Milk-Name and Mark-Name · 11:00pm Apr 12th, 2016
As many have noticed, most of the time Ponies have names matching their Cutie Marks, Talents and personalities, if only in an indirect way. This is not a coincidence. It is instead a consequence of the intuition possessed by Pony parents (especially mothers) as to the futures of their offspring, which in turn is due to a subconscious connection with the very weakly eusocial Pony massmind -- which is capable of precognition.
Of course, the parents don't always get it right. This may lead to a situation in which a foal is given a name which suits her nature as a child, but is poorly-suited, sometimes comically so, to her nature as an adolescent or adult.
In this case, it is not uncommon for a Pony to change her name to something more suitable. When this happens, the name she bore as a foal is called the "milk-name," because it was given to her before she was weaned; the name she took later in life her "mark-name," because she assumed it at some point after getting her Cutie Mark. Sometimes, the milk-name then becomes a sort of nickname, which she is usually called only by close kin in private. Sometimes, the Pony instead assumes a nickname closer to her nature, and keeps the milk-name as her official appellation.
Example of the first case (change to mark-name):
When a very white colt was born in YOH 1468 to Pegasi parents Goldeagle Feathers and Dart Swift, they named him "Snowflake" because he was small, white, fragile and beautiful to them. But in the ensuing years the little colt grew up big and strong. By the time he was eight years old, in YOH 1476, he was the size of a strapping adolescent and getting bigger all the time. When he picked up a surprsingly-large dumb-bell with one foreleg, and won a black dumb-bell as his Cutie Mark in the process of demonstrating his Talent of weight-lifting, he was re-named "Bulk Bicep." Thus, "Snowflake" was his milk-name, "Bulk Bicep" his mark-name. His parents and siblings still sometimes affectionately call him "Snowflake."
Example of the second case (keeping milk-name, but assuming nickname)
Blackcherry Lee Punch was maternally a Berry and was given a typical Berry name, "Blackcherry" (while "Lee" is a traditional name in her paternal family). From an early age she demonstrated a sunny disposition, and her father Falcon Punch fondly called her "Cheerilee." After her father's death, at age 10 she won her Cutie Mark cheering up her fellow students and encouraging them to attempt an academic competition. Her Cutie Mark (three smiling flowers) is traditional to neither family. She began to become known as "Cheerilee" or "Cheery," and while she has never formally changed her milk-name, she is called by the nickname that became her mark-name so much more often that only government officials and close friends and family even know her full name.
Any thoughts on this?
An idea I've seen before and that I wholly support, though I admittedly don't use it in my own writing. Hilariously enough, in one story, before getting her cutie mark, Diamond Tiara was named Spoiled Rich. And yes, it was written long before "Crusaders of the Lost Mark."
Makes sense to me. Others adopt a nickname given later in life, others change names legally or adopt a spouse's name, still others take a fake name to escape or impersonate.
Here's a passage from Egghead and Featherbrain:
Sounds logical; I suppose marriage just adds a extra name or maybe there is a clan name change, say Instead of Landscape Carrot, it changes to Landscape Apple?
I wonder If Tender Taps will be changing his name for a better Stage one. Come to think of it Trixie goes by her nickname, as well as Pinkie Pie. I suspect Scootaloo in the Shadow-verse goes by her call-sign when she becomes a fighter pilot. Scootaloo doesn't sound dangerous.
Lastly I'm starting to wonder, is Bon Bon her mark name or Sweetie Drops?
Isn't there a concept similar to this in real life with... teeth I believe?
IIRC baby teeth were sometime referred to as milk teeth until the adult ones grew in, but maybe I'm thinking of something else.
We have way too much time on our hands. I love it. :-)
Enope.
Not quite.
Ponies have names matching their Cutie Marks, talents OR personalities. (it's an inclusive OR, not XOR). It's kinda important distinction.
I'll write a bit more, but I don't have the time.
So.....unwelcome use of a milk-name would be bad form. It would be akin to calling your elders by their first names.