Are Names Clues?

[DeannaBelle]

Stavros (Stephen, Greek) - Crowned

Asa (Hebrew) - doctor Healer

I don't even remember who Stavros was at the moment. Or was there one? I know that's pretty bad that I can't remember. I was looking at name meanings and came across this one and thought of ASOIAF. I can't really think of other characters. Do you think George goes by sounds or meanings when choosing character names?

I haven't bought ADwD yet. I need to reread the one before that because I skppied the new characters, knowing full well I would have **plenty** of time to do a reread before Dance came out.

 

[The Imp]

Stavros (Stephen, Greek) - Crowned

Asa (Hebrew) - doctor Healer

I don't even remember who Stavros was at the moment. Or was there one? I know that's pretty bad that I can't remember. I was looking at name meanings and came across this one and thought of ASOIAF. I can't really think of other characters. Do you think George goes by sounds or meanings when choosing character names?

I haven't bought ADwD yet. I need to reread the one before that because I skppied the new characters, knowing full well I would have **plenty** of time to do a reread before Dance came out.

I don't remember a STavros, or Asa for that matter, but I do think that certain names might contain clues. The best exqample is probably Varys, which sounds like the word "varies", which to me suggests his chamelleon-like abilities, and also sounding like a Targ name, Viserys being the one it's most similar to.

Stannis COULD refer to the metal tin stannous)

Cersei suggests an enchanter or a siren to me (the refernce being to Circe)

There are probably many others, those are the ones that pop into mind at the moment.

 

[Pilpel]

Asa doesn't mean doctor or healer. But while we're on the subject of hebrew, Ary (one of Arya's nicknames) does mean lion in hebrew. I always looked at it as a coincidence though, rather than a significant analogy.

 

[The Imp]

Asa doesn't mean doctor or healer. But while we're on the subject of hebrew, Ary (one of Arya's nicknames) does mean lion in hebrew. I always looked at it as a coincidence though, rather than a significant analogy.

Arya always suggested the word aria to me, but our little girl isn't a singer. She's certainly more like a lion(ess)

 

[The Imp]

I almost forgot my favorite. Loras is an anagram for orals.

Also, Nissa Nissa is an almost perfect anagram for assassin.

 

[Eulalia]

OMG. I suppose Arya could be inspired by the same root as the Little Mermaid. The author will never tell.

He does have some names and a family named for Mervyn Peake (a very original fantasy writer). There is a Peake of Pike and a Titus--which you would recognize if you have read the books.

I can't remember the name of the long winded singer at Joffrey's wedding but I thought the name might have been inspired by Guy Gavriel Kaye. Either GRRM doesn't like his writing or they are friends and he is tweaking his tail.

I read somewhere that there were a trio of very minor characters whose names evoked Curly, Larry and Moe, and that GRRM all but admitted it!

Then, there is Samwell (LOTR?)

The most obvious is probably Stark (York) and Lannister(Lancaster), relating to Wars of the Roses.

I thought I caught a Sansa and a Goffrey married couple, in something I read about Italian history.

I'm sure there are many more.

 

[The Imp]

OMG. I suppose Arya could be inspired by the same root as the Little Mermaid. The author will never tell.

He does have some names and a family named for Mervyn Peake (a very original fantasy writer). There is a Peake of Pike and a Titus--which you would recognize if you have read the books.

I can't remember the name of the long winded singer at Joffrey's wedding but I thought the name might have been inspired by Guy Gavriel Kaye. Either GRRM doesn't like his writing or they are friends and he is tweaking his tail.

I read somewhere that there were a trio of very minor characters whose names evoked Curly, Larry and Moe, and that GRRM all but admitted it!

Then, there is Samwell (LOTR?)

The most obvious is probably Stark (York) and Lannister(Lancaster), relating to Wars of the Roses.

I thought I caught a Sansa and a Goffrey married couple, in something I read about Italian history.

I'm sure there are many more.

You just made me realize that sans means without in French. Sansa i, of course, without her wolf.

GRRM completely admitted the thing about the 3 Stooges. That was in the Google interview

 

[Tywin]

Yes, sans is without, and the 3rd person singular version of "to have" (avoir) is "a".

So if you're an American with a smattering of high school french, and if you've been drinking enough... you might come out with "Sansa" = "Without having"

 

[Eulalia]

Imp, your memory is better than mine!

Sans Stark, the anti Stark?

So maybe Arya and Sansa do need to work together, as Ned wished. Will they? Sansa wanted to be a queen and Arya wanted to be a knight.

 

[The Imp]

Yes, sans is without, and the 3rd person singular version of "to have" (avoir) is "a".

So if you're an American with a smattering of high school french, and if you've been drinking enough... you might come out with "Sansa" = "Without having"

My assumption is that GRRM used Sans and added the a to make it sound feminine. He may not have even conciously done this.

The smattering of French that I have is from college, not high school. The foreign language that I failed at in high school was 3 years worth of Spanish.

 

[Tywin]

For the record I was hypothesizing on your French education, Imp (GRRM's perhaps).

Failed out of third year French in High School myself, and then made a better showing of it in College.

 

[Eulalia]

Well, Tywin, I wonder, with or without the drinks, if GRRM was inspired by a smattering of French that he may have picked up from an avid study (so I assume from his writing and hobbies) of heraldry?!

 

[The Imp]

For the record I was hypothesizing on your French education, Imp (GRRM's perhaps).

Failed out of third year French in High School myself, and then made a better showing of it in College.

not many people know this, now a lot will

I took 3 years of Spanish in high school. I somehow managed to get passing grades, but in new York State you have to take what's called a Regents exam, which is kind of a competency test. i don't know if they are common elsewhere or called that. Anyway, there was no way I was passing this test, and i needed the regents credit to graduate, sooooo, my friend (who was from Spain and was fluent) and I came up with a plan where he would sit behind me and signal me the answers to all of the multiple choice and true false questions. I got 68% on that part. I then managed to get 2% out of 30% on the essay part, but i passed, and apparently no one noticed

When I got to college I had to take a semester of a language, having not taken 4 years of one in HS. If i took Spanish i would have been in an advanced class, so that was out of the question. I took French 101 instead and managed a C with the help of my girlfriend at the time and a Haitian security guard. I have no affinity or talent in foreign languages

Way more information than you neded. I did learn the word sans though.

 

[Ursa major]

...the anti Stark?

That makes me think of sub atomic particles. And, further, it makes me wonder what sort of spin Sansa will have at her disposal once Littlefinger has finished training her.


Oh, and es tut mir leid.

 

[Needle]

not many people know this, now a lot will

I took 3 years of Spanish in high school. I somehow managed to get passing grades, but in new York State you have to take what's called a Regents exam, which is kind of a competency test. i don't know if they are common elsewhere or called that. Anyway, there was no way I was passing this test, and i needed the regents credit to graduate, sooooo, my friend (who was from Spain and was fluent) and I came up with a plan where he would sit behind me and signal me the answers to all of the multiple choice and true false questions. I got 68% on that part. I then managed to get 2% out of 30% on the essay part, but i passed, and apparently no one noticed

When I got to college I had to take a semester of a language, having not taken 4 years of one in HS. If i took Spanish i would have been in an advanced class, so that was out of the question. I took French 101 instead and managed a C with the help of my girlfriend at the time and a Haitian security guard. I have no affinity or talent in foreign languages

Way more information than you neded. I did learn the word sans though.

Don't feel alone Imp! I too took 3 years of Spanish in HS and lived in Florida for many years and today i have about 20 words (most of them curses) in my memory banks!

 

[Tywin]

That's funny, I meant to write "For the record I wasn't hypothesizing on your French education", but I must have been typing too fast and lost the " n't ".

 

[Mesanna]

I did German at school though I've forgotten most of it. I probably know less than 20 French words. "Sans" is an easy one though. I associate it with fonts (I'm a bid of a fontophile. Sad, I know!) There are Serif fonts like Times New Roman (a serif being the little tail on letters like 'a' and 'd', and Sans-Serif fonts (meaning without serif) like Arial and Verdana. Thus endeth today's Typography lesson.

Re names in the book, wasn't there a Ser Jordayne of Tor or something like that, for author Robert Jordan? I love that GRRM includes little references like this! I think the original poster was probably getting Stavros and Davos mixed up? Don't see Davos ending up with a crown anytime soon though.

 

[The Imp]

I did German at school though I've forgotten most of it. I probably know less than 20 French words. "Sans" is an easy one though. I associate it with fonts (I'm a bid of a fontophile. Sad, I know!) There are Serif fonts like Times New Roman (a serif being the little tail on letters like 'a' and 'd', and Sans-Serif fonts (meaning without serif) like Arial and Verdana. Thus endeth today's Typography lesson.

Re names in the book, wasn't there a Ser Jordayne of Tor or something like that, for author Robert Jordan? I love that GRRM includes little references like this! I think the original poster was probably getting Stavros and Davos mixed up? Don't see Davos ending up with a crown anytime soon though.

The semester I took French I had started out with German, as my father was fluent and I thought he could help with homework. It turned out he was fairly lousy with gramar. I was also bitterly disappointed to find out there are 50% more things to learn for each verb, given the added neuter case

 

[DeannaBelle]

Oops, Stavros means cross. I thought it was related to Istvan, but I read it wrong. Anyway, now Stavros in the series? Maybe I was thinking of Davos... isn't there a guy whose name sounds like that? It's been about 4 years since I've read the series, so mercy, please.

 

[Mesanna]

The semester I took French I had started out with German, as my father was fluent and I thought he could help with homework. It turned out he was fairly lousy with gramar. I was also bitterly disappointed to find out there are 50% more things to learn for each verb, given the added neuter case

LOL yeah, it's a complicated language. I mean, three words for "the" depending on gender! Come on Germans, could you make it any harder? One thing I do recall from German lessons is that our poor teacher left half way through the term with a nervous breakdown. There's some sort of moral there!