Naming
Andalite names are three words long and hyphenated; for example, Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul. The first name is the given name. When Ax gives his parents' names in The Alien, it is revealed that his father's second name is "Sirinial", the same as Elfangor's, while his mother's second name is "Esgarrouth", Ax's own second name; this implies that the second name is a sort of family name. The purpose of the third name is unknown.
It is notable that many Andalites seem to share names, even when they are not related; for example, an Andalite not related to Ax had the third name "Esgarrouth", and so forth. It is possible that names are also not restricted by gender, as "Estrid" as been seen as the first name of a female Andalite and as the second name of a male.
"Ax" is a shortened form of the name Aximili; this shortening is not Andalite in origin, but was devised by the human Animorphs, who found "Aximili" too hard to pronounce. Ax's father calls him "Aximili-kala" as a pet name; the meaning of this unknown.
In The Ellimist Chronicles, when the Ellimist visits the primitive ancestors of modern Andalites, names were apparently limited to terms such as Tree, Water, or Star. As a result, many Andalites had the same name.
Read more about this topic: Andalite
Famous quotes containing the word naming:
“Husband,
who am I to reject the naming of foods
in a time of famine?”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“The night is itself sleep
And what goes on in it, the naming of the wind,
Our notes to each other, always repeated, always the same.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)
“See, see where Christ’s blood streams in the firmament!
One drop would save my soul—half a drop! ah, my Christ!—
Ah, rend not my heart for naming of my Christ!—
Yet will I call on him!—O, spare me, Lucifer!—
Where is it now? ‘T is gone; and see where God
Stretcheth out his arm, and bends his ireful brows!—
Mountains and hills, come, come and fall on me,
And hide me from the heavy wrath of God!”
—Christopher Marlowe (1564–1593)