European languages, Ruritanian family names tend to fall into four categories:

1. those deriving from occupations;
2. those originating as older patronyms;
3. those deriving from place names or ethnic groups;
4. and those that were originally simple personal descriptors.

Names derived from occupations are typically the same as the regular word for that occupation: Coquero “cook”, Sciovero “shoemaker”. Most of these names carry the distinctive ending -ero, equivalent to “-er” in English (but see e.g. Giuro “judge”, Preto “priest” for counterexamples).

Names deriving from older patronyms frequently end in the suffix -ovo: Alexovo from Alexandro, Petrovo from Petro. If the suffix comes after the sounds /ʃ dʒ tʃ/, it becomes -evo instead: Gioscevo from Giosciúo, Luvicevo from Luvicio. However, many family names in this group have -evo where one might expect -ovo (such as Scimonevo from Scimono), and they may alter the original root as well (Gianovo from Giohano).

Some family names derive from place names within Ruritania: Strelsano from Strelsavia “Strelsau”, Zendano from Zenda. Others come from other places or ethnic groups in or near Europe: Ceco “Czech”, Turco “Turk”.

Many family names are descriptors of a person: Locato “curly [hair]”, Novandro “new man”. Others are colors or names of animals: Verdo “green”, Lupo “wolf”. Some refer to general geographic locations (as opposed to specific place names): Valdo “forest”, Montano “from the mountain”.

Regardless of their origin, all family names (like all given names and patronyms) have different forms for men and women. In almost all instances the difference consists solely of a man's last name ending in -o and a woman's ending in -a: Mulinero, Mulinera; Henricevo, Henriceva. However, a few names have more significant differences between the masculine and feminine version. Names referring to royal or aristocratic “occupations” use the corresponding male and female terms: Rexo “king” vs. Quìna “queen”. Names deriving from older patronyms whose male forms end in -iovo uniformly change this ending to -eva for the female form: Nicoliovo >Nicoleva (though names with -ievo in the male form retain the i in the female form: Guilievo > Guilieva). And finally a few names' different male and female forms are simply unpredictable and must be memorized. The most common family names with distinct male and female forms are listed below:

Male	Female	Meaning
Novandro	Novfema	new man, new woman
Lupo	Lupina	he-wolf, she-wolf
Strelsano	Strelsa	Strelsauer
Rexo	Quìna	king, queen
Princio	Princesa	prince, princess
Cevalo	Dama	knight, dame
Nicoliovo	Nicoleva	(from given name "Nicholas")
Filipiovo	Filipeva	(from given name "Phillip")
Samuliovo	Samuleva	(from given name "Samuel")

To refer to an entire family by their family name, you would say (e.g.) la familia Alexova, la familia Sciovera, la familia Quìna, etc. Prior to the late 20th century the practice was instead to refer to the family using the masculine plural: li Alexovi, li Scioveri, li Rexi, but this has completely disappeared.

Address

On official documents and paperwork, the full name is written out: Racela Gergitza Androva. In print, it is very common to see initials for the given name and patronym alongside a spelled-out family name: R G Androva. The patronym is never abbreviated if the given name is spelled out.

Family members and close friends refer to each other by their first name alone: Racela; in recent decades this has spread to use among coworkers and casual acquaintances as well. Between strangers, or when addressing people in positions of authority over oneself such as a boss or teacher (or when addressing someone several decades older than oneself), the terms Sinyoro and Sinyora (“Mr.” and “Ms./Miss/Mrs.”, abbreviated Sro and Sra) are used before the family name: Sra Androva. Young or unmarried women were formerly addressed with Sinyoreta (Sta), but this fell out of favor in the 1970s.

Until very recently, the standard form of address for casual acquaintances, coworkers, clients, and so on—essentially, anyone to whom one was not particularly close but not in a significant power or age differential with—was to use the given name and patronym with no family name: Racela Gergitza. This practice, ubiquitous for centuries, rapidly fell out of favor during the 1990s and is rarely encountered today.