Perpetua Has Rules — Your Name Is One of Them
In inXile's Clockwork Revolution, every character in Perpetua carries their social position in their name. Aristocrats use full formal names with Latin or Greek classical roots. Guild members have respectable, trade-adjacent surnames. Rebels shorten theirs or drop them entirely. Street urchins from the Underclockwork often have only one name and a descriptor — "Soot Maren," "Rat Finch" — because that's all that fits the life.
This isn't decoration. It's how alternate-history Victorian society worked, amplified. When the Arcadian Empire controls who gets employed, housed, and surveilled by Clockwork Minders, your name is one of the first things the system indexes. Getting it right matters, whether you're building a player character or writing fiction set in this world.
Victorian Roots, Steampunk Edges
The real Victorian era had a naming convention that felt almost algorithmic: classical names (from Greek and Latin antiquity) for the upper classes, biblical names for the pious middle, and stripped-down practical names for the working poor. Clockwork Revolution inherits all of that and adds one more layer — the machine. Industrial trades have seeped into surnames. Ashborne. Gearhart. Spindler. Coalburn. These are names that smell like the factory floor.
Classical, multi-syllabic, never shortened in formal company
- Cornelius Ashbourne-Hale
- Isadora Featherswick
- Aldous Percival Cravenworth
- Beatrice Wyndmere
Shorter, rougher, often occupational or geographic
- Silas Prentice
- Nora Ashwick
- Emmett Coalburn
- Cora Boltrow
Single names, nicknames, or compressed identifiers
- Pip
- Crow
- Soot Maren
- Tessie
Rebels Don't Abandon Their Names — They Weaponize Them
A common mistake in steampunk character naming is giving rebels dramatic pseudonyms — "Ironclad," "The Phantom," that sort of thing. Real resistance movements don't work that way. Anonymity is the point. A rebel in Perpetua wants a name that passes unquestioned through a Clockwork Minder's inspection. Thomas Blythe. Edith Marsh. Frank Calloway.
Where rebel naming does diverge from the imperial norm is in informality. Dropping a surname entirely. Going by a shortened given name — "Nell" instead of "Eleanor," "Kit" instead of "Christopher." It's a small act of refusal. The Arcadian Empire wants full articulation of every name in every formal context; rebels shrug it off whenever they can.
- Use shortened forms for rebels and Underclockwork characters
- Give aristocrats hyphenated or double-barreled surnames
- Let guild names echo a trade or commodity
- Choose spy names that are deliberately forgettable
- Give rebels dramatic action-hero aliases like "Ironveil"
- Use informal nicknames for Arcadian Empire officials
- Mix naming registers without reason (formal surname + Underclockwork given name)
- Over-steampunk every surname with gears and cogs
Faction Identity Shapes the Whole Name
Perpetua's factions don't just define what your character does — they determine how they're addressed. The Arcadian Empire expects complete, unabbreviated names in official contexts. Minders who've retained human identities carry names that sound like they were pulled from a registry: Inspector Aldred Voss, Commissioner Prudence Fairgraves. No warmth, no variation.
The Merchant Guilds sit comfortably in the middle — names that project respectability without aristocratic grandiosity. A Guild Master named Solomon Quillmore or Harriet Brassworth has enough formality for a contract negotiation and enough plainness to move through a market stall. That range is intentional.
The Spectrum of Formality
Where you fall on Perpetua's social hierarchy has a direct effect on how much of your name you use day to day. Aristocrats use everything. Underclockwork characters often have nothing but a first name and a descriptor. Engineers and guild members hover in the middle — formal for contracts, relaxed on the shop floor.
Rebels and urchins sit at the informal end — one name, no title, no ceremony
Using the Generator
Pick a character type and faction to get names calibrated to your character's place in Perpetua. The "Spy / Informant" type produces deliberately plain names — useful if you want someone who could pass for either side. "Aristocrat" gives you the full formal treatment, hyphenated surnames included. Each result includes a brief character sketch to spark your writing or roleplaying.
For more Victorian-adjacent character naming, the Victorian Name Generator covers the broader era without game-specific steampunk seasoning.
Common Questions
What naming style does Clockwork Revolution use for its characters?
Clockwork Revolution draws on alternate-history Victorian naming conventions — classical Greek and Latin roots for the upper classes, practical trade-adjacent surnames for guild members and workers, and compressed single names or nicknames for those in the Underclockwork lower city. The game's steampunk setting adds industrial flavor to many surnames, blending Victorian formality with the machine age.
How should I name a rebel or resistance character in a steampunk RPG?
Keep it plain and forgettable — rebels survive by not standing out. Avoid dramatic aliases or heroic monikers. Use shortened given names (Nell, Kit, Jem), common Anglo-Saxon surnames, and skip the hyphenated aristocratic patterns entirely. The name should sound like someone who could pass a Clockwork Minder checkpoint without triggering a second look.
What makes a good aristocratic name in a steampunk Victorian setting?
Full articulation — no nicknames, ever, in formal company. Classical roots from Greek or Latin (Cornelius, Isadora, Aldous). Surnames that signal old land or old money: double-barreled names (Ashbourne-Hale), grand country-house surnames (Featherswick, Cravenworth), or names that suggest ancient titles. The more syllables, the higher the implied social position.