#topic: names

[onepiece-oc-archives]

Is there a naming pattern or process for naming new characters for the one piece universe?`what should one consider when naming their oc? what can be done, what should not be done? i generally struggle with names and the one piece universe is no exception.

Hey, good question! I sort of answered this in this post I made before I even started this blog, but it's not very detailed, and it's mixed in with a lot of other stuff, so here's a little naming guide:

First of all, the family name comes first! I see a lot of people confused about this, but, in the Japanese naming scheme (which is what One Piece uses), the family name comes before the given name. So, if you have the name Roronoa Zoro, then Roronoa is the family name, and Zoro is the given name. Simple! You just have to pay a bit of attention to it to not get it mixed up. Another great example comes with Monkey D. Luffy and Monkey D. Garp. Luffy is Luffy and Garp is Garp. The "Monkey (D.)" part is their family name, which they share.

So, what's the D.? The D. is... well, we don't exactly know. All I can tell you without spoilering stuff is that giving your character the D. in their name is a decision that comes with a lot of lore implications and consequences, so consider it well. If you were to add a D. or any other letter of meaning to your character's name, it would be "Familyname X. Givenname".

If your character has more than one given name, you just glue them to the name at the end, so "Silvers Mary Jane" for example. The character is called Mary Jane and her family name is Silvers.

Aside from that though, you're 100% free. In the world of One Piece, anything can be a name. It doesn't really matter what culture it's from - you can probably make it work. I would say most names are either Japanese or based on a Western language, most commonly English, - or just entirely made up. You can name your OCs normal human names, fantasy names, name them after foods or weapons or tools... whatever you like! This goes for given and family names by the way. Also, a person's perceived real-world ethnicity does not determine what names they're "allowed to have". Nothing does. Just look at the live action! Nami and Sanji both have Japanese names, for example, but they aren't Japanese.

As a general piece of advice, I would avoid giving your OC the name of a famous pirate, because that name is most likely going to be taken.

Speaking of names being taken, if you want to check whether a name is taken or not, you could hop onto the One Piece Wiki starting page, and search for that name. Do not click on the articles you may stumble across if you want to avoid spoilers, otherwise your search should be relatively spoiler-free. I can't guarantee that it will be, but it most likely will be.

Generally, for naming OCs I use Behind the Name. It has a lot of names for pretty much every culture I could think of, including names from mythology, pop culture, literature etc. They also have a page for surnames, but it's not as detailed or extensive. With One Piece though, your surname doesn't even have to be or even sound like a surname. One Piece names can be very whacky, so feel free to go wild!

I hope this helped! If you run into any more trouble, let me know ^^

[symphonicsoul]

                     Headcanon:  Masks and Mindsets 

Okay so I was rambling about this last night to someone else and I realized I should probably explain this out more in detail.  Kumo functions on differing Masks/ Mindsets and he uses these as literal differing personas. He’s come to do this because it’s all a survival tactic that’s developed due to his life stuck in an abusive situation/ relationship with Chaos / The Earl for twelve years.  

Example: 

Names mean everything to Kumo and they are a sure fire signal for how he is going to act and how he is going to treat the others around him. So he has a lot of them. The use of differing names has functioned all the way back to Misterica where his mother nicknamed him “Snow Cloud” and his brother nicknamed him “Snowflake” or simply shortened his name from Pilvi (pill-vee) to Pilv’  (pill-v). 

He also had roles to play on Misterica such as The Holy Vessel and The Child of White.  He was also The Crowned Prince and His Eminence. All of these names were a differing role and required different things from him. Kumo’s been masking for as long as he can remember because every name was a different face he needed to show to whoever was addressing him. So he’s been masking since he was at least a toddler.  

How Kumo refers to himself is a signal for how he is going to act personally and how he refers to someone else is a signal for how he is going to treat them.  

His name is not the only important thing when it comes to his conduct. How he refers to someone else is just as important. 

Kumo legitimately thinks of his other names as other people. He does not see Makenshi as the same person as Little Cloud so please remember this when interacting with him. Your Muse won’t know that but it’s still important to his character. Kumo thinks of himself as a ghost and having already left the plane of the living so he thinks of these “other people” as people who are capable of having deaths and some of them - Valkoinen Pilvi for example as having already died.  So once he thinks of a persona as dead he will avoid it at all costs. 

Slipping back into a “dead persona” makes him uncomfortable and it puts him in a position to act as that “persona” would have and sometimes for him that is excessively painful - Pilvi being the example here - considering Pilvi is his truest name and who he was when Misterica was still around. He will never think of Pilvi as anything more than a naïve prince that failed to protect his people in every way imaginable.  So Kumo will say things like “I don’t want to be -name- anymore.”  or “I’m not - name- anymore.” because he either feels uncomfortable in that position or he thinks of that persona as dead.  

When it comes to Kumo’s personas he has: 

Key:  * = He thinks of this persona as Dead ** = He thinks of this persona as cursed.

 Makenshi ** / ^ - The Demon Swordsman - the one who's murdered too many people in wonderland and been forced to do so. The cold blooded one and the warrior just set out to do a job and nothing else. He goes the most emotionless in this one and uses it when he's trying to strip himself of any claim "humanity". He's legit trying to present himself as a "lesser being" or "a demon." He's giving a title and not a name. This one is a defensive wall. 

(^ This one, for my FMA people following me, is nearly the same as Mustang introducing himself as "The Flame Alchemist" and he nearly always gives this one first.) 

 Kumo ** - The Soft Cloud - His casual presence. The twins in the series gave him this nickname. He's very fond of it. Normally uses it around children. He's soft in this mindset. Smiles a lot. Talks very softly. Gentle. Affectionate. Willing to laugh. Willing to play. Will goof off. Excitable. Shows a little more of himself to put others at ease. A calming presence. His entire goal with this presence is to keep the peace and the calm. 

 White Cloud **- His actual self -  his given name; Translated. Acts the most like himself with some walls still up. Will relax in this mindset. Will emotionally collapse in his mindset. Mostly only called this by Black Wind. Won't hide his "alien" qualities - aka breathing mist, floating / flying, etc. Most relaxed mindset, but won't give you this name unless you call him out for Makenshi, or unless someone else does. Will hide his pain. Willing to fight and will hold his own doing so. Willing to talk back and to scold. 

Little Cloud **- The caged bird - tenses up. Constantly afraid. On Edge 24/7. Easily scared. submissive as fuck. Doesn't trust anyone but Kaze. Prone to flashbacks. PTSD city. Flinches easily. abuse victim. apologizes 24/7. will show in glimmers while wearing other masks/ in other mindsets. Constantly present. (thanks chaos) 

Holdfény* - Moonlight -  the name given to him by Kaze and Aura before Windaria’s fall. It literally means "Moonlight” in Windarian. He is carefree and smiles. Curious and loving. Grieving but willing to ask for support. Quiet around most people but Kaze / Aura.  Clingy. Affectionate. ***Wants to be this more than anything. 

Valkoinen Pilvi * - The Naïve Prince -  his /actual name/ untranslated. Refuses to be this. Tenses when addressed as such. Argumentative. Will fight you verbally or physically. Feels the need to be poised and proper 24/7/365. On edge. Depressed. Constantly grieving. Lonely. Feels constant heartbreak. Gets angry when anyone puts him here without his consent. (Kaze does it a lot.)  *** Your Highness is the same as calling by his birth name in his mind. 

       - Snow Cloud * files under this name:  a lighter version of Pilvi closer in reflection to Kumo. 

       -  Snowflake * also files under this name:  still a lighter version of Pilvi, but willing to show his insecurities and speak openly about his issues. Can and will go “emotionally nuclear” as his brother has described it. Will speak slightly casual. Will swear but only in his brother’s presence. 

       - Your Eminence * - also files under this name and covers the scope of “the Holy Vessel” and “The Child of White”.  Requires perfection at all times no exceptions. Will not speak of his pain ever. Will never admit to having any form of emotion. Insanely agreeable with most people. Smiles constantly. Speaks even more formally than normal. Manners 24/7 without question or hesitation.  Throws away his rights to be considered anything less than a Holy Object. Won’t speak unless spoken to. Falls into the mindset of Seen not heard. Mildly submissive. 

[berenaheadcanons]

Name

Serena took the surname Campbell to piss her mother off. It was a joke at the time but as the years went on, she began to regret it as being shot down in flames with Edward had more than lost its charm. But she decided that she was going to achieve greater things than he did and did just that. She made the name and her reputation her own.

[just-positivity-stuff]

[symphonicsoul]

Post for Clarification purposes. 

Kumo goes by Multiple Names. 

Makenshi is the name given to him as a Lord of Gaudium.  It is the name given to him by The Earl.  It means Demon Swordsman.  

Shiroi Kumo is the name given to him by Black Wind.  The shortened version simply being Kumo. It means White Cloud.    ** He goes by this name most frequently.  Black Wind refers to him as White Cloud in English / Wonderlandian 

Valkoinen Pilvi is the Misterican version of the above(White Cloud).  It is his birth name.  He hardly goes by this because the only living person who knows this name is Black Wind.  

Little Moon was given to him by Black Wind and Aura when he was living on Windaria. He couldn’t be referred to with anything with “white” or “cloud” in the name, so even in Windarian it would have been a risk. If anyone on Windaria found out that The White Prince still lived, they would have never stopped hunting him.  So he became their Little Moon instead. 

Little Cloud was given to him by The Earl / Chaos itself. It was used to show ownership over him and is a name Kumo shows great aversion to. This name was used before and during times of torture and despair. It has the power to freeze Kumo absolutely solid because when it was being said normally he was being tortured / ended up getting killed. There is nothing good about this name and it is a source of great trauma for the prince.  The only one who ever called him this name was Chaos, so when he hears it he knows exactly where it’s coming from. 

[berenaheadcanons]

Bernie never liked the name Berenice. She always preferred Bernie, a nickname her brothers had given her when they were children.

Alex decided to call her Bern instead because she thought Bernie sounded like an old man's name. 'Bern' was never established as a common nickname on tour though, just her own private term of endearment.

One evening at a garden party hosted by one of Bernie’s RAMC colleagues, Marcus picked up the nickname and adopted it, assuming that all all of his wife's army pals called her Bern. He hoped to bridge the ever growing distance between them that way. The opposite happened: Bernie felt like the nickname was tarnished, a constant reminder of her affair, her failings as a wife and mother.

Now that Alex is gone and her marriage is over she insists that colleagues and friends alike call her Bernie. Not Bern, not Berenice and certainly not Griselda, Griz or whatever abomination Dom comes up with next.

The only exception is Serena. Nothing compares to the way she purrs 'Berenice' whenever she wants something. And of course Bernie will comply to whatever it is that Serena wants. She's only human after all.

[symphonicsoul]

In the same way, Kaze dehumanizes himself by constantly living in the mindset of thinking that he is a weapon  -> Kumo dehumanizes himself by only letting new people in his life know his name as Makenshi.   

Makenshi means demon swordsman and is not a name. It’s a title. His name would be White Cloud or Shiroi Kumo or just Kumo but he doesn’t tell people this because if people have his name then there’s a possibility he could establish an attachment to them and that means it’ll be so much harder when they die because they can and he can’t.  

He sure as fuck won’t tell anyone  “Valkoinen Pilvi” because that is his birth name and that would be way too personal.   (It still means White Cloud just in Misterican) 

No one will ever know “Snow Cloud” or “Little Moon” because those are sacred and far as he’s concerned the people who spoke those names to him are dead.  

So when he meets new people the first thing he does is establish a barrier that he’s not human by giving them only the option to refer to him by title and not his name. 

He is Unlimited, therefore immortal and his greatest enemy feeds off of negative emotions.  Grief is Chaos’s favorite never ending feast.   Kumo refuses to give himself a reason to ever feel it again. 

In the same way, Kaze caved to his emotions and let rage guide him -> Kumo iced over his own heart and refuses to let himself feel anything. 

[mackenziegthomas]

🩰👨‍🏫❄️

[🩰] is there a type of fashion your muse prefers, or do they not pay attention to their appearance at all?

Mack has a very specific style of fashion. It tends to lean to more edgy fashion, leather jackets and tiny skirts. It sits exactly in between looking like she put in no effort, and the effort she puts into it. She wants to look good- but don't actually look, she only wants to know you thought about looking.

[👨‍🏫] how much does your muse care about image? how would they react if something personal got leaked about them?

Mack doesn't give a shit what people say about her-- unless you're part of a specific handful, but she doesn't like people in her business. People have a habit of asking probing questions since her sister died, and she hates it.

[❄️] is there any special meaning behind your muse’s name? what is it?

Mackenzie means a firey woman, but it is also child of a wise leader. Truthfully, it was more for the fact its a little gender neutral- Mack goes by Mack because on paper, sometimes shes assumed to be a man, and it opens doors.