Gender: Feminine
Usage: Literature, Popular Culture
Pronounced: SUR-say(Literature) SUR-see(Popular Culture)
Created by American author George R. R. Martin for his series of epic fantasy novels
A Song of Ice and Fire, published beginning 1996, and the television adaptation
Game of Thrones (2011-2019), where it belongs to an evil queen who is one of the main antagonists. The name is popularly claimed to be a variant of
Circe, but Martin has stated that the mythological character was not the inspiration: 'I know my Homer, of course, but Cersei is not based on Circe. Many names sound alike.'