Petike the Taffer
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Maybe a bit of advice ? In the FM series I'm preparing, the two main characters have the given names Toby and Agnes (it's the protagonist and deuteragonist, respectively), I've been toying with the idea of giving them family names as well, since many of the FM series have named protagonists who have surnames. Toby's from a family who were usually farriers, though he eventually wound up working as a cobbler (this serves as a daylight "front" for his night time thieving). Would it make sense if the man's popularly accepted family name was Farrier ? It's an existing, though less common English surname, and it directly refers to the profession practiced by his relatives. Your suggestions ?
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Is Toby a typical mediaeval name? At least for me it sounds pretty modern.
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Yes, Toni, it actually is.
https://dmnes.org/name/Tobias
It's one of those names of Hebrew origin that have been part of European languages and considered international names for many, many centuries. And according to that dictionary, the first written record of "Toby" in English, in that exact form identical to the present day one, occured in 1580. Fuller or earlier forms are known in English since before the 16th century. Toby is a colloquial form, and it likely wasn't recorded directly in preceding centuries. In addition, as seen in TDM's The Tears of Saint Lucia and elsewhere, the timeframe of TDM's rough "present" isn't strictly medieval. It's more of an early modern setting with some medieval throwbacks and a much earlier industrial revolution.
Even a female name like Tiffany (at least the English form of it) isn't some recent fad name, but goes back to the Middle Ages, originating as a rendering of Theophany. It's actually a name with pious connotations.
Speaking of medieval female names, the name Agnes (derives from "Lamb", as in Agnus Dei, "Lamb of God") was once very common throughout medieval and early modern Europe, in a large number of countries. Part of why I chose it. Nowadays, it's one of those names that are seen as a bit old-fashioned or quaint, if nice.
If we were to be completely realistic with many of the names occuring in The Dark Mod's universe, many that reflect our real world's history, cultures and religions would likely not exist in the setting's alternate history, and the same goes for all the fantasy elements. So, many of the names are a bit anachronistic anyway, though they try to capture either a certain atmosphere (thieves, the criminal underworld, grey areas between legal and illegal) or historical inspirations (names that would fit a medieval or early modern style world, even if they're not necessarily always 100 % accurate to our history).
I do have a whole section on medieval and early modern names in the Historical resources article on the wiki. -
Thank you for sharing this! As I said it was just my first though on this when I read the name. Of course feel free to use it as you see fit!
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