I understand that it could be laborious, but it could be limited to certain words; something like what was done in Undertale. Also, with this context of not very polite people on a ship (I mean... rude, crude, "piratey" people... I'm thinking in the Treasure Island book), I think it would be very good to have jokes and "pranks" in reaction to certain names. I think a cat with the name Milk would be one of the easy ones to anticipate, well at least for me that I was the one thinking on it XD and I can think in many jokes and funny situations with characters reacting to the first or last name... and in a period piece video game like this, I think it would have been better ask first about the name and then the last name of the character, so that you can then make distinctions between first and last name, such as sometimes someone respectful and professional like Arthur addresses you by last name while those who want to be more informal address you by name. You could even have a nickname originate (unlock) in reaction to first or last name... like "milky". I don't know, maybe I'm thinking too enthusiastically or ambitiously, but some of this could have been done, right? It's a bit of a wasted opportunity. But well, I've just started playing because I don't have much time in the day so I'm going very slowly, and this is just a first detail that has come up for me to comment on :D
And yes, I'am a furry and gay so... "cum" is in my mind as a nickname, haha, like... "clumsy" - "John Milk" - "cumsy"... "Hey, you, so you like milk enough to put it in your name, right? Cat boy. Here we don't have cows to milk, but do you know what we have? Come in here and I'll show you, you'll love it, maybe you'll even change your last name." hahaha, In my mind a dog is the one who is telling him this XD