From fiction to reality: Arya and Khaleesi, heroines from Game of Thrones, are among the most widespread names among the newborns in 2018.
Everybody knows that Game of Thrones, whose eighth season arrived at its end last night, is the record series: by budget, audience, social media follow-up and awards received. Not everyone, however, knows that more and more new parents have decided to give their children the names of GoT characters. In 2018, in fact, there was a real boom in newborns called as some of the protagonists of the TV series. No country in which the series is aired seems to be immune from the trend.
In particular, in the United States, according to data released by the Social Security Administration, the character of Arya Stark have inspired many new parents. A trend that began in 2011, when the series started, with an exponential growth last year that led Arya to be used 2545 times, 119th in the ranking of the most chosen female names in the USA. Khaleesi (560), meaning “queen” in the language of the series, was part of the 500 most popular girls’ names chart. Sometimes not the protagonists of history but the titles of the individual episodes influence the choice. In fact, Winter is also very successful for girls, in honor of the historic first episode of the series, ‘Winter is coming’. Obviously the phenomenon has also affected boys even if in a less intense way. In 2018 there were, in fact, 547 Jaime, 311 Jon and 59 Renly.
A similar fate, then, for many children in Spain, which hosted various locations of the television adaptation of the literary saga by George R.R. Martin. The Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE) reports that at the moment there are 637 Arya (or Aria) and 57 Daenerys in the whole country. There are also 144 Stark, the name of the famous noble family at the center of the Game of Thrones story. But the rival family Martell, name chosen in 628 cases, wins (at least at the registry office).
