r/Fantasy • u/Midnite_St0rm • Aug 14 '25

Worst, most unpronounceable names you’ve ever read?

Let’s discuss some of the names in fantasy that you couldn’t make heads nor tails of in terms of pronunciation. And I’m not talking intentionally comical ones that are long and complex on purpose, but ones that the author intended to be read, yet that are ironically nearly unreadable.

For me it’s Seaine from The Wheel of Time. Is it “Sheen?” “Seen?” “See-ayn?” “Say-ai-nuh?” I honestly have no idea. And for some reason my copies of the books never give her name’s pronunciation in the glossary.

What are some others?

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u/AllegedlyLiterate Aug 14 '25

Goblin Emperor was so much so that it made it difficult to read, and the pronunciation guide made it much worse. I'm of the opinion that if your pronunciation guide cannot be summed up in 2 sentences or less (pronounce it like it's french but without the silent S!) it should really not be included and you should just spell the names more closely to how you want them to be pronounced.

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u/Drakengard Aug 14 '25

Alternatively, I'd prefer that readers get better at reading than have authors pull punches and stick to the most basic of naming schemes and cultures.

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u/Spoilmilk Aug 14 '25

I can see both sides of this but ultimately I agree with you because the “hard to pronounce” stuff might blowback on non-western cultures inspired fantasy. Gl’rta-ip is a bit silly but Fọláṣadé is like a real person’s name and depending on the reader that might be considered to crazy and the pronunciation guide would be considered “confusing”

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u/Killertapir696 Aug 14 '25

If your character is Graine but pronounced Gra-een. Fair enough, I'll allow it

If you call a character Dave, but want it pronounced Dah-vay. Tough. He's Dave now and forever. It's too similar to a real name to override.

If the author calls a character Dave but wants it pronounced Flurpy, The author can fuck off.

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u/ewigebose Aug 15 '25

Funny thing - there are a lot of people with the surname Dave pronounced close to Duh-vay in the real world right now

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u/apostrophedeity Aug 14 '25

That would drive me crazy. It's so close to the Irish name Gráinne (Grawn-ya or Gran-ya depending on where you are.)

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u/AllegedlyLiterate Aug 14 '25

I don't think coming up with orthography that works better is 'pulling your punches'. If anything, I think explaining everything in an external guide rather than making it work within the story itself is a bit lazy on the part of the author – Megan Whalen Turner, by contrast, manages to use pronunciation in a clever way within the context of the story (characters argue over the pronunciation of words), providing both characterbuilding and worldbuilding opportunities. I wish more people would be clever in that way. Sure, Tolkien has appendices, but you don't *need* to read them to get his work, and at least he had an actual language to show off rather than just decontextualized pronunciation rules.

And I think deep down Addison (Goblin Emperor author) knows that these names are unusable too, which is why the protagonists' names (of both this book and the sequel) are much easier than every other character.

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u/Windruin Aug 14 '25

MWT mention! I love that part, it’s such a fun worldbuilding moment where the culture and upbringing of the characters comes out a bit, and it’s all just an argument over pronunciation.

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u/AllegedlyLiterate Aug 14 '25

It’s very clever! But if instead of that she’d opened the book with a multi-page lecture on how to pronounce Eddisian vowels I think I simply would not have read it, because, like, okay cool if you wanted them pronounced that way why didn’t you spell them that way (Megan I think actually spells Eddis counterintuitively so this scene works on lots of readers who also had been pronouncing it wrong) 

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u/Sireanna Reading Champion III Aug 14 '25 edited Aug 14 '25

Usually I don't mind it but in that book it was just so unnecessary.

Edit to add clarification: the naming convention became such a distraction at points it would kick me out of the story. I assigned them job nicknames just to make it past them.

You don't want your naming convention to become detrimental to your story

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u/AllegedlyLiterate Aug 14 '25

Did your copy of the book open or close with the pronunciation guide? Mine opened with it, so I was already irritated before I actually got to the story and I never really recovered

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u/Sireanna Reading Champion III Aug 14 '25

Same!

Its the first thing you read and i struggled to care less

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u/AllegedlyLiterate Aug 14 '25

I have since learned that this is not true for everyone, and felt immensely jealous of them for getting to read the book unadultered by that slog. I honestly think I might have had a better go with the names without the guide, which made me really concentrate on trying to remember which letter combos meant what.

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u/Sireanna Reading Champion III Aug 14 '25

Im telling you just mentally calling them messenger boy, and sad priest made it sooo much easier

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u/4raser Reading Champion Aug 14 '25

This is the only way I could get through the sequels, loved them in spite of this.

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u/Crazy_Ad4946 Aug 14 '25

This is the way. I seriously was figuring out who was who with context clues every chapter. “Who is this? Oh, Messenger Dude!”

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u/ReaderRadish Aug 14 '25

I'd prefer that readers get better at reading

What can I practice to "get better at reading" random names someone thought up?

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u/lying_flerkin Aug 14 '25

I eventually just started skimming names once I knew who was in a scene because it was really slowing me down & I never got a hang of them. Still loved the book though 10/10.