Classic Names with a Twist from Game of Thrones

Wow I have been waiting for this blog topic for a while! So happy. Really loved it, guys. Arya is actually a top middlename contender should we be blessed with a girl someday (she’s hubby’s favorite character, and I like that it means lion in Hebrew). Jorah is really great and usable, I think.

Love the books and show. Always thought the names were so interesting and glad to see it’s finally made its way onto Nameberry! So many I like and choose from, I’m not sure where to start. I love Daenerys, but worry about a daughter being bothered by always having to pronounce it or correct peoples’ spelling of it. I love Arya, Lyanna and Elia too. And boy names, I like Rhaegar, Renly, Aemon (another character not shown) and Rickon (not shown, but is Eddard’s youngest child and son). Jorah, I also like. I could probably keep going, but I’ll stop there.

As a name nerd and a fan of GOT I have hoped for a blog on this too

My faves from the series are:

Cersei – I think this is so beautiful.
Renly
Eddard
Arya
Bran
Benjen
Theon

Ooh, this post makes me very happy!

My favorites are..

Arya
Jorah
Renly
Stannis
Lyanna
Gendry (but he isn’t on the list!)

Count me a fan, too! Love all of Martin’s stories, though; not just GoT. My favorite characters are (in no particular order):
Jaime
Tyrion
Arya
Jon
Daenerys

Love the series to pieces, I’m re-reading all 5 right now. Already on book 2: A Clash of Kings

I keep wondering why HBO called the series “Game of Thrones” wouldn’t that confuse some who know that’s just the title of the first book?
Don’t know. I just hope the series lasts through all the books!

I’ve never heard of this series.

The name that jumped out to me is Benjen. Because I’m Jennie and my husband is Ben. Is it pronounced more like Benjun? Rather than Ben-Jen? Not really my thing either way, but interesting!

House of Martel has several of my faves, and I’ve never seen the show!

You left out Tommen of House Baratheon. I think it’s a great name!

I almost suggested Eddard as a name in the forums the other day (someone was looking for a name that could have the nickname “Ned”), but didn’t want to have to explain Westeros.

Admittedly when I began reading the books, I was irritated with the mixture of familiar names (Robert, Brandon, Jon, Jaime) with names that were one letter off from normal names (Joffrey instead of Jeffrey, Eddard instead of Edward, Catelyn–pronounced “cat-ah-lynn”– instead of Caitlin) because the latter group felt like they were names that were trying too hard. The names and the characters, of course grew on me. However, despite my love for the characters and the names, I feel like a lot of them wouldn’t translate well into real life (though I’m totally going to have a dog named Tyrion someday). Still, the series is a great place to go name hunting because there are so many names and styles of names to choose from. I’m so glad there’s a post about it now!

I haven’t read the books or seen the show (now they’ll have to go on my “someday” reading/viewing list), but the names intrigue me. As ladycap says, my first reaction when I read this post was a mild irritation with the names that are “not quite right”–Eddard, Joffrey, Margaery, Brynden–but then I started thinking of the fascinating parallels that exist in our own world between different languages’ forms of the same name. If you create a different world and suppose the languages evolved similarly to our own, mightn’t names like this be exactly what would happen? I like Eddard, Jorah, Asha and Meera best on reading the list over, and Bran (a “real name”) is a big guilty pleasure of mine.

I love Dany’s title “Khaleesi.” It’s very usable. You could spell it Calisie and use “Callie” for a nickname.

For the first few episodes of the first season, I could’ve SWORN they were saying Aya instead of Arya. It went on long enough to make me fall in love with Aya.

Honestly, I was a bit disappointed when I figured out it was Arya, as it is essentially a misspell of Aria which happens to be one of my pet-peeve names itself. Ha.

Just goes to show how much an accent can change a name…

Darla v, I agree!! Khaleesi would be a great name! Spelled like in the books or Calisie. I like Khalli/Callie or Leesi/Lisie as nicknames! I’m seriously considering this for a future daughter.

I’m glad I’m not the only one who thinks Khaleesi is very usable!

What about the direwolves? Summer and…Nymeria =) I’ve loved Catelyn and Margaery since the books, and Khaleesi is a sweet name. For boys, Jaime is actually at the top of my list right now.

And finally, my grandpa’s name is Lowell and that means “little wolf”!! I love it for either gender, but ESPECIALLY for a girl. Love love love it. The name Arya is actually kind of boring to me although my husband and I both love the character(and I’m a musician!) but I’d totally name a girl Lowell.

Love these names! I am reading the books right now and can’t put it down! Well, I can put it down long enough for my other obsession – Nameberry! Haha
I don’t understand why Asha is renamed in the show. Who could she be confused with?
Maybe I’m not far enough along in the books…
My favorite name on the list is Brienne, since I love all Bree names, but they are too popular. I heard the name Brien at work once and have loved the name ever since.

I think Sansa deserves it’s own link!

niteowl13, I think the writers of the show were worried viewers would confuse Asha with Bran’s wildling friend Osha – although they address Osha by her name so rarely in the show, I’m not sure there would have been much confusion. Now that I’m reading the books, however, I feel Yara is more fitting – it’s got a punch to it that Asha doesn’t, and that the character so obviously embodies.

Loving the creativity here, and so glad to find I’m not the only one who would use these in real life! I think Jorah is my favorite, and I’m thrilled to see people nominating Khaleesi. My favorite character is Tyrion, and while I wouldn’t use that on an actual child, i think Peter (NOT Petyr) is a fantastic alternative in that it pays homage to the outstanding Peter Dinklage and, by association, the incomparable Tyrion Lannister.

On that note – Lannister itself would make an awesome boy’s name.

The Starks have a third boy Rickard,Rickon or something similar. I subconsiously used Theon in the book I’m writing. I tried so hard to not use names from current pop-culture stories. I love Dany, Tyrion, Jon, and Drogo. I love those names.

I love GoT!!!! Thanks for blogging this.

My faves are:

Renly
Loras
Rhaegar
Aerys
Cersei

I just LOVE Rhaegar, but it isn’t associated in the series with anything nice….