# Origins of Salamanders' Names?



## Dicrel Seijin (Apr 2, 2011)

So, I decided to name my squads. I want names that are fluffy, but I can't figure out where the Salamanders get their names from. I see some that are Greco-Roman in nature and then there are those with the glottal stop inserted after the first or second syllable (and I have no idea where these are from). 

Do the Salamanders have some obscure culture that they're based on? Do those seven cities have their own naming conventions? If not, has Nick Kyme or someone else revealed how the names came to be?

Can someone point me in a direction? (I've only read _Salamander_, so if _Firedrake_ has some answer, I apologize as I haven't started that yet.)


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## locustgate (Dec 6, 2009)

I asked this a while ago, can't find it, but most of the people said that the squad names are named after the current Squad leader. I think they are based off of one of the african kingdoms, sorry can't think of which one I remember reading, it was in a thread about the themes of the primarch and what/who they were based off of.


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## Hammer49 (Feb 12, 2011)

I think its a mix greco roman & some from asian origins. Sorry I cant give you anything more.


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## DijnsK (Mar 29, 2011)

if you get me some names i might be able to find out for you 
im currently looking into something similar, so i can take this along


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## Dicrel Seijin (Apr 2, 2011)

Thanks for the replies so far. I can see how some are Asian and African, but two continents are a bit much. I'll try to find that thread on the Primarchs.



DijnsK said:


> if you get me some names i might be able to find out for you
> im currently looking into something similar, so i can take this along


Well, here you go. This is a partial list from the _Salamander_ book and from when I was looking around FW.

Tu’Shan
N’keln 
Ko’tan Kadai 
Adrax Agatone 
Hazon Dak’ir

Tsu’Gan
Ba’ken
Doc’tyr
Vel’cona/Velcona 
Pyriel

Elysius 
Xavier
Argos
Fugis
Herculon Praetor 

Naveem
Iagon

Pellas Mir’san (FW)
Harath Shen (FW)


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## DijnsK (Mar 29, 2011)

Xavier is French, so could very well be African because the French colonized large parts of Africa, it means "new start" or "clean house"
Argos is Greek, it means "vigilant guardian"
Herculon sounds Greek to me
Puriel is an angel who appears in the apocryphal work of the Testament of Abraham
Harath is Arabic for Provider

i could go on for a while but there doenst seem to be a obvious origin... 
if your looking for names, and i know this sounds strange, look for baby naming sites, they often offer so look for a meaning and then they come up with some names...


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## Dicrel Seijin (Apr 2, 2011)

DijnsK said:


> i could go on for a while but there doenst seem to be a obvious origin...
> if your looking for names, and i know this sounds strange, look for baby naming sites, they often offer so look for a meaning and then they come up with some names...


Actually, that's what I've been doing... thinkbabynames.com has a names origin function that breaks names down by categories. Thing is, I do want these names to be fluffy, so I was hoping that if they were from a particular culture or area that that could narrow things down. 

I guess I should read _Firedrake_ to increase the sample size.


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## DijnsK (Mar 29, 2011)

try to search for names related with fire... or related to the roman god vulcan 

http://www.20000-names.com/fire_names_hot_names.htm


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## Mob (Nov 14, 2010)

There's no one cultural background, Sallies names are drawn from scattergunned non-Western words, Greco-Roman myth, simple wordplay and bad literary allusions.

Some examples not given so far in the thread

Non-Western stuff
Hazon (Hebrew for 'vision')
N'Keln (N apostrophe is an African naming convention)

Greco-Roman
Agatone (Greek for 'good')
Eysius (Elysium is the part of the Underworld reserved for heroes in Greek myth)
Pellas (Pallas is another name for the goddess Athena)
Praetor (Roman title, usually an army commander)

Literary allusion
Iagon (Iago the backstabber from _Othello_)
Pyriel (the angel of fire)

I guess I'd take some words from an Eastern language, probably ones to do with fire or heroic themes, and stick an apostrophe in there. But 'sci-fi-ing' up names from Western myths or literature would also be fluffy depending on how you conceived the things being named.

Xavier sticks out because that character predates the modern Sallies naming fluff.


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## Yaak (Mar 26, 2011)

just throwing this out there but was "Doc’tyr" an apothecary, or a ehem doctor?

seems that mob is right if you ask me. good luck!


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## Dicrel Seijin (Apr 2, 2011)

Thanks for all the replies and information.

@DijnsK: Thanks for the link. I've jotted down quiet a bit. I may make it a project to name every single marine/unit that I have. :biggrin:

@Mob: It is a bit disappointing to get confirmation that there is no one culture that can be mined. I am going to try to make it coherent though.



Yaak said:


> just throwing this out there but was "Doc’tyr" an apothecary, or a ehem doctor?


I don't know if this character was named after the good doctor himself (I wouldn't be surprised considering Mob's reply, though you think they could have used one of the actors names instead), but Doc'tyr is the captain of the 4th company.

I decided to skim Salamander today and am shocked at how many names I've missed. I think Kyme named almost all the sergeants and a good number of the troopers in the third company.


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