The complexity of the possible social and neurological arrangements into which the peoples and self-aware artifacts of the Golden Age could organize themselves was reflected in the diverse information carried by their formal names.
This information was usually carried in a header or prefix of standard electronic net-to-net communication, to allow the recipient to translate the response into a mutually comprehensible format and language. For humans using physical bodies, the names were translated into spoken syllables, usually in an abbreviated form.
The naming conventions were not entirely uniform, although most names would contain the same basic information, not necessarily in the same order.
For example, take the name Phaethon Prime Rhadamanth Humodified (augment) Uncomposed, Inde-pconciousness, Base Neuroformed, Silver-Gray Manorial Schola, Era 10191 (the "Reawakening").
"Phaethon" is the name of his outward identity, his public character. This only roughly corresponded to the Christian name (or first name) of an earlier age; it was a piece of intellectual property that could be bought and sold, and might also have copyright-protected facial features and expressions, body language, slang phrases, mottoes, or logos to go with it.
"Prime" indicates that he is the original copy of this mind content, not a partial, or a reconstruction, or a ghost. Among sequential iterations of the same consciousness, this is a sequence number. By the final era of the Golden Age, this name had fallen out of strict use, and many people listed fanciful numbers, such as Nought or Myriad.
"Rhadamanth" is the copyrighted reference to his genotype, that is, what the ancients would call a family name. In this particular case, Phaethon's family is named after his mansion. Both the genotype and mansion were created by his sire. Members of other schools would employ this name differently, or would leave it blank; but in general it was meant to reflect on the creator or parent, whoever was responsible for the existence of the entity. Among electronic entities, a time-depth, indicating whether the entity was permanent or temporary, would be added here.
"Humodified" is Phaethon's phenotype (modified human), which indicates that he is a biological consciousness, not electrophotonic, of a standard human ground-shape, compatible with the three basic aesthetics: Standard, Consensus, and Objective. The primary purpose of the phenotype name is to identify aesthetic compatibility.
An aesthetic identifies the symbols, emotional range, information formats, sense impressions, and operating speeds, and so on, with which the user is comfortable. Dolphins and Hullsmiths, for example, have additional ranges of vision, sonar, and hearing, plus several artificial senses that exist only in computer simulation, and consequently their ideograms can be written across a wider range of the electromagnetic spectrum.
"(Augment)" specifies additional phenotype information, and indicates that Phaethon carries standardized immortality nanomachines in his body. Note that Phaethon's name, when he opened his memory casket, would change to "(special augment)" to signify his nonstandard multiple modifications and adaptations for near-light-speed environments.
"Uncomposed" indicates a person's Composition or attachment to a cybernetic mind network-in this case Phaethon has none. Composed people who have independent or semi-independent consciousness would list their Composition name here. Fully Composed people list their Composition name as their first name, and might list here their function, or list here a designation describing the geometry of the Composition, i.e., radial, linear, parallel, serial, hierarchical, self-organizing, or unified.
"Indepconciousness" indicates Phaethon's nervous system is entirely self-contained. He is not linked into a mind-sharing scheme, a memory archive, a conscience monitor; he is not part of a mental hierarchy; he is not a synnoient or avatar; he is not emotion-linked, or sharing language midbrain structures. When Phaethon enters full communion with his ship, so-called navimorphosis, this name would change to reflect the mind-sharing scheme used.
Note that these last two factors are actually independent variables. A self-aware entity can be Composed into a network without losing independence of consciousness (if, for example, he were sharing speech and perception, but not emotion or memory). Note also, an entity can share some aspects or elements of consciousness without actually being part of a ma**-mind. For example, one could share short-term memories without sharing personality (called likewisers), or vice versa (called avatars), or share dream structures and thalamic language reactions without sharing cortex consciousness (certain daughter groups of the Cerebellines do this). An entity with no instantaneous sharing of cortexual thought, perception, and memory is regarded as being legally independent, even if all other brain functions are shared.
The "neuroform" name identifies the internal mental structures in the same way that the Composition name identifies external mental structures. The neuro-forms, for humans, tended to fall into one of four general categories.
Basic: Hindbrain, midbrain, and cortex are organized into a traditional hierarchy.
Warlock: Cortex and midbrain interconnected. Allows for a repeatable form of intuitive and lateral thought, as well as controlled dreamlike states of consciousness.
Cerebelline (also called global): Cortex and hindbrain interconnected. Allows for a simultaneous integration of many points of view or data streams. Thinking is spontaneously organized rather than linear, and relies on pattern recognition rather than abstraction.
Invariant: True unicameral consciousness, all segments of the brain at all levels ma**ively interconnected. Allows for a tightly disciplined mode of thought, where all emotions, instincts, and pa**ions are integrated into dispa**ionate sanity.
The "school" identifies the particulars of a person's culture, language, philosophy, and taste. In the time of the Golden Oecumene, all of these characteristics are voluntary. Traditions are adopted by individuals; individuals are not born into traditions.
The "era" is the time of birth or deep-structure formation-though the custom of stating birth date suffers obloquy from reformers and egalitarians, it still is in use. Those favoring the custom a**ert that the historical period in which a man is born tells you much of his outlook, customs, and circumstances; those opposing say it is a form of elitism, where elders are given undue prestige, and that the scholastic name tells one all one needs to know about outlook, custom, and circumstance.