NaC Mentoring Guide

Written by Andromeda

Stage One: Introductions (1-2 Days)

On your first day of training, do some ice-breakers with your apprentice! Do some naming exercises as well to see where their level is at in terms of skill, be sure to include rogue names and tribe names to see how skilled they are in that department as well. Keep a mental note at not only the things they might need the most work in, but also what they do well. Overall use this day for not only bonding with your apprentice and building a connection, but also getting an overall gist of their skills.

Stage Two: Traditional Naming (1-2 Days)

On your second day of training, you can start off with a small exercise of naming once again to get the creative juices flowing. Once your apprentice has done 1-3 exercises, start by teaching them about traditional naming. Below are some guidelines on how traditional naming is used among well-known fans who have studied the traditional naming system.

“Traditionalism in a Warriors fandom context is the name given to a certain style of clan naming that some fans use, so that those fans have a label by which to distinguish themselves.

Traditionalism is a spectrum of naming systems, which means that no two systems are exactly alike. Everyone has their own opinions and preferences, even within traditionalism, and that’s totally okay! However, all traditional systems almost inevitably share certain features.

prefixes are used solely for representing a cat’s appearance (pelt colour and/or body size).
suffixes are used to acknowledge a positive skill or personality trait of the cat.
name-change names are given respectfully as acknowledgement of strength and survival abilities.
realistic or near-realistic settings are preferred and prefixes are typically chosen in regards to the likelihood of being within the particular setting.
all clan names have meaning and the naming system exists to distinguish each cat and aid in developing a healthy sense of identity, both personal and community.

These features tend to be a consistent theme in all approaches to traditionalism, although there are various interpretations.

There are all sorts of reasons why people use traditionalism. Some people choose to use a traditional naming system because they enjoy the sense of depth and culture a set naming structure gives to the world-building; some people appreciate the practical usage of being able to get a information about a character from their name alone; some people are just tired of Erin Hunter’s silly nonsense and are hungry for something more consistent and sensible.

However, traditionalism is not the only type of naming system around. There are plenty of others out there! To help distinguish between traditionalism and other varieties of system, everything that isn’t traditional is simply referred to as ‘non-traditional’. Naming systems that prioritise sound (flow) instead of structured meaning are often called ‘lyrical’. ”

-Ailuronymy

Above is Ailuronymy’s guide on the meaning of traditional naming. Simply put, the prefix is based off the cat’s appearance, where the suffix is based off either the cat’s personality or a major skill of the cat. Describe this system to your apprentice and be sure to make sure to answer any questions they have. At this point, ask them if they can think of any examples of cats with a traditional name. (Examples: Fireheart, Thistleclaw, Tigerclaw, Goldenflower, Leafpool, Lionheart, Whitestorm)

“Prefixes should:

Describe general appearance. Ideally, it would be a combination of color and pattern. You can name for either separately (preferably color), though, as well as size, if extreme one way or the other. Even though prefixes like Tiny- or Tall- are okay, it’s better to use ones that imply coloring, like Ant- or Boulder-, so even if the kit grows up to be average in size, the prefix will still fit. Another possibility, which should come in preference after all the other reasons, is coat texture – if especially unusual, you can name for it, but be very sparing with prefixes like that. Another thing you can include, but must be paired with some appearance factor, is an event at birth (e.g. a white kit born during a snowstorm named Blizzardkit).
Ignore any minor features. If black cat has a white chest and paws, you can still name it Night- or Dark- if you want to.
Be given shortly after birth (within a week or so). Before you know it, the kits will be walking and talking, and they should have names before they reach that point.

Prefixes should not:

Describe eye color. All kits’ eyes are blue-gray until they’re a few moons old.
Highlight a birth defect. You don’t want to predetermine the suffix and not give the cat a chance to earn a skill-based suffix. Also, name-change-type names should really only be given to adult cats who can consent to it.

-Describe personality or skills. That’s the suffix’s job! :3

Describe actions made by the kit. Most kits are noisy and squirmy, and as for the ones that aren’t, they usually aren’t feeling well.
Be general terms, like Bird- or Flower-. There are too many possibilities for what appearance they could represent.

Suffixes should:

First and foremost, represent an exceptional skill.
Highlight personality, if no skills are especially notable.
Honor the achievement of being a competent warrior, if no one skill is exceptional and no personality traits match existing suffixes. If this is the case, additional descriptors for appearance are acceptable.

Suffixes should not:

Be too specific, as far the word goes. For example, use -flower instead of -poppy or -bird instead of -hawk.
Describe eye color. There are usually more noticeable things than eye color to name for.
Be adjectives. This is mostly just personal preference with me, I like my suffixes to all be nouns. I feel like it makes more sense that way.

A Brief Word on Name Changes

I want to say this up front: Name changes are not cruel and dishonorable, unless they are given entirely without the cat’s consent. Name changes should be given to honor a cat’s strength in dealing with a significant injury. On the post below about name changes, I’ll go into all of the details.

Miscellaneous Rules

No compound words, as warrior names are already compound words
No sacred/important objects, e.g. Sun-, Moon-, or a word used in a Clan's name
No habitats in names, as they are huge and a little grand for just one cat to be named after. They do, however, make great Clan names.”

-Jackalstep

The above should be explained after the overall definition of traditional naming has been clarified. These above rules are vital to a traditional naming system, as well as guide the way to creating better names. After these rules have been explained, give some non-traditional names from the books and ask how they might change these names to be traditional. (Examples: Squirrelflight, Greystripe, Bluefur)

End your training session with a few naming exercises, asking for traditional names.

Stage Three: Practice and Unique Names (1-5 Days)

Now that your apprentice has an understanding on the traditional naming system, it’s time to work on making their names sound better as well as more unique. Encourage them to move from common prefixes, such as “Red” and “Lion” to use more unique, less seen alternatives such as “Ochre,” “Spark,” and “Ginger” or to move on from common suffixes like “claw” and “fang” and to things such as “tooth,” “talon,” “strike,” and “swipe.”

Of course, using your own discretion with the names they give. A useful tool is giving them These links as a tool to reference and study from. There’s nothing wrong with using these to increase their naming vocabulary. When doing exercises with them, be sure to write your own names that you would personally suggest to give them an idea of what they should be aiming for when they’re naming, as well as to get ideas from.

Once you’ve worked on increasing variety in names, move on to how well the prefix and suffix go together, and how well they sound. Do some alliteration practices (Things like when names where the prefix and suffix start with the same letter, such as Stormstreak, Beetleberry, or Rookrunner, or names that have similar vowel structure or rhyme such as Needlecreek, Blazegaze, etc.) for not only striving to find uniqueness, but also for fun! The more you’re able to make these funny alliterations, the more it’ll make sense to create names that sound great together.

This day should be primarily exercises with you giving tips and tricks on how to increase the quality of the names given.

Repeat the activities above until you feel your apprentice is creating high quality traditional names that are both unique and sound good to both the eye and the ear.

Stage Four: Lyrical Naming (1-3 Days)

Start your training session with some naming exercises, give them an opportunity to get in a creative mindset.

Once your apprentice is creating quality traditional names, they’re ready to move onto the more lax practice of creating lyrical names. Lyrical names, unlike traditional ones, have one rule. They sound good. The name doesn’t need to necessarily correlate with the cat’s coat nor their personality. After explaining this, I would recommend asking them for some examples of cats with lyrical names (Examples: Rosepetal, Ivypool, Blossomfall, Feathertail, Fernsong, Sorrelstripe)

After this, you can simply go right into exercises, still encouraging unique and good-sounding names. After your training with traditional, it shouldn’t be too hard to transition into the more relaxed lyrical structure.

Stage Five: Tribe Names (1-4 Days)

After you’ve come to the conclusion that your apprentice has mastered the art of naming warriors in both a lyrical and traditional sense, it’s time you move onto Tribe names. Many apprentices are confused on how tribe names work, in both structure and in the fact a kit is named after the first thing a mother sees after giving birth to her kittens.

“Kit-mothers name their kits after the first thing they see after the birth of their kits, for example, Brook Where Small Fish Swim, or Star That Shines On Water. In Cats of the Clans, Rock notes that he finds this method strange, as he perceives that this way of naming kits would cause many kits to be named things like "Wall of Cave," or "Floor of Cave."[3] Unlike the cats of the Clans, Tribe cats shorten their names to the first word in their name (e.g. Brook, Star).”

-Warrior Cat Wikia

Start out by giving some territories and asking for names for kits based off what they see in each territory image. (Example; give a desert image and ask for names, which could include things such as “Wind That Carries Sand (Wind)” or “Dune That Hides Hare (Dune)” or an image of a swamp, which could include names such as “Bog That Holds Tadpoles (Bog)” or “Moss That Hangs From Tree (Moss)”)

Once you’ve done some territory exercises, move to naming individual cats as well as giving territory descriptions. (Example; give an image of a cat as well as a description such as “A snowy mountainous land with many icy rivers and ponds” or “A temperate forest with large swathes of trees and animal-life” and ask for names for the cat based off those territory descriptions.

Lastly, move onto just images of cats and asking for tribe names in general with no territory descriptions, giving your apprentice creative freedom over that cat’s name.

After that, you can do some quick exercises where you give territory images/descriptions and your apprentice needs to give a name for the tribe that resides there. (Example; You give an image of a wetland covered in bogs and rivers. They give you names such as “The Tribe of Flowing Creeks” or “The Tribe of Swarming Fish” and so on.)

Stage Six: Ancient Names (1-2 Days)

Ancient names are a perfect storm of warrior names and tribe names. Ancient names are named after things the mother first sees after birth, only the names hold the same “Prefix/Suffix” holding that clan names do (Dew Leaf, Clear Sky, Jagged Peak), even if the suffix is unchanging. Simply repeat the same exercises done yesterday, only with ancient names rather than tribe names. These activities shouldn’t take long, as your apprentice should be familiar with all concepts necessary in creating ancient names.

Stage Seven: Rogue/Loner Names (1-7 Days)

Rouge/Loner names are purely lyrical, so your apprentice should be well versed in the skills necessary in naming them. The main difference between naming rouges/loners and naming kittypets is rogue/loners will have names based off things that a cat could find and name. These can include twoleg objects, but would also have quite a variety of naturally-based objects. A good way to explain this to your apprentice is naming cats as if they were clan names, but without a suffix. So a blue cat might be named Tide, Blue, Wave, Heather, etc. as those are all things a cat who was living in the wild might name her kitten.

Test your apprentice on their rogue/loner naming skills by doing exercises as if you were asking for clan names, giving images of cats and asking for names in return. Look for unique names, and allow the occasional name based off a twoleg objects/terms (Example; Monster, Smog, Autumn, Cookie, etc.)

Go over exercises as long as it takes until you feel your apprentice is creating unique, fluid rogue/loner names for the exercise you offer them!

Stage Eight: Kittypet Names (1-5 Days)

As said earlier, the main difference between kittypet and rogue names is rogue/loner names are based off of naturally based objects. Kittypet names, however, have no bounds. Because of this, many of these names are names from different languages. With kittypet names, there’s no real right way in naming them, as everyone will have their own style of naming cats when there’s no real limits. Some might use human words (Example; Cookie, Coco, Jasper, Sooty) where some might use human names (Example; Charlie, Max, Trevor, Missy, Millie) and some might prefer to take meanings and translate them for more unique names (Example; Solis (Sun in Latin,) Mizu (Water in Japanese,) Felicite (Happiness in French,) and so on)

This is all based on preference, but to inspire your apprentice to step out of their comfort zone, encourage them to use a wide variety of naming techniques for kittypet naming. Keep encouraging your apprentice to use all kinds of techniques until you feel they’re creating a wide variety of unique names to fit the standards of anyone who might request a name from them.

Stage Nine: Review (1-14 Days)

Once you and your apprentice have gone through all of the above, your apprentice should be ready to move onto their assessment! Assessments are held every other week by Andromeda, so you and your apprentice will likely have some review days as you prepare for the assessment date. During this time, you can go over all of the teachings above. Be sure to go over every kind of name, as well as make sure your apprentice is very clear on the definitions of traditional and lyrical naming!