Adding Warrior Names¶

Introduction¶

Adding new names to the game is contentious. The senior developers have decided to make a few guidelines to help ensure that everyone is on the same page.

Note that this refers to the names of Clan cats, not the names of rogues, loners or kittpets.

The Hard-and-Fast Rules¶

If a name does not pass one of the following rules, it is an immediate no. Some old names may be grandfathered in, but any future names must follow these.

1. All canonical Warrior Cats names are de-facto included.¶

This is regardless of any following rules, guidelines, etc. If a name is canon, it’s included. A name is considered canon if it is both: 1. A name that appears directly in the books authored by Erin Hunter 2. Referring to a cat that is born in/given the name by a Clan that follows the Warrior Code

Names not automatically included and exempted through this rule include: 1. Kittypets 2. Other cats outside Clans, even if their name is Clan-like or Clan-inspired

There is one notable exception to de-facto inclusion. If names are obviously distressing to encounter (e.g., the canon prefixes Dead- and Maggot-), they may be excluded. This is at the discretion of the senior developers.

Tip

If you believe an included canon name is unreasonably distressing, please raise this with the team.

Names that do not meet the criteria laid out above may still be added, but they are subject to all following rules and guidelines.

2. No compound words¶

For example, “Nightshade-” is not allowed because it is formed from both “Night” and “shade”.

This includes so-called “cranberry morphemes”, where a word may not actually be a compound word but appears as if it could be (e.g., cranberry, lukewarm, twilight, cobweb, etc.)

3. No references to human activity or human culture¶

What it sounds like. If it’s not natural-world, it doesn’t belong.

The Guidelines¶

These are more ambiguous, used to guide name selection rather than outright forbid new names.

G1. No part may be longer than three syllables when spoken in Standard American English.¶

If a part is longer in another common dialect (confirmed by multiple people or online sources), it may be discussed.
The length of a name is subjective - if it turns out to be contentious, we [the seniors] reserve the right to make a final decision

G2. No part may be longer than 12 characters¶

This means that the longest possible name that can generate is 24 characters.

G3. No “cutesy” animal names¶

This refers generally to baby animals, like “Lamb” or “Chick”, but does not inherently exclude all baby animals. The warriors are a proud, haughty kind - they are unlikely to want to name their offspring something “cutesy”.

G4. Names should be English¶

...and/or pronounceable by an English speaker with no prior knowledge of the word 1. This is fickle because, well… gestures at the entirety of the English language she’s a little bit kooky 2. Use common sense, please.

Final Point on Rules/Guidelines¶

At the end of the day, the name list is always going to be somewhat “vibe-based”. Whilst we make every attempt to democratize the process, the senior developers do reserve the right to reject names for reasons other than those provided here. If a new rule is created based on a rejection, it should be added to this document for posterity.

Appendix 1: In-Game Generation Rules¶

There are a few checks implemented in the game to ensure that names are created in a sane manner. These are mentioned here just so that writers are aware of the constraints placed on possible names ahead of time, and so that we don’t have to keep going “is that a thing, or did we imagine it?”

The current generation rules are:

No slurs¶

If a name has the potential to form a word that is used pejoratively against a group of people sharing a protected characteristic (e.g. race, sex, disability, etc.), it is added to a blacklist. If any names are found that generate a slur, please bring it to our attention ASAP through a ticket to moderators on Discord.

Why not detect them automatically?

We do not use an automatic detection system and will not implement one. This is because of the Scunthorpe problem, where false positives are far more common than true positives. It offers more control to do this with blacklisting.

'Inappropriate names'

Names that are suggestive are not included in this list. This is to avoid subjectivity and arguments over what is considered “inappropriate”.

No triple letters as a result of warrior names¶

This is to ensure names are actually pronounceable. For example, if Eggpaw rolled “ghost” for their warrior name, this would make Eggghost. Hopefully I don’t need to explain why that’s a mouthful.

No double animal names¶

Cats can’t generate as a Wolftiger or Roachlion It sounds weird, so we nixed it.