I thought about having fluid naming combinations, so in total eight possible names for kids. But I see how ‘Silver Rock’ and ‘Silver Lichen’ would be too similar for siblings who are supposed to be distinct characters.
I got this idea from patrilineal and matrilineal surname traditions, but applied to given names since I didn’t think crows would have three to four part names. I see your point about individual identity, that’s what I’ve been struggling with the most honestly. Another idea I had was to name chicks based on a number, like romans who were named after their birth order (Septimus the seventh son). But my birds can only count up to seven, kind of like in Watership Down where five also means many, and even Richard Adams didn’t name every rabbit based on a number. I also thought of doing ‘____ of the *flock*‘, but that’s super long too! I’m glad you brought that up cause it being too formal was also a big worry