The Greystone Bastard (naming lore query)

[Pomelo]

So I just need to collect crystals and pray?
Brb mining 9999 ice shards.

[Kaiser-Ace]

So I just need to collect crystals and pray?
Brb mining 9999 ice shards.

Go with the clusters, they'd work better.

[Anonymoose]

I was kind of surprised to see so much resistance to the idea that it was a bastard surname (to the point that, hey, maybe he had two battle titles and they nixed the surname on his public memorial in favor of the less popular one).

It's a core feature of Haurchefant's character that the most chivalrous member of House Fortemps was supposedly beneath its name. It's almost more offensive to raise him up after he's dead, isn't it? Treating him like he earned an upgraded name when in truth he humbled those who bear it? When it comes to what goes down in history, Haurchefant Greystone is an example that I wouldn't want diluted by a posthumous feel-good gesture.

If in-world logic isn't enough, though, let's come out-of-world for a minute.
Haurchefant needed a quick-but-meaningful backstory and they invoked Jon Snow.

[Magnesium02]

Hey guys,

Just popping in to remove all ambiguity: Greystone is a bastard surname. That is all. Carry on!

Yay. Thanks for the answer, however brief - I quoted it in the OP for reference. I still wonder though, if there are other bastard monikers, or if all bastards are called Greystone.

[ExKage]

I'm guessing that "a bastard surname" means that they have surnames that they just give to bastards? Do we know if the Heavens' Ward members who seem to have similar surnames have bastard surnames or are those titles?

[Anonymoose]

I'm guessing that "a bastard surname" means that they have surnames that they just give to bastards?

Bastard surnames are a common theme in one huge franchise at the moment, and not really that big of a thing elsewhere. By the ancient rite of shibboleth, I suspect that you are not a big fan of the works of George R. R. Martin. (Shun the nonbeliever! Shunnn! Shunnnn-n-n-nuh...)

In Westeros, there are seven kingdoms (and a further two regions) where noble families customarily (but not necessarily) give bastard children a surname that separates them from their father's house. For example, if you're a noble bastard from the North, your trueborn siblings would inherit your father's name, but you would have the surname Snow. If you were from the Vale, it would be Stone. The Riverlands, it would be Rivers. And so on. If your dad got around, he might have some of each. It just signifies that you are not in the line of inheritance (unless something catastrophic happens to your bloodline and the king signs a decree re-establishing the name and title upon the bastard to keep it going). In a lot of cases, you also get treated like crap by snobby nobles.

My assumption is that using the name Haurchefant Greystone was a way to invoke our contemporary cultural knowledge to let a big enough chunk of people know what's up that they can fill in the rest. If you know Jon Snow, you have a lot of context for what's up with Haurchefant (not that they didn't explain it good'nuff between the MSQ and the Tales from the Dragonsong War).

Do we know if the Heavens' Ward members who seem to have similar surnames have bastard surnames or are those titles?

It's a pretty safe bet that unless you're told otherwise, you're looking battle nicknames and not bastard surnames.
Even Haurchefant wasn't Haurchefant Greystone in battle.

[Naria]

To be fair, bastard surnames are an actual tradition that GRRM just expanded on. The illegitimate children of English royals were sometimes called Fitzroy or "son of the king". But yeah, this is definitely invoking GRRM's works.

[Rocl]

Can someone give us Aymeric's last name (*'=') I need to get all my bastards in a row here

[Amaya-Asha]

I was kind of surprised to see so much resistance to the idea that it was a bastard surname (to the point that, hey, maybe he had two battle titles and they nixed the surname on his public memorial in favor of the less popular one).

It's a core feature of Haurchefant's character that the most chivalrous member of House Fortemps was supposedly beneath its name. It's almost more offensive to raise him up after he's dead, isn't it? Treating him like he earned an upgraded name when in truth he humbled those who bear it? When it comes to what goes down in history, Haurchefant Greystone is an example that I wouldn't want diluted by a posthumous feel-good gesture.

If in-world logic isn't enough, though, let's come out-of-world for a minute.
Haurchefant needed a quick-but-meaningful backstory and they invoked Jon Snow.

I agree completely. His surname "Greystone" Should live on not house that could not claim him as their son.

[ExKage]

Bastard surnames are a common theme in one huge franchise at the moment, and not really that big of a thing elsewhere. By the ancient rite of shibboleth, I suspect that you are not a big fan of the works of George R. R. Martin. (Shun the nonbeliever! Shunnn! Shunnnn-n-n-nuh...)

I apologize all A Song of Ice and Fire fans! I am awaiting the end of the series to continue reading, books in particular to save my heart from tearing up inside from angst over some of those who I briefly fell in love with. Or his death.

:|