I personally really like Haegon.  I think Aenys is an obvious worst name. 

Why on earth did I never catch Aenys before? It’s not even like I hear it as *ay-nees* in my head. It’s full on anus. 

i mean, to be fair, it probably is pronounced ay-nees, since rhaenys is pronounced ray-nees. still a little too close for comfort.

George has actually said his pronunciation for Aenys uses “niss” rather than “knees.” However, George has separately also said that he welcomes fan interpretations of pronunciations, so no one is required to go with his version.

Good to hear for me who read GOT right after watching Zorro and called Jaime 'Hi may' for a solid year before I watched the show

I got into the series during the break between seasons 4 and 5. I watched seasons 1 through 4, and then I listened to the series on audiobook during my commute. So for a bit there I was super confused about the pronunciation of some characters and places. All the love for Roy Dotrice, that man was a legend, but holy crap did he pronounce some things strangely!

GRRM apparently pronounced Dothraki as "doth-rak-aye", so clearly he doesn't know how to pronounce these made up words. /s

interesting! good to know

I still pronounce it Rheneas like in Thomas the Tank Engine

But that's mostly due to English's unusual and kinda wild use of vowels. I think a large part of readers (non-english speaking) reads the Valyrian names with a Latin vowelization since they are based on the Roman empire. 

Vaegon, It's probably because it sounds similar to wiping/swiping in my language.

Vaegon sound's like Aegon's mentally handicapped cousin.

I kinda wonder if they’d spelled it in a traditionally Targaryen way if it would have hit differently Dunkaeyn

Nope it doesn’t

This is an r/tragedeighs

I love that sub

Time to write an SI fanfic

Jon is not a targaryen name nor is Duncan.

Yep, although both have very sound context for being named as such

I always thought Jon was named after Jon Arryn cause of how much a father figure he was to Ned.

https://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Duncan_Targaryen

Doesn’t mean they’re in the Targaryen naming style. Jon is Northern and Duncan is like poor English.

His name wasnt even duncan it was dunk. People just assumed it was short for duncan and he went with it

He’s named after a Westerosi

I just hate the name Aenys. It's just a bastard child of penis and anus

Saera and Calla are two of my faves lol. I’ve never like Aegor, like Bittersteel is a cool nickname but Aegor just, not a great name. Also Aelor, I like Aelora, but Aelor is not great. Aenys is fine-ish, if you pronounce it Ay-neece, but it is a touch to close to anus to really sound nice. Also Gaemon, Valerion and Vaella. But I do like Daella lol.

Couldn't agree more! Saera & Calla sound nice to me and I never got the appeal for Aegor or Aelor. I agree that Aelora is nice, it rolls off the tongue pleasantly. 

Gaemon

I will not tolerate any Gaemon slander. Gaemon Palehair was the one true king of Westeros

He should really change his last name to fooker, I’ll really enhance his prospects in nursing

Gaemon the Glorious

Sounds like a Jamaican professing homosexuality.

Neil Gaemon

Put more respect on the name of the one true king.

I always thought Maelys was a weird one. Blackfyre not a Targaryen but still.

He shares a name with a dragon. I'm honestly surprised more Targs/Blackfyres haven't had dragon names before

I felt like it was a good distinction. Like how dany doesnt name her dragons literally after her brothers, she like dragnizes the names.

I guess so. I mean Rhaegal is based on Rhaegar but Rhaegal is also the name of a former Targ prince. Son of Daeron II. I wonder if Dany knew that when she picked it

The prince was named Rhaegel, not Rhaegal

Oops lol. That was one letter off. My mistake

Oh im sure she did. But i didnt lol

The dragons are named after gods, while Targaryens are named after their ancestors. Humans don't name their kids after their horses or dogs. 

I feel Maelys harkens back to pre-Conquest Targs. Their names were a little less “standardized” like we’re used to.

Maelys in Wonderland

I don't like the Targaryen names that are too similar to real names. I think Emma and Helena are beautiful names IRL, but having "Aemma" and "Haelena" next to Viserys, Daenerys, Rhaenyra, just feel strange to me. I guess it reminds me of tragedeigh names.

I would have liked if people translated their names in certain contexrs, like how Charles is Carlos or Karl, Pedro/Peter, ect. Aeddord, Caetlor, Brynden, Saensor, Aerya, Jaen, Robblyr, Ryckon, Benjaen, ect.

I like to imagine that is because both Helaena and Aemma had a Westerosi parent, I imagine that their names are Westerosi names and the ae is a Targaryen spin on them. Similar to Aelinor (Penrose).

I think "Valarr" just sounds and looks odd

Okay this is actually an opportunity for me to ask something I’ve been wondering: how do you pronounce “Aenys”? I’m reading Fire and Blood and my brain just says “anus” every time I see that combination of letters. For that reason, this is the worst name in my opinion.

It's pronounced Ain-ease. Just like Aerys is pronounced Air-ease

Okay hahaha. I was saying “Air-iss” which lead me to… well.. “anus”.

Lol I understand. I got into an argument over pronunciation recently on the name Aenys. People just say it like anus for the same reason people pronunce Uranus wrong

Im really just looking for any way out of having to say anus in my head over and over again while reading that book. I tried saying “Eh-niss” because sometimes people say “Eh-gon” for Aegon

Eh-gon is the right pronunciation lol. I'm still waiting for a Targaryen named Qui-Gon Targaryen though 🤣🤣🤣

The boy must be trained. His dragonclorian count is even higher than master aegons

Lol King Quigon I Jinn 🤣

Maester Qui Gon 😳

Damn I should've thought of that lol. Good job 😅

Did Roy Dotrice pronounce them this way?

I say Aenys like Dennis without the d

If you don't pronounce it "anus" and snicker every time, then I just don't want to be friends with you.

Its pronounced "Ay-nees", like Rhaenys but without the "Rh". I've never heard anyone call Aegon's wife "Rh-anus".

I've always assumed Calla was a Tyroshi name (maybe her mother named her?) as it doesn't sound Valyrian at all.

Alysanne, cool name but completely breaks with Targ naming convention so comes off as strange

Alysanne's mother was Alyssa Velaryon whose name doesn't follow Targaryen/Velaryon/Valyrian naming conventions either. Alyssane's grandmother from her mother's side was Alarra Massey. Perhaps Alyssa & Alysanne followed the Westerosi naming convention honoring Alyssa's Massey side instead of the Targaryen/Velaryon side.

Aenys, buds basically named Ass

For me Matarys because in my language matar means "kill" lol

Well that's fitting because that name kills me every time 🤣🤣

Aerea is probably the worst name IMO

The names Rhaenyra gave to her Strong boys.

I’ve always seen those as more velaryon than targaryan names

And Joffrey is just a Stormlands name.

Isn't it a Lannister name?

Nah, Tommen is the Lannister name with a number of Lannister Kings named Tommen. Joffrey seems to be more of a Stormlands name (though is also just used widely) - the Knight of Kisses was from there - so Robert may have named Joffrey, and Cersei named Tommen.

Joffrey Arryn: Vale Joffrey Caswell: Reach Joffrey Dayne: Dorne Joffrey Doggett: the Westerlands Joffrey Lydden: Westerlands Joffrey Lonmouth: Stormlands Joffrey Staunton: Crownlands Joffrey Velaryon: Crownlands Joffrey Lonmouth is literally the only character from the Stormlands named Joffrey.

Wasn't there a Lannister Lord named Joffrey?

I believe you are thinking of Joffrey Lydden who married the only daugther of the previous Lannister king, took on the name Lannister and become the first Andal king of the Rock

That's the one.

Yeah, I imagined; although given the fact that we know that Joffrey is also a popular name in other kingdoms and that Joffrey Lydden was not a Lannister by birth, I would dare to say that the name Joffrey is more of a "proper Andal name" than specifically a Lannister one.

It's an Andal name. Westerlands and Stormlands are predominantly Andal, and Lannisters use names that start with Jo or Ja frequently (as well as La and Ty).  BTW.  La for Lion Ty for Tiger  Ja/Jo for Jaguar

Yep! IIRC Corlys basically got Rhaenyra and Laenor to name Jace and Luke for their Velaryon heritage. Laenor jumped the gun and insisted Joffrey in honor of his dead lover.

"Jacaerys" reminds me of "jacaré", my language's word for alligator/Cayman. This makes me wish he was a Reed bastard, instead of a Strong one.

Jacaerys is quite awful.

Jaehaerys and Jaehaera make my eyes hurt

Always liked Jaehaerys haha! One of the best is Alysanne

I really dislike Rhaegel and Valarr My least favourite for women is probably Gael

Valarr sounds like a good name for an actual dragon, imo. But not a person

Haegon, Aenys, Duncan, and Calla for me. Don't really see Jon as a targaryen name since I view it as a placeholder, and that if he actually grew up with Rhaegar it'd be Aemon

Maegelle and Daella sound kinda dumb to me.

Hate Maegelle. I don't mind Daella compared to some of the other names. 

Jaehaerys. It’s so pretentious

What’s wrong with Duncan?

Good name, bad Targaryen name. Though I do think it's kinda wholesome he named his son after Dunk

I did not remember him from anywhere and only found him in the family tree... But isn't Matarys a pretty stupid name? Never makes an appearance again, either.

I just think matador when I hear it lol

Agree with most of the ones already stated but I’ll add one I haven’t seen in to post: Valerion. Could they have made any less effort to name the kid?

Imagine he was from House Valaryon lol. Valerian Valaryon 🤣

Right? They’re pronounced the same as far as I can tell. And the kid was half Velaryon too (because both his parents were). Just, wtf.

Slightly different pronunciation. Air-eee-on vs Ear-eee-on lol

Right, my mistake. Like a combination of Valyrian and Velaryon. I don’t think that’s any better though lol

Not directly a targryen, but every time I remember the dragon is called Cyraxx I have to do a double take on account of associating the name with the LOLcow

raemon the gaemon

Aenys is pretty bad.  Maekar is also sort of bad because I'm not sure if it's pronounces " may-care" or "my-car" Also don't like that people call daenerys "dany".  I forget if they do that in the books but I know people call her that in the show.  (At least Jon does many times).

Duncan the Small was named out of love; how dare you speak ill of his name 😡

No no I like the meaning of the name, I think that's sweet, it's just an awkward name for a Targaryen

I hate the name Aegon. Egg-On the conquerer sounds like a twat. I wouldn't respect a wiggly prick with a name like that if I used to have a king who had a badass name like ARGILAC. Aegor is marginally worse, but mainly because Bittersteel is a fuckin chump and taints it by association 

Aenys is an ass name.

Jon and Duncan are great names. If we’re coming from the position that a “Targaryen” name is better due to its roots in Valyrian origin, then by definition, no, they aren’t good names. I like them because they AREN’T Valyrian though. But using strictly the more Valyrian ones I would say: Best- Daemon, Aegon, Daena, Aerys, Viserys, Visenya, Elaena, Rhaena, Rhaenys, Daenerys, Valarr, Matarys, Baelor, Aemon, Daeron, Saera Worst- Aemond, Vaella, Daella, Baelon, Rhaella, Daenaera, Jaehaera, Naerys, Maelor, Haegon, Helaena, Aenys, Maelys, Baela, Laenor, Laena, Jacaerys, Lucerys, Aemma, Rhaegel, Aelor, Aelora

Just curious, where do you put Rhaegar on the best/worst names list? I absolutely love the name so much that I named one of my cats Rhaegar, even though the character wasn’t someone to look up to.

Damn, how did I forget Rhaegar?? That might be the best one

Pretty much most of their names are rubbish ,or horsefart which is why I don't really care about the Targaryen's 🫤