Don’t Call Her ‘Khaleesi’: A Public Service Announcement

Emilia Clarke continues the interview barrage this week, talking to The Nation about the reality behind Daenerys’ long, silver hair. One would assume that everyone knows it’s a wig, but when talking to The Red Bulletin, Clarke says she’s continually surprised that many fans don’t realize this. “’Oh my god it’s a wig!’ And I am like: “Yep, still a wig! Still not my own hair.” Also, she dishes on the Game of Thrones character who could be the love of her life (the Hound? Really?), and admits these teenage dragons are really testing her parenting skills.

Perhaps the misconceptions about her hair stems from showing up on the cover of Vogue UK with the silver wig on? (And some surprisingly believable looking roots to boot.)

But even as Clarke’s breakout moment seems to be rolling along, there’s one issue that keeps turning up: people mistakenly calling her character Khaleesi rather than Daenerys. It happened again the other week at the San Francisco premiere, when the host began asking the crowd who should take the Iron Throne. And it’s happening in my real life too. So when I saw Zap2It had put out a PSA, I had to agree: Please Stop Calling Her Khaleesi.

She is, as introduced in “The Laws of Gods and Men”: Daenerys Stormborn of the House Targaryen, the First of Her Name, the Unburnt, Queen of Meereen, Queen of the Andals and the Rhoynar and the First Men, Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, Breaker of Chains, and Mother of Dragons.

Her name is Daenerys. If you can’t spell that–and we see her name misspelled regularly (Daenarys, Danaerys)–you can call her Dany. (The books sure do!) But Khaleesi–that’s what Jorah calls her. It’s a left over relic from their time when she was Drogo’s wife. Those around her have picked it up, but as Zap2It points out, it’s not a name. Referring to her as “Khaleesi” as if it’s her name is akin to talking about President Obama and referring to him as if his name is “President” rather than “Barack.”

As was noted last year, one of the most popular new baby names for girls in the US is Khaleesi. And that’s fine, if you mean to actually name your child that. (After all, there are women named Regina, which is the Latin word for Queen, just as Khalessi is the Dothraki word for Queen.) But Rhaella Targaryen didn’t name her baby girl Khaleesi. She named her Daenerys, after Naerys Targaryen. Rhaella died giving birth to her, and the least we can do for the dead queen is respect what she named her daughter, and actually call her by her proper name.

• Published on 04/07/2015 at 11:00 AM CDT
• Last updated on 10/21/2016 at 1:05 PM CDT