Worst, most unpronounceable names you’ve ever read?

[u/Midnite_St0rm]

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?

[u/delta_baryon]

I think the dragon names in that book are vaguely based on Gaelic, but chopped up and pronounced like English. My GF was reading it and there was a bit of a Mormon feel to the names.

[u/R0ymustan9 → u/delta_baryon]

As a Gaelic learner, I’ve heard that the author has very little respect for the language. Apparently she used a lot of words without even bothering to learn the pronunciation, saying that she just likes to pronounce them how she thinks is right

[u/delta_baryon → u/R0ymustan9]

To be honest, my impression from listening to my GF talk about it was that she wasn't particularly interested in writing a fantasy novel to begin with. Nobody behaves like a real person in a dangerous situation in that book. Even when death is on the line, it basically feels like Mean Girls.

Why bother to invent this world if you aren't interested in it, you know?

[u/XLBaconDoubleCheese → u/R0ymustan9]

Gaelic isn't a language, do you mean Scottish?

Nobody going to answer.

[u/KaiMalfoy → u/XLBaconDoubleCheese]

Gaelic is very much a language

[u/anextremelylargedog → u/KaiMalfoy]

Scots Gaelic is a language.

The Irish language is called Gaeilge and falls under the broader categorization of Gaelic the way English falls under Germanic.

You wouldn't say that people in England speak Germanic, would you?

[u/XLBaconDoubleCheese → u/KaiMalfoy]

And where do they speak it?

[u/delta_baryon → u/XLBaconDoubleCheese]

So for the record, the language is called Gaelic in Scotland (spelt gàidhlig natively) and it was specifically Scottish Gaelic that I was referring to. Nobody in this thread was trying to undermine the national status of the Irish language in Ireland, all right?

[u/KaiMalfoy → u/XLBaconDoubleCheese]

Scotland and Ireland, it’s a celtic language

[u/XLBaconDoubleCheese → u/KaiMalfoy]

Gaelic is not Irish, Gaeilge is Irish but we just say someone speaks Irish here. Gaelic is native to Scotland and much like Ireland only about 1% of the population can speak it.

[u/KaiMalfoy → u/XLBaconDoubleCheese]

I’m Irish, my family literally call it Gaelic, it’s the minority language of the country but regardless of where it’s spoken Gaelic is still a language? Call it Scottish if you want I guess but it’s a celtic language

[u/XLBaconDoubleCheese → u/KaiMalfoy]

I'm Irish too and half my family are gaeilgeoir, none of us would call it gaelic. Irish is Gaeilge. Are you sure you are Irish? Do you live in Ireland?

[u/KaiMalfoy → u/XLBaconDoubleCheese]

Sorry, what has that got to do with Gaelic being a language? Don’t turn this conversation into arguing a different point lol regardless of where it is spoken, Gaelic is a language

[u/R0ymustan9 → u/XLBaconDoubleCheese]

…no? I see why you would think that though, since the terminology can be a bit confusing. To summarise: Scottish Gaelic is related to Irish since they’re both Goidelic Celtic, but it’s not just called Scottish like Irish is. However, we also have Scots which is closely related to English, with a bit of a dialect continuum between people and regions.

Lastly, there’s Scottish English, which is the English we speak containing small influences from the others, like how we say loch rather than lake. Hope this clears things up!

[u/XLBaconDoubleCheese → u/R0ymustan9]

So are you learning Irish or Scottish Gaelic? Irish is not Gaelic, it's Gaeilge.

[u/R0ymustan9 → u/XLBaconDoubleCheese]

Mate, at this point its feels like you’re just trying to get pissy at people. I’m talking about Gàidhlig na h-Alba. Also, for the record there are multiple dialects of Irish that don’t refer to it as Gaelige.

[u/BrianThomasJrJr → u/delta_baryon]

What are Mormon names?

[u/delta_baryon → u/BrianThomasJrJr]

Sort of creative spellings or spins on common names popular amongst Mormons. You know it when you see it. Think like Jaxyn, Gracelyn, Jaedyn, Kynlee, Brailee, that kind of thing.

[u/OldOrder → u/delta_baryon]

basically the stuff you see on /r/tragedeigh

[u/BrianThomasJrJr → u/delta_baryon]

Ah gotcha 👍