On the whole pronunciation of Lestat (LestAHt vs Lesaught) my theory is that it’s both. If we accept Lestat’s story from Blackwood Farm that his parents made up his name from the first letters of his brothers’ names, then maybe they never came up with an exact way to pronounce it. Maybe Gabrielle always called him by one, while his father would use the other. This has led to Lestat changing up they way he introduces himself for 250 years.
//or maybe they just called him “you” since their relationship wasn’t too… affective
^Ya, I like all this. I don’t LOVE Blackwood Farm but that explanation is as good as any. I’m sure his family called him all kinds of bad stuff including purposely
making
his name sound bad, and yes, maybe they never came up with a specific way to pronounce it. I think part of his self-deprecation comes from getting so little affection in his formative years, and not even having a consistently pronounced name is pretty mean ;A;
Anyone can pronounce his name however they want, I think he would be pretty chill about that. Especially considering that people have native accents that affect their pronunciation of words anyway, given how much international travel/business/etc. he does, I don’t think he’d be making an issue with every single person he encounters about the pronunciation of his name.
AR had intended to write his name as “Lestan” after her husband “Stan” + the French word for “the” which is “Le” when preceding masculine words. She’s said that “Lestat” was a typo that she ended up liking.
ANYWAY, since “Stan” is pronounced like “stand” and not “ton” my preference is to go with the ‘a’ of Lestat as like “stand” or “cat.” I kinda feel like AR’s whole obsession with pronouncing it like “Les-TOT” is another way she divides the “real fans” from the rest of the fans; if you don’t pronounce it her preferred way then you’re not really talking about HER character. But that’s just a theory.
I headcanon that Lestat likes nicknames based on his name, especially “’Stat,” a medical term: “Stat, used as a directive to medical personnel during in an emergency situation, is from the Latin word statim, which means “instantly” or “immediately.”” [X]
I-want-my-IWTV 