Resources on Personal Names and Titles
There is very little evidence that the Scythians and related cultures, broadly speaking, had any sort of written language. (The closest examples we have are the inscription on a bowl from Issyk kurgan and the corpus of the earliest texts written in Khotan Saka.)
Because of that, the vast majority of personal names that we have which are either attested to belong to Scythians or which have Iranian language roots are in documents from other cultures/civilizations and may not necessarily reflect the most accurate naming practices of Scythian cultures.
However, it’s the best we have to work with at the moment.
First, some excellent external SCA resources:
- An excellent list of names found in various Greek contexts (especially around the Black Sea) with Iranian roots/elements.
- A brief report on Sarmatian women’s names.
- An expanded list of Sarmatian names.
- A brief report on the name Tomyris.
Building on and in addition to those documents are the following lists of personal names and prospective titles that may be of use to the SCAdian seeking a potentially viable Scythian-related name for their persona.
Note: transliteration of characters from other alphabets can be tricky; I have attempted to be consistent in each document, although the conventions of one document might differ from those of another.
- An Expanded List of Scytho-Sarmatian Names, ca. 8th c. BCE to 4th c. CE
- This document attempts as comprehensive as possible a list of names with Scythian and Sarmatian root elements from roughly 8th c. BCE to 3rd c. CE, with a focus on “western” Scythia (the Pontic steppe) as opposed to more eastern Saka cultures.
- Names with Scythian Elements from the Black Sea region, ca. 8th c. BCE to 4th c. CE
- This document provides a list of names and Scythian root elements compiled by V.I. Abaev, primarily from the Pontic region (with a few other relatively well-known Scythian-related figures' names included as well).
- Scythian and Thracian Names from Scythia Magna and Scythia Minor, ca. 8th c. BCE to 5th c. CE
- This document provides a list, based on research by A. Shaposhnikov, of Scythian and Thracian names (the latter used for comparison with some Scythian name constructions/elements), found in the Pontic region and in present-day Bulgaria.
- A Brief List of Indo-Scythian Names, ca. 2nd c. BCE to 3rd c. CE
- This document provides a set of names of Indo-Scythian rulers and relatives.
- Personal Names Mentioned in Bailey’s Saka Documents: Text Volume, ca. 200 BCE to 1000 CE
- These names, compiled from documents written in Khotanese Saka and focused on that geographical region, span anywhere from 1st c. CE to the 8th c. CE (if not even more recent, with unfortunately few clear dates for reference). A few foreigners’ names from documents in Bailey’s book are included for comprehensiveness and comparison.
- Bactrian Names from Harmatta’s “Languages and Scripts in Graeco-Bactria and the Saka Kingdoms,” ca. 327 BCE to 120 BCE
- Bactrian names that might have Iranian (Avestan) language roots/elements identified by J. Harmatta.
- Women’s Personal Names from Achaemenid Persia, 559 to 331 BCE
- Because there are so many fewer recorded instances of women’s names from the ancient world than men’s names, this document offers some options from Achaemenid Persia.
- Names and Titles of Parthian and Early Sasanian Women, ca. 150 BCE to 300 CE
- Because there are so many fewer recorded instances of women’s names from the ancient world than men’s names, this document provides a list of some Parthian and early Sasanian women’s names (queens and royal family members) and potential titles that may be of interest.
- A List of Documented Scythian Tribes and Groups
- This document includes a list of group/cultural names attested to in various texts.
- Proposed Khotan Saka Titles for SCA Use
- Bailey’s Dictionary of Khotan Saka includes some titles (and terms that might well be titles). This document lists what appear to be the most frequently used or most likely titles that correlate to some SCA titles.
- A List of Registered SCAdian Scythian/Saka Names
- Because the SCA’s Ordinary & Armorial is not particularly easy to search if one is looking for examples from a particular culture or time & place, this list has been compiled to present SCAdians interested in registering a Scythian name with some comparable examples of others who have successfully done so.