Top 5 Wednesday: Can You Please Repeat That?

This blogging prompt is hosted by the Goodreads Top 5 Wednesday group

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Today’s T5W prompt is Can You Please Repeat That?

If you read sci-fi, fantasy, or foreign books, you’ve probably come across a name where you just stop and stare at it. How the heck do you pronounce that?? For this week’s T5W, what are the top five most confusing or unpronounceable names you’ve come across in your reading?

1. Nynaeve, Egwene, and Gawyn

These are all “main” characters from Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time (which is going to be an Amazon Prime TV show pretty soon WOOO!!), and I had such difficulty pronouncing each of them the supposed correct way when I first read through the books. Only after hearing the audiobooks did I start to change (and apparently the audiobooks also butcher some of the names so…) 

Nynaeve: I pronounced Na-na-eve               Should be pronounced: Nigh-Neeve

Egwene: I pronounced Edge-Ween              Should be pronounced: Igg-Wayne

Gawyn: I pronounced Gone                          Should be pronounce: Gow-in

2. Feyre 

Main character from my current read, A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas. I just started reading this book yesterday, so it was good timing! Amazon had their ebooks on sale and I snatched them RIGHT UP. Anyway, when I first came across her name, I thought maybe it was ironic that she hated Faeries, but her name was pronounced “Fairy.” But then, I thought that might be too much, and instead it was actually pronounced like “Fire.” Luckily, my musings were put to bed as Maas actually tells us in the story how to pronounce her name: as “Fey-ruh”

3. T’Telir

I just finished Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson (review coming soon!) and this was the name of one of the cities. Really anything with an apostrophe in the name gives me trouble. At first, I just ignored the first “T” and called it “Tell-ear,” but as I continued reading, that first T kept sticking out at me. So then I began calling it “Tee-Tell-Ear” or “Tuh-Tuh-Leer”. I still have no idea how it’s actually supposed to be pronounced… Any ideas?

4. Maedhros

A First Age Elf, eldest son of Feanor in Middle Earth, he is mentioned in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Silmarillion. I still have trouble pronouncing his name, since my first impression was incorrect… I started with “May-Ed-Huh-Row-S” (with a soft “S” at the end). It was only when I stumbled upon a post in a subreddit that I realized the “dh” was supposed to sound like a soft “th” sound. So, I assume that it’s supposed to be “Made-Throw-S” with a soft “S” at the end. 

5. Ch’Vyalthan

From A Song of Ice and Fire by George RR Martin, of course it has an apostrophe. Rather than even trying to pronounce this one, when I came across it, I simple called him “Chevvy” (hard “ch”). Wasn’t mentioned frequently, so it worked for me!

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What are some weird names that trip you up?

Let me know in the comments below 🙂