Kti/Naming

General
This article describes the naming conventions of the Ktarh. The system is somewhat rigid in structure, although the naming elements themselves are an open class.

The article primarily deals with modern names of native Ktarh citizens.

Overall Structure
Ktarh names are somewhat diverse but internally consistent and with a shared macrostructure. Any single native Ktarh's name is indicative of his status and origin. Whereas all names have a few shared elements, new elements arise in special enviroments or conditions.

All Ktarhs have a first or given name, called a hsū. A hsū is the individual's commonly used name which is tied only to him and to no other factor. Female hsūr have a strong tendency to end in <æ>,, <ū> or ; male hsūr have a weak tendency to end in , <ō> or a diphthong.

A hsū is usually below four syllables and rarely is a compound of more than two morphemes. They can be made from words that are either usually nouns or usually adjectives. An example male name, "Aranai" (/araˈnɒy/), means "vindicative, vengeful" and is usually used as an adjective, while another, "Ōkato (/ˈɔːkatɔ/, coming from ), means "paper burner" and is always used as a noun.

Hsūr can be followed by a nuki; a nuki is a modifier to a hsūr and is disambiguative. Nukīr can be chosen by the individual's mother, but can also, if the mother cannot or is unwilling to choose, be assigned by the republican registrators. Most Ktarhs without further bynames have nukīr. A nuki is almost exclusively an adjective in a peculiar formation: a syntactially and phonologically relatively independent adjective (not fully as it still modifies the hsūr) that is in its dependent form. An example hsūr and nuki combination would be "'Māræ Dīrik" (/ˈmaːrɞ ˈdiːrik/, Dusk Māræ). Nukīr are almost exclusively monomorphemic. A hsūr + nuki combination is called a zash (pl. zāshem).

Ktarhs are, under normal circumstances, usually referred to only with their hsūr - nukīr are almost exlusively for bureaucratic and administratorial purposes. During the course of his life, a Ktarh citizen cannot change his hsū without explicit senatorial permission whereas he can freely change his nuki.

Noble clans can employ a different system of nukīr where the nuki isn't assigned due to the byname being disambiguative enough.

Bynames
The Ktarh naming system employs a set of bynames based on circumstance, standing, caste and other factors. The bynames are most often divided into: All bynames can be renounced by the individual bearing them or withdrawn by the one who granted them in the first place.
 * 1) Hereditary bynames
 * 2) Circumstantial bynames
 * 3) Mixed bynames

Hereditary Bynames
Ktarh hereditary non-circumstantial bynames are an old sort of byname. They are exclusively written in the temple script as they have throughout history. A good majority of these are clan bynames.

Marehas
The most common hereditary byname type, the clan byname, is a set of words that follows the zash. This byname is called a marehas. Any Ktarh individual can have only one marehas - one cannot acquire multiple mārēhaser due to their nature; mārēhaser are either patrilineally or matrilineally inherited and, when disputes over a marehas happen, the issue is settled by having the child have no marehas until it is old enough to decide which it wants to take. Almost all mārēhaser are either in the genitive, the possessive, the instrumental or the partitive; they sometimes come in other cases but never in the nominative, vocative, accusative or reflexive. Mārēhaser can be acquired also by adoption - there are no limits on adoption except that the adopter must be older than the adoptee. The adoptee must renounce his hereditary byname upon adoption.

Mārēhaser consist of a mar (pl. mērer) and sometimes in addition a clan's own nuki (pl. nukir).

A mar is either made from words that are usually nouns or adjectives; three clans use a numeral mar that were derived from the numbering of Ḱægx́a's (/cɜɣxɑ/, modern Hǣhha /ˈxɞːxːa/) children: An example marehas would be Nǣmārsā (/nɞːˈmaːrsaː/), meaning "of the rare-metal ring". Republican authorities (usually the Common Senate) can sometimes conduct a clan branch cutting - they can issue a decree depriving an individual of his marehas if he is deemed too insignificant and if the marehas had acquired far too many members. No authority can force a clan head and his kin at least twice removed to renounce their marehas, but it can issue a request of renounciation that could potentially be backed by legal threats.
 * Raknāk /rakˈnaːk/ = third (matrilineal)
 * Zhasnāk /ʒasˈnaːk/ = fourth (matrilineal)
 * Ur'ēzuk /urˈʔɛːzuk/ = fifteenth (patrilineal)

A clan's nuki is always either a dependent prefixed adjective or an independent adjective.

Soaka
The less common type of hereditary byname.

Kakrā
A kakrā is an extremely rare type of hereditary byname stemming from pre-regal princely families. Kākrak are very regional and are found almost exclusively on Kæ'nari. A kakrā is made up of a kakrina-mar and a uhra (pl. uhrak).

A kakrina-mar is always a noun. A uhra is a pre-regal geographical term, denoting an area of western Kæ'nari. Of nearly a hundred that once existed, only six survive:
 * ḱærxøh (IPA /cɜrxœh/, modernised > Hæshai) - Akāku
 * ǵyŕa (IPA /ʝʉɽʲa/, modernised > Ziræ) - Zīkan
 * åhkab (IPA /ɒʰkab/, modernised > Ōka'ma) - Marædēn
 * ixuh (IPA /iχuh/) - Ihū
 * ŕakš (IPA /ɽʲakʂ/, modernised > Ræksha) - Radmāk
 * (unattested, modernised > Īkri) - Īrka