I was gonna suggest “Roll” for Rock’s Zelda so they’d be “Rock and Roll” but then it was a little too on the nose haha. Stone also seems a bit mean given how she spent MC but perhaps it has good associations with kinstones?
Then for Leaf, since he’s never around her and she’s a ninja bard I was gonna say Shadow, but that’s a Sage title so I was gonna shorten it to Shade… and was once again stymied because That Also Has Lore Implications lol. So Bard feel the most fitting—Sheik is really more a bard than a fighter, and that Zelda is the one who gives you the Ocarina of Time directly.
But for Pinkie! Dream (ALttP) and Day (Oracles)! Both because Pinkie experienced a dream land, and in LA it notes that Marin (a dream girl!) looks like one of the Zeldas Pinkie knows; and day is both a measurement of time (Ages) and the poem “shall I compare thee to a summer’s day” (Season). And together the sisters are daydream.
For Wood… honestly getting an Ember or Spark vibe. The glare, the fact that things seem bad now but she’s gonna grow back into a mighty blaze! Never let them dim your sparkle girl.
And of course Tetra is Tetra but I think she gets called the Lady of Silk and Steel by people who only know of her as a legend. It’s more respectable sounding than Pirate Queen given that piracy is a really bad thing in their world, so they wouldn’t associate this alleged explorer princess with it (until they meet her haha)
YOUR BRAIN IS MASSIVE!!!!! Oh these ideas are so much fun!!!! I've been working with the assumption that the Zelda's nickname themselves since Pinkie might be a little embarrassed by the idea of giving royalty silly nicknames. My ideas for names were to either go with some kind of noun or whatever that was associated with them or do some kind of a title like "Dreamer, Queen, Seer" whatever that tells something about their abilities/experiences. I still like the title idea but I so can't come up with anything for Minish Cap Zelda or Oot Zelda so idk.
Minish Cap Zelda was the one I had the least ideas for honestly, she's just so Zelda to me it was hard to think of anything else. I kind of love both Roll and Stone, thats hard to pick! She'd probably be more likely to nickname herself Roll out of the two. Its cute cuz she likes music and dancing, although Rock and Roll wouldn't mean much of anything in universe since that music style isn't a thing. Also interesting with the fact she uses a wheelchair part time nowdays? But that might be too much. idk actually maybe she would think Stone was fun cuz it matches Rock in universe and it can be like a 'take away the power of what Vaati did' type thing? I'm gonna have to think about that one, but I love both of those options.
Ocarina of Time Zelda is hard because she was Sheik but in a different timeline, and she's grown into a different person than she was. Although, when Leaf finally goes home I think he'll find she's not as different as he was expecting. So like shades of Sheik are there. idk I think I need to spend more time exploring what she's been doing while Leaf's been away to decide a name. smth about dealing with a war with the Gerudo since they're not super happy about their leader being executed on shaky charges from children. Maybe she even gets trained in stealth by Impa still, something about how time wants to flow in a certain way even if you've changed things so when Leaf gets back he finds things are scarily similar to when he woke up as an adult in the temple of time (if probably not the same level of devastation). Shade is interesting because of the whole Hero's Shade is Leaf. so the concept of The Princess' Shade is interesting. A shade of who she once was. Also interesting because leaves (Leaf) ... provide shade... i guess??? Idk idk I'm gonna have to think about this more
Dream and Day is cute! Although Dream would probably make more sense with oracle games zelda to me since she's the one who looks a lot like Marin (Marin and Oracle games Zelda's sprites are actually identical except they added a crown onto Zelda lol???). Dream is also cool because I've been thinking of Oracle games Zelda as a seer or, yknow, oracle who can see outcomes before they happen. Maybe she uses dreams, or day dreams for that? Although I don't know how much Day would relate to ALTTP Zelda. Um. Her hair is the color of the sun...? The initial idea I had for Oracle games Zelda was Hope since she spends a lot of her cutscenes running around Labrynna/Holodrum telling the residents that they can't give up hope. Dream is interesting though, and I'm a total sucker for matching names if I can figure out how Day would work for ALTTP Zelda. Alternate idea: Day and Night? Oracle games Zelda could be Day and ALTTP Zelda could be night? cuz like. association with the knights? and alttp starts during a dark and stormy night..? is this anything?
Ember or Spark for loz 1986 Zelda is interesting. The idea I had for her is Dreamer since she was asleep in a dream world for A Hot Minute (which would take Dream off the table for oracle games zelda) But I have a hard time imagining why she would nickname herself that because she wasn't exactly happy about the whole scenerio. not sure. The "things are bad but you'll grow back into a mightly blaze" is cool! Also interesting bc you first meet her when she's trapped behind a wall of fire. Still feel like something isn't quite right with either of those though. Maybe I just need to roll them around in my head a little longer and I'll like how they sound more though. oh my gosh I just thought about that in conjunction with Wood as a name she's gonna set him on fire 🤣 nooooo (thats so funny)
Ouagh you've got such cool ideas Tetra Lady of Steel specifically is so sick. I don't know if I'm fully seeing the silk associations aside from princesses wearing silk? It sounds cool though.
it would probably help if I gave a quick rundown of who each Zelda is and their major stuff going on too so you have more specific stuff to work with, so I'll try and do that tomorrow. You've given me a lot of really awesome ideas to turn around in my head, thanks a bunch for the ask!!
