Why are they calling him Jaskier?
In The Witcher (Netflix), the bard, played by Joey Batey, is named Jaskier but in the game and the English translations of the books, he is referred to as Dandy short for Dandelion. Why the name change?
I do see that his original Polish name is Jaskier, but it was changed for an American/English audience, so why not continue that in the Netflix series?
Best Answer
The showrunner Lauren S. Hissrich gives the following explanation in an interview with ComicBook.com:
We call him Jaskier... Yeah, absolutely. Jaskier is 100% in the show. It's interesting, because people ask about Jaskier all the time and why we went with his original name. It is funny, part of it was because when I read the books I read it as Dandelion (the flower), and then I listened to the audiobooks. Dandelion (pronounced Dan-dill-ion), how would I get that?
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Why did they change his name to Jaskier?
When translated directly from Polish to English, Jaskier means Buttercup, a name that doesn't quite properly fit the bard's personality. So instead of Buttercup, the translator opted to change Jaskier's name to Dandelion, seeing that it better fit the character.Why is Julian called Jaskier?
Jaskier means nothing in English it's going to sound just like a name not a moniker and when they reveal his real name Julian it's gonna be weird people are going to be like why were they calling him Jaskier. Unless they don't plan on calling him Julian ever and just say Jaskier is his real name.What is the meaning of Jaskier?
The name Jaskier is boy's name meaning "buttercup". Jaskier is the original Polish name of the bard character in The Witcher, incorrectly translated in the English versions of the books and video games as Dandelion but really meaning Buttercup.Is Jaskier a real name?
Julian Alfred Pankratz, Viscount de Lettenhove better known as Jaskier (b. 1222), was a bard and a close friend of Geralt of Rivia.Joey Batey talks about Jaskier/Dandelion
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Answer 2
- Jaskier is the bard's original polish firstname in the books. Jaskier translates as buttercup, a yellow-petal flower that grows in the wild.
- Dandelion is probably a chosen translation for Jaskier that also represents a yellow-petal flower in English.
For example, in Slovakian language, his name is Blyská? which means Ficaria Verna, also another close related yellow flower to the Buttercup or in German he is called Rittersporn which translated to Delphinium, another type of flower from the same genus that has multiple color patters.
So "Dandelion" is the English version of Jaskier that respects the meaning and was probably chosen because it sounds better then Buttercup for the character.
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