A Little Explanation of Naming Systems

In the two-name system of the Nine Houses, your last name is not a proper surname: it is an
arithmonym, indicating House allegiance. Your first name is given to you by your parents, and may
indicate a family connection: the first name often refers to your family in some way. For instance, the
suffix Hark in Harrow’s and her father’s name honours a previous pilgrim entrant into the Tombkeeper
line; double-barrelled names like Jeannemary and Coronabeth are inevitably formed from heirloom name
particles. Your last name always indicates the House you were born in, and is regarded as part of your
name: this is why Abigail Pent is known as both “Lady Abigail” and “Lady Pent” in a way that never
would have been typical before the Resurrection: both Abigail and Pent are referent to her. Different
Houses have different methods for coming up with both first names and arithmonymics. Many Houses are
also fond of referential diminutives (Mortus to Ortus).

Siblings will not generally share a last name, though they may share particulates. Twins rarely
share a surname, and if they do may gain a “unit” name; the fact that the Tridentarii are the Tridentarii
may say something about Corona and Ianthe’s parents’ hopes or desires for their children. There are, of
course, always exceptions (e.g. Colum was one of three Asht boys despite them not being triplets). Names
are not changed through marriage. Non-necromancers getting married must pick which House to settle on
and affiliate with; their children will be of the settled House. Necromancers as a rule cannot marry out of
House: marry the necromancer, affiliate with their House. There are a handful of other rules in play
(simply having a baby with a Sixth is an inherent agreement that your children will all be born to the
Sixth, which can prove a legal nightmare).

Some names below are not included in the pronunciation guide due to their appearance in the
Bible or elsewhere (the Second, the Fifth, Isaac, Silas).

As the author, I have sometimes included a little meta-note beneath the pronunciation guide to
share with you, the reader, all the unnecessary jokes as to why I included it, or thought it funny or
appropriate. You don’t have to read these. Put your thumb over them if you like.

Harrowhark Nonagesimus

HA-row-hark. To rhyme with “arrow,” not as in “hay”.

Noh-nah-GUESS-i-mus. “I” as in “bitter”; “mus” for the Latin, closest to “moose.”

NOTE: Harrow is named very specifically for the harrowing of Hell. “Hark” is one of those terrible,
portentous words that always precedes an awful time, in the old sense of “awe.” Hark! A herald angel.
Hark! From the tombs, a doleful sound.

Gideon Nav
NAV. Short “a” as in “navigator,” not as in “nave.”

NOTE: There are a lot of reasons as to why Gideon is called Gideon. The warlike prophet of God who
really messed up the Midianites is part of it. Gideon is a prophetic name: someone named their own
demise in her.

Ortus Nigenad

ORT-us. To rhyme with tortoise, unless you pronounce tortoise “tor toys,” in which case it doesn’t.
NIGH-ga-nad. As with Harrow, hard “g.”

NOTE: Although Ortus is obviously referential to his father Mortus, Ortus by itself is the Latin for
“rising.” Is this hilarious or sad?

Pelleamena Novenarius

Pelly-AM-enna. Rather than ah-MAY-nah.

Noh-ven-ARE-ee-us. As with Harrow, the “us” closer to an “o” sound.

NOTE: In myth, Peleus famously was the father of Achilles.

Priamhark Noniusvianus

PRY-am-hark. Three distinct syllables; avoid eliding the H.

NOH-nee-us-vee-AHN-us. You should have the trick of the “us” sound by now. If you don’t, it’s fine,
nobody cares, it’s a random name in a novel about bonermancy.

NOTE: Priam in the Iliad was famously a dad in a city about to go splat.

Aiglamene

Eye-GLAM-en-ay.

NOTE: “Aigla” was meant to refer to the French “aigle,” the eagle.

Crux

CRUX. To rhyme with “sucks,” not “crooks.”

NOTE: “Crux” as in “Cross,” which is funny in multiple ways.

Aisamorta

EYE-sa-mor-tah.

NOTE: “Aisa” is a Greek word for fate or destiny.

Lachrimorta

LACK-ri-mor-tah.

NOTE: “Lachri” from “tears.”

Glaurica

GLAU-ri-kah. Ri as in “ridicule,” not as in “reed.”

Judith Deuteros

DEW-ter-oss.

NOTE: Famously beheaded Holofernes. Book of Deuteronomy is a very didactic text.

Marta Dyas

DIE-ass. I’m sorry, I couldn’t come up with anything better.

NOTE: Marta, martial, war. The Second House names are serious business.

Ianthe Tridentarius

E-AHN-thay. The “e” should be in “see,” not as in “eh.”

Try-den-TAR-ee-us. Again, the “e” is the same sound as in the forename.

Coronabeth Tridentarius
Cor-OWN-a-beth. “Corona” as in the halo.

NOTE: In the original, Ianthe and Corona were “Cainabeth and Abella,” a feat of naming so unsubtle
that I might as well have just gone with “Goodtwin” and “Badtwin.” And it’s not even accurate! It should
be Badtwin, and Lessbadtwin.

Naberius Tern

Na-BEER-e-us. “E” as in “speed,” “us” as in “fuss.”

TURN. As in, I wish Naberius would TURN into a bat and fly out the window.

NOTE: Naberius is one of the demon princes of Hell. Will this mean anything significant later on?? (No.)

Jeannemary Chatur

JOHN-mair-ee. “Mary,” not “Marie.” Softer J, as in the French.

Cha-TOUR. Not “chatter,” though that’d be appropriate.

NOTE: “Jeannemary” is a Biblical car crash, but Jeanne here is meant to be reminiscent of Jeanne
d’Arc.

Isaac Tettares

Tett-AR-ez. Not “tett-aries”.

NOTE: “Isaac” in Christian theology foreshadows Jesus’ death by taking the wood for his own sacrifice
up a mountain. Isaac here foreshadows Gideon’s death by doing the “bravest and stupidest” thing, i.e.
getting his abdomen made into a huge Connect-4 board. I might as well have called Jeannemary and
Isaac “Don’tgetattached” and “Deadsoon.”

Palamedes Sextus

Pal-AM-a-dees. At first I had a coarse comparison here, but then I removed it.

SEX-tus. “Us” as in “bus” rather than the “oos” of Nonagesimus. “Sex” as in “you’d have to be weird to
want this with Harrow.”

NOTE: There was a very brief space of time where Palamedes was Diomedes, Athena’s favourite goodboy
in the Iliad, but that would not have facilitated Gideon’s stupidest joke in the book.
Camilla Hect

HEKT. To rhyme with “wrecked.”

NOTE: Camilla’s name was picked to go with Palamedes’—their names resonate with the “am” fragment
in a way that other necromancer-cavalier pairs who love each other very much do in the book: Palamedes
and Camilla, Abigail and Magnus.

Dulcinea Septimus

Dul-sin-AY-a. Not “dul-sinn-eya.”

SEPT-i-mus. “Sept” as in “September,” rather than “seeped”. “Mus” as in “Nonagesimus.”

NOTE: “Dulcinea” is the famously illusory persona assigned to the prostitute Aldonza in Don Quixote: a
case of a woman you want to exist, but who really doesn’t. In this essay I will

Protesilaus Ebdoma

Prot-eh-sil-OW-us. “Prot” rather than “prote.”

EBB-do-mah. “Ebb” as in what the tide does, “doma” as in “domain.”

NOTE: Protesilaus is the first hero to die at Troy. He is also the first man who dies as a result of the
Lyctor trials. “Johnny Quickdeath” would’ve also been a good pick.

Silas Octakiseron

Ock-ta-KISS-er-on. “Kis” as in “kiss,” rather than “keys.”

Colum Asht

COL-um. As in “column.”

ASHT. As in “hash.”

NOTE: “Colum” is referent to “Columba”: Colum and his three brothers all have sacrificial-animal
names—Colum (dove), Ram (sheep), and Capris (goat). Unfortunately I couldn’t get over how one of the
poor Asht brothers has the name of a type of leggings and this didn’t get into the book, which just goes to
show that the Asht boys even got meta-misused. Sorry, guys. I should’ve named him Aiglos.
INCIDENTAL NAMES AND TERMS

Matthias Nonius

Mah-TYE-as. Hard “t,” rather than the “Math” as in “Matthew.”

NOH-knee-us. As in, no knees for us.

NOTE: I would be lying if I did not say that “Matthias,” the legendary sword-wielder of the Ninth, has a
name that is a reference to Brian Jacques’ Redwall.

Cytherea

KITH-er-AY-a. Not “kith-AIR-ee-ah.”

NOTE: Reference to Aphrodite.

Lyctor

LICK-tor. In order to facilitate “Lyctor? I hardly touched her”, stand-up routines in the Nine Houses.

NOTE: Lyctor as in “lych,” but also as in Lictor, the Emperor’s guards.

Canaan House

KAY-nan. Emphasis on the first syllable rather than kay-NAAN.

Secundarius Bell

Se-cun-DAR-ee-us.

Drearburh

DREAR-burr.

NOTE: The most Gormenghastian name in the book. “Burh” as in the old variant for “burgh,” “Drear”
as in “dreary”!