Finch

Finch is an ambassador for the G'Fondo'Nah, and a close friend and confidant to Phyland Renwald, the ambassador for Earth. Finch's real name, in his native tongue, is too difficult for most people in the galaxy to pronounce (save perhaps the Trepedor, and a few other avianoid species like himself). So, to make up for this shortcoming, he was given several different nicknames, many by his fellow ambassadors from the other races, and generally were ones that they could pronounce, to better and more easily help them identify him when they were speaking between themselves. The name "Finch", that he is so often known by, is Ambassador Phyland's name for him, and the one that has, much to his surprise, been adopted by most of the other ambassadors. Because of his position as ambassador, Finch enjoys a very high standing within his own people, as well as many special benefits, including ownership of his own personal starship, the Kavenu. While not much is known about Finch's family, it is revealed in the novel Dark Earth that he apparently does have a wife and children of his own, as it's discovered in later chapters of that book that he has a grandson, aptly named Fidget (a nickname given to him by Phyland, just like Finch's was), who is a high energy, fidgety, nervous young Fondo that Finch has taken under his wing to train him in the art of being an ambassador, in hopes that he might, some day, take his place in that duty.