Oct
10th
2021
Help! My Heart is Full of Pony! - Names · 3:05am Oct 10th, 2021
Has anypony noticed that naming conventions for future Equestria involve much simpler names?
G4 names are usually either 3 or 4 syllables.
Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity, and Twilight Sparkle
G5 names are usually 1 or 2.
Pipp, Zipp, Hitch, Sunny, and Izzy
Yes, Sunny is "Sunny Starscout," and Izzy is "Izzy Moonbow," but those are treated almost like last names. Nopony really calls them that.
This was definitely a conscious decision.
-Sprocket
Zipp's mother calls her Zephyrina at one point, so it seems Zipp is an abbreviation.
Yes, and that's something that really bugs me. It even feels infantile when I'm just reading their names in fanfiction. Besides the smaller syllable number, they're also super simple. It's not just compared to G4. And put it against the gaggle of friends in any Disney movie. They may not have native English names, or even names that you might give to a human. But they sound like names, not just a cute noise marketing came up with.
"Izzy" could be short for something like Isabella, but there's no indication that's the case. I looked it up, and "Izzy" as it's own name can mean "oath to God" or "gift from Isis..." But I doubt that either of those were on someone's mind at the studio.
A lot of G4's protagonist names weren't subtle in the slightest, but I really do think more effort was put into addressing them.
5593964
Then I wish her name was just shortened to Zephyr or Zeph. Zipp just sounds like they don't trust kids to remember how to spell it. Or maybe because they save money on lettering products.
Well, others besides Sunny and Izzy have "last names", but that doesn't really detract from your point, since those still aren't used much. Oh, and apparently Zipp's full first name is "Zephyrina" (Oh, which I see 5593964 has already noted.)... but that also isn't what she's usually called. It might imply that one or more others also have longer first names, though (But then again, Zipp is the crown princess, so it's not as strong an implication as it might be for ordinary ponies.).
Anyway, thanks for pointing this out. I'm not sure what exactly at the moment it might mean in-universe, but it's not something I recall having noticed before.
5593964
Wasn't it Zipperina?
5594421
https://mlp.fandom.com/wiki/Transcripts/My_Little_Pony:_A_New_Generation has it as ' Zephyrina', but that's the only textual reference I've managed to find.