When Katherine Acosta, who lives in Houston, was prescribed bed rest after a miscarriage in 2017, she started watching “Game of Thrones” for the first time. Within a week, she had seen all seven seasons. Then, she watched all of the episodes twice more.
So when she became pregnant again that year, Acosta knew exactly the name her daughter would have: , which essentially means “queen” in the made-up language Dothraki. It is also one of the titles held by , a character on the show and one of the contenders for the Iron Throne.
“Her character loses the baby and then she gets stronger again,” Acosta said. “She defeats all the odds.”
Since “Game of Thrones” premiered on in 2011, the name Khaleesi has moved from the screen into real life; in 2017, it was the 630th most popular name given to girls, according to the Social Security Administration, making it more popular than Brittany or Britney. By contrast, Hermione and Katniss, the names of two other extremely popular female characters in literature and on the screen, never broke into the top 1,000.
Khaleesi has also been on the rise in the UK, where some parents are adding creative flourishes. In 2017, Scotland welcomed a Khaleesi-Destiny and a Khaleesi-Grace, and last year, a Khaleesi-Marie joined their ranks.
But the most popular baby name associated with “Game of Thrones” appears to be Arya. It’s not clear how much the show has to do with that; variations of Arya have been around long before the book came out (in India, Indonesia and Iran, for example). But Arya did not break into the top 1,000 US names until 2010, and instances of the name before then appear to be mostly for boys. Since 2010, Arya has steadily risen in popularity to 135th place, with 2,156 babies born in 2017 taking the name.
Also cropping up on birth certificates is Daenerys, which is less popular than Khaleesi despite the fact that it is that character’s given name. The year 2017 also saw the arrival of 20 Sansas, 11 Cerseis, 55 Tyrions and 23 Theons in the US. Pet parents are joining the trend, too, with dogs named “Jorah Mormutt,” Asha and Tyrion, and cats called Lady and Drogo.
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