Martell Family Names
A Song of Ice and Fire tends to have mostly cod-mediaeval English-sounding names. Some of them exist as real names and some don’t. One family who’s names sound slightly less English are the Martells. In Westoros, the Dornish differs in culture and appearance to the rest of Westoros due to the Rhoynar influx, let’s see how that’s reflected in their names.
Martell is a real surname. Originally French it means hammer, not quite the right weapon for our family.
Now, the Ruling Prince and his chidren
Doran is a real name. The most common etmology for it is Irish, meaning “exile” or “wanderer” but as that’s usually a surname and honestly seems unfitting for a Martell, I looked a little harder and it’s also a Greek name meaning gift.
Arianne is the French variant of the Greek Ariadne, most famously bourne by the Princess of Crete in the legend of the Minotaur, she later married the God Dionysus after being deserted by Theseus. It means “Most Holy”.
Quentyn is simply Quentin with y swapped for the i. Quentin is the French form of a Roman name which comes from the Latin word for 5th.
Trystane comes from Tristan a French form of an originally Welsh or Cornish name. Made popular in the Middle Ages by the legend of Tristan and Iseult, it’s usually linked to the French “triste”, that is, sad. However the original name is thought to have mean “clashing swords”. Our Trystane has yet to be sent to retrieve any Princesses to fall in love with though and seems happy with his betrotha to Myrcella.
Doran’s Siblings
Elia is oddly a enough, a masculine name in Dutch and Italian where it’s a form of the biblical name Elijah, the prophet who was carried to heaven in a chariot of fire. It’s also similar to the Arabic Alia meaning Sky. Alia also means “other” in Latin, though I dislike the connotations there. Funnily enough the name Eleanor, made famous by Eleanor of Aquitaine comes from Alia-Aenor, that is Other-Aenor, as she was named after her mother Aenor.
Oberyn is similar to Oberon, King of the Fairies. Although famous in Shakespheare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the name Oberon is first seen in French medieval literature. It’s derived from the Germanic Alberich, meaning Elf-Ruler, who is a dwarf in the Nibelungenlied defeated by the hero Siegfried.
And in keeping with Dornish tradition, Oberyn’s paramour and bastards
Ellaria isn’t dissimilar to Illaria, an Italian name coming through Latin from Greek, meaning cheerful. However I feel it’s likely in-universe it may be related to Elia.
Obara seems likely to be supposed to be a female version of Oberyn.
Nymeria is the hardest. This is a Rhoynish name and despite sounding possible doesn’t quite fit with the other Westorosi names. The Hebrew name Nemera, meaning Leopard,has the variant Nemerea.
Tyene is another tricky one. I’ve wondered if it’s supposed to be related to the many Ty- names in the Lannisters. Perhaps her mother came from that area. As we’ve seen in their post though, these names are hard to find equivalents to. There’s the Finnish Tyyne which means “Calm, Serene” which is certainly fitting.
Sarella's closest name is the Hindi name Sarala which originates from the Sanskrit for “straight”. However given Obella below also has the -ella element it seems likely this is either a name element also found in Ellaria or that Sarella is the diminutive of another name such as Sara (coming a hebrew name meaning ironically Lady or Princess), as the ella ending is used in Italian and similar endings in other romance languages.
Obella for the reasons I’ve mentioned above seems likely to be a diminutive of Obara. A close real name is Obelia a Greek name meaning “pillar of strength”
Dorea is assumedly named for Doran in universe. This actually works in our world too as the name Dorea is a variant of Dora, which is Greek and means “gift” just as Doran can.
Loreza seems mostly likely to be a variant of Lorenza, an Italian and Spanish name with the same Roman roots as we found for Loras, in the Tyrell post, and so the name also ultimately derives from Laurel.
So the Martell seem to have a slight leaning towards French names although many of them ultimately have other roots. The rest come from mainly other Romance languages or Greek. There does seem to be something of an effort to make them more less Germanic and hence “English” sounding than many of the other names and perhaps slightly more Southern European although France’s placement in that sort of geopolitical grouping is…difficult.
Martells in a nutshell
Obara: BLARGH VENGEANCE
Doran: NO
Nym: So...vengeance?
Doran: NO
Tyene: ahh, vengeance..
.Doran: OMG WTF NO
Arianne: birthright intrigues desperate justified tears and VENGEANCE, OK?
Doran: listen here
Arianne: ...
Doran: closer
Arianne: ....
Doran: actually vengeance
A Song of Ice and Fire tends to have mostly cod-mediaeval English-sounding names. Some of them exist as real names and some don’t. One family who’s names sound slightly less English are the Martells. In Westoros, the Dornish differs in culture and appearance to the rest of Westoros due to the Rhoynar influx, let’s see how that’s reflected in their names.
Martell is a real surname. Originally French it means hammer, not quite the right weapon for our family.
Now, the Ruling Prince and his chidren
Doran is a real name. The most common etmology for it is Irish, meaning “exile” or “wanderer” but as that’s usually a surname and honestly seems unfitting for a Martell, I looked a little harder and it’s also a Greek name meaning gift.
Arianne is the French variant of the Greek Ariadne, most famously bourne by the Princess of Crete in the legend of the Minotaur, she later married the God Dionysus after being deserted by Theseus. It means “Most Holy”.
Quentyn is simply Quentin with y swapped for the i. Quentin is the French form of a Roman name which comes from the Latin word for 5th.
Trystane comes from Tristan a French form of an originally Welsh or Cornish name. Made popular in the Middle Ages by the legend of Tristan and Iseult, it’s usually linked to the French “triste”, that is, sad. However the original name is thought to have mean “clashing swords”. Our Trystane has yet to be sent to retrieve any Princesses to fall in love with though and seems happy with his betrotha to Myrcella.
Doran’s Siblings
Elia is oddly a enough, a masculine name in Dutch and Italian where it’s a form of the biblical name Elijah, the prophet who was carried to heaven in a chariot of fire. It’s also similar to the Arabic Alia meaning Sky. Alia also means “other” in Latin, though I dislike the connotations there. Funnily enough the name Eleanor, made famous by Eleanor of Aquitaine comes from Alia-Aenor, that is Other-Aenor, as she was named after her mother Aenor.
Oberyn is similar to Oberon, King of the Fairies. Although famous in Shakespheare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the name Oberon is first seen in French medieval literature. It’s derived from the Germanic Alberich, meaning Elf-Ruler, who is a dwarf in the Nibelungenlied defeated by the hero Siegfried.
And in keeping with Dornish tradition, Oberyn’s paramour and bastards
Ellaria isn’t dissimilar to Illaria, an Italian name coming through Latin from Greek, meaning cheerful. However I feel it’s likely in-universe it may be related to Elia.
Obara seems likely to be supposed to be a female version of Oberyn.
Nymeria is the hardest. This is a Rhoynish name and despite sounding possible doesn’t quite fit with the other Westorosi names. The Hebrew name Nemera, meaning Leopard,has the variant Nemerea.
Tyene is another tricky one. I’ve wondered if it’s supposed to be related to the many Ty- names in the Lannisters. Perhaps her mother came from that area. As we’ve seen in their post though, these names are hard to find equivalents to. There’s the Finnish Tyyne which means “Calm, Serene” which is certainly fitting.
Sarella's closest name is the Hindi name Sarala which originates from the Sanskrit for “straight”. However given Obella below also has the -ella element it seems likely this is either a name element also found in Ellaria or that Sarella is the diminutive of another name such as Sara (coming a hebrew name meaning ironically Lady or Princess), as the ella ending is used in Italian and similar endings in other romance languages.
Obella for the reasons I’ve mentioned above seems likely to be a diminutive of Obara. A close real name is Obelia a Greek name meaning “pillar of strength”
Dorea is assumedly named for Doran in universe. This actually works in our world too as the name Dorea is a variant of Dora, which is Greek and means “gift” just as Doran can.
Loreza seems mostly likely to be a variant of Lorenza, an Italian and Spanish name with the same Roman roots as we found for Loras, in the Tyrell post, and so the name also ultimately derives from Laurel.
So the Martell seem to have a slight leaning towards French names although many of them ultimately have other roots. The rest come from mainly other Romance languages or Greek. There does seem to be something of an effort to make them more less Germanic and hence “English” sounding than many of the other names and perhaps slightly more Southern European although France’s placement in that sort of geopolitical grouping is…difficult.
Martells in a nutshell
Obara: BLARGH VENGEANCE
Doran: NO
Nym: So...vengeance?
Doran: NO
Tyene: ahh, vengeance..
.Doran: OMG WTF NO
Arianne: birthright intrigues desperate justified tears and VENGEANCE, OK?
Doran: listen here
Arianne: ...
Doran: closer
Arianne: ....
Doran: actually vengeance