Accidentally reusing a name

Names do get reused, and "eyrie" (a large nest of a bird of prey) is a real term that fantasy's co-opted before, numerous times. And the Eyrie in Martin's world is a castle on a high peak, not a dragon's nest, IIRC.

That said, with a juggernaut franchise like GoT also using it recently, you might consider renaming if too many betas point to it and think it's derivative, but that's the kind of thing that can happen in a later draft if it's even needed. (It's not like you're naming a royal house Targaryen, an invented name with much stronger ties to Martin's universe; you're using a real term with connotations reminiscent of a large predator's nesting grounds.)

I've never read or seen GOT, but I think you should change it because

1) Your friend could recognize the name as something from GOT just by either hearing it or reading it.

2) You both write epic fantasy with dragons. That name, for a while, is "taken" associated with GOT. It's like you wouldn't use the names Jacob, Bella, and Edward, in any vampire novel/paranormal novel anytime soon. Of course, I don't know how important this name is in both your books, but I hope you see my point. (Also have never read Twilight, but I remembered the example from a blog I read long ago. Same as using Luke or Hans in a sci-fi novel.

3) I don't read epic fantasy, but from the looks of it, it seems like an unusual name that would always remind someone of a GOT tie-in. Unlike "The Palace" or "The Mountain"

4) This stuff happens all the time. Our brains see things and store them unconsciously. Then pops back up when you need a similar name. All writers experience this at one point or another. All it takes is a quick Google and a "Dang, I knew that name sounded familiar" follows after.


Oh, and welcome to AW.

In my totally-not-scientific-opinion, I think it would be okay if it makes sense with the world, like many places are named "The [noun of what it is]." The mountains, the canyons, the capital. But in real life that's usually not how names go, they're either named after someone (The Hoolian Sea) or have some sort of adjective that describes it (the misty mountains). An eyrie is what it is, but it would probably be named after a dragon who founded it, or something about the place that travelers should know. Are the dragons kind to travelers, or are they vicious animals? Are there other dragon colonies? What makes this one special?

I like the idea to add an adjective, such as "The High Eyrie" or "The Great Eyrie" or something like that. As ChaseJxyz said, names often go that way.

Yeah, if you're concerned, add an adjective, but "eyrie/aerie" is a real world term that has been used in movies, books, and video games for decades for naming places. Martin was not the first.

And crossword puzzles. It's not like it's a specific invented word - and, it has all the right connotations for a nest of dragons.
It's like saying you can't use, well, 'nest'.
Or, that after McCaffrey, no-one can use 'dragons'.

Ah, see, I didn't know eyrie was a real word. I think that makes it better, knowing it's a real word noun.

You could use the alternate 'Aerie' spelling. Some lingerie company is using it, but, again, it's a fairly common noun. (British spelling, I think, but I like it reminds me of high, windswept places.)

Maggie Maxwell said:

Yeah, if you're concerned, add an adjective, but "eyrie/aerie" is a real world term that has been used in movies, books, and video games for decades for naming places. Martin was not the first.

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I agree. I've read Martin's books too, and I would not think of his work if I read another fantasy novel that called a Dragon's nest an Eyrie. It's simply the regular-English word used for an Eagle's nest, to it's not something that jumps out at me as a reader at all.

Now if someone had a world named Westernos, or there were people named Starks duking it out with Lannisters, well then...

Note a friend of mine who is from the UK once told me he was always knocked out a bit by the name "Jon Snow" in Martin's books, because there was a real-life newsman with that name on a station he watched. I doubt Martin was intentionally copying this, or anyone else's real name in his work, but it illustrates one of the drawbacks of using "real world" type names for fantasy characters (or even locations) in a fantastical world. Of course books set in the real world will have people with real-world names. I'm sure there is a man named "Harry Potter" living somewhere who was born before Rowling published her novels. Likely more than one. There's not much an author can do about that.

I even read a novel once, years ago, where there was a walk-on character who had my dad's name AND he was a molecular biologist at a UC campus. Not the same UC campus where my dad taught, but it was weird...

So naming coincidences will happen too. But Eyrie really isn't problematic, imo, because it's just a word for a thing, not a fanciful name.

For reference - the etymology behind eyrie/aerie: https://www.etymonline.com/word/aerie#etymonline_v_5176.

John Snow (admittedly a slightly different spelling) was also a doctor in the nineteenth century who is, IIRC, considered something of a father of epidemiology - he worked out that the source of a cholera outbreak was coming from a specific water pump in London.

I definitely would not have associated it with GoT, but then I've see eyrie used in its original context in other novels! I actually really like it as a name for a dragon's nest/home.

Tanydwr said:

For reference - the etymology behind eyrie/aerie: https://www.etymonline.com/word/aerie#etymonline_v_5176.

John Snow (admittedly a slightly different spelling) was also a doctor in the nineteenth century who is, IIRC, considered something of a father of epidemiology - he worked out that the source of a cholera outbreak was coming from a specific water pump in London.

I definitely would not have associated it with GoT, but then I've see eyrie used in its original context in other novels! I actually really like it as a name for a dragon's nest/home.

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John Snow was also a fast bowler for Sussex and England in the 60s and 70s