What is Jon Snow's real name?

[JonisHenryTudor]

After 5 books, Jon's name is Jon. Changing it would just be silly and awkward. 

[Shierashiera]

I wonder if they wanted to name him Aerys.

 

If Rhaegar indeed intended to depose his father after dealing with Robert, he would have to be able to convince everyone in the Kingdom that Aerys was dangerous for the realm.

Perhaps Rhaegar wanted to name his son Aerys, in order to proove that what he did was right and that he and his son, would be better than Aerys II.

 

But I believe that his real name is Jon. 

[Ghost's Shadow]

Jon was not going back to the Watch, and his name was not Aemon Targaryen.

Jon did go back to the Watch, so his name might also be Aemon Targaryen.

There is, to me, no logic behind Rhaegar naming his son Viserys, as there was already one around with that name, a younger brother. Why would he name his son after him? A brother that already showed signs of the madness?

We know Rhaegar corresponded with Aemon, and if he was going to have to pick any other name, that one might pop up faster than changing Visenya into Viserys.

Jon will probably stay Jon, though, at least unofficially.

Also, neither Lyanna nor Rhaegar live in a Sand as last name for bastard area, so Jon Snow would never be Jon Sand.

[zalim]

based on looks i would have named him baelor Targaryen 

[Britully]

Q.  What is Jon Snow's real name?

 

A.  His name is Robert Paulson.

[Daemon I Blackfyre]

We don't actually know how much Jon Connington was close to Rhaegar. Sure, Jon seemed to be a good friend and not a "best one" like Arthur Dayne was to Rhaegar, but what if something we still don't know about happened and Jon was there, helping the prince in a time of need?

I still think Jon is named after him. Why introduce a character with the same name so close to the supposed father of Jon near the end of the story?

[Aduro]

On 11/05/2016 at 2:07 PM, Ghost's Shadow said:

 

Jon will probably stay Jon, though, at least unofficially.

Also, neither Lyanna nor Rhaegar live in a Sand as last name for bastard area, so Jon Snow would never be Jon Sand.

Yeah, Jons name will always been Jon Snow unless he picks up another nickname and people start using it over his real name. 

Also, R+L=J usually assumes Jon was born in the Tower of Joy. The tower is in Dorne and bastard names are based on the place where the bastard themselves are born (so for example Joffrey I was born in King's Landing and should be Joffrey Waters not Joffrey Hill).

[No One of Importance]

19 hours ago, Aduro said:

 

bastard names are based on the place where the bastard themselves are born 

Nope, as has been pointed out several times in this very discussion thread.

[Lady Kissed By Fire]

On 8/27/2015 at 11:12 AM, King Behind The Wall said:

Jon was probably named by Rhaegar as a tribute to JonCon.

Honestly, I think he had no name from Lyanna or Rhaegar. Of course neither of them knew he would be a boy, Rhaegar was off fighting a war, and Lyanna would have been dying, only worried about Ned keeping a promise to her... to keep Jon safe.

Ned named him Jon after Jon Arryn... a man he looked up to as a father figure, even though that wasn't his father.

[The Imp slap]

Rhaegar was sort of dead. Lyanna who was sort of dying at the time, probably wasn't browsing weirwood.net for baby name ideas either. She asked Ned to name him  and he chose the name Jon after Jon Arryn, his adopted father. 

Family name be Stark if legitimized by Robb (his adopted brother) or Targaryen (if they were married which would make sense plot-wise). 

[tugela]

On ‎8‎/‎26‎/‎2015 at 1:14 PM, aryagonnakill#2 said:

On ‎8‎/‎28‎/‎2015 at 10:52 PM, The Dragon has three heads said:

Not if they married by the old northern rite, if so they only need a tree, and to say the vows and rhaegar would not have wanted Lyanna to be his mistress. He loved her. Or he would have left her and fought FAR, FAR sooner.
It cost him the kingdoms.

Its either Viserys Targaryen, or Viserys Sand, Rhaegar already had Aegon and Rhaenys, he still needed Visenya but he got a boy.

And Daenerys is the "child of three". She is told this in the house of undying, and later again by Quaithe. Obviously she doesn't have three parents, so metaphor is involved. The "three" being referred to are probably Rhaegar, Ashara and Lyanna (representing the original Aegon and his two sister wives). Their children are Maegor and Aenys I (represented by Daenerys and Jon).

Essentially Rhaegar would have been recreating the founding of the Targaryen dynasty. But the question is why.

[The Dragon has three heads]

 

To self fulfill a prophecy he thought was important, but most likely won't be as the prophecies are just hold overs and myths from  the past wars against the COTF and Others.

[maxattac]

My guess on Jon's name once he ascend to the throne: his official name will be "Rhaejon Targaryen, the Ice Dragon, The first of his name, King of the Andals, the First Men, the Rhoynars and the Free Folks" but his friends will continue to call him Jon outside of the throne room...

I like "The Ice Dragon", I think it's a cool moniker. Some alternative ideas: The Fire-wolf, The Resurrected, The Othersbane, The Summerbringer,...

[ThePrinceThatKnewNothing]

His first name is Jon. If I'm correct there was mention of a Jon Stark down in the crypts when Bran, Rickon, Maester Luwin, Osha and the direwolves are down there just before they find out ned has been killed. So while Jon is not a typical northern name, there has been one In the past 

[Greymoon]

On 24/05/2016 at 2:23 AM, Daemon I Blackfyre said:

We don't actually know how much Jon Connington was close to Rhaegar. Sure, Jon seemed to be a good friend and not a "best one" like Arthur Dayne was to Rhaegar, but what if something we still don't know about happened and Jon was there, helping the prince in a time of need?

I still think Jon is named after him. Why introduce a character with the same name so close to the supposed father of Jon near the end of the story?

Jon cannot have been named after Jon Connington. GRRM has revealed years ago that it was Ned who named Jon. Most likely in honour of Jon Arryn. Thus the discussion about his real name.... What was Jon called before Ned turned up? Did he have no name at all? Did Lyanna and Rhaegar never consider a name?

The likeliest, is imo, Aemon....no King was ever named Aemon and the name is still "clean" unlike Aerys and Magor, so it is a good name to chose for a prince. It also makes no sense for Rhaegar to name his son after his own brother Viserys, or to name him after his first born son, Aegon.

As to why Aemon instead of Jaehaerys of Baelor...There's clues for that all over.

1) Rhaegar and Aemon wrote each other. Aemon was someone Rhaegar could have looked up to and Rhaegar may have asked Aemon about Aegon V, for example.

2) "Aemon" also was the name of Aemon Dragonknight, a knight of great renown, brother to King Aegon IV. In Storm Jon thinks back to his childhood with Robb:

Quote

“I’m Prince Aemon the Dragonknight,” Jon would call out, and Robb would shout back, “Well, I’m Florian the Fool.”

3) Aemon Blackfyre was also the youngest of two brothers, his elder twin was called Aegon....all of these past Aemons had a brother named Aegon, even the first Prince Aemon (son of Jaehaerys I and father of Rhaenys "The Queen that never Was").

4) Aemon Steelsong, Mance Rayders son, is named after a man Samwell Tarly admires. Sam is going to claim Aemon as his own bastard, so that he may be cared for at Hornhill....  Sam parallels Ned, Maester Aemon parallels Jon Arryn... and Aemon Steelsong parallels Jon Snow. Not to mention that Aemon Steelsong is being send away from the wall to protect him from a Baratheon king. (Stannis/Robert)...

5) Aemon Estermont, heir to lord Eldon Estermont, sigil: a turtle.  In DwD, the "old man in the river", the giant turtle that Tyrion and co. see on the Rhoyne, and Tyriopn thinks "Gods and wonders always appear, to attend the birth of kings". This is shortly after Young Griff was revealed to be Aegon.  There's some clue here about Aemon + Turtle + King/identity.

As a side note, Andrew Estermont was involved in the smuggling out of Edric Strom, to protect him from Melisandre, too (see above, Aemon Steelsong)

[TheQueen]

I'd like to disagree that Jon is not a typical Stark name. There was a King Jon Stark.

We know, Ned named him Jon. Maybe after Jon Arryn. Because Ned is Jon Snow's foster father, just like Jon Arryn was Ned's.

We don't know whether Rhaegar and Lyanna  had discussed names, and chosed one before Rhaegar went to the Trident.

There is a possivility of Viserys as maybe Rhaegar expected a Visenya, but I doubt, because there already was a pretty close relative called Viserys. 

Maybe Aemon Targaryen? If Rhaegar named his first son Aegon, because what better name for a King, then what better name for the King's brother?  One of Jon's memory: Jon and Robb played, and Jon pretended to be Prince Aemon Targaryen the Dragonknight. Also, he ironically thought, he is no Aemon Targaryen. Perhaps he is Aemon Targaryen.

[Veltigar]

On 4-6-2016 at 11:21 AM, Greymoon said:

Jon cannot have been named after Jon Connington. GRRM has revealed years ago that it was Ned who named Jon. Most likely in honour of Jon Arryn. Thus the discussion about his real name.... What was Jon called before Ned turned up? Did he have no name at all? Did Lyanna and Rhaegar never consider a name?

The likeliest, is imo, Aemon....no King was ever named Aemon and the name is still "clean" unlike Aerys and Magor, so it is a good name to chose for a prince. It also makes no sense for Rhaegar to name his son after his own brother Viserys, or to name him after his first born son, Aegon.

As to why Aemon instead of Jaehaerys of Baelor...There's clues for that all over.

1) Rhaegar and Aemon wrote each other. Aemon was someone Rhaegar could have looked up to and Rhaegar may have asked Aemon about Aegon V, for example.

2) "Aemon" also was the name of Aemon Dragonknight, a knight of great renown, brother to King Aegon IV. In Storm Jon thinks back to his childhood with Robb:

3) Aemon Blackfyre was also the youngest of two brothers, his elder twin was called Aegon....all of these past Aemons had a brother named Aegon, even the first Prince Aemon (son of Jaehaerys I and father of Rhaenys "The Queen that never Was").

4) Aemon Steelsong, Mance Rayders son, is named after a man Samwell Tarly admires. Sam is going to claim Aemon as his own bastard, so that he may be cared for at Hornhill....  Sam parallels Ned, Maester Aemon parallels Jon Arryn... and Aemon Steelsong parallels Jon Snow. Not to mention that Aemon Steelsong is being send away from the wall to protect him from a Baratheon king. (Stannis/Robert)...

5) Aemon Estermont, heir to lord Eldon Estermont, sigil: a turtle.  In DwD, the "old man in the river", the giant turtle that Tyrion and co. see on the Rhoyne, and Tyriopn thinks "Gods and wonders always appear, to attend the birth of kings". This is shortly after Young Griff was revealed to be Aegon.  There's some clue here about Aemon + Turtle + King/identity.

As a side note, Andrew Estermont was involved in the smuggling out of Edric Strom, to protect him from Melisandre, too (see above, Aemon Steelsong)

Great post and I think it summs it all up pretty well. I would also add that Aemon's great example (choosing to serve the Realm by making sure he couldn't be used as a threat to his brother's reign) is another explicit reason why Rhaegar would have favoured the name Aemon. 

It seems to me that all these Aemon's were examplary men. All of whom put their King's interest above themselves. That's a message Rhaegar would have liked to imprint on Jon, seeing how there could have been a lot of tensions otherwise between him and his older brother.

[Greymoon]

19 hours ago, Veltigar said:

Great post and I think it summs it all up pretty well. I would also add that Aemon's great example (choosing to serve the Realm by making sure he couldn't be used as a threat to his brother's reign) is another explicit reason why Rhaegar would have favoured the name Aemon. 

It seems to me that all these Aemon's were examplary men. All of whom put their King's interest above themselves. That's a message Rhaegar would have liked to imprint on Jon, seeing how there could have been a lot of tensions otherwise between him and his older brother.

agreed and thank you

[zalim]

his name is aegon targaryen son of rhaegar and Elia martel

he was saved by varys and given to lyanna stark which later gave birth to danaerys targaryen

 

 just a crackpot theory 

[Darien Underhill]

On 6/19/2016 at 1:31 PM, zalim said:

his name is aegon targaryen son of rhaegar and Elia martel

he was saved by varys and given to lyanna stark which later gave birth to danaerys targaryen

 

 just a crackpot theory 

Then where is Rhaella's baby?