When you’re convinced that you’re the most powerful creature in the world, dos it really matter what others call you, aside from honorifics like “Your Radiance?”
I’ve been slow to name bloodlines lately because I’ve been feeling that my naming conventions are a little too anthro-centric; that these couldn’t possibly be the names that the dragons use for themselves– they just sound too much like stock fantasy creature names as opposed to the name that a group of intelligent creatures would take for themselves.
I’m not sure why this bothers me so much; the [descriptor] [dragon synonym] names or other handles (eg: Trenchcrawler, Rattaker) could just as easily be how “lesser races” refer to them, and that could be that. But nevertheless, I’ve been idly fretting about it.
Not that I have any idea what to do about it, mind you, but I have been. Even names like “The Old One” or “The Little One” imply a singularity that I don’t always mean to imply, (though in these two cases, I did), and don’t help define facilitate nomenclature for the type of dragon as a whole.
So, yeah. No real answer tonight, and now I’m not even sure what the question is… I tend to get caught up in verisimilitude (even though I can’t spell it), and, as they say, the [deific being of your choice] is in the details.
That having been said, I shall leave you with this:
“Macejaw? Not a name I’d have chosen, but I can see why…”
While a more Linnaean sounds just as anthro, yeah. I personally like descriptivist names– so like “firebelcher” or “trenchcrawler” make sense– but I hear you. Personally, I think that EVERY dragon is unique; I would say that “colour” is conserved, if I use a DnD paradigm, but otherwise, highly mutagenic. Horns, claws, hell even extra limbs.
I might go by traits? Name each general trait so you could say, like “bug-eyed bellycrawler” or something? Or go a Vampire route & name them after “founding” members of the bloodline?