How do you pronounce these names...?

Y

Yunalesca

High Summoner
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Apr 10, 2007
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OK so I've read all of the Ice and Fire series so far, but I'm still not sure what the consensus is on how to pronounce some of the main names. What does everyone think? These are the ones I'm really not sure about...

Daenerys (digh-nuh-rees? day-nuh-rees?)

Cersei ( ser-say? ser-see?)

Sansa (san-zah? san-suh?)


Those are the main three for me but there may be more... Any ideas?
 
I'd always pronounced them as:

Daenerys (Digh-ner-iss)
The Targaryen names frequently use the Latin dipthong of ae (pronounced as a hard I) although, judging by some people calling her Dany, I'd assume they want the ae as a more common phonetic sylable.

Cesei (Ser-say)

Sansa (San-suh)
 
Personally,

Day-ner-iss
Sir-see (this one is obviously wrong, but it's stuck in my head anyway;))
Urm... San-sa:eek:
 
This is how I pronounce them:

Daenerys - Dan -air-iss

Cersei - Ser-say

Sansa - San-zuh
 
Blackhand said:
I'd always pronounced them as:

Daenerys (Digh-ner-iss)
The Targaryen names frequently use the Latin dipthong of ae (pronounced as a hard I) although, judging by some people calling her Dany, I'd assume they want the ae as a more common phonetic sylable.

Cesei (Ser-say)

Sansa (San-suh)
Click to expand...

Yeah, I've been wondering about the fact that they call her Dany. I also assumed the "ae" in her name to be pronounced as "I", but the shortened form of her name suggests otherwise!
 
I wouldn't say there was anything unusual about changing a vowel sound when using a shortened informal version of someone's name. For instance, my name is James, but the shortened form is Jim, not Jam.

Yunalesca - As a brief aside (I know this one has bounced around the forum a couple of times before), I'd like to know how you decided to pronounce Jaime. I always pronounced it "Jay-mee", but only because it wasn't until halfway through the second book that I realized the I came before the M, not after. Too late to change by then.
 
Florian the Fool said:
I wouldn't say there was anything unusual about changing a vowel sound when using a shortened informal version of someone's name. For instance, my name is James, but the shortened form is Jim, not Jam.

Yunalesca - As a brief aside (I know this one has bounced around the forum a couple of times before), I'd like to know how you decided to pronounce Jaime. I always pronounced it "Jay-mee", but only because it wasn't until halfway through the second book that I realized the I came before the M, not after. Too late to change by then.
Click to expand...

Good point about "Jim" - now that I think of it, there are loads of examples of that!

I've always pronounced Jaime as I would pronounce James, but without the S ("Jaym", I guess.)
 
I'm a little set into my Latin pronounciations and I can't help but say the ae as I. I think it sounds a lot better that way. Especially for Maegor.
 
Daenerys = Day-ner-ees (probably from habit...I have cousins called Dayne and Rhys :p)

Cersei = Ser-see

Sansa = San-suh

Probably not correct, but that's how I say em.
 
Well, in the audiobook, those names are pronounced as

Sansa: San-suh

Daenerys: Der-nay-rees

Cersei: Ser-say
 
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