[Note: This was originally a post to the alt.fan.eddings Usenet newsgroup. I’m including it here for completeness. Originally archived here.]
Justin Hall wrote:
Is it possible that Beldaran was born with that name? Did Polgara formerly used to be known as Gara? I’m not sure about this, so any input is desired. The BEL’s on all the men seemed to be ‘tacked’ on at some later point. Did Beldaran, Poledra, and Polgara ever have previous names? I mean, is there really a law that prevents the use of Bel-something on anyone but Aldur’s disciples?
Okay…just read this last night, so dug up the passage, as I remembered this discussion while I was reading…. From the hardbound edition of the first three books of the Belgariad, pg. 514 (Magician’s Gambit, near the end of Chapter Ten).
The old sorcerer put his arm around the boy’s shoulders. “I thought you might see things that way, Belgarion. You’re bound to this the same way we all are.”
The strange thrill he always felt at the sound of his other, secret name ran through Garion. “Why do you all insist on calling me that?” he asked.
“Belgarion?” Wolf said mildly. “Think, boy. Think what it means. I haven’t been talking to you and telling you stories all these years just because I like the sound of my own voice.”
Garion turned it over carefully in his mind. “You were Garath,” he mused thoughtfully, “but the God Aldur changed your name to Belgarath. Zedar was Zedar first and then Belzedar — and then he went back to being Zedar again.”
“And in my old tribe, Polgara would have just been Gara. Pol is like Bel. The only difference is that she’s a woman. Her name comes from mine — because she’s my daughter. Your name comes from mine, too.”
“Garion — Garath,” the boy said. “Belgarath — Belgarion. It all fits together, doesn’t it?”
“Naturally,” the old man replied. “I’m glad you noticed it.”
Now, this doesn’t really address Beldaran or Poledra, or many of the
others, but it does shed some light on Polgara’s name…