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Did Blizzard ever reveal full names of Tristram inhabitants from the first Diablo?

I mean, we had the full names of Pepin, Griswold, Gillian, Farnham, Ardia, Wirt, and Ogden, which I can't find.

Only Deckard Cain seems to have a full name, although I'm unsure if he has a surname, I can't find information about his father.

About the other Tristram inhabitants, King Leoric and Lazarus are unknown too.

Does any information about them exist anywhere?

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    Note that in 1200AD(ish), people often didn't have surnames or family names. Kings also didn't typically have surnames, they just had regnal names and "Of the house of" sort of names.
    – Valorum
    Sep 2, 2018 at 13:05
  • @Valorum why didn't they have surnames or family names?
    – SovereignSun
    Sep 2, 2018 at 13:06
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    Because many people lived in small communities where a first name (and a description) would have been sufficient to identify the person; John the Smith or Henry Longshanks, for example. When towns started to grow into cities (and with more than 50% of the male popular being christened with just four names), Englishmen started to use occupations (Carter, Fletcher, Smith, Green), place-names (London, Preston, Windsor) noble house names (usually French) and patronymics (father's name) or simple descriptions (Red, Tall, Short, etc) as surnames.
    – Valorum
    Sep 2, 2018 at 13:10

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At present, no. Stay a while, and listen..

There is very little back story given to the inhabitants of Tristram, apart from the few that make it into the third game (one way or another). References to them appear to use the format provided by Valorum; [first name] the [occupation/title]:

  • Griswold the Blacksmith
  • Pepin the Healer
  • Ogdin the Tavern keeper
  • Gillian the Barmaid
  • Farnham the Drunk
  • Adria the Witch
  • Archbishop Lazarus

Even the royal family only appears to be referenced by their title(s):

  • King Leoric of Khanduras / The Mad King / The Skeleton King
  • Queen Asylla of Khanduras
  • Prince Aidan of Khanduras / The Dark Wanderer / The Warrior (as he appears, in the first game)
  • Prince Albrecht of Khanduras

There is, however, additional lore that sheds light on Deckard Cain's full name. In the novel The Order, we are given the names of some of Deckard Cain's relatives:

  • Deckard Cain; the man, himself.
  • Jered Cain; an ancestor.
  • Amelia Cain; Deckard's wife.
  • Jered Cain; Deckard's son, named after the ancestor.
  • Aderes Cain; Deckard's wife.

The naming pattern implies that Cain is, in fact, a surname. Furthermore, I cannot find a source, but the Diablo Wikia has this to say about Aderes, concerning her choice in naming Deckard:

Aderes lived in Tristram. She married a tanner and had a son with him named Deckard. Despite Deckard's wishes to the contrary, she insisted that he take the name of Cain, rather than his father's surname.

Biography of Aderes Cain, Diablo Wikia

While this is currently unsourced, if accurate it suggests that others in Tristram did have a surname, for Aderes to have to wish against Deckhard taking his father's. This also suggests the children took the surnames of their fathers, traditionally.

In reality, Deckard was really the only character central to the plot, throughout much of the Diablo story. It makes sense for the developers to put more effort into fleshing out his background, which may explain why he was he only one to be given a surname.

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    I think I've fixed most of the markdown for you, if you disagree with some of the changes feel free to roll them back. I'm not exactly happy with the code markdown part but I couldn't find another way to escape the angle brackets.
    – TheLethalCarrot ♦
    Sep 3, 2018 at 9:16
  • Changed the angle brackets to square brackets cos I think it works better than the code markdown.
    – TheLethalCarrot ♦
    Sep 3, 2018 at 9:41
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    @TheLethalCarrot I feel for the sake of comedy that this answer should begin with “Stay a while, and listen...”
    – Broklynite
    Sep 3, 2018 at 10:58
  • @Broklynite Only true fans will catch that!
    – SovereignSun
    Sep 3, 2018 at 13:15

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