The Names of the Great Houses of Westeros, Explored and Explained

House Stark

Many names in A Song of Ice and Fire are simply English or alienated English, and many of them have obvious meanings. Take House Beesbury of Honeyholt, a house from the Reach; the name is obviously a reference to bees and honey. That one’s almost too easy.

The most prominent of the houses with these sorts of names is House Stark. The English word “Stark” means “severe or bare.” Since the English language is a bastard child of the German language, it’s also instructive to look at the German meaning of “stark” here. Just as the Starks of the North remember a past that has faded in other regions of Westeros, Germany has kept the older meaning of “stark,” which is “strong” as well as “rigid.”

In either case, it’s a very fitting name for the House of the Lords of Winterfell. The people of House Stark are undoubtedly strong, and their austerity can seem strange to a southerner like Catelyn. The Starks have been kings for thousands of years, and have been rigid in keeping the traditions of the First Men, and in maintaining their own sense of honor.