Name mispronunciations

[reisleK she/her]

As someone guilty of pronouncing names completely wrong, I want to hear some of you guys's. 

I'll start. 

I thought Alethi was Alenthi and pronounced it as such. 

I pronounced Gavilar as Gavinar 

Don't get me started with Elhokar, I don't remember what I did but it was wrong. I think Elk-o-har?

Minor but pronouncing Jasnah as jah-snah instead of ya-snah. 

I don't really pronounce Urithiru at all. I've decided to not even try. 

Cephandrius as Cephardius. 

Chasmfiend as chasmfield, I really don't know why. 

Not specifically cosmere but duralumin as dur-ay-lee-um. 

There's probably more I can't think of off the top of my head. What about you guys?

[Through The Living Glass She/They]

Shallan as shal-ehn

Moash as MOESH ("moe" and "sh")

Eshonai as E-shone-ee

Don't even get me started on the Thaylen names . . .

[reisleK she/her]

6 minutes ago, Ookla the Inconclusive said:

Shallan as shal-ehn

Moash as MOESH ("moe" and "sh")

Eshonai as E-shone-ee

Don't even get me started on the Thaylen names . . .

Eshonai isn't pronounced that way?

[Through The Living Glass She/They]

13 minutes ago, Ookla the Hemalurgic Spike said:

Eshonai isn't pronounced that way?

Yeah it's like

eh-SHOAN-ai (ai as in "eye")

Just now, Ookla the Inconclusive said:

Yeah it's like

eh-SHOAN-ai (ai as in "eye")

Here:

https://wob.coppermind.net/events/324/#e9302

[Treamayne]

36 minutes ago, Ookla the Hemalurgic Spike said:

As someone guilty of pronouncing names completely wrong

Brandon agrees with you. WoB:

Spoiler

Brandon Sanderson

Interestingly, I’ve never annotated about Sarene's nickname before. Only her father uses it, and when Moshe read the draft, he had trouble understanding how to get 'Ene from Sarene. That's probably because he, like most people, pronounced her name like the word serene. That's all right–I don't really mind how people pronounce the names in my books. When I read, I see a name, come up with a pronunciation in my head, then go with that from there on. Nothing can convince me that I'm pronouncing it wrong, not even the author him/herself. (Even still, the names of Anne McCaffery's dragons are jumbled, meaningless noises in my mind. That seemed right at the time.)

Anyway, if you're interested, there's a pronunciation guide for Elantris on the site. Sarene's nickname comes from the Aon in her name: Aon Ene. While in our world, we tend to choose nicknames based on the first syllable of a name, nicknames in Arelish come from from the Aon. Since Sarene's Aon comes late in her name, that's where the nickname comes from. "Ene," by the way, is pronounced "Ay-nay."

Elantris Annotations (Dec. 3, 2005)

We are part of the story we read, and how you pronounce names for yourself is up to you. It's only "wrong" if you personally care about the in-world linguistics and worry you have not found the "correct" version to match that.

That said, I tend to follow the intended pronunciation, but notably ignore some - for example, I do not use the French-derived Pronunciation for Kelsier that was intended, nor do I use the Aonic pronunciation for Sarene that was intended (but I do use Raoden's Aonic pronunciation).

WoB:

Spoiler

RankWeis

The characters in Mistborn all have very French names. My girlfriend insists Vin's name is pronounced almost "Veh", as it would be in France, and I'm almost convinced. How do you pronounce it?

Brandon Sanderson

The Central Dominance is intentionally French sounding. I say Vin's name like an American would, but everyone in world would say it with a French accent. Same goes for Kelsier, (which they would say Kel-syay.) Again, I say it as an American would, but then I'm not from the Central Dominance.

unknown

One further question on pronunciation- Sazed. Is it sayzd, sayzed, or sah-zahd? I always pictured the Terris people as somewhat Arabic so Sah-zahd came more naturally to me, but I'm curious as to what the intended pronunciation is.

Brandon Sanderson

I say Sayzed, as does Kelsier. The Terris a is not as harsh as that, but it's not quite a soft "a" either.

/r/fantasy AMA 2011 (Aug. 31, 2011)

Hope that helps

[Lord Spirit he/him]

I was going to post, but Treamayne pretty much said exactly what I was going to, including kelsier and elantris. I've listen to the audiobooks of Mistborn and SA, so I guess I haven't had very many issues there.

although I do wonder about "Elantris". is it "Elaan-tris" or "Elon-tris"? I tend to go with the first, no idea if I'm right or not.

don't get me started on the horneaters...

[Treamayne]

9 hours ago, Ookla the Violist said:

although I do wonder about "Elantris". is it "Elaan-tris" or "Elon-tris"? I tend to go with the first, no idea if I'm right or not

Elantris Pronunciation Guide

Long vowels for Aons, short vowels everywhere else. Therefore:

Elantris - Aon Ela - Long E, Long A

Elantris = EE-Layn-tris

(I still say EE-Lan-Tris)

[alder24]

For me Szeth is and will be Shet, simply because in Polish "sz" is pronounced like "sh." Zeth just sounds wrong to me...

I also often say Alethekar instead of Alethkar. And because of that I often have to google its name when I try to write it because I always spell it wrong. Also I can't stop reading Jah Keved as Jah Kevad.

For a long time I struggled with Elhokar as well. I don't remember how I pronounced it, but it was many kinds of wrong (something like Elokohar). Now I'm nailing it each time. 

Rock is Rock to me, no matter how many times he says his own name. I'm not even trying to read his name anymore. 

Sometimes I also read duralumin as duraluminum. This name exists, it's the same thing, but it's wrong...

And don't get me started on all those French names in Mistborn... On some days I try and get it right or close to, on other days I'm just reading them as they are written. I've probably pronounced Sazed in 10 different ways by now. I often read Elend as Eland (it helps remembering that it's Elendel, not Elandel) and Straff as Staff - close enough. I don't know why I keep replacing e into a.

On the other hand, I've always pronounced Jasnah correctly, simply because that's how you say it in Polish (ignoring the h). What's funny is that "jasna" in Polish means bright and whenever someone calls her brightness Jasnah, in Polish it means just brightness bright.

[OoklaApologist She/her]

Urithiru as YOUR-ith-oh

Taravangian as TAR-uh-vang-y-an

Raboniel as Rab O’Neil

Shallan with the first a as in the word shall and the second as in the word lend, I.e. the objectively correct way

A-lith-kar with the a as in apple

Aon Ene with the e’s like the word bean

Elhokar like ELK-o-lar, with the a in lar said like far

I’m likely missing some

Edited December 15, 2024 by KelsierApologist
Added one I was missing

[TwinStorm He/Him]

16 hours ago, Ookla the Inconclusive said:

Shallan as shal-ehn

Moash as MOESH ("moe" and "sh")

Eshonai as E-shone-ee

Don't even get me started on the Thaylen names . . .

those all sound right, except for Shallan. tho I'm probably just wrong

 Adolin as Aa-Dole-In

Renarin as Ren-er-in

[BlueWildRye he/him]

kuh-LAY-din. I never pronounced it that way because I listened to the audiobooks first, but it would be funny to hear it that way.

[reisleK she/her]

12 hours ago, Treamayne said:

Elantris Pronunciation Guide

Long vowels for Aons, short vowels everywhere else. Therefore:

Elantris - Aon Ela - Long E, Long A

Elantris = EE-Layn-tris

(I still say EE-Lan-Tris)

I say El-LAN-Tris

[Through The Living Glass She/They]

Just now, Ookla the Hemalurgic Spike said:

I say El-LAN-Tris

I also do

[reisleK she/her]

10 hours ago, KelsierApologist said:

Urithiru as YOUR-ith-oh

Taravangian as TAR-uh-vang-y-an

Raboniel as Rab O’Neil

Shallan with the first a as in the word shall and the second as in the word lend, I.e. the objectively correct way

A-lith-kar with the a as in apple

Aon Ene with the e’s like the word bean

Elhokar like ELK-o-lar, with the a in lar said like far

I’m likely missing some

I pronounce Taravargian as Tuh-var-gin. I need to stop pronouncing things by taking out letters 

Edited December 16, 2024 by Ookla the Hemalurgic Spike

[Through The Living Glass She/They]

2 minutes ago, Ookla the Hemalurgic Spike said:

I pronounce Taravargian as Tuh-var-gin. I need to stop pronouncing things by taking out letters 

Oh girl, I think we all do that 

Taravangian for me was Tare-ah-van-gan

[reisleK she/her]

16 minutes ago, Ookla the Inconclusive said:

Oh girl, I think we all do that 

Taravangian for me was Tare-ah-van-gan

At least I can pronounce my own characters names... good luck to whoever reads some of them (I made a culture have excessively long names for fun, like Aderis ter Fenntur Noctis, Fossaris ter Malementur Pacis and Gesorimini ter Gesselir Vocis as examples. The last one was kind of a joke because it doesn't quite fit the naming convention. Feel free to try to pronounce them)

Edited December 16, 2024 by Ookla the Hemalurgic Spike

[Through The Living Glass She/They]

3 minutes ago, Ookla the Hemalurgic Spike said:

At least I can pronounce my own characters names... good luck to whoever reads some of them (I made a culture have excessively long names for fun, like Aderis ter Fenntur Noctis, Fossaris ter Malementur Pacis and Gesorimini ter Gesselir Vocis as examples. The last one was kind of a joke because it doesn't quite fit the naming convention. Feel free to try to pronounce them)

*tries to pronounce*

hmm

I think I got those wrong 

[reisleK she/her]

1 minute ago, Ookla the Inconclusive said:

*tries to pronounce*

hmm

I think I got those wrong 

I honestly want to hear it anyway

[Through The Living Glass She/They]

11 minutes ago, Ookla the Hemalurgic Spike said:

I honestly want to hear it anyway

it's horrendous 

[reisleK she/her]

11 minutes ago, Ookla the Inconclusive said:

it's horrendous 

That's okay though, it somewhat follows english if that helps. Also there are technically more than one way to pronounce them, such as my character Aero. His name is pronounced like AIR-oh in some places and Ay-roh in others. And I just came up with Ay-RAO which works too, it's technically not wrong and he'd probably respond. So that's 3+ correct pronunciations. 
Aero is from the country of horrendously long names, his first name is Quaeroniantur (Quay-roan-ian-tour)

Anyway, here's a pronunciation guide to make it easier. 

 -ae is either pronounce like eye or ay
 -c's are hard, like k's

             

the endings to first names are pronounced as follows 


-r (really self explanatory)
-ris (like wrist if it didn't have a t)
-tur (tour, or tur as in turret)
-mur (mur as in murder)
-imini (ih-mini. mini is pronounced like english)
-ntur (en-tour or en-tur)


 

Edited December 16, 2024 by Ookla the Hemalurgic Spike

[Duxredux he/him]

As a frequent audio book listener, I have the reverse problem of having a defined audio format, but no idea on how to spell it. This sometimes means I will totally fail to make connections when I go on forums or read something that I had only heard. I think I totally missed whenever anyone talked about the Catacendre on the forum or some of the Fused Brands until I read it enough times to make it click. Not sure, but Demoux may have also fit in this category, since I'm not great with French pronunciations. These days I check the Coppermind for proper spellings.

Edited December 16, 2024 by Duxredux

[Bridge_Four she/her]

I did Moash using the oa as in boat.

Sadeas was Sadie + the "es"

Adolin was add-O-lin

I have since learned and now speak the correct pronunciations. (That's what I get for not listening to the audiobooks)

[Lopens Tenth Cousin he/him]

2 hours ago, Bridge_Four said:

Sadeas was Sadie + the "es"

Adolin was add-O-lin

Wait... that's not how you say it? My whole world is upside down now

[Treamayne]

2 hours ago, Bridge_Four said:

(That's what I get for not listening to the audiobooks)

Audiobooks do not always have the correct pronunciation either. WOB:

Spoiler

Questioner

I love the reader for the Mistborn series and the Way of Kings, an I was wondering if you pick the reader and how you collaborate for the reader tell him how to pronounce the names.

Brandon Sanderson

His name is Micheal Kramer, and in the Way of Kings his wife, Kate Reading, reads the female viewpoints. i did ask for them on purpose because they also did the Wheel of Time books and i was very fond of their treatment of the Wheel of Time novels, and so when they said "who do you want" I said "can I have Micheal and Kate" and things like that. The question of how I work with them? Most of the time I send them a pronunciation guide. It doesn't always get there in time for their schedule, which is why sometime the names are a little off, but i do send them a pronunciation guide and i do know Micheal now, we've done some signings together. He actually does a reading when we do a signing together, its really cool. Them i did [?]. Most of the audiobook readers I've never met, and I'll usually pick Micheal and Kate for my main-line. For Mistborn and Way of Kings i did that intentionally. i sometimes pick different people for different ones just to have some variety and things like that.

Shadows of Self Portland signing (Oct. 10, 2015)

 

[Bridge_Four she/her]

13 minutes ago, Treamayne said:

Audiobooks do not always have the correct pronunciation either. WOB:

  Reveal hidden contents

Questioner

I love the reader for the Mistborn series and the Way of Kings, an I was wondering if you pick the reader and how you collaborate for the reader tell him how to pronounce the names.

Brandon Sanderson

His name is Micheal Kramer, and in the Way of Kings his wife, Kate Reading, reads the female viewpoints. i did ask for them on purpose because they also did the Wheel of Time books and i was very fond of their treatment of the Wheel of Time novels, and so when they said "who do you want" I said "can I have Micheal and Kate" and things like that. The question of how I work with them? Most of the time I send them a pronunciation guide. It doesn't always get there in time for their schedule, which is why sometime the names are a little off, but i do send them a pronunciation guide and i do know Micheal now, we've done some signings together. He actually does a reading when we do a signing together, its really cool. Them i did [?]. Most of the audiobook readers I've never met, and I'll usually pick Micheal and Kate for my main-line. For Mistborn and Way of Kings i did that intentionally. i sometimes pick different people for different ones just to have some variety and things like that.

Shadows of Self Portland signing (Oct. 10, 2015)

 

Thanks for clearing that up @Treamayne!