Redhands Posted November 20, 2018 Share Posted November 20, 2018 Does anyone know if there are any concrete definitions to the first names of Targaryens, or the family name itself? The closest things to meanings I could find was ’aegion’ meaning ‘iron,’ for Aegon, perhaps, and I’m guessing Aerys means ‘fire’ because ‘dracarys’ means ‘dragon fire.’ There are many variations to the names Aegon and Aerys though by adding a letter or syllable to the front of the name, probably adding some kind of adjective or changing the meaning of the word in some way. So lots of the Targs have names with fire and iron in them, which isn’t surprising. I’m not sure if this was ever explored or documented before. Any speculation on what the family name could mean if there is nothing documented? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowen 747 Posted November 21, 2018 Share Posted November 21, 2018 15 hours ago, Redhands said: Does anyone know if there are any concrete definitions to the first names of Targaryens, or the family name itself? The closest things to meanings I could find was ’aegion’ meaning ‘iron,’ for Aegon, perhaps, and I’m guessing Aerys means ‘fire’ because ‘dracarys’ means ‘dragon fire.’ There are many variations to the names Aegon and Aerys though by adding a letter or syllable to the front of the name, probably adding some kind of adjective or changing the meaning of the word in some way. So lots of the Targs have names with fire and iron in them, which isn’t surprising. I’m not sure if this was ever explored or documented before. Any speculation on what the family name could mean if there is nothing documented? The names are just names. Is there a meaning to Brandon? Not that we are told. I doubt there is. It's just a name. Valyrian names are just that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Varys Posted November 21, 2018 Share Posted November 21, 2018 'Daeron' derives either from 'great' or 'large', or 'shadow' depending which Sindarin dictionary you use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redhands Posted November 21, 2018 Author Share Posted November 21, 2018 18 hours ago, Bowen 747 said: The names are just names. Is there a meaning to Brandon? Not that we are told. I doubt there is. It's just a name. Valyrian names are just that. I don’t think that’s true. A lot of First Men names come from animals, trees, objects, or places. Most names do have some kind of meaning if you go far back enough. I have some kind of weird feeling that ‘Targaryen’ has to do with Wargs or stars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redhands Posted November 21, 2018 Author Share Posted November 21, 2018 16 hours ago, Lord Varys said: 'Daeron' derives either from 'great' or 'large', or 'shadow' depending which Sindarin dictionary you use. Sindarin? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Varys Posted November 21, 2018 Share Posted November 21, 2018 1 hour ago, Redhands said: Sindarin? That was a joke. Daeron is the name of the minstrel who was in love with Lúthien Berúthiel in Tolkien's works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orphalesion Posted November 22, 2018 Share Posted November 22, 2018 19 hours ago, Redhands said: I don’t think that’s true. A lot of First Men names come from animals, trees, objects, or places. Most names do have some kind of meaning if you go far back enough. So what does the name Jon mean in the ASOIaF universe? Remember on Planetos there exists no language called Hebrew, so it can't be a corruption of Yehohanan and the 2-3 in-between languages needed in order to transform Yehoanan into Jon don't exist either. Likewise the meaning of "Yahweh is Gracious" would be nonsensical on Planetos, since there is no religion dedicated to the Abarahamic God in existence there. Following the same thought process, there is no Latin, Old French or US American spelling variations of French names in Westeros in order to produce Margaret and then transform it into Marjorie and finally Margaery. So it can't mean pearl in Westeros. And there's no Germanic languages either that could provide Robert with it's real-world meaning of "bright fame". So please, enlighten us, what do Jon, Margaery or Robert mean in Westerosi or the Old Tongue "if you go back far enough"? And what is the meaning of completely made up names like Loras or ? Unlike Tolkien, GRRM just doesn't provide a meaning for the vast majority of the names, nor any dictionaries for the source languages those names must be derived from. Mostly because the language of the people in Westeros and Essos idn't a focus in the story, unlike Middle Earth that arose mostly so that Tolkien could have a world for his languages. So until GRRM provides meanings, every name in ASOIAF is just a name without meaning that quite often resembles a real world name. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sanny Oliveira Posted November 23, 2018 Share Posted November 23, 2018 There was a targaryen prince called Valarr. He was prince Baelor's son, who was King Daeron's II heir. We all know that "valar morghulis" means "all men must die", so at least Valarr has name that mean something in Valirian. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redhands Posted November 27, 2018 Author Share Posted November 27, 2018 Unlike Valyrian, English is not a made up fantasy language, so English names of course would have no meaning in Westeros that we know of. Valyrian is a language that was created with specific intentions, so you can attribute whatever meaning to their names that the author wants. We have specific examples of Valyrian words that match certain Targaryen first names which I provided in my first post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aryagonnakill#2 Posted November 27, 2018 Share Posted November 27, 2018 Slightly aside here but maybe relevant, GRRM once said that the Targ dragons were named for Valyrian gods. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hiemal Posted November 28, 2018 Share Posted November 28, 2018 I suspect that they do have meaning and have so far speculated thus: Daenerys=Dreamfire There is a dragon named Dreamfyre, the suffix "rys" almost certainly means fire or flame of sort, and we have "Daenys the Dreamer" from Targ history. Hardly conclusive but that's what tinfoil is for. A few other guesses are that the suffix "rion" means wing and that we thus have characters whose names translate into things like "silverwing", "goldwing", "brightwing"... Perhaps Balerion is "dreadwing"? Finally, perhaps the suffix "axes" in dragon names means "wyrm"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Sleeper Posted November 29, 2018 Share Posted November 29, 2018 I believe it means "conceited inbreds with delusions of grandeur" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bael's Bastard Posted November 29, 2018 Share Posted November 29, 2018 On 11/20/2018 at 3:30 AM, Redhands said: Does anyone know if there are any concrete definitions to the first names of Targaryens, or the family name itself? The closest things to meanings I could find was ’aegion’ meaning ‘iron,’ for Aegon, perhaps, and I’m guessing Aerys means ‘fire’ because ‘dracarys’ means ‘dragon fire.’ There are many variations to the names Aegon and Aerys though by adding a letter or syllable to the front of the name, probably adding some kind of adjective or changing the meaning of the word in some way. So lots of the Targs have names with fire and iron in them, which isn’t surprising. I’m not sure if this was ever explored or documented before. Any speculation on what the family name could mean if there is nothing documented? In regard to the title of the thread, I am sure Targaryen names are composed of Valyrian words that have actual meanings. But for the most part, I don't think we'll ever get much if any insight into what they mean. I don't think GRRM put much thought into what the elements in the Targaryen names mean, or meticulously composed them based on meanings. As for the Targaryen name itself, I am not sure if anyone has tried to pick it apart to see possible etymologies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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