Retired last names potentially coming back

[Sakura Sands]

Hello all,

I've been searching for a thread about the announcement that maybe some old last names will be made available to residents again.  I'm quite against the idea of bringing back retired names but am curious about what other people think.  I'm sure this thread exists but have been unable to locate it.  Any help would be appreciated.

[Qie Niangao]

I suppose this came from Patch's SL20B Lab Gab session with Strawberry, where he said something pretty guarded about the possibility of reusing names. I think this (40:16) is about where it comes up. Here's the transcript on YouTube, multiplexing Strawberry and Patch, in case it's in any way useful:

Quote

the moles so I'm going to continue on with more of the community questions that came in last week we got a lot of
40:19
questions about last names and I know your team is the one that works on those some of the residents were wondering if
40:25
any of the older names will ever be brought back like before the resident name and also names that we've recently
40:31
did like Daddy everybody wants the daddy name again and if is it if it's possible to offer
40:36
new names more frequently so we we typically take the Cadence of
40:42
some sort of special event Spurs us to yeah um you know imagine new names and that's
40:50
generally been the uh you know the the the drive behind doing them when we do
40:57
refresh them you know so we do seasonal you know seasonal and thematic that's
41:03
two words in one seasonal um and the uh you know the like the next
41:10
set of names I would you know probably put a bet on might be like something
41:16
Halloween related right so we might not do anything between now and then we have always and it's an internal
41:23
policy thing um we've always said to kind of keep things fresh and Lively and you know
41:30
make us imagine new things um that we wouldn't ring use old names
41:36
from the past they were always kind of an exclusive right you know if you happen to get one at
41:43
that time that was it it was it was yours it was special to you you picked it for you
41:50
know reasons and uh you know that's what you rolled with and so now we have renames and
41:58
you know you can change your name you can change your name back to a name that you used to have even and we allow that
42:05
but whether or not we were we would bring back like ubu is another one right
42:11
yeah ubu seems to be popular or dabby you know uh like you mentioned
42:19
um you know that's something we would have to kind of discuss internally I mean I suppose if we had enough requests
42:25
to really really bring back something maybe I would uh consider doing like a
42:33
hits of the past name list return or something yeah I like that idea like a
42:38
top ten you know top 10 names from the recent past we could bring back at some
42:43
point we'd have to contemplate it because like I said we've already we've already basically told the community and such
42:50
that we wouldn't do it so this would be kind of backing up on that okay much to think about I like the top
42:57
10 idea I hope you keep that in mind looking forward to that 

 

[Rowan Amore]

That's the top 10 names of the recent past so I'd assume only those since last names were brought back?

[Aime Ravenhurst]

Choice of a retired last name might have been a good perk to add to the Second LifeTime subscriptions, or as a prize for future giveaways...

[Chic Aeon]

2 hours ago, Qie Niangao said:

 

 

Deleted. Misread

 

Edited June 28, 2023 by Chic Aeon

[Chic Aeon]

And a PS. LL has said repeatedly that legacy names (before "resident" came into being would NOT be reintroduced. That doesn't mean that they won't of course. The roadmap changes daily it seems. 

[Lucia Nightfire]

Maybe only allow it if the account you're trying to change existed when the name of interest was originally available?

I have older alts I would like to have the last name Nightfire, heh.

[Gabriele Graves]

* Removed my original response to poster who misread and responded to something else.

Confused?  You will be after this episode of Soap!
 

Edited June 28, 2023 by Gabriele Graves

[Gabriele Graves]

Someone at today's Lab Gab asked about the possibility of custom last names and the answer was an emphatic "No".

I know it's not the same thing but it is related and I thought it would be interesting to share.

Edited June 28, 2023 by Gabriele Graves

[Sakura Sands]

Thanks for the replies, all.  I really love how last names work and wouldn't be keen on seeing that change.  I can tell automatically from some last names how long an avatar has been around.  They reference a snapshot in time in SL and I like that.  When you find someone who has the same last name it feels like you were part of the same graduating class or something …well that's how it feels to me anyway lol

[Stephanie Misfit]

18 minutes ago, Sakura Sands said:

Thanks for the replies, all.  I really love how last names work and wouldn't be keen on seeing that change.  I can tell automatically from some last names how long an avatar has been around.  They reference a snapshot in time in SL and I like that.  When you find someone who has the same last name it feels like you were part of the same graduating class or something …well that's how it feels to me anyway lol

I agree with you, I am against the "original" last names coming back, too. They show an avatar's age. If I see someone with the last name Misfit, guaranteed we are going to have a conversation, and I have only seen one other person with that name in recent years. The novelty names that have been used more recently that people have had to pay for though, I don't care if they get recycled.

[bigmoe Whitfield]

I'm not for legacy names like mine to return.

[CandyCole]

There always seems to be a certain snobbery associated with last names, or perhaps just not having 'Resident' on the end.  Same goes for account longevity. Although they can go hand in hand.

Account longevity, non-Resident account name, forum post count. These people are more cleverer than the others, at least they like to think so. #snobz

[Island Granville]

45 minutes ago, CandyCole said:

There always seems to be a certain snobbery associated with last names, or perhaps just not having 'Resident' on the end.  Same goes for account longevity. Although they can go hand in hand.

Account longevity, non-Resident account name, forum post count. These people are more cleverer than the others, at least they like to think so. #snobz

There is nothing that makes us special because of when we joined SL. But it is nice to talk to old AVs about the early days, and names are the key to this particular social facet of SL. We share memories that form the basis of conversations that a new nameuser wouldn't relate to. I'm sorry that some older users attempt to pull rank because of their age - maybe quiz them on a few things to see if they live up to their ego? Since I came back to SL 18 months ago after 10 years out I've found that younger AVs know a lot more about SL in its current state. They've certainly been far more helpful in my readjustment over the last year or so.

[elleevelyn]

is all kinda nonsense really the thought that last names are any kind of key to a shared memory. It may be a trigger tho for the observer but it isn't for the observed unless the trigger results in a conversation

every account has a start date so if I was a Smith and saw another Smith I might be triggered enough to check their profile to see if they started the same time as me, and if so this might trigger me to IM them abd say. "Hey we started at the about the same time"  How often do these conversations occur. Hardly ever, if ever. There were about 24,000 Gossipgirl accounts, hardly any now, if any still active

the difference between recycling and not-recycling last names is 1 mouse-click (to check the account date)

[Kimmi Zehetbauer]

Someone told me they wouldn't mind having the same last name of their older "spouse" in world --- but I don't see that happening either.

[SarahKB7 Koskinen]

100% against reintroducing retired surnames for reasons of their occasional rareness. And I'm also against it as it creates an ability to unfairly appropriate these surname's perceived history or status for short-term personal gain, which would cheapen the surname too. 

Surnames were assigned to user accounts in specific years and seasons within those years.  When you presently meet someone who shares the same surname as you, one already knows how old that other person is (in SL age) and when they first joined SL, even without having to talk to them, or by looking at their profile. And that also works with other different surnames assigned to other time periods too.

Surnames are part of a user account's personal identity, property and history too.  They are a unique part of SL culture and which would be forever ruined if retired surnames became available again.

They wouldn't introduce Mole or Linden surnames, so why do it with everyone elses names?

Edited June 28, 2023 by SarahKB7 Koskinen

[Alwin Alcott]

7 hours ago, Qie Niangao said:

we've already basically told the community and such
 

ehm ... basically  ? no no, it's told and written nearly uncountable times it wouldn't happen ... nothing basically ...
If it's changing, what's the value of a given word of LL? .. sorry but your lifetime account gets back to basic in two years?

Edited June 28, 2023 by Alwin Alcott

[Sid Nagy]

Last names keep popping up every new generation as well in RL. So I personally don't see the problem for SL?
I don't need to be recognized as an oldbee the moment I appear somewhere.
As long as they are only sold in combination with a first name that doesn't exist from the past, so that confusion and possible trolling is impossible, I'd say: "Why not?"
 

[Alwin Alcott]

1 hour ago, Sid Nagy said:

Last names keep popping up every new generation as well in RL. So I personally don't see the problem for SL?
I don't need to be recognized as an oldbee the moment I appear somewhere.
As long as they are only sold in combination with a first name that doesn't exist from the past, so that confusion and possible trolling is impossible, I'd say: "Why not?"
 

welcome Sid789456552545b Nagy ? .. i think the better solution is use relatively normal last names instead of the not so good ones as seen often now.
Re-using the old ones with lots of numbers isn't really attractive.

[Sid Nagy]

2 minutes ago, Alwin Alcott said:

welcome Sid789456552545b Nagy ? .. i think the better solution is use relatively normal last names instead of the not so good ones as seen often now.
Re-using the old ones with lots of numbers isn't really attractive.

I agree with that, but I think an awful lot of normal last names have already been used.
Back in the day there where third party last name providers too for SL, remember?
So my guess is, that a vast amount of really usable normal last names are relatively seldom used in the past.

[Alwin Alcott]

3 minutes ago, Sid Nagy said:

So my guess is, that a vast amount of really usable normal last names are relatively seldom used in the past.

The problem is a bit, we don't know, only LL has the database ( namewatch is gone for some years already as far i know)
Many names might have accounts tied to them , while we don't see those anymore, and accounts are forever tied to persons that signed up.
 

[Katherine Heartsong]

I just want Heartsong back so I can grab a decent name for my male avatar. Is that so much to ask?

[Love Zhaoying]

Not sure why people don't want the last names to come back.

Personally, I consider "Resident" to indicate some weird type of "Second Class Citizen".  Whereas, aren't we all "Residents"?

I would just as soon force everyone with non-Resident last name to be renamed to "[currentfirstname+currentlastname] Resident".

[Gabriele Graves]

I don't think the idea of existing first and last names being smooshed together so that Resident could be added as the last name would really work in practice as some of those names would already be taken.  It's also pointless having Resident at all if everyone has it and everyone would want it visually suppressed at that point I think.

I don't see people with Resident to be any different to anyone else, certainly not second class in any way.  I can understand why people find it unappealing as a last name however.