Doesn't really fit into canon as it is, but I thought it would be an interesting concept.
So, with (at least some) DnD lore, Elves have a child name and then, when they are considered adults by elf standards when they are 100 or some point thereafter, they take an adult name. (They grow at a similar rate to humans until maturity, but their standard for adult is different).
Astarion was turned when he was 39, Decades before he would have taken an 'adult' name.
Maybe Astarion was his original name, and, with everything he was dealing with, it never occured to him to change it. Maybe it did, but he sees it as that he 'died' before that milestone. He did not live to that point, so he doesn't /get/ to have that name.
Or maybe Astarion /is/ his adult name. He chose it sometimes into his time under Cazador, or maybe Cazador chose it for him (another means for Cazador to show Astarion is /his/). Maybe after all these years, with the way time and torture has affected his mind, he doesn't remember what his name had been before, the name that his family, that everyone who'd known him before had called him by.
Idk, I just like this version of Elven naming conventions, and would love to see it explored with Astarion.
Astarion - Elven naming conventions
So, with (at least some) DnD lore, Elves have a child name and then, when they are considered adults by elf standards when they are 100 or some point thereafter, they take an adult name. (They grow at a similar rate to humans until maturity, but their standard for adult is different).
Astarion was turned when he was 39, Decades before he would have taken an 'adult' name.
Maybe Astarion was his original name, and, with everything he was dealing with, it never occured to him to change it. Maybe it did, but he sees it as that he 'died' before that milestone. He did not live to that point, so he doesn't /get/ to have that name.
Or maybe Astarion /is/ his adult name. He chose it sometimes into his time under Cazador, or maybe Cazador chose it for him (another means for Cazador to show Astarion is /his/). Maybe after all these years, with the way time and torture has affected his mind, he doesn't remember what his name had been before, the name that his family, that everyone who'd known him before had called him by.
Idk, I just like this version of Elven naming conventions, and would love to see it explored with Astarion.