Kaladin last name

[Bearer of all agonies he/him]

Hello there! I was recently reading RoW, and I just thought this was very interesting, because there was a thread on This subject a few weeks ago. We recently learned that Kaladin’s last name, or, household name is Stormblessed. And some of us were thinking about this so it is very interesting. 

 

[Potus]

I don't think that is his true last name. Dalinar probably only knows him by what the other soldiers/bridgemen called him on the Shattered Plains. Which was Kaladin Stormblessed. Because his parents didn't seem to react/recognize the name. I could be wrong though.

[Illwei]

Ah, thats a good point, because everyone calls him Stormblessed, but it's never stated explicitly that he actually chose that as his house name, no?

[Ba-Ado-Fisherman]

I don't like this theory, but could his true last name give away a relation to any particular god, perhaps Tanavast?  I know there are some who think he is a literal child of Tanavast, but Idk about that.  Could be why we haven't been shown his true name though.

[+Authweight]

I don't think Vorin culture has the same concept of "last name" as we do. It's worth noting that the universality of last names is a modern innovation.

Names like Kholin, Davar, and Stormblessed are not "last" names, but rather house names. As in, the names of noble houses associated with certain lands and titles. Ordinary darkeyes are not members of any noble house, so they just have a single name, their name given at birth. If it became important for some reason to disambiguate different people with the same name, then profession, town of origin, or father's name could all be used to clarify who you're talking about (these sorts of things are what eventually developed into most modern last names in our world).

[Aminar]

22 hours ago, Illwei said:

Ah, thats a good point, because everyone calls him Stormblessed, but it's never stated explicitly that he actually chose that as his house name, no?

Yeah it is. Dalinar calls Lyrin Stormblessed and says he assumed Lyrin would take his son's house name. Plenty of confirmation there.