Why Every Targaryen Seems To Have the Same Name in House of the Dragon

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Tom Glynn Carney cloaked walking with a horse in 'House of the Dragon' Season 3

Published Aug 20, 2026, 11:04 PM EDT

Julio is a Senior Author for Collider. He studied History and International Relations at university, but found his calling in cultural journalism. When he isn't writing, Julio also teaches English at a nearby school. He has lived in São Paulo most of his life, where he covers CCXP and other big events. Having loved movies, music, and TV from an early age, he prides himself in knowing every minute detail about the things he loves. When he is older, he dreams of owning a movie theater in a small countryside town.

We saw it in House of the Dragon, and then it appeared again in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. It's the classic conundrum in Game of Thrones lore: Why are so many Targaryen named Aegon? I mean, it's normal for families to name a child after another relative, but the Targaryens' adoration for Aegon the Conqueror takes this to a whole new level. Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) even started a civil war by mixing up her son Aegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney) with the original Aegon when her husband says the name during an unconscious fever dream on his deathbed. Exactly how many Aegons are there, though? Because we can't have a civil war whenever a new one is born.

How Many Aegons Are There in Total in All of ‘Game of Thrones’?

In Alicent's defense, we get it. Targaryens may be dragonlords and all, but it does seem like they also have very poor imaginations, because there are just too many people named Aegon to count. For example, Alicent and Viserys (Paddy Considine) have Aegon II, but, on the other side of the Dance of the Dragons, Rhaenyra (Emma D'Arcy) and Daemon (Matt Smith) have another Aegon themselves, who will also become king (spoiler alert!).

Collider Exclusive · Game of Thrones Personality Quiz Which Game of Thrones House Do You Belong To? Stark · Lannister · Targaryen · Baratheon · Tyrell

Five great houses. Five completely different answers to the same question: how do you hold power in a world that will take it from you the moment you stop paying attention? Eight questions will determine where your loyalties — and your nature — truly lie.

🐺Stark

🦁Lannister

🐉Targaryen

🦌Baratheon

🌹Tyrell

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Someone powerful is acting dishonourably and everyone knows it. What do you do? In Westeros, the answer to this question has ended more than one great house.

ACall it out, openly and on the record. If honour means anything, it has to mean something when it's costly. BUse it. Information about someone else's dishonour is leverage — and leverage is power. CAct decisively to correct it — with or without the approval of those around me. DChallenge them directly. Strength settles disputes more honestly than courtroom manoeuvring. ENavigate carefully — build alliances, apply quiet pressure, and create a situation where the right outcome becomes inevitable.

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What is the source of your power? Every house endures because of something. What is it for yours?

AThe loyalty of people who trust me — earned over generations, not bought with gold. BWealth, intelligence, and the willingness to use both without sentiment. CA legacy so fearsome and a vision so total that opposition becomes unthinkable. DPhysical strength, military force, and the respect that comes from being the kind of person nobody wants to fight. ECharm, connection, and the ability to make powerful people feel that my success is also theirs.

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Who do you truly fight for? Strip away the banners and the words. The honest answer tells you everything.

AMy family and my people — those who depend on me and have kept faith with me through everything. BMy family — the ones who share my blood, even when they exhaust me, even when they disappoint me. CMy cause — a vision larger than any single person, including me. DMyself, and those few who've proven themselves worth fighting beside. EMy house — its name, its future, the position I intend to leave it in when I'm gone.

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How do you deal with your enemies? A house's method reveals its character as clearly as its words ever could.

AHonestly — I face them directly, and I give quarter when it's warranted. BThoroughly — I don't leave loose ends, and I don't make the same enemy twice. CDecisively — fire answers questions that diplomacy only delays. DHead-on — I'd rather meet a threat on the battlefield than behind closed doors. EElegantly — I prefer to make former enemies into allies, or at least into people who owe me something.

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What kind of ruler do you believe in? Westeros is full of answers to this question. Most of them end badly.

AA just one — someone who serves the realm rather than using it, who leads by example rather than fear. BA capable one — someone smart enough to navigate the game, ruthless enough to win it, and realistic about what winning costs. CA transformative one — someone who doesn't just rule what exists but reshapes what's possible. DA strong one — someone whose authority is beyond question because the alternative is obviously worse. EA wise one — someone who understands that the realm is fed by more than armies, and that a full stomach keeps more peace than a sharp sword.

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You suffer a devastating loss. How does your house respond? How a house handles defeat tells you more about it than how it handles victory.

AWe grieve, properly and together — and then we endure, because endurance is what we do. BWe adapt. We reassess. And we ensure that whoever caused this loss comes to regret it completely. CWe burn hotter. Setbacks don't soften us — they clarify what needs to happen next. DWe hit back. Grief and revenge are the same motion in our house. EWe regroup quietly, rebuild our position, and return when we're ready — on our terms, not theirs.

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Which of these truths about Westeros do you most believe? Every house has a philosophy. This is yours.

AThe lone wolf dies, but the pack survives. Nothing matters more than the people you protect. BA Lannister always pays their debts — in gold or in kind. Reputation is built on consistency. CI am the blood of the dragon. Some destinies are written before the person who carries them is born. DOurs is the fury. When we move, we move completely — and we don't stop until it's done. EGrowing strong means knowing when to bloom and when to wait. Patience is its own kind of power.

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The Iron Throne is within reach. What do you do? The answer reveals not just your ambition — but your character.

AClaim it only if the realm needs me to — and rule in a way that makes it worth having. BEnsure someone who owes us sits in it. The power behind the throne is safer than the throne itself. CTake it. It was always meant to be mine — I feel that in my bones and in my blood. DSeize it — with both hands, without hesitation. Opportunity in Westeros does not wait to be asked. EPosition my house to be indispensable to whoever sits there — influence outlasts any single reign.

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The Maester Has Spoken Your House Is…

Your answers point to the great house whose words, values, and way of surviving in Westeros match your own. Bend the knee — or don't. That's very much up to you.

🐺 House Stark

Winter is Coming — and you have always known it. You prepare not out of fear but out of duty, because the people who depend on you deserve someone who takes the long view.

You lead with honour even when it costs you, because you understand that a reputation built on integrity is the only one worth having.
Your loyalty to family and people runs deep — not as sentiment but as a code that doesn't bend when things get difficult.
The North endures because Starks endure — not by being the cleverest players in the game, but by being the kind of people others are willing to follow into the cold.
You are that kind of person. The pack survives. The lone wolf dies. You already know which one you are.

🦁 House Lannister

You understand the game — its rules, its exceptions, and exactly when the rules become the exception. You play it without illusions and without apology.

You are sharper than most people realise, and you have learned to use that gap to your advantage.
A Lannister always pays their debts — and you always keep your word, because your word is an instrument of power, and instruments must be kept in working order.
You love your family with a ferocity that sometimes blinds you, and you know it, and you do it anyway.
The lion doesn't concern itself with the opinion of sheep. Neither, in the end, do you.

🐉 House Targaryen

You carry a sense of destiny that is difficult to explain and impossible to ignore — the feeling that you are not simply participating in the world but meant to reshape it.

You are capable of extraordinary things, and you know it, and that knowledge is both your greatest strength and your most dangerous quality.
Fire and blood are not just words to you — they are a philosophy about what change requires and what it costs.
The Targaryens at their best were transformative rulers who broke chains and defied the limits of what anyone thought possible.
At your best, so are you. The dragon has three heads. You are one of them.

🦌 House Baratheon

You are a force — direct, powerful, and difficult to ignore when you enter a room or a conflict. You do not negotiate with challenges. You meet them.

Ours is the fury — and yours is a kind of intensity that commands attention, respect, and occasionally fear from those who underestimate what's behind it.
You value strength and straight dealing. You'd rather know where you stand in a fight than navigate a web of courtly whispers.
The Baratheons built their house on the back of one of the greatest military victories in Westerosi history — and then struggled with what came after.
The lesson of your house is that winning is not the end of the story. Governing is. You are learning that too.

🌹 House Tyrell

You understand that power does not always announce itself — that sometimes it arrives with flowers, good wine, and a smile that doesn't quite reach the eyes.

Growing strong is your house's motto, and you live it: patiently, strategically, always investing in the relationships and resources that will matter most when it counts.
You are charming by choice and calculating by nature — a combination that makes you one of the most effective players in any room you enter.
The Tyrells fed King's Landing and shaped its politics without ever sitting on the Iron Throne — and they were arguably more powerful for it.
You know that the person who controls the food controls the kingdom. And you always know where the food is.

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Unfortunately, the Aegon trend is not going away any time soon, because there are five kings named Aegon in the Targaryen dynasty, including (another spoiler alert) Aegon V, nicknamed "The Unlikely" who TV audiences will know as Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell) from A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. And, even before Aegon II, there was another Aegon, "the Uncrowned," whose crown was usurped by his uncle, Maegor the Cruel. Of course, the Aegon that most people might be familiar with but not realize the name of is Jon Snow (Kit Harington), who was named Aegon Targaryen because his biological father, Rhaegar Targaryen (Wilf Scolding), believed he was the Prince That Was Promised. Rhaegar, by the way, was so creative that he had another son named Aegon with his first wife, Elia Martell, not to mention three other Aegons who were either younger brothers or died before being crowned. So, in total, there are a staggering 11 Aegons who belong to the main branch of House Targaryen with five of them being kings.

Of course, this isn't exactly an unheard of phenomenon in our real world. Let's be honest, how many kids were named Arya and Daenerys thanks to Game of Thrones? This phenomenon and the many Aegons of House Targaryen are caused by the same reason: parents want to invoke the strength of the original owner of the name. For royals, it's also about creating a sense of continuity. Starting a war that destroys all dragons in Westeros, as Aegon II does, certainly isn't really continuing what Aegon the Conqueror wanted, though.

Targaryen Like To Repeat Names, Not Just Aegon

The problem is that House Targaryen doesn't like repeating just the name Aegon. If it were so, it would be okay, because all the Aegon kings actually have honorifics of their own. Aegon II is "Aegon the Elder," Aegon III is "the Younger," Aegon IV is "the Unworthy," and Aegon V is "the Unlikely." But there are other names Targaryens are obsessed with, too.

In House of the Dragon, we finally meet Daeron (Benjamin Evan Ainsworth) in Season 3. History remembers him as "Daeron the Daring," while earlier this year we met Egg's brother, also named Daeron (Henry Ashton), known as "Daeron the Drunken". There are also two Jaehaerys (Jaehaerys...es?), two named Viserys, and two named Aerys — all of which are kings, too. Even when a woman comes to break the wheel of cyclical naming tradition, she's called Daenerys (Emilia Clarke), which you might only associate with the Game of Thrones character, but is actually a pretty common Targaryen name too. Our Dany is actually the third Daenerys, although the only one to claim the Iron Throne.

Nearly all Targaryen names follow the Valyrian style of spelling, so you've got a lot of "ae" and "ys" be thrown into names; think Jacaerys (Harry Collett) and Lucerys (Elliot Grihault) or Maekar (Sam Spruell), Baelor (Bertie Carvel), Rhaena (Phoebe Campbell), and Baela (Bethany Antonia). There are also names that are seen as bad luck, significantly the name Maegor, who was viewed as a tyrannical king. A Knight of the Seven Kingdom's Aerion (Finn Bennett) later names one of his sons Maegor, and you can bet that didn't turn out so well for him!

Recycling Names Is a Historical Tradition Among Royals Everywhere

George R.R. Martin smiling on the red carpet

George R.R. Martin has obviously commented about naming his characters according to real historical tradition: "English history is like all Henrys and Edwards. Occasionally, a Richard sneaks in." He has a point, of course, which justifies the Aegons and the multiple Jaehaeryses, Viseryses, Daerons, Aeryses, and Daeneryses.

Just looking at England, the country has eight kings named Henry and Edward, so Martin has a point. They have also had six Georges, four Williams (and are likely to get a fifth eventually), two Elizabeths, and are currently on their third Charles. And this is not just England. Portugal, for example, had six kings named João; Spain has had six kings named Filipe; and even Brazil, a country which has only ever had two emperors, had both named Pedro. And that's not even getting into the repetitive names of Catholic popes. Sure, the multiple Aegons can make for a confusing time if you're just stepping into the world of Westeros, but Martin's loyalty to historical tradition is hard to deny, and the moment of Alicent mishearing her dying husband adds a bit of dramatic irony, especially when she realizes later that it's Aegon the Conqueror that Viserys was talking about.

Season 2 of House of the Dragon is streaming on Max.

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