My biggest (or perhaps second biggest) pet peeve within the therian community is the concept of "therian names". If you've visited low-budget therian forums or clicked on ninety percent of therian journals here, you will have seen people claiming to have "discovered a therian name" by the "pencil method".
None of it is true. There is no such thing as a therian name. Closing your eyes and holding a pencil to a sheet of paper will not do anything except give you cramps in your hand. It will not unlock your secret name or anything of the sort.
The closest thing to "therian names" is past-life pet (dogs, cats, rabbits, parrots, pigs, etc; animals that can learn names) therians remembering what their name was. But that is an average memory as they lived with humans who gave them a name and referred to them as that name. You as a wolf or lion or fox or bear or any other wild animal therian will not remember a name because you did not have one. Animals identify each other by scent, sight and sound. They do not have names with each other. If they did, it would be a certain growl, honk, cry, etc. You especially would not have a human's name (Luna, for example, as Luna is the most popular "therian name") because animals do not speak the languages that humans do and therefore do not know names such as Luna, Sapphira, Damien or Yuki.
The concept of "therian names" is a harmful one to the otherkin community as it is false information and adds to the stigma that we are just roleplaying. If you see someone claiming to have discovered a "therian name", explain to them why they are wrong or simply link them here. I'm sure they'll learn more than why therian names are false.
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Otherkinity And Therianthropy
Non-FictionA detailed guide on therians and otherkin as written by someone who is both.
