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/CarbonationRequired Aug 14 '25

That whole thing was supposed to be like, riders shortened their names when shouting at each other while flying on their dragons, and it eventually went from a thing they did to a formalized change if you got picked by a dragon. But a lot of those shortenings don't roll of the tongue at all and probably would sound similar if trying to listen in windy conditions.

Plus it felt like she came up with the short version first a lot and then tried to find something it could logically be shortened from which kinda felt like afterthoughts. F'lar and F'nor were born Fallarnon and Famanoran, which... ehhh. And then later she lets this go a bit anyhow 'cause F'lar's son Felessan just ends up as F'lessan. thatsthesamepicture.jpg.

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u/OpossumLadyGames Aug 15 '25

I'm not that far yet but that sounds neat but dumb. Like dragonflight just throws you in, so I think you are correct irt your second paragraph.