.kestral wrote:Name suggestions for kits and apprentices would be awesome. Let me know what you think. I left you a few notes at the bottom.
Snowclan
Leader
- Lynxstar (storm) - Huge shaggy grey tom cat. He has white paws, and brown eyes. Gentle, kind, brave. He got his name for being ruthless when defending his clan, he never backs down, never stops.
Deputy
- Owlfoot - Large brown tabby tom cat, he has a small bit of white on his muzzle and green eyes. Confident, alert, eager. He is an extremely swift cat, always alert, always ready to move, he doesn't like to stop and always ensures he has a place on patrols keep himself going.
Medicine Cat
- Swallowleaf - Black she cat with a white chest and white front paws. She has green eyes. Cold, ruthless, stern. She is a good medicine cat, but many clan members feel she would have made a better warrior. No one denies her abilities, but they feel they have lost a great fighter.
Warriors
- Bearclaw - Huge brown tom cat with yellow eyes. Quiet, calm, stubborn. This is the cat you want by your side if talking to outsiders that may be a threat. He is huge, even compared to his large clanmates, his silent demeanour makes him even more intimidating and anyone who sees him fight knows that his size isn't for show.
- Greyfoot - Grey tabby she cat, she has one white paw, and a white belly, blue eyes. Friendly, gentle, kind. Owlfoots younger sister, it came to no surprise when she got her name. She is a lot more quiet than her brother, but can outrun him if she desires.
- Kitefang - A reddish brown tom cat with a small amount of white on his belly, he has yellow eyes. He is a talented fighter and a good hunter. He can be seen as wary, careful and calm.
- Deerstripe - Spotted brown tabby she cat with a clear darker stripe down her back, she has brown eyes. Gentle, friendly, loyal. She was born outside of the clan, her father was an exiled clan cat, her mother a loner. The leader refused to let her die in the snow and gave her a home.
- Snakestorm - Larger than usual brown tabby tom, he has copper coloured eyes. He is ruthless and dominant, always being the first to speak out in the leaders defence, always being the one to state that the leaders word is law, even if it seems like a bad choice.
- Mousewhisker - Large brown tabby she cat, has a white underbelly and a white paw. Her eyes are green. Cool, calm, gentle. She is the mother of the clan, the one everyone takes there worries too.
- Foxpelt - Scruffy white tom cat with dark eyes. Alert, excitable, confident. He often says things he should keep to himself he often lets things slip in his excitement to share news.
- Thrushcloud - A dusty brown tom cat with a white belly, he has blue eyes. He is gentle, calm and patient, and is the only tom in the history of Snowclan to have the cloud suffix. He is Mousewhiskers mate and they are often named as the perfect pair.
- Cloudfur - Fluffy white she cat with yellow eyes. Arrogant, stubborn, sly. Cloudfur is a surprisingly bad hunter considering the beneficial white fur she has. She also manages to worm her way out of most fights making many of the clan cats dislike her. Lynxstar has considered banishing her due to her attitude but knows he would lose her brother, who is a skilled, valuable warrior.
- Blizzardtail - A smallish, white tom with yellow eyes. He is one of the few cats in the clan able to hunt in trees, small enough, and skilled enough to balance in the branches. He is renowned for bringing home birds and is extremely swift when on the ground. He is a values warrior, able to hunt in any weather. He is considered a nice, more useful version of his sister and is the only reason she hasn't been exiled.
- Willow(?) - A light grey she cat with a white belly and chest. She has green eyes. She is considered an early elder, she spends a lot of time with the elders, listening, learning and has swiftly become one of the wisest cats in the clan. But she dislikes kits, and has been known to beg to go on patrols if it will just be her and the queens left in camp.
- Goose(?) - Grey tabby tom cat with pale stripes and white paws. He is the quietest cat in the clan, he speaks only to cats he has to such as the leader, he is often seen as a coward as he shakes when spoken to by cats he rarely sees. In truth his throat was severely damaged as a kit and speaking pains him. The senior cats know of this but he has begged them not to tell the younger cats.
Apprentices
- Petrelpaw - Scruffy black she cat with a white belly and dark brown eyes. Hyper, excitable, friendly. She is everything you expect from a young apprentice, she loves her training and is always the first up in the mornings, wanting to train.
- Wolfpaw - Huge grey-brown tom cat, he has green eyes. Large, even for an apprentice, many cats can see the power in his paws and jaws and consider him one of the best apprentices in a long time. Many cats saw his name as a negative omen, but he has proved he is nothing like the wolves that rarely prowl there territory. He loves spending time entertaining the kits, and will always watch them for the queens.
- Harepaw - Small, swift grey and white she cat. Harepaw is often seen pushing herself outside of the camp, she wants to be the best but some cats worry she has ambitions that are too high or that she will go to far to get what she wants.
Queens
- Blueheart - Blue/grey tabby she cat with a white belly, white paws and blue eyes. She is a cat who likes to make a point, she believes what she believes and no cat can sway her from that.
- Lizardfoot - Tortoishell she cat with an unusually long tail and green eyes. Lizardfoot is the cat you would want beside you in battle, the clan is everything to her and she fights relentlessly, darting from one enemy, to another, to another, dealing small wounds that aid her allies in taking them down. She isn't the strongest cat on the battlefield, or the biggest but she is one of the smartest. Many cats expect her to hand her kits to another queen once she can to resume her duties.
- Poppystream - Reddish coloured she cat with one white paw and yellow eyes. Poppystream was always very inquisitive, and very curious. Many cats don't believe her kits were fathered by a clan cat but by a rogue, she wouldn't be able to resist exploring a rogue den and some cats feel she is lucky not to be dead and are sick of needing to rescue her.
Kits
- Cottonkit - Fluffy white tom kit with amber eyes. He is kind, friendly and confident. Son of Blueheart
- Mosskit & Breezekit - Two little grey kits. Mosskit is a she kit, Breezekit is a tom. Kits of Lizardfoot. Newborn.
Elders
- Beaverpelt - Thick furred, brown tabby tom cat. He has brown eyes and is considered the moodier of the two elders. He bans kits from speaking in the den unless they have a useful question or comment, secretly he likes them but can't stand there squeaky kit voices.
- Stoatstripe - Skinny, ragged pale brown tom cat. He lost his mate to an arctic fox, his second mate to a lynx, and his only kit drowned seeking water. Because of this he never speaks anymore. Never discusses anything with anyone.
Notes
- Swallowleaf is a great medicine cat, but many cats feel she would have made a better warrior, she has the heart of one.
- Cottonkit is named for Cottongrass. An arctic plant.
- Petrelpaw is named for a canadian bird.
- Foxpelt is named for the arctic fox.
This is a North American-based Clan, yes? That's what seems to be the indication by the names, or at least an indication of being within that area. I'll be judging these names from a North-American naming standpoint, then, and I'll do my best to make sure it all works out.
To make this easier on myself, I'll be using a special review sheet. Hopefully it'll convey everything you need to know.
Alrighty, 25 cats...here we go.
LynxstarName Rate: 8/10
Character Rate: None
Reasoning: Lynx- fits him just fine, but he doesn't really qualify as a -storm cat. I'm not really sure what suffix would fit him, though, because a ruthless adversary doesn't count much unless there's a skill behind it. However, he is a gentle, kind and steady cat, which would most likely send him in the opposite direction of -storm.
There's not much else to him that I can see, so I'll neglect the character rate. (Imagine that, it doesn't work for the first cat, haha.)
Suggestions: Rename to Lynxcloud as a warrior.
OwlfootName Rate: 10/10
Character Rate: 10/10
Reasoning: Owl- would be a pretty wide prefix in North America, as we have a rutload of owl types here. It could just be relegated to light-to-regular-grey and brown tabbies, though, since any owls with white on them usually have another color (such as Barn Owls with brown) or with markings akin to stripes (Snowy Owls). Depending on where these cats are, of course, that would vary, but I'd say stick to grey tabbies and brown tabbies.
Other than that, there really isn't much to say here. The character works just fine, and his name fits well.
Suggestions: None.
SwallowleafName Rate: 9/10
Character Rate: 7/10
Reasoning: Swallow- could also work for a darker blue-grey cat, but let's not get into semantics. I think she could pass for it if she's just light enough to reflect a little color off her pelt, and -leaf fits her well.
I will add here, though, that a ruthless, stern cat does not a good warrior make. A good warrior is someone who can fight, hunt, and protect the Clan at all costs. If she was someone who's surprisingly handy at deflecting blows, then I would say she'd be a good warrior, but it's just the attitude.
Another quick thing: generally, -leaf cats rarely excel in anything besides herbs mostly because they fully dedicate themselves to the subject and forgo everything else. She could definitely have some training, but her skills should majority lie in healing.
Suggestions: Decide exactly what Swallow- would mean, and disregard the missed opportunity thing if it's only her personality and not any underlying skills.
BearclawName Rate: 10/10
Character Rate: 10/10
Reasoning: Quick note: Lynx-, Wolf-, Bear-, and Fox- all show up on this list. These are all natural enemies of cats, and I must point out that any one of these alone is a giant threat, but all together it's a hazard for a group of dogs, let alone cats. These cats should probably live somewhere near humans, where they have at least a little sanctuary from the bigger enemies (bears and wolves will avoid human settlements because humans have guns), but can regularly go out hunting and see them around. I recommend a wildlife reserve, where there's a nice balance between the two. (Yellowstone is a perfect example, but you can just make up one and it will work.)
Anyway, Bearclaw works just fine, so that's that.
Suggestions: None.
GreyfootName Rate: 10/10
Character Rate: 10/10
Reasoning: Her name fits her perfectly, and I have no nits to pick on her, so there's that!
Suggestions: None.
KitefangName Rate: 7/10
Character Rate: 10/10
Reasoning: I looked around, and the only kites these cats would be seeing are black and white, not reddish brown. The red kite lives solely in Europe, so...there is that. There are hawks that are red, but there's a lot of hawk in the North America region (14, to be exact), so the coat color may become too unspecified.
Otherwise, -fang works, though it's more for a cat who's equally above in hunting and fighting, rather that being really good at one and pretty good at another.
His personality is fine as well, but I do suggest adding a collected-ness and perhaps a certain "above it all" attitude with him. It would seem to fit from my perspective (waryness could also be accentuated with being a little restrained on showing his emotions/thoughts), but it's all up to you.
Suggestions: Rename to Robinfang or change his color to black and white.
DeerstripeName Rate: 8/10
Character Rate: 9/10
Reasoning: It's a little spotty
(heh heh) with her dappled coat, but we can just say that her colors became a little more pronounced as she got older - I've noticed with my own cat's litters that the kittens can either start out darker or lighter than they turn out to be. While -stripe usually denotes a cat with multiple, starkly noticeable stripes instead of just one, dappled cats can have multiple stripes on their neck, legs and tail, so it could work. The name's still a tad shaky.
Overall, though, she doesn't have too much to her. Her traits are reminiscent of two or three cats up here already, so I would add a couple more distinctive ones if you can.
Suggestions: Rename to Deerfur/Deerpelt, or just make her a regular tabby.
SnakestormName Rate: 5/10
Character Rate: 9/10
Reasoning: Here's what I'll tell you: go ahead and google "North American Snakes". As you can see, there is a rutload of snakes in the region. This prefix is entirely too vague for it to be able to work. On top of that, he doesn't fit the -storm name, as he has a structure and keeps a consistent attitude. He also has a set of rules that he follows to the letter, so he should be named for that instead.
He seems like a pretty good cat in general, but I would try to make him seem less like the leader's guard-dog. A big, intimidating cat who's the first to leap in defense of the leader and the rules sounds a little like someone who's there to keep everyone under the leader's control.
Suggestions: Rename to Dustheart/Oakheart, and tone down the ruthlessness some. Perhaps replace it with strictness.
MousewhiskerName Rate: 10/10
Character Rate: 10/10
Reasoning: I remember this gal! If I'm correct, she's rather small compared to her Clan-mates, even though they're all really big, but if that changed, the name still works (naming for size is a tricky business anyway). I'm sure that she's still a good hunter, though, so everything's dandy, as is her personality!
Suggestions: None.
FoxpeltName Rate: 10/10
Character Rate: 10/10
Reasoning: Fox- in this situation could work for a ginger cat or a white cat (the grey types are generally within the US, rather than Canada - I'm assuming that this Clan is more Canadian based). His personality is fine, too.
Suggestions: None.
ThrushcloudName Rate: 10/10
Character Rate: 10/10
Reasoning: Surprising that a tom cat hasn't yet earned the -cloud suffix. I wonder why.
Anyway, he's a cool cat and I can't find any real issues with him. I can see him and Mousewhisker being very good parents one day. (Or really good mentors that work together with their apprentices, which ever.)
Suggestions: None.
CloudfurName Rate: 10/10
Character Rate: 10/10
Reasoning: Surprisingly, this personality works absurdly well in juxtaposition with her brother. The fact that her personality has some serious repercussions help a lot, and I like the idea of a problem cat being tagged with an extremely valuable one. Well done on her!
Suggestions: None.
BlizzardtailName Rate: 10/10
Character Rate: 10/10
Reasoning: Can I just...man. I just really like these two. I really love how they balance each other out, and the situation it leaves the Clan with, and all of that. Like...dang. Super great.
Suggestions: None.
Willow-Name Suggestion: Willowpelt/Willowfur
Character Rate: 10/10
Reasoning: Someone who matures at a rate past her peers and spends a lot of time with the elders is pretty great! I like that she has a tendency to avoid youngsters; maybe she avoids young apprentices too, and tries her best to not seem like an inexperienced newbie.
Suggestions: None, really, except to maybe expand on why she dislikes kits so much.
(talk to me)Goose- Name Suggestion: Goosefur/Goosepelt.
Character Rate: 9/10
Reasoning: If he's so adamant about not letting others know he lost his voice, I don't think he'd have a name for it. I'm not really sure what would be so bad about telling the kits about what happened to him - it might be a cautionary tale depending on how he lost his voice.
Suggestions: Decide on why he doesn't want others to know.
Petrelpaw Name Rate: 10/10
Character Rate: 10/10
Reasoning: Petrel- is a very cute name, can I just say. It works well, from what information I've got on petrels. Other than that note, there isn't much to say!
Suggestions: Warrior name could be Petrelstorm, depending on if she tends to have crash periods or not. If she's just consistently hyper, then make her a -pelt or -fur.
WolfpawName Rate: 6/10
Character Rate: 9/10
Reasoning: I'm super shaky on Wolf- as a prefix, largely due to the fact that wolves come
in a lot of colors, too many to count as a prefix. I know the majority is grey, but you could literally be saying anything with that name.
Also! A prefix has no connotations. It is strictly denotations. That's why people don't see being named Fire- as a bad omen, because it's simply a descriptor. Nothing else. A suffix, meanwhile, is connotative to an extent, especially with -flower, -storm and -cloud, but it still has its definition.
Anyways, I'd say that it's not so much him being a possibly excellent apprentice because he's a big strong cat, but a possibly excellent fighter for the exact same reasons. A good apprentice is someone like Petrelpaw, who's psyched to train and learn and doesn't tend to get in a lot of trouble. Good apprentices aren't valued by their appearances, but by their attitudes.
He does seem to have a very good attitude, and adores kits, though, so he does have that going for him.
Suggestions: Rename to Storm-/Boulder-. Warrior suffix could be -cloud if he's a calm type, but if not, just stick with the defaults.
HarepawName Rate: 8/10
Character Rate: 10/10
Reasoning: I mean, it could work. Hares can be grey, and they can be white, especially in the area they're in. So a grey-and-white cat could be considered workable. On the other hand, a specific prefix for a grey and white cat would be preferred, since that would be a tad more concrete. I'll suggest one just in case, but you're free to keep Hare- (suffice to say they'll probably see a lot of rabbits turning from white to grey with patching, so it can work).
I kind of want to give her the -heart suffix, but she doesn't seem dedicated to a set of rules that she considers right, just has a lot of drive to do the best she can. It could fit her, though, if she was to be someone who really is dedicated to doing the right thing (or her version of the right thing), and combined with her work ethic she could be a real force of nature.
Suggestions: Grousepaw/Heronpaw, and a possible suffix could be -heart if she has a strict sense of morality. If not, then stick with the defaults.
BlueheartName Rate: 10/10
Character Rate: None
Reasoning: Her name is perfect, and since there really isn't anything else to work with, I don't need to do a character review.
Suggestions: None.
LizardfootName Rate: 10/10
Character Rate: 10/10
Reasoning: Overall, she's a pretty rad cat! I'm amused thinking of her possibly being very annoyed when she finds out she's pregnant, because she can't keep working until the babies are done.
Suggestions: None.
PoppystreamName Rate: 8/10
Character Rate: 9/10
Reasoning: She doesn't seem to be a swimmer, so she doesn't need -stream. Other than that, my only question is if she gets in trouble for her curiosity, since wandering around alone where they live may end up being an extremely bad idea (there are bears and lynxes you silly molly).
Suggestions: Rename to Poppyfur/Poppypelt.
CottonkitName Rate: 7/10
Character Rate: None.
Reasoning: I do get where you're coming from on that, but people are going to be mighty suspicious about that name, and it really does sound like actual cotton, so I recommend changing it. I won't give him a suffix or a character review, since he is a kit and it's generally when they're apprentices that they start to develop.
Suggestions: Rename to Snowkit/Swankit.
Mosskit and BreezekitName Rate: 2/10
Character Rate: None.
Reasoning: I couldn't find any grey moss, so that's right out. Breeze- is also a negative, since breezes are invisible. Other than that, there's nothing to really say.
Suggestions: Several possible names: Mist-, Birch-, Aspen-, Dawn-, Ash-, Pebble-, Stone-.
BeaverpeltName Rate: 10/10
Character Rate: 10/10
Reasoning: His name and personality are good to go. I'm always one to appreciate cranky elders myself.
Suggestions: None.
StoatstripeName Rate: Character Rate: Reasoning: Wow, this guy's life sucks. Jeez. No wonder he doesn't really talk to anyone. I've said before how a cat's death is normal, but losing a lot of loved ones over the ages has to be depressing, and at least he doesn't angst over it.
Anyway, everything checks out clear for him.
Suggestions: None.
HOLY CRAP I'M FINALLY DONE
Well, my fingers hurt but I hoped that helped some. Let me know if you need any more assistance!