- culture
- The naming tradition the roster draws from — an ancestral Earth lineage (American, Arabic, Yoruba and the like) or an off-world tradition such as Mars Colony or Self-Chosen.
- gender
- Which given-name pool is drawn from; 'Mixed' takes either one per name. The off-world traditions are gender-neutral and disregard it.
- count
- How many names the roster holds.
- method
- How each given name was produced:
- Curated — drawn intact from the period pool.
- Drifted — a curated name eroded toward a worn, later-era form.
- Synthesized — a novel name grown in the tradition's sound from the whole pool.
- Era-blended — the three mixed in the proportion the era calls for.
- heuristic
- The seed that drives the whole draw: a number, or any phrase folded into one. The same heuristic always reproduces the same roster; left blank, a fresh one is rolled and shown here.
- father line
- The father's culture, for a mixed-heritage roster. Left to inherit, the line follows the child's own culture; set it to fold a second naming tradition into the surnames.
- mother line
- The mother's culture, for a mixed-heritage roster. Left to inherit, the line follows the child's own culture; in dual-surname traditions it supplies the second family name.
- father name
- An optional full name for the father. Supply it and the roster reads as his children, inheriting the family surname.
- mother name
- An optional full name for the mother. In dual-surname cultures her family name becomes the child's second surname.
- scenario
- The settling history the roster reflects: 'convergent' drifts toward the shared common pool, while 'fragmented' isolates a colony so its names diverge.
- density
- How many parts a name stacks up — 'short', 'standard' or 'long' — from a bare given-and-family pair up to a fuller string of patronymics, surnames and origins.
- distinction
- The wear on the forms: 'plain' keeps modern spellings, while 'archaic' hardens them into older, weathered variants.
- lineage
- Whether the roster lists distinct individuals or one office held in succession — a title or post whose entries are each the next holder of the same seat.