Inspired by the hilarious nickname thread
I wanted to discuss how we pronounce heroes names. Here’s what I default too, but am I wrong??
Horghall - horr-all or horg all?
Aife - Ay fee
Chao - chow
Marjana - marry Anna
Caedmon - kide mon
Dawa - Dow A
Brienne - Bree en
Khagan - Kay gan
Valen - vay len or var Len
Cyprian - sip ree an
Kailani - Kay lar nee
Ishtaak - ish tark
Zudak - zoo dak
Hu Tao - hyoo t ow
Jahangir - jang geer
Domitia - Dom eesha
My thoughts, being a communications major, English Minor.
If it seems I agree on some, that’s okay right? 
Of course, I am not an expert… and english lettering doesn’t always convey cultural intentions…
Caedmon = Kaide
Marjana = mar johnuh
Horghall = horg hall
I’m increasingly convinced horghall is Horr-all
I think the g is silent a bit like thought
Don’t take my G away from me, man…
cuz it is one slippery (ahem) slope once you do that.
Yeah I have always called him Kayed-mon.
This is even though I know Caesar is pronounced Kai-zer (aka Kaiser)
Just how i read it so stuck with it. Horrible at grammar stuff btw. So i just tried to make the pronunciations clear as best i could.
Can’t help with the others, but if Aife is an Irish name, it’s pronounced ay-fuh (as in ‘A fer’ apple).
The “gh” in Horghall is a sound that doesn’t really in English so it’s hard to describe in terms of English. The “g” is still there but it’s not as hard a g as in “gall”. It’s farther back in the mouth, somewhere between a hard “g” and a cough.
Aife is an Irish name and it’s pronounced sort of “Ee-fah”. A friend named her daughter this. (I’m still trying to nail the pronunciation of her son’s name, which is Caoimhín.)
Exactly the way it’s spelled. 
It’s Scottish Gaelic, taken from a small town on the north shore of Loch Ness. Roughly Drum-nah-dro-kit.
Magni - Magn-Eye or Magn-eee?
Magn-eee. That’s Norse.
Thanks! 
20 characters
@JonahTheBard, As Drumnadrochit will tell Siara in his story, it is spelled just how it sounds.
I am not an expert of the other names, but I can probably shed some light on the heroes are had some Asian/Chinese/Oriental influences.
Chao - The pronunciation of word in Chinese is most commonly used as a first/given name (like Ma Chao 馬超, a famous general of the Shu Kingdom in the Three Kingdoms period, where Ma is the family name, and Chao is his given name). But given the situation with this character and him being a strategist (many can argue that Chao is the hawk, not the handler, if that is the case, the avatar and in-game character focus would’ve been on the bird, not the man), Chao might be this character’s surname/family name. But it could be a variation of the surname Zhao, as used in Zhao Yun 趙雲 (another famous general in the Three Kingdoms period), but Zhao is the mainland Chinese way of spelling the surname, and Chao is the spelling of the same word used in Taiwan.
It is also interesting that Chao is the only character whose full name is not disclosed unlike the other heroes of the same origin
Li Xiu - Lee “Shoo” or “Sho” - Where Li is the surname and Xiu is the given name. Li is just like Lee. But Xiu, for the purpose of English pronunciation might be “shoo”, but depending on what the actual word is, can be pronounced differently in the native tongue. If that word is 繡 or 秀, it would be pronounced like “sho / show.” For the record, I believe her Chinese name would be like 李繡 (Lee Show)
Sha Ji - Not much debate there. “Sha Gee”
Gan Ju - Gan is pronounced just like it is. Ju could be a variation of Zhu (like 竹 (bamboo), or 祝 (to celebrate)), but pronounced the same way.
Hu Tao - Hu is like “Hoo” or “Who.” The question is the actual word used for Tao, which would be like a word like 濤 (waves), but modern studying of the Chinese culture and way of life have also touched about Tao as in Taoist or Taoism, the “way” of life or 道. If that is the case, then the pronunciation will be more like “Dao.”
Drake Fong - Looking at his character design, it is more or less obvious that it is influenced in part by Bruce Lee and his son Brandon Lee. Also the only Asian character in the game where the name arrangement is westernized (first then last, like the Lees). I guess rather than using the overly cliché Dragon, they picked Drake. Fong it could be a variation of origins. But if I were to guess, it would be Cantonese (HK) romanization of the surname Feng (方), which is a nod to Bruce Lee’s parents originally from Hong Kong.
Hikaru - Hee Ka Roo (or Loo) - Means “light” in Japanese. The Japanese in their native tongue and learning of the English language has had trouble pronouncing the R sound, and the closest they could get to was using the “L” sound. So their pronunciation would be actually closer to Hee Ka Loo more.
Kenjiro - Ken Gee Ro (or Lo) - Similar situation to Hikaru, where the R is pronounced like the L, it would be closer to Ken Gee Lo.
That is a really smashing post @Shohoku79. I really enjoy learning the history behind a character, thank you
Also, I will continue to argue this point! (Who else shares their avatar??)
I have Chao as my in-game avatar and in my Purple Titan team. I see the guy, not the bird.
What about Musashi?
2020
I was going to edit my original post like I did with Hikaru and Kenjiro, but since you already asked the question.
