Name clarification

[Alatar]

Aiya!

I created a new alt today, to play paired with my son Gaffer Gamgee's priest. While looking at the names page on our web site, I saw "Alatar/Alatariel" by my name. I thought wow, I have an alternate name I didn't know anything about! I'd done some digging to find a reference to Morinehtar, which is apparently another name Tolkien used for Alatar when he fiddled with expanding the story for him in Lost Tales.

So, I created a warrior named Alatariel.

In game, Gwaihir asked after the name, saying it was Galadriel. He looked, and now I have looked, and it appears this is correct.

Alatariel is the Noldoran form of Galadriel.

So, I am proposing that I delete Alatariel and re-create him with a different name. He's just level 4, I have only an hour into him and it won't take me even that long to get him back there, as I was playing slowly in Gaffer's company. But I want to clarify the naming situation.

Why does Alatariel appear by Alatar on the names page?

Should it be removed?

Or are Gwaihir and myself incorrect in our research?

And, for any of you SERIOUS Tolkien name researchers, I would WELCOME alternate forms of Alatar.

Namarie,

~ Alatar

[Alatar]

Nevermind on this. I will simply delete and recreate the warrior as Alatarv. It is too much mental effort to consider doing otherwise. A level 4, rerolling means nothing. At level 24, I would not consider doing it.

[Eonwë]

As I recall, Irmo fka Salmar did alot of digging in HoME while the names page was under his maintainance. From these he found alot of alternate names for characters. It's likely at some point Alatariel was an actual variant for Alatar. However, it also turns out to be a form of Galadriel's name in another Elvish language (I believe it's the Quenya form, but could be mistaken).

There are other instances of this, such as Rog being both the proper name of a person, and an available variant for another. Using these variants should be done with care, and avoided if we have a member who bears that variant as a proper name. (i.e. we have a Tom Bombadil, so someone becoming Tom the Troll could get confusing).

Take care.
Eonwë

[Varda]

I am once again the one responsible for the Names page. I had it first, turned it over to the hard-working Irmo, and now have it back. Alatariel was indeed listed under both Alatar and Galadriel, as JRRT tried it both ways. The name now has a note in both places that it is used for both. This problem is not uncommon and often hard to catch. I am sorry for the inconvenience this causes and appreciate the help at catching such confusions.