Character Name Pronunciation Guide

Hey! If you made it here, I’m going to assume you’ve read one of my books. Thank you! If you haven’t read my books, look, you can buy them on Amazon! Or Google Play! Or Barnes & Noble! For more information, click on the parent page titled “Dragonsworn Trilogy.”

This guide is for all three books, and I’ll add characters as the books come out. If you notice I’ve forgotten to include anyone with a hard-to-pronounce name, let me know. Sorry, as of now the names aren’t in any particular order, except maybe major to minor characters. If the list gets too long I’ll alphabetize it.

Disclaimer: I don’t speak most of the languages that the dragons speak in the books. If you’re a native speaker and you know I’ve given a wrong pronunciation for any of these, please correct me.

Kai – KAI. Like the beginning of “Kyle.” Rhymes with “fly.” I’m not putting an origin language with this one because Kai is American, so likely her mom heard it somewhere random and used it because she liked it.

Rhys (Welsh) – REES. Like Reese Witherspoon or Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. Rhymes with “peace.” It is not pronounced “Riss.” Sorry.

Cadoc (Welsh) – KAH-doc. I can’t think of anything to compare this to. I think it’s fairly straightforward.

Ashem (Avestan/ancient Iranian) – AH-shem. Hard to explain. As I hear it, the “sh” sound sort of drags between the two syllables, so it’s a little like “AHSH-shem, but you don’t say it twice. Good luck, my English-speaking friends.

Deryn (Welsh) – DEH-rin. Sounds exactly like Darrin. Her full name, Aderyn, is pronounced ah-DEH-rin.

Ffion (Welsh) – FEE-on. Like “Fiona” but without the -a. However, people who have this name would like you to know that it’s not the Welsh version of “Fiona,” it comes from the Welsh word for “foxglove.”

Griffith (Welsh) – GRIFF-ith. Like “griffin” but with an -ith at the end. Also straightforward, because I spelled it the English way instead of the Welsh Gruffydd or Gruffudd.

Owain (Welsh) – OH-wine. Like, Oh! Wine. But all run together because you’ve already had some.

Kavar (modified from Kavarsman, which is Avestan/ancient Iranian) – I’m not positive on this one, but I pronounce it kah-VAR. It sounds a lot like Jafar, the villain from Disney’s Aladdin. But just so you all know, I didn’t realize that until just now and that’s not why I picked it.

Morwenna (Welsh) – MORE-wenna.

Seren (Welsh) – SEH-rin.

Iain (Welsh) – EE-in, like Ian. Or possibly YAY-in. I can’t find a good source for this one. If you’re Welsh and you know how to pronounce this, I’d love to hear.

Citlali (Nahuatl) – sit-lah-lee or seet-lah-lee. I’m not sure which syllable carries the emphasis.

Tane (Hawaiian) – tah-NEH. Make sure you pronounce the “e” at the end.

Jiang (Chinese, not sure if Mandarin or Cantonese, sorry)- djyang or chyang.