Original Post: Ember, February 24, 2017
Hi everyone! I hope you all had a lovely February. Before we jump into the fun part of this Monthly Meow, there’s a bit of housekeeping we need to get done. To start off with, I apologize again for the confusion surrounding the gathering; everything is back in order now. In order to accommodate for how late the gathering and medicine cat meeting are this month, I’ve pushed back next month’s gathering and medicine cat meeting by one week. The calendar on the Help Page is up to date, so if you want to double check dates you can do so there. The clan counts are smaller than I like to see them (MoonClan has 88 characters, NightClan has 87, DawnClan has 71, and SunClan has 80) but fairly even. To boost the clan counts I plan on leaving memberships open for a little while longer and it would be a great help if you guys would point new members in the right direction or even help spread the word about the site.
As promised, this is part two of the series of Monthly Meows comparing the canon universe to this roleplay. Just as before, I used the Avon paperback 2004 American edition of Into the Wild, my somewhat sketchy memory of the rest of the books, and the Warriors Wiki to write this, so if you see anything inaccurate please speak up. As well, The Warrior Cats canon universe is notoriously riddled with contradictions and continuity errors and is far more massive than I could hope to fully explore, so I’ve limited these Monthly Meows to primarily focusing on the first six books published.
The traditional naming system is consistent across both the universes, with the character’s prefix chosen by their mother to describe their physical appearance with no eye to their future warrior name, and the suffix chosen by the leader to reflect one of the cat’s prominent traits such as appearance, skill, history, or personality. However, the books do not remain very consistent on this count. Some prefixes simply don’t make sense to give to a kit whose personality and skills are impossible to know shortly after they are born (such as abstract names like Hopekit, personality-related names such as Sweetbriar and Hollowkit, and action related names such as Runningnose, Bouncefire, Jumpfoot, Tumblekit, or Mumblefoot). As well, some names are clearly chosen for their warrior name in mind, such as Blackfoot/Blackstar, who was almost entirely white. In SkyClan super editions, warrior suffixes are occasionally attached to kittypet names which are treated like prefixes, resulting in names like Billystorm, Harrybrook, and Bellaleaf.
Thankfully our kittypet/loner-to-warrior names don’t tend to be this clumsy, but this website has a fairly anything-goes policy toward naming. While sometimes this results in names that just bend the rules a bit (such as with my characters Quietwater, Fallenleaves and Fallenstar, Bloodrose, Brokenshore, Swiftfoot, and Running-grain) other names outright don’t follow the rules in favor of being creative. Just from my memory and looking over the clan pages, this includes names like Timelessnight, Leviathankiller, Raidsiren, Rosequartz, or Solardemise. Names on our website also tend to include objects the cats would have no knowledge of, such as Silktongue, or human-concepts such as Angelwing, Runepaw, Genocidepaw, or the recent litter of coffee kits.
Other names include natural objects and concepts the characters here would have no knowledge of because they are based around Detroit, Michigan. Names like Tiderunner, Northernaurora, Pandapaw, or Cobragust fall into this category, as well as my characters Yuccathorn, Cactusblossom, and Adderstrike. Additionally, there are a number of plants native to England that have bled over from the original series and are common-place in this roleplay, but aren’t something the clans would realistically encounter on a day-to-day basis. I touch on these in more detail in a later Monthly Meow where I discuss the clans’ territories.
To me, the most interesting difference between canon and Warrior Cats of the Forest naming is the avoidance of sacred objects. In the series, it was generally considered in poor taste to name a cat after something the clans only had one of, or a concept mentioned in a clan name, such as the moon or the river, or thunder-. While there are a few exceptions to this rule, such as Moonflower, the rule generally holds. On our website, this rule of thumb rarely seems to be taken into account. -Moon was used as a prefix in five characters at the time this Monthly Meow was written, River- is a fairly common prefix though we don’t have any right now, and even Star- is not an unheard of prefix.
A less remarkable facet of naming is the use of clan-oriented names, or names that correlate to a specific clan’s surroundings and values. This was never a hard-and-fast rule in the books and varies from member to member on this website, but is worth noting as a similarity nonetheless. Examples in the canon universe include WindClan names that stress running, such as Swiftfoot, Breezepelt and Runningbrook, or RiverClan names that stress water, such as Reedwhisker, Eeltail, Pikepaw, Shimmerpelt, Rushtail, and Sedgecreek. On our website, examples include NightClanners named after city-objects or human made concepts, such as Glassfur, MoonClan names that refer to their thick forest territory such as Twistedthorn and Oakleaves.
On an interesting side note, a friend of mine who read the warriors books in Spanish mentioned that the naming system was not translated over. While some two part names were directly translated (Sandstorm as Tormenta de Arena, Tigerclaw as Garra De Tigre), apprentices and kits were only referred to by their prefix (Cinderpaw as Ceniza, Ravenpaw as Cuervo), some names kept the general theme of their English name but were changed (Ferncloud became Fronda, or frond), some names were changed entirely (Brokenstar became Nocturo, or in English, Nocturnal), but kittypet names remained the same (Velvet is still just Velvet). Considering how seriously the naming system was taken in the English books, I’d be curious to see how and the erasure of that system was handled in the books, but unfortunately the Spanish copy at my local library is checked out and my friend wasn’t certain. If any of you have read a non-English edition of the books, I’d love to hear how the names were translated and what influence it had on the rest of the book.
MoonClan
Apprentices:
Deathkit, Firekit, Hekate, Gaia, Minor: Early March
Peregrinekit, Ploverkit, Warmkit, Rubykit, Emarykit, Amberkit, Owl: Mid March
Warriors:
Wingedpaw: Mid March
Horizonpaw, Valentine, Valentina: Late March
Elders: German, Swede, Syracuse, Tayen’lou
Deaths: Twistedthorn, Robinshell, Oakleaves, Aphrodite
NightClan
Apprentices:
Queenkit, Killerkit, Blindingkit, Crookedkit, Fragilekit, Gatheringkit , Huntingkit, Mongrelkit, Nebulakit, Phantomkit, Swampkit, Twentykit, Meadowkit, Kingkit: Early March
Shimmeringkit, Gracklekit, Rustkit, Berylkit, Norma Jean: Mid March
Nanokit, Scorchkit: Late March
Warriors:
Brokenpaw, Electricpaw, Blazingpaw, Shreddedpaw: Early March
Silhouettepaw: Late March
Elders: Dogface
Deaths: Scarletflame
DawnClan
Apprentices:
Malardkit, Silverkit, Ivykit: Mid March
Honeykit, Forestkit, Rainkit: Late March
Warriors:
Slatepaw: Early March
Coffeepaw, Rainypaw, Mochapaw, Foggypaw, Javapaw, Lattepaw: Mid March
Cedarpaw: Late March
Elders: Lightningstar, Alphaheart, Kingdomquake, Shadesoul, Twosouls, Luminousowl
Deaths: Price
SunClan
Apprentices:
Nafretiri, Brownkit, Wanderingkit , Chigaru, Qebhsenuef , Tazmaniankit: Mid March
Warriors:
Ravenpaw,Huntingpaw, Rushingpaw: Late March
Elders: Sandfoot, Crisisflame, Icedawn, Streamrush, Berrysong
Deaths: Snarlingbear, Standingbear, Aloetooth, Agaveroot, Mousedream
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