About bretonnia names
Medieval French particles carry these results, with "Emelina de Troyes" and "Crespin d'Esparnon" reading like entries from a tournament roll. The de, des, and d' constructions tie each name to a place or estate, which suits questing knights and their long-suffering villeins in armies inspired by Warhammer's Bretonnia. Assign peasants the same surnames as their lords to underline who owns whom.
How bretonnia names are built
Each name is a given name plus a French-styled surname, looked up whole. Male given names come from a 387-form pool, female given names from a 120-form pool, and both share a surname bank of 139 forms, many carrying a particle, such as de Vienne, la Poucelle or des Champs. The structure is simply given plus surname, so the gender bank chooses the first name and the shared pool supplies the byname.
Fleurent de Troyes
Fleurent (given, male bank) + de Troyes (noble surname with particle)
the de particle marks the chivalric, courtly-French register
Edelina de Tuillieres
Edelina (given, female bank) + de Tuillieres (noble surname with particle)
Jaquet des Champs
Jaquet (given, male bank) + des Champs (noble surname with particle)
Naming notes
Many surnames carry French nobiliary particles (de, des, la), which sets the flavour: a medieval chivalric, courtly-French register rather than a synthesized fantasy one, with plainer family names like Morhier and Baille alongside. Because the parts are whole forms, the names read immediately as knights and ladies. For fan fiction or tabletop, keep a particle surname for a titled character; a landless or common Bretonnian can take the given name alone. Pair first names from the same sound family under one estate surname to build a noble house.
Questions about bretonnia names
- Are these official names?
- No. These are fan-made names in the Bretonnia style, not official names, for original characters and fan fiction.
- Why do many surnames start with de, des or la?
- Much of the surname bank carries French nobiliary particles, which gives the chivalric, courtly register, while other entries are plain family names like Morhier. They are whole forms, not synthesized, so they read straight away as knights and ladies.
- How do I build a noble house?
- Keep one estate surname fixed and draw several first names from the gender banks. Since all genders share the surname pool, that reads as one Bretonnian family.