History Main / ViewerNameConfusion

** Many characters have [[AerithAndBob discordantly normal English names]] or close to them, the latter resulting in a few examples such as fans believing Joffrey to be named Jeffrey or Geoffrey. His name is pronounced with an "awf", not an "eff".

** Viewers may not realize that Westeros is the name of the entire western continent that includes the Seven Kingdoms, not the name of the country (that's "the Seven Kingdoms", like "the United States of America"), and also encompasses the Land of Always Winter north of the Wall. Therefore, it's incorrect to say "the wildlings went south through the Wall into Westeros"; they were always in Westeros. Conversely, they've been known to make the opposite mistake and assume Westeros is the name of the world. People in the ''Game of Thrones'' world merely refer to their planet as "the earth", like we do (and as far as we can tell, in their universe it '''is''' the only "earth", our world doesn't exist). Fans also may not realize that the eastern continent across the Narrow Sea where Daenerys spends most of her plotline has a name of its own, since it's seldom said out loud: Essos.

** Viewers may not realize that Westeros is the name of the entire western continent that includes the Seven Kingdoms, not the name of the country (that's "the Seven Kingdoms", like "the United States of America"), and also encompasses the Land of Always Winter north of the Wall. Therefore, it's incorrect to say "the wildlings went south through the Wall into Westeros"; they were always in Westeros. Conversely, they've been known to make the opposite mistake and assume Westeros is the name of the world. People in the ''Game of Thrones'' world merely refer to their planet as "the earth", like we do. Fans also may not realize that the eastern continent across the Narrow Sea where Daenerys spends most of her plotline has a name of its own, since it's seldom said out loud: Essos.

** It's often forgotten that Grams is a Halliwell by marriage too, due to her StrawFeminist nature and declaring "the women keep their names in this family". Halliwell was her first husband Allen's name, and Penny's maiden name was Johnson.

** Viewers may not realize that Westeros is the name of the entire western continent that includes the Seven Kingdoms, not the name of the country (that's "the Seven Kingdoms", like "the United States of America"), and also encompasses the Land of Always Winter north of the Wall. Therefore, it's incorrect to say "the wildlings went south through the Wall into Westeros"; they were always in Westeros. Conversely, they've been known to make the opposite mistake and assume Westeros is the name of the world. They also may not realize that the eastern continent across the Narrow Sea where Daenerys spends most of her plotline has a name of its own, since it's seldom said out loud: Essos.

** Viewers may not realize that Westeros is the name of the entire western continent that includes the Seven Kingdoms, not the name of the country (that's "the Seven Kingdoms", like "the United States of America"), and also encompasses the Land of Always Winter north of the Wall. Therefore, it's incorrect to say "the wildlings went south through the Wall into Westeros"; they were always in Westeros. They also may not realize that the eastern continent across the Narrow Sea where Daenerys spends most of her plotline has a name of its own, since it's seldom said out loud: Essos.

** Viewers may not realize that Westeros is the name of the entire continent that includes the Seven Kingdoms, not the name of the country (that's "the Seven Kingdoms", like "the United States of America"), and also encompasses the Land of Always Winter north of the Wall. Therefore, it's incorrect to say "the wildlings went south through the Wall into Westeros"; they were always in Westeros. They also may not realize that the eastern continent where Daenerys spends most of her plotline has a name of its own, since it's seldom said out loud: Essos.

** Several fans call Gendry "Gendry Waters" given that "Waters" is the surname for highborn bastards in the Crownlands, where he was born. However, the surnames are for ''acknowledged'' bastards with a highborn parent. Otherwise, like other peasants, they have OnlyOneName. Gendry's father King Robert Baratheon never acknowledged him and, by all accounts, didn't even know that Gendry existed. Gendry certainly didn't know of his parentage until well after Robert's death. So therefore, Gendry didn't have a last name until [[spoiler:he gained Baratheon in the eighth season after being legitimized by Daenerys. (And just to add to the confusion, he states that before he was legitimized his name was Gendry Rivers, the highborn bastard surname of the Riverlands, an area with which he has no association other than the fact he joined the Brotherhood Without Banners there.) ]]

** Similarly, we have Grogu, officially "the Child" before his name was revealed, who was often colloquially referred to as "Baby Yoda" in the media, which is a bit weird because ''Yoda'' was the name of another individual of the same species, not the species itself. This would be like referring to any human infant as a "Baby Luke". Admittedly, calling him "Baby Yoda" is partially because Yoda's species name has never been revealed in any ''Star Wars'' media. Nevertheless, even ''since'' the reveal, many people (usually not actual fans) [[InsistentTerminology still call him]] "Baby Yoda" and this nickname tends to confuse new viewers of the show, who think that Grogu really is Yoda when he was a baby, even though the show takes place several years after Yoda's death in ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi''.

** A Mandalorian is a person associated with the planet Mandalore; though often referred to as "the Mandalorian" by others, the titular character's actual name is Din Djarin.

** A Mandalorian is a person associated with the planet Mandalore; though often referred to as this, the titular character's actual name is Din Djarin.

** B'Elanna Torres has a [[ProudWarriorRace Klingon]] first name, and so some people think it's spelt B'Lanna or Be'Lanna.

** While everyone knows how to ''spell'' Data's name, some people think "dah-tuh" is an acceptable pronunciation, which he debunks in an episode. [[labelnote:Linguistic Note]]The pronunciation "day-tuh" for the word "data" was quite possibly popularized by ''Star Trek'', at least in American English. Creator/PatrickStewart, a Brit, brought the British English pronunciation over.[[/labelnote]]

** Spock is always addressed as '''Mr.''' Spock, or sometimes by his rank (Commander in the series, Captain in the movies), ''never'' '''Dr.''' Spock, despite that he is the ''Enterprise''s chief science officer and it wouldn't be surprising if he did in fact hold one or more doctorates. This is likely the result of people getting the character confused with the real life physician Dr. Benjamin Spock.

** Spock is always addressed as '''Mr.''' Spock, or sometimes by his rank (Commander in the series, Captain in the movies), ''never'' '''Dr.''' Spock. That’s likely the result of people getting the character confused with the real life physician Dr. Benjamin Spock.

** Sandor "The Hound" Clegane is occasionally referred to as ''Ser'' Sandor Clegane (even in merchandise sold on [[https://georgerrmartin.com/grrm_merch/ser-sandor-clegane-the-hound-masterworks-miniatures/ George R.R. Martin's official site!]]), a title indicating that one is a knight. Clegane is likely referred to as this as a courtesy after being appointed to the Kingsguard, for which knighthood is typically required, though he has steadfastly refused to be knighted and holds much contempt for knighthood after seeing many knights, particularly his brother Ser Gregor, butcher the innocent when they're supposed to be symbols of honor and glory.

** For the first few seasons, it was common for people to misinterpret Daenerys Targaryen's name as "Khaleesi", the Dothraki word for the wife of a ''khal'', roughly equivalent to "queen" (meaning that suggesting that her name is Khaleesi would be like suggesting Queen Elizabeth's name is "Your Majesty"), as that is how she is most often addressed by others in her Dothraki ''khalasar'' (war band). It was such a pronounced effect that [[BabyNameTrendStarter there was a wave of babies named]] Khaleesi, not Daenerys. She was also frequently referred to as "Daenerys Stormborn", which viewers may interpret as her middle name but is actually an example of RedBaron as she was born during a storm. By the same token, her husband's name was simply [[OnlyOneName Drogo]], "Khal Drogo" was his title as leader of the ''khalasar'', not his full name.

** For the first few seasons, it was common for people to misinterpret Daenerys Targaryen's name as "Khaleesi", the Dothraki word for the wife of a ''khal'', roughly equivalent to "queen" (meaning that suggesting that her name is Khaleesi would be like suggesting Queen Elizabeth's name is "Your Majesty"), as that is how she is most often addressed by others in her Dothraki ''khalasar'' (war band). It was such a pronounced effect that [[BabyNameTrendStarter there was a wave of babies named]] Khaleesi, not Daenerys. She was also frequently referred to as "Daenerys Stormborn", which viewers may interpret as her middle name but is actually an example of RedBaron as she was born during a storm.

* ''Series/TheMunsters'': Grandpa, who is Lily Munster's father, is actually named Vladimir "Sam" Dracula. There is no character named "Grandpa Munster", which would refer to the never-seen adoptive father of Lily's husband Herman Munster (i.e. the scientist who created him, as Herman is a FrankensteinsMonster). When the 2022 film version was released, most news articles still referred to Grandpa's character as "Grandpa Munster", which was now wrong on two levels, as the film is a prequel set before he is anyone's grandfather (in the film he's credited as "The Count").

* ''Series/TheMunsters'': Grandpa, who is Lily's father, is actually named Vladimir "Sam" Dracula. There is no character named "Grandpa Munster", which would refer to Herman's (never seen) adoptive father. When the 2022 film version was released, most news articles still referred to his character as "Grandpa Munster" which was now wrong on two levels, as the film is a prequel set before he is anyone's grandfather (in the film he's credited as "The Count").

* ''Series/Supernatural'': Is the diminutive form of Castiel "Cas" or "Cass"? According to the script, it's the latter.

** Several fans call Gendry "Gendry Waters" given that "Waters" is the surname for highborn bastards in the Crownlands, where he was born. However, the surnames are for ''acknowledged'' bastards with a highborn parent. Otherwise, like other peasants, they have OnlyOneName. Gendry's father King Robert Baratheon never acknowledged him and, by all accounts, didn't even know that Gendry existed. Gendry certainly didn't know of his parentage until well after Robert's death. So therefore, Gendry didn't have a last name until [[spoiler:he gained Baratheon in the eighth season after being legitimized by Daenerys. (And just to add to the confusion, he states that before he was legitimized his name was Gendry Rivers, the bastard surname of the Riverlands, an area with which he has no association other than the fact he joined the Brotherhood Without Banners there.) ]]

** Several fans call Gendry "Gendry Waters" given that "Waters" is the surname for highborn bastards in the Crownlands, where he was born. However, the surnames are for ''acknowledged'' bastards with a highborn parent. Gendry's father King Robert Baratheon never acknowledged him and, by all accounts, didn't even know that Gendry existed. Gendry certainly didn't know of his parentage until well after Robert's death. So therefore, Gendry didn't have a last name until [[spoiler:he gained Baratheon in the eighth season after being legitimized by Daenerys. (And just to add to the confusion, he states that before he was legitimized his name was Gendry Rivers, the bastard surname of the Riverlands, an area with which he has no association other than the fact he joined the Brotherhood Without Banners there.) ]]

** In the early seasons, there was confusion about what Queen Cersei's full name was.[[https://www.hbo.com/game-of-thrones/season-01/7-you-win-or-you-die/synopsis HBO]] referred to her as Cersei Baratheon (as the wife of King Robert Baratheon), while later seasons cemented that she was still refered to as Cersei Lannister (her birth name). The implication in the novels is that while women in the Seven Kingdoms usually take their husband's last name, the royal dynasty only passes on its name by birth, not marriage.

** For the first few seasons, it was common for people to misinterpret Daenerys's name as Khaleesi, the Dothraki word for the wife of a khal roughly equivalent to queen (meaning that suggesting that her name is Khaleesi would be like suggesting Queen Elizabeth's name is "Your Majesty"), as that is how she is most often addressed by others. It was such a pronounced effect that [[BabyNameTrendStarter there was a wave of babies named]] Khaleesi, not Daenerys. She was also frequently referred to as "Daenerys Stormborn", which viewers may interpret as her middle name, but is actually just a nickname as she was born during a storm.
** In the early seasons, there was confusion about what Cersei's name was.[[https://www.hbo.com/game-of-thrones/season-01/7-you-win-or-you-die/synopsis HBO]] referred to her as Cersei Baratheon (as the consort of Robert Baratheon), while later seasons cemented that she was Cersei Lannister (her birth name). The implication in the novels is that while women in the Seven Kingdoms usually take their husband's last name, the royal dynasty only passes on its name by birth, not marriage.
** Varys is [[https://mashable.com/article/house-of-the-dragon-otto-hightower-littlefinger often]] [[https://www.cnet.com/culture/entertainment/a-game-of-thrones-glossary-to-get-you-ready-for-house-of-the-dragon/ identified]] as "Lord Varys", which also happens in-universe. As he explains in one episode, he's not actually a lord, which is a hereditary title that signifies one owns lands and/or a castle. He's often called such as a courtesy for his position on the small council.
** Several fans call Gendry "Gendry Waters" given that "Waters" is the surname for highborn bastards in the Crownlands. However, the surnames are for ''acknowledged'' bastards. Gendry's father Robert Baratheon never acknowledged him and, by all accounts, didn't even know that Gendry existed. Gendry certainly didn't know of his parentage until well after Robert's death. So therefore, Gendry didn't have a last name until [[spoiler:he gained Baratheon in the eighth season after being legitimized by Daenerys. (And just to add to the confusion, he states that before he was legitimized his name was Gendry Rivers, the bastard surname of the Riverlands, an area with which he has no association.) ]]

** Many characters have [[AerithAndBob discordantly normal English names]] or close to them, the latter resulting in a few examples such as believing Joffrey to be named Jeffrey.

** Some fans think that Harry is short for Hadrian, Percy is short for Percival, Lily is short for Lillian, and Ginny is short for Virginia. Actually, Harry, Percy, and Lily aren't nicknames, while Ginny is short for Ginevra.