I have been working on character names to be used in the Atlantean Exodus RPG setting. For the duration of the playtest, I’ve been handwaving names. Now that most of the mechanics for the game are done, I’ve been turning my attention to this important detail.

Why are names important? In my opinion, naming a mesolithic hunter-gatherer “Bob” or their tribal leader “Grug” would be lazy, would do a disservice to their descendants, and would hurt immersion into the setting.

What is the setting about? To sum up:

“North Africa, 7000 B.C., when the Sahara was still green—a caravan of survivors, who fled the destruction of the once great civilization of Atlantis, travels east. Their aim: to cross the vast savanna to reach survivors on the other side of the continent, and there establish a New Atlantis. They face many dangers—wild beasts, restless spirits, and strange peoples. But the caravan’s sacred task drives them on, even if it takes generations. You, brave explorers, lead the way.”

Because the game is set nine thousand years ago—two thousand years before the earliest known writings—there are no recorded sources of names for this period. The next best option would be to find orally transmitted names.

An approximations of names could be obtained by 1) researching the current languages of Africa, 2) excluding languages that are obvious contemporary additions (Arabic, English, French), 2) estimating the likeliest candidates for the oldest languages, and 3) estimating the proximity of its speakers in relation to the Sahara during its green period.

There is evidence [1] of four different groups involved in Trans-Saharan activity during the Green Sahara period, so I am using four groupings of languages and names. Since the proto-languages of these four groups are unknown, I can only select the closest known language related to these proto-language groupings.

For the southeastern corner of the Green Sahara, I have settled on Oromo as the common language of this region, and therefore the common source of names for this region, based on the previously mentioned criteria.

Names of the Southeastern People

What follows is a list of over 200 Oromo names and their meanings, verified by a native Oromo speaker, that will be used in the game. Three or four other names lists will be included in the finished game.

[1] The peopling of the last Green Sahara revealed by high-coverage resequencing of trans-Saharan patrilineages