Names

[Queen in the North]

I, being retarded, say CAT-uh-LIN. Lysa and Petyr I pronounced like their RL equivalents. I pronounce Baratheon weird, too: BEAR-ah-THEE-on, and Targaryen: TAR-gar-YHEN (it's TAR-gar-EE-un in the show). I always said Daenerys "DAY-nair-EES," not sure how far off that is. And Jaime was always James without the S in my head, but now I say it like Jamie.

[Mandurang]

Really? Weird. 'Cause I knew someone named Catelyn, and she pronounced it, you know, like KAYT-lin. Weird to just mis-pronounce something normal.

The origins of the name are French. It was transplanted into Irish, and for the longest time it was pronounced Cat-lin. It was only in the 1970s or so that what you call "normal" pronunciation of the name was established.

[Rhodan]

Bolton is actually a very old name, and the town itself has a long history as well. From Wikipedia, "The name Bolton derives from the Old English bothel and tun, meaning a "settlement with a special building". The first record of the town dates from 1185 as Boelton. It was recorded as Bothelton in 1212, Bowelton in a charter granted by Henry III in 1251, Botelton in 1257, Boulton in 1288, and Bolton after 1307". I don't see anything wrong with naming a House after it.

No. There is, for instance, Ser Harys Haigh and Lord Harys Swyft, Ser Arys Oakheart, Denyo and Ternesio Terys, Lharys, a man-at-arms in service to House Bracken...the list goes on. If anything, it does seem to be an ending of Valyrian origin, much like -ys, but that's about it. There's plenty non-Valyrian names that end in -ys as well.

ASOS established that "rys" means "fire" in Valyrian, altough it´s not clear if that it´s meaning in the names.

[Anduck]

Most of the time I don't bother trying to pronounce difficult names, such as Daenerys. The first time I read them I work it out but skip past them after that.

Otherwise, Jaime is Jaym, Catelyn is Kayt-lyn, Lysa is Lisa and Petyr is Peter.

Re: Rhodan

Doesn't Daenerys mean 'born in a storm' or some such. I don't know how fire would fit in with that.

[Dalan]

I, being retarded, say CAT-uh-LIN. Lysa and Petyr I pronounced like their RL equivalents. I pronounce Baratheon weird, too: BEAR-ah-THEE-on, and Targaryen: TAR-gar-YHEN (it's TAR-gar-EE-un in the show). I always said Daenerys "DAY-nair-EES," not sure how far off that is. And Jaime was always James without the S in my head, but now I say it like Jamie.

We can ride the pronunciation short bus together. I always thought: CAT-AH-LIN and Baratheon the same way.

[Rhodan]

Re: Rhodan

Doesn't Daenerys mean 'born in a storm' or some such. I don't know how fire would fit in with that.

I´ve always thought that "Stormborn" is just epithet, not translation of anything.

[Athelstane]

Wow of all the names in the book I thought Jaime and Catelyn would be the most agreeable upon readers lol. Jaime = JAY-me (like the modern name), and Catelyn as KATE-lyn(n). Maybe its just my southernness, though, since I tend to identify "lynn" and a separate entity in a name. So I see Catelyn as Cate... Lynn. Go figure. And I tried all of the other pronunciations people have given for Jaime, and none of them sound anywhere near right. JAY-me is the only one that sounds logical. Gem... really?

[Xenophon]

And I tried all of the other pronunciations people have given for Jaime, and none of them sound anywhere near right. JAY-me is the only one that sounds logical. Gem... really?

I think it's because a lot of people find Jaime (with the normal Jay-me pronunciation) to be somehow un-fantastic. I know I read it normally at first, decided I didn't like it, and now think of it as "Jaim" (like Jayne from Firefly, but with an M).

[Fireball07]

Wow of all the names in the book I thought Jaime and Catelyn would be the most agreeable upon readers lol. Jaime = JAY-me (like the modern name), and Catelyn as KATE-lyn(n). Maybe its just my southernness, though, since I tend to identify "lynn" and a separate entity in a name. So I see Catelyn as Cate... Lynn. Go figure. And I tried all of the other pronunciations people have given for Jaime, and none of them sound anywhere near right. JAY-me is the only one that sounds logical. Gem... really?

Yeah, it's not really Gem. More like how the above poster says it but that's as close as I could think on the spot.

Jay-me sounds silly to me. Out of place considering the rest of the names.

[Jem]

This is probably embarassing to admit but, because:

a) I'm a super-fast reader;

B) I am NOT a details person; and

c) Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, olny taht the frist and lsat ltteres are at the rghit pcleas. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by ilstef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

I actually never even noticed that Jaime wasn't Jamie until my husband pointed it out to me.

As for Catelyn, I thought it was pronounced in the perfectly normal, common, un-fantasy way of Kayt-lyn. I actually laughed at my husband for calling her Cat-AH-lin. I said: why would anyone name their daughter cattle-lyn? It isn't very pretty, though I suppose a lot of people think she is a bit of a cow so maybe it is apt...

[Lord Godric]

Yeah, it's not really Gem. More like how the above poster says it but that's as close as I could think on the spot.

Jay-me sounds silly to me. Out of place considering the rest of the names.

Really? I think Martin has plenty of "un-fantastical" names. Robert. Jon. Robb. Petyr. Brandon. I think Jaime as JAY-me fits fine.

[Ealasaid]

Yeah, it's not really Gem. More like how the above poster says it but that's as close as I could think on the spot.

Jay-me sounds silly to me. Out of place considering the rest of the names.

Ihave always thought so, too.

First because the Lannister tend, not all the time, but tend to do TY, as in Tyrek, Tywin, Tyrion.

Second the Tywin Lannister children are Cersei, Tyrion, and Jaime. It just sounds a little too different for that family.

Jaime seems a bit modern as compared with other ASoIaF names. It doesn't bother me anymore, but at first it was a little jarring.

[Zizoz]

When I first encountered "Jaime" in the books I assumed it was pronounced as in Spanish; hence, that's how I've pronounced it.

[mummer]

First because the Lannister tend, not all the time, but tend to do TY, as in Tyrek, Tywin, Tyrion.

Second the Tywin Lannister children are Cersei, Tyrion, and Jaime. It just sounds a little too different for that family.

I don't understand the point you're trying to make. The Lannisters only "tend" to use "Ty" names a little less than 1/4 of the time (here's a list of all their names). Jaime's mother was named Joanna, and his cousin was named Janei. Cersei's cousin was named Cerenna. Their names aren't inconsistent with their family at all; it's just that Tyrion, ironically, got a name very much like his father.

[Tall Tyrion Lannister!]

I always pronounced it JAY-me, others would just sound weird. Catelyn was the same way.

[Anduck]

... "Jaim" (like Jayne from Firefly, but with an M).

That is an excellent example.

... I actually never even noticed that Jaime wasn't Jamie until my husband pointed it out to me.

I think quite a few people just saw it as Jamie and moved on, or noticed it was like Jamie perhaps.

I usually stop at names for the first time to make sure I have them right. It's interesting how many different views there can be on the subject.

[schpat]

I've always pronounced Petyr as PET-ire

[Rakka]

Oh, the joys of speaking language where letters and phonemes are mostly one on one matches and everything's read just like it's written. Unless it's obviously a foreign language and you get names like Cwnn or Przmyslav, of course. But names with reasonable amount of vowels are generally easy to pronounce.

[Josquius]

The new topic:

I hate the American pronounciation of Kate-lin for Catlin/Catelyn. At first I imagined her name as being Kate-leen but then on reading something somewhere switched it to the normal British Cat-Lin.

Jaime too I originally pronounced sort of like the french j'aime (which impacted heavily my mental image of him), but then on reading elsewhere switched to the normal name Jamie.

Bolton is actually a very old name, and the town itself has a long history as well. From Wikipedia, "The name Bolton derives from the Old English bothel and tun, meaning a "settlement with a special building". The first record of the town dates from 1185 as Boelton. It was recorded as Bothelton in 1212, Bowelton in a charter granted by Henry III in 1251, Botelton in 1257, Boulton in 1288, and Bolton after 1307". I don't see anything wrong with naming a House after it.

Imagine a house called Paris, or York. Also old names but...too real worldy

[brook]

My sister is Jaime (with that spelling) so I could never imagine that name pronounced any other way.

I also pronounced Catelyn as Cat uh lyn and even though I know thats wrong I still can't stop hearing it that way in my head.