Game of Thrones will premiere on HBO in a few days. The TV series is based on the epic fantasy books of George R. R. Martin.
(No, he’s didn’t steal those middle initials from fellow epic fantasy author J. R. R. Tolkien; his full name is George Raymond Richard Martin.)
I’m mentioning the show here because the story features some exotic character names:
Arya | Eddard | Sansa |
Bran | Joffrey | Sandor |
Catelyn | Jorah | Theon |
Cersei | Tyrion | |
Daenerys | Petyr | Viserys |
If it does well, who knows…we may start hearing about babies named Cersei and Daenerys.
Have you ever read the books? If so, what did you think?
*Apparently Khal Drogo’s name translates to “King Drogo” — Khal is the title, Drogo is the name. Thanks, commenters!
Update, May 15, 2012: The top names of 2011 recently came out. Looks like these three names may have been influenced by Game of Thrones:
- Arya, from 273 baby girls in 2010 to 386 baby girls in 2011.
- Khaleesi, from never-listed to a debut (!) of 27 baby girls.
- Tyrion, from 11 baby boys to 18 baby boys.
Update, May 2013: The top names of 2012 recently came out, and in these rankings we see…
- Daenerys, which debuted with 21 baby girls.
- Nymeria, which debuted with 5 baby girls.
- Theon, which returned to the data with its highest-ever usage (so far)
- Renly, which debuted with 10 baby boys.
Update, May 2014: The top names of 2013 just came out, and this set includes at least two more:
- Sansa, from never-listed to a debut of 11 baby girls.
- Beric, from never-listed to a debut of 5 baby boys.
Update, May 2015: In the 2014 rankings, the name Jorah, which had appeared in the data as a girl name before, debuted as a boy name. The name Tywin also debuted.
Update, May 2016: The top names of 2015, just released, include the debut name Oberyn.
Update, May 2017: The top names of 2016 recently came out, and these latest rankings indicate that Lyanna has seen a sizeable rise in usage. Debuts include Ellaria and Bronn.
Update, May 2018: The top names of 2017 just came out. This batch includes:
- Cersei, which debuted with 11 baby girls.
- Olenna, which debuted with 9 baby girls.
- Benjen, which debuted with 8 baby boys.
- Aerys, which debuted with 7 baby boys.
Update, May 2019: The top names of 2018 just came out. The SSA noted in its press release that name Yara rose from 986th place (2017) to 672nd (2018). Also, the name Khal finally debuted — seven years behind Khaleesi. So did Rhaegar, Aegon, and Myrcella.
Update, September 2020: The top names of 2019 came out late this year (due to Covid), but in this set I noticed three more GoT-inspired entries: Rhaella, Margaery, and Dracarys — the third of which isn’t even a character name, but a word that means “dragonfire” in High Valyrian. Daenerys uses the word dracarys to order her dragon to breathe fire.
Update, May 2020: The debut names of 2020 included Tormund, inspired by Tormund Giantsbane.
Update, October 2023: Game of Thrones may be over, but the names continue! Among the top debuts of 2022 was Rhaenyra, inspired by House of the Dragon character Rhaenyra Targaryen. And I think the return of the rare name Helaena to the data could be attributed to the GoT-prequel as well.
Source: SSA
[Latest update: Oct. 2023]