Eisen Naming Conventions
‘Von’
The prefix ‘von’ before a surname denotes legal house affiliation. This is commonly used two ways. Firstly, amongst the noble houses of Eisen ‘von’ is used to show that a family has been accepted into a noble house. For example, the last name ‘Simmons von Rosebriar’ shows the surname Simmons as part of the Rosebriar Noble House. When used in this way it is most common to see it done with the primary names of the six noble duchies, but a family with close ties to a county or barony might choose to show their specific allegiance by adopting the ‘von’ and that family name instead. This is especially common with marriages across familial lines. ‘Von’ can also be used in this context to show family allegiance to a noble house. Any noble family in a duchy can ‘Von’ their name, but it is often dropped socially once a family is well established and widely known to be a part of that house. For example ‘Cherayth von Tresard’ would be pedantically redundant as everyone knows the Cherayth’s are one of the leading families of that duchy. The second way it can be used is to denote individual adoption. In a family with the last name ‘Jordian’, an adopted child might have the last name ‘von Jordian.’ There can be more than one ‘von’ in a name. A child adopted into the ‘Simmons von Rosebriar’ family could be ‘von Simmons von Rosebriar,’ but this starts to become a mouthful and usually the first ‘von’ would be dropped in favor of highlighting the noble house connection. It should be noted that different countries in Europa use different prefixes for this purpose. For example, Montaigne uses de or d’ (Simmons de Tresard, Simmons d’Aubrey)Changing Houses
If someone leaves one noble house/duchy for another, the ‘von’ part of their name would change accordingly. For example ‘Simmons von Rosebriar’ would become ’Simmons von Arden.’ For someone with a well established family in the original duchy, usually the entire surname will be dropped in favor of their new allegiance. So Josef Tresard would become Josef von Arden. In the case of someone leaving or being disowned from a family or duchy without joining a new one, ‘von’ and the name of the town where they were born, ‘von Eisen,’ or, most commonly, a version of ‘von Novandria’ is generally chosen as a new surname. This has led to a plethora of last names based upon the name of the capital city such as von Nova, Vandri, Vonova, Dria, Vonovan, and Novan.
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