Naming References: Water Tribe Characters
I decided to put this information in a separate post, so here are a few resources about naming in Inuit and Iñupiat cultures. A couple disclaimers/important things:
Firstly, I don’t like to use a mix of Inuit and Iñupiat names. I think doing so implies that the languages these cultures speak (of which there are many) are the same, and although there are similarities among Inuit and Iñupiat cultures, they aren’t interchangeable and shouldn’t be treated as such.
Secondly, when referring to people, just as a PSA: Inuk is one person. Inuuk is for two people. Inuit is for three+ people. Inuit languages can be used to refer to languages. The same goes for Iñupiaq languages.
One option is to read up on Inuit or Iñupiat naming customs, then use a language dictionary to find a name accordingly. My go-to dictionary is this one, which is an Inuktut Glossery. Here is an Iñupiat dictionary. An example of how I’ve used it: some Inuit names are body parts. From the Inuktut Glossery, I got the name Taqtuq, which means kidney in Inuktut.
This is another good source for learning more about Inuit names (be mindful of dialects):
“Inuit name their children after body parts, such as Kanaaq – shin (I think) or lower part of the leg, putuguq - big toe, sometimes after animals, Kumaruaq (caribou in shaman’s language), Taqtu – kidney (my middle name), or after what is in the sky – Siqiniq (sun) - Hiqiniq in the Nattilingmiut dialect, Taqqiq - moon, Ubluriaq (Aivilingmiut dialect) Ulluriaq (Uqqurmiut dialect), Nanurjuk - the star Betelguese in the Orion constellation…”
If you read up on tuqurausiq and atiqsuqtuq, you can link characters through names. This is a very important belief!! Treat it accordingly. A great source for learning more is here. Control f “name” if that’s all you’re wanting to find. I strongly suggest this source, as the information is gathered from Inuit elders:
“Children were often named after deceased relatives. Uqsuralik related:
‘When a baby constantly cries, there is a saying that the baby wants to have a particular name. Once the people name the child after that person the baby stops crying. It is often a deceased relative they had forgotten about and the baby is crying because it wants that particular name.’”
“Thus the fate of the deceased namesake will shape the child, but the child will outgrow this and develop its own personality and one should not worry too much about it. Generally, people are happy to see the properties of the deceased return in the children that are named after them. Sometimes the namesakes are very much like their deceased namesakes. According to Uqsuralik:
‘Sometimes children show exactly the same behaviour and attitudes as the one they are named after. This is called atiqsuqtuq.’”
You can also follow blogs like @/mostly-mundane-atla. Additionally, this is a source about spelling.
You should not be choosing last names if you’re writing for the canon universe (see below). If you’re writing for a modern AU, before you choose anything, read up on some history. Here are a few sources:
1. Article: “The Little-Known History of How the Canadian Government Made Inuit Wear ‘Esk*mo Tags’”
“The history of the Esk*mo Identification program still isn’t talked about in Canadian classrooms, but its legacy lingers still, through a custom that neither Olivia or Jennifer can really explain.”
(Also has some general information about naming customs and atiq.)
2. Resource: Project Surname
“In 1970, the federal government undertook a program, known as Project Surname, to assign last names to Inuit in northern Canada. These surnames were to replace the personal disk numbers that Inuit had been given by the Canadian government in the 1940s. While some Inuit and non-Inuit peoples viewed Project Surname as a more effective and politically correct system of identification, others saw it as yet another instrument of paternalism. Today, Inuit use a mixture of Euro-Canadian and traditional Inuit names.“
“Before the arrival of Europeans, the Inuit had a complex naming tradition. Inuit names reflected what was important in their culture, including the environment, animals, family and spirits. They believed that names carried life and personality. Consequently, the process of naming a child was about discovering who the child was, who they represented from the past and who they will become…
“Since names were unique, the Inuit naming system did not recognize shared family names or surnames. Women did not take on the family name of their husbands, as was the tradition among Europeans. Inuit names were also not gender specific; males could be named after females and vice versa. It was believed that people with the same name were essentially one person, whether male or female. From generation to generation, Inuit namesake traditions served to bond families and communities, simultaneously ensuring the survival of Inuit culture.”
This is a really, really good resource for beginning to learn about naming customs and the impact of colonization on these customs.
3. Article: What’s in a name? How a government project forced surnames on Inuit
“While Project Surname was taking place, the Inuit Cultural Institute, which no longer exists, was working on a new writing system for Inuit. The system, called roman orthography, is still used today.
Under the new system, some letters were eliminated; E was replaced with I; O was replaced by U, Irniq explained.”
For specific names, Nunavut’s Department of Culture and Heritage has archives, along with oral histories, accessible to the public. As always, be respectful.
There’s also this post by @mostly-mundane-atla! Please follow their blog. They provide a lot of really good information, and have some bomb headcanons.
These are some of the sources I use for naming/research, and they’re all trustworthy. I did find them by doing some digging, but I hope they can help anyone who wants to name their characters. Naming is important. There’s a lot of misinformation and misconceptions out there about these cultures; do your part to learn, and avoid contributing to misrepresentation. Good luck.
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