Ta’naihapi use everyday words or combinations of words to form their given names. They have no surname or shared family component of a name, and to avoid confusion, no child can be named the same as another living person in the same village. In more formal circumstances they are referred to using the village they live in in lieu of a surname - for example 'Zhafi of Nögdsa'.

The Orch’shü maintains a list, and must approve all names to check for conflicts.

It is common practice for the Ta’naihapi to name their children for something of significance that happened around the time of their birth, as they believe it to be a fortuitous sign from the Gods to name the child in that way. For example, Zhafi's name "dragon" comes from the fact he vomited at birth, resembling a dragon breathing fire. (The Ta’naihapi can be quite creative in their naming!)

Families who have a role in the village that is passed down through generations (such as cooks, healers and the like), may instead choose to name their children after their profession - like Galsüxu, whose name reflects his father's role as a brewer which he followed into.

Sometimes a child may be named a word that has special meaning or significance to the parent or the life they hope the child will lead - for example Kurilchö, whose name reflects that he was to born to become the next Pùg’parù ruler.

The diminutive 'ca is sometimes added to the end of a word to denote "little", such as Meli’ca = “little bird” and Lij’ca = "little frog".