So few characters have last names

[MagicMushroom55]

Hitachin

MagicMushroom55

THOSE ARENT NAMES! Those are titles. It kind of makes sense for the first series because it had a much more eastern theme, and I think the air nomads would have considered a surname an "attachment" so I get why aang wouldn't ever have a last name.

That would be like saying "Queen Elizabeth" is her name or "President Obama."

With the korra series I would expect everyone to have last names due to how western it is.

Except Queen Elizabeth from the House of Windsor is her real name.
Also Obama is a last name.

They probably didn't change so much that everyone had last names.

No it's not dude, thats her royal title, her name is Elizabeth Alexandra Mary. Just like Prince William has like 5 names and so does harry. titles are not the same as names.

The only person I'm aware of who had the same avatar-type style are the japanese emperors who seem to be born with one name. I.E. Hirohito

[Hitachin]

MagicMushroom55

No it's not dude, thats her royal title, her name is Elizabeth Alexandra Mary. Just like Prince William has like 5 names and so does harry. titles are not the same as names.

Still no last name.
So just call her that, it would be like calling Firelord Ozai as Ozai or Prince Zuko as Zuko.
Doesn't change they have no last names due to royal lineage.

MagicMushroom55

The only person I'm aware of who had the same avatar-type style are the japanese emperors who seem to be born with one name. I.E. Hirohito

Emperors, kings, true royalty generally don't need last names anyways.
In fact I'm not quite sure when people started using last names.
Like in the ancient greeks, there were no last names. They merely were known as example would be Odysseus Son of Laertes. This kind of medieval thing has continued in lots of fantasy novels like Eragon where it's Eragon Shadeslayer Son of Brom or Bromson.

[MagicMushroom55]

Hitachin

MagicMushroom55

No it's not dude, thats her royal title, her name is Elizabeth Alexandra Mary. Just like Prince William has like 5 names and so does harry. titles are not the same as names.

Still no last name.
So just call her that, it would be like calling Firelord Ozai as Ozai or Prince Zuko as Zuko.
Doesn't change they have no last names due to royal lineage.

MagicMushroom55

The only person I'm aware of who had the same avatar-type style are the japanese emperors who seem to be born with one name. I.E. Hirohito

Emperors, kings, true royalty generally don't need last names anyways.

Yeah but im talking about the common person in the series. How does a metropolitan society not include surnames?! I'm sure there are dozens of Mako's and and Lin's in Republic City. How do you distinguish?

[Hitachin]

MagicMushroom55

Yeah but im talking about the common person in the series. How does a metropolitan society not include surnames?! I'm sure there are dozens of Mako's and and Lin's in Republic City. How do you distinguish?

Not like it's easy to distinguish people even with their last names so I doubt it matters.
Like there's definitely more than one Jeremy Lin, just people know the most famous one to be the basketball player.
Also they might have last names, just we don't know them cause people generally don't greet each other with their last names.
Like if I met a person on the street, I would say for example, Hi my name is Leo or Hi my name is Thomas. I don't say my full name.

[MagicMushroom55]

Hitachin

MagicMushroom55

Yeah but im talking about the common person in the series. How does a metropolitan society not include surnames?! I'm sure there are dozens of Mako's and and Lin's in Republic City. How do you distinguish?

Not like it's easy to distinguish people even with their last names so I doubt it matters.
Like there's definitely more than one Jeremy Lin, just people know the most famous one to be the basketball player.
Also they might have last names, just we don't know them cause people generally don't greet each other with their last names.
Like if I met a person on the street, I would say for example, Hi my name is Leo or Hi my name is Thomas. I don't say my full name.

I agree a little, because up until recently it was disrespectful for a person to use a first name, so people always greeted eachother as "Mr. Smith" or "Ms. Ives" which would require a last name.

I dunno, I think we are arguing about something unimportant and I don't want to get frustrated with you because I thik we could be geeky friends ^_^

[Renaissance Phoenix]

MagicMushroom55

THOSE ARENT NAMES! Those are titles. It kind of makes sense for the first series because it had a much more eastern theme, and I think the air nomads would have considered a surname an "attachment" so I get why aang wouldn't ever have a last name.

That would be like saying "Queen Elizabeth" is her name or "President Obama."

With the korra series I would expect everyone to have last names due to how western it is.

Republic City is really the only "western" setting. All of the other areas appear to have remained relatively eastern in influence, so I'm not surprised many of them still don't have surnames.

[zweet_dreamz]

Last names are only reserved for teh rich. talk2hand
I don't like the idea of avatars having last names.
I feel that they should connect with people of every nation, and last names could be a little detrimental, specially if the avatar is born in a rich family.
Think of it like the pope.
While he does have a last name, he drops his regular name and uses a different one to make him more humble.

[MagicMushroom55]

Hitachin

MagicMushroom55

No it's not dude, thats her royal title, her name is Elizabeth Alexandra Mary. Just like Prince William has like 5 names and so does harry. titles are not the same as names.

Still no last name.
So just call her that, it would be like calling Firelord Ozai as Ozai or Prince Zuko as Zuko.
Doesn't change they have no last names due to royal lineage.

MagicMushroom55

The only person I'm aware of who had the same avatar-type style are the japanese emperors who seem to be born with one name. I.E. Hirohito

Emperors, kings, true royalty generally don't need last names anyways.
In fact I'm not quite sure when people started using last names.
Like in the ancient greeks, there were no last names. They merely were known as example would be Odysseus Son of Laertes. This kind of medieval thing has continued in lots of fantasy novels like Eragon where it's Eragon Shadeslayer Son of Brom or Bromson.

No, surnames have been used for thousands of years.
Gaius Julis Ceaser, Magnus Pompey, Jesus Christ, and so on. The names become more obvious but it's always been quite common to carry a name that represents your family. Not just titles

[The Fire Lord Azula]

Hitachin

sweatdrop
you could've just googled it -

"

The short answer is that they don't have surnames, nor would those be a normal feature of the sort of pseudo-medieval oriental world that Avatar is set in.

Toph does have a sort-of surname ('Bei Fong') because she comes from a noble albeit but not royal family whereas Zuko, Ozai and Azula are royalty and are thus identified by their rank and station. Sokka and Kattara come from a peasant village and are unlikely to have or need a surname. Aang has no surname but would probably identify himself by his status as a Buddhist monk

In many Eastern cultures, surnames are derived from either tribal affiliation or position

Therefore; full names would be

Fire Lord Zuko
Fire Lord Azula
Fire Lord Ozai
Korra of the Southern Water Tribe
Avatar Aang Thich
Katara of the Southern Water Tribe
Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe" - Richard

I may be living in my own reality inside my head but that doesn't make it any less real to me.

[DrunkBlackDocta]

I just assumed last names were a bit of a prestige thing.

[alhaitham]

I guess only important people (like noble/rich families) have last names

[poppy oleander]

MagicMushroom55

Except, the ATLA series ISN'T western in it's culture.
It's only made IN the West.

In ATLA, you have a complete mix of different cultures and in a pseudo-medieval land like ATLA, surnames aren't very important. At least, the way they are today.
What was actually important was rank, like the fire lords / ladies, Toph's family, etc. and how much coin you carried.
If you had a last name, it was normally either from your occupation, where you came from (for example, Mako of Ba Sing Se and then a surname would trickle down from there), your father's given name and -sen / -son, or even something as simple as a word, like Lake.

Now, given the strong Chinese (Earth Kingdom) and Japanese (Asami Sato, the Fire Nation somewhat) cultures, THEIR last names could be trickled down from their own personal languages.
It just so happens that everyone in the Avatar-verse speak English.

OR, there are more continents than where the Gaang and Korra and Co. live.

There's a wealth of possibilities, but you need to look at points further than, "these people have last names, why not them?!"

[Sage Akia]

You know, it's actually very likely that their culture doesn't really have so much care for surnames and the people don't quite feel like dropping them unless the individual comes from some prestigious family like the Beifongs..

[Ariana]

♥ What about Wang Fire and Sapphire Fire? xd