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takemetocoffin-or-losemeforever: The good side of pronouncing Lestat in the non-Germanic way is that you can make stupid puns with the determiner “les” in French. And that’s priceless.

More seriously, since I saw the movie before reading the books, I pronounce the final “T” of Lestat, while it’s usually not the case in French. So, theoretically, in modern French, the pronunciation would be something like “lesta”. But it sounds kinda silly, and there is an awful lot of exceptions to the “t” rule. Furthermore, “Lestat” hugely looks like the Occitan word “estat”, prononced “S-taT”. And guess where Occitan, an old language still used nowadays, is spoken? In south France, which include Auvergne. So, in a very twisted way, “LestaT” as an old french name is making sense. At least if you accept the idea that “the state” is a decent name for a person.

OuO very informative. 

AR says it was a typo of Lestan, “Le,” French for “The,” + “Stan” for her husband, Stan Rice, and the typo with the “T” stuck. In a way, Uncle Lestan is actually how AR intended his name to be. 

In canon, Lestat explains in Blackwood Farm that his name is just the first letters of his siblings’ names:

“What an unusual name, Lestat,” she returned. “Does it have a meaning?”

“None whatsoever, Madam,” Lestat answered. “If memory serves me right, and it does less and less, the name’s compounded of the first letter of each of my six older brothers’ names, all of whom – the brothers and their names – I grew up to cheerfully and vigorously despise.”

^This could work, but we only know one of his brother’s names, Augustin.

Discussing this with viaticumforthemarquise-archive… maybe Augustin (or one of Lestat’s brothers) told him that just to hurt his feelings, like “YOU ARE SO WORTHLESS THAT AT BIRTH OUR PARENTS COULD ONLY MUSTER THE CREATIVITY TO TAKE A LETTER FROM EACH OF OUR NAMES” *SLAPS*

Lestat: *screaming internally*

They told him this at a young age … and he never questioned it ;A;

I liked this headcanon for Lestat’s naming, by viaticumforthemarquise-archive.

☆ – happy headcanon

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viaticumforthemarquise:

Lestat came earlier than he should have, born in November, a full month and a half before he’d come to term. Her body, exhausted after so many fully realised and failed births, simply could not carry him any longer. 

Convinced that the babe would not survive, like so many others, the Marquis left the castle on what he loosely termed ‘business,’ leaving her alone with the priest, the midwife, and the pain. 

He was born at night. Tiny, wailing, the priest advised they baptize him immediately, in case he did not make it until morning. 

For the first time, she found herself in a unique position: this child would be named by her, claimed by her, perfectly clean of her husband’s touch or thought. 

She named him Lestat. It seemed to suit him—his birth had been urgent, and so then might his name. 

Later, the Marquis, furious that the child, both male and living, had not been named by him, went to the village priest and had the names “Christophe” and “Marie” added to the birth record. 

But it didn’t matter. Lestat she had named him, and Lestat he remained. Hers. 

And that had never changed. 

In Blackwood Farm, Lestat says his name is “compounded of the first letter of each of my six older brothers’ names.” Is that true? Whose brilliant idea was that? Were you that disinterested in choosing an actual name for him?

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viaticumforthemarquise:

-sighs-

This is a falsehood. 

When he was very young, his brothers (not known for their kindness), told him this story. They made it quite clear to him that his parents, having no love left for him after six children, took the laziest route possible in naming him. 

This is, of course, an utter lie. I’ve already told the story here of Lestat’s naming—and I’ve also explained this to him many times (he tends to accept this story as a part of his own mythology, unfortunately). 

He does, from time to time, need reminding that his name, just like my love for him, was not accidental in nature. He is, and ever will be, my Lestat. Thus I named him, and thus I keep him. 

And his brothers are dead. So there’s that. 

(he tends to accept this story as a part of his own mythology, unfortunately).He picks and chooses his own mythology, for SURE.

“What an unusual name, Lestat,” she returned. “Does it have a meaning?”

“None whatsoever, Madam,” Lestat answered. “If memory serves me right, and it does less and less, the name’s compounded of the first letter of each of my six older brothers’ names, all of whom – the brothers and their names – I grew up to cheerfully and vigorously despise.”

– The vampire Lestat, Blackwood Farm

So he must have known all his brothers before they died ;A;

Discussing this with viaticumforthemarquise… maybe Augustin (or one of Lestat’s brothers) told him that just to hurt his feelings, like “YOU ARE SO WORTHLESS THAT AT BIRTH OUR PARENTS COULD ONLY MUSTER THE CREATIVITY TO TAKE A LETTER FROM EACH OF OUR NAMES” *SLAPS*

Lestat: *screaming internally*

They told him this at a young age … and he never questioned it.