Honorific Name Changes

Although English uses separate titles, not made part of a name, it is
not unknown in other languages/cultures for a name to change because the
bearer attains noble status. In Traveller itself, a character that
attains the social standing and noble title of "Count" may prefix his
family name with "hault"; the Zhodani indicate noble status with a
suffix to the name.

Historically, German nobility was often signalled by a prefix of "von",
while the use of "de" was not unknown in Dutch (along with "van" and
"ten"), French, and Spanish.

There are similar examples in fiction; the one that most immediately
comes to mind is in the universe of Miles Vorkosigan, where if the
Emperor of Barrayar makes you a Count (the highest level of noble), you
prepend "Vor" to your family name - Kosigan -> Vorkosigan; Patril ->
Vorpatril; Barra -> Vorbarra; et cetera.

Such honorifics need not be solely for nobility; in the Hell's Gate
series by David Weber with Linda Evans and Joelle Presby, veterans of
the Imperial Ternathian Army are entitled to use "chan" before their
surnames; this extends even to the Imperial family: The Grand Princess
Andrin, who is yet too young to serve, even if the ITA allowed women to
serve, is "Andrin Calirath", but her elder brother, who served in the
Army, was "Janaki chan Calirath". On the other side of the war in those
novels, the two highest castes in Mythalan society, the shakira [mages]
and the multhari [warriors], similarly used "vos" and "mul",
respectively, and those members of lines that were both shakira and
multhari were entitled to use "vos and mul".

In the /Klingonaase/ of John M. Ford's /The Final Reflection/, attaining
the rank of starship captain allowed the viewpoint character to change
his given name from Vrenn to Krenn. (The same novel also showed us that
the "line name" was not used as we might; he was Captain Krenn, rather
than Captain tai-Rustazh. One assumes that Kang, Koloth, Korax, Kumara,
et alia, were similar usages.)

Both Japanese and Korean use suffices to indicate some relatively common
honorifics.

Going somewhat farther afield, there are occasions where there is an
actual name change that fit the broad definition of honorific:

Male Sikhs generally take the name "Singh" as a surname or 'pre-surname'
upon formal induction to the Khalsa; females use Kaur.

In the Roman Catholic Church and the Coptic Christian Church, a
newly-elected pope chooses a regnal name.

While not often exercised, the option exists in several European
monarchies to select a regnal name different from the given name.

--
Jeff Zeitlin, Editor
Freelance Traveller
    The Electronic Fan-Supported
    Traveller® Fanzine and Resource

xxxxxx@freelancetraveller.com
http://www.freelancetraveller.com
http://freelancetraveller.downport.com/

®Traveller is a registered trademark of
Far Future Enterprises, 1977-2014. Use of
the trademark in this notice and in the
referenced materials is not intended to
infringe or devalue the trademark.

Freelance Traveller extends its thanks to the following
enterprises for hosting services:

CyberNET Web Hosting (http://www.cyberwebhosting.net)
The Traveller Downport (http://www.downport.com)