Pinoy family names in GE

[I don't own any of the copyrighted names and titles listed in this article!

With apologies to all the families I name-dropped in this post...hey, at least we're preserving the names for posterity, right?

Also, there's a thread at the forums that actually lists all of the Filipino players' family names, which is fun and entertaining to read.]

Everyone knows that the first thing you need to do after logging in to GE for the very first time is to register a family name.

And family names, in my experience, carry more information than that unique surname. It's pretty easy to figure out the Pinoy families in GE.

While grinding in the Tetra Ruins, I once found myself right next to a fighter-scout-elementalist family with the unlikely surname of "Sardines" - the first names were "Ligo", "Mega" and "555" [popular brands of that canned fish in the Philippines].

I saw a server broadcast that was sent out by the family "Matapang", and had to smile at the appropriate-ness of the name. That word means "brave" - certainly a desirable quality in the pioneers of the New World.

At one point I was helped by a family bearing the surname "Flavor"; one of its members was named "Cookies and Cream" [with special characters - can't remember the sequence]. That happens to be a very popular taste here, figuring in everything from ice cream to powdered-milk candies to pearl shakes.

And then, there was the really memorable family that passed me in the Tetra Catacombs: the Sotto family, consisting of "Thito", "Vhic", and "Vhicente". I laughed for several minutes after they ran by, and not just for the strange Pinoy tendency to put random "h"'s in personal names - that family was named for three fairly famous showbiz brothers, all of whom were comedians at one point or another.

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Another factoid you can pick up from a family name: if the name comes from a popular something, like anime or comic books or other video games, you can be pretty sure the player likes that particular popular something.

Don't believe me? I saw a "Valentine" family run past once - led not by a saint but by a fighter with the first name of Vincent.

I've seen several "Kurosaki" and "Ichigo" families - often with special characters added for the "uniqueness" factor.

And I do believe I've run into at least one "Potter" family - with "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" coming, and the fifth movie soon to hit theaters, expect a rash of Hogwarts-type names in the coming phases.

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[SPOILER for those who haven't read the book yet.]

In my own case, my family name belongs to the second group of possible indicators - my family name indicates one of my fandoms.

Just before I started playing, I was rereading Knife of Dreams, the 11th book in Robert Jordan's fantasy series The Wheel of Time, for the umpteenth time - and so, for better or worse, I wound up giving my characters the family name "NineMoons".

Within the series, "Daughter of the Nine Moons" is a fairly high noble / imperial title, held by the heiress to the throne of one of the featured nations; its current bearer is a "small, dark woman" named Tuon Kore Athaem Paendrag. Within the book she's described as being skilled in both hand-to-hand and armed combat, and has even figured in at least one wrestling match.

Tuon's mother, an Empress, was murdered at some point, clearing the way for Tuon to ascend her throne; she was named Radhanan.

And the leader of Tuon's bodyguard is named Furyk, a man with a high position in their army and who is utterly devoted to his charge.

And so my family was formed: the de facto team leader Tuon [female fighter], psychokinetic support unit Radhanon [male wizard], and healer / buffer expert Furyk [male scout].