In news which will probably surprise no one, but which is still worth examining, Game Of Thrones-inspired baby names are on the rise or the umpteenth year in a row — especially for girls, and especially when it comes to two of the hit HBO series’…
In news which will probably surprise no one, but which is still worth examining, Game Of Thrones-inspired baby names are on the rise or the umpteenth year in a row — especially for girls, and especially when it comes to two of the hit HBO series’ characters in particular. As Valeriya Safronova pointed out recently in the New York Times,Arya and Khaleesi remain two of the most popular Game Of Thrones-related baby names — so much so that they’ve made it onto the Social Security Administration’s list of the top 1,000 baby names in the United States for several years running. And honestly, it’s no wonder; no matter who you think should end up on the Iron Throne at the end of the series, fans have been rooting for these two characters consistently throughout the entire run of the show.
Truthfully, the overall trend is far from new; reports that Game Of Thrones-related names are on the rise for new babies have been circulating since the show’s first few seasons. Indeed, in 2013, when the Social Security Administration released its annual report on baby name data for 2012, it became quickly apparent that the first two seasons had already begun to inspire new parents all over the country: Arya ranked at 711 in the list of top 1,000 baby names for 2011, but jumped all the way to 413 in 2012. (Season 1 of Game Of Thrones aired from April 17 to June 19,2011, while Season 2 aired from April 1,2012 to June 3,2012.) It took Khaleesi a few more years to break the top 1,000 — it didn’t arrive until 2014, when it ranked 757 — but it got there eventually. These two names have continued to be among both the most popular and fastest rising baby names in the United States, with Arya ranking 135 in 217 — the year of the SSA’s most recent dataset — and Khaleesi coming in at 630.
