The Game Of Thrones Names Parents Are Giving Their Babies

Game of Thrones mania has made its mark on many aspects of everyday life – from fashion and tourism trends to wedding and baby shower themes. So it’s only natural the hit show and source book series might influence parents’ baby name choices as well.

The Social Security Administration in the US released its official list of the most popular baby names of 2018. Although the top 10 names weren’t terribly surprising, there were some interesting trends in the broader data. Notably, several Game of Thrones character names seem to be on the rise in popularity.

Arya continues to climb the charts, ascending to number 119 in 2018 from 135 in 2017. The name first appeared in the top 1000 rankings in 2010 at number 942 and has steadily risen every year since.

Meanwhile, Daenerys Targaryen’s famous title – Khaleesi – is also becoming more popular as a baby name. In 2018, it reached number 549, with 560 baby girls named Khaleesi last year. The name first entered the top 1000 in 2014 at number 757. Although Queen Cersei’s name appeared in the data for the first time in 2017, the trend did not continue, as fewer than five baby girls were named Cersei last year.

HuffPost examined the data to see which other Game of Thrones character names parents chose for their babies in 2018.

Of course, we can’t say that GoT has inspired every single Arya, Brienne or Jon name choice, but the show’s immense popularity has certainly played a part in boosting the visibility of many of these names. (We also feel pretty confident that the rise of Khaleesi is a direct result of the fantasy series.)

Without further ado, here are 57 Game of Thrones show and book character names that appeared in the data, along with the number of newborns given each name in 2018 (in the US, though).

Girls

Arya ― 2,545

Khaleesi ― 560

Yara ― 434

Lyanna ― 319

Elia ― 216

Asha ― 199

Meera ― 191

Daenerys ― 163

Shae ― 108

Arianne ― 54