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The Most Popular Game of Thrones Baby Names Are…the Weirdest Ones

Winter is coming — and so is an onslaught of actual babies named after Game of Thrones characters. Prepare ye.

We can’t imagine George R. R. Martin, writer of the novels GoT is based on, ever thought the bizarre names of his characters — feverishly cooked up in his writer’s lair — would ever become mainstream monikers for a new generation of babies. Surprise, George! A new report from the BBC suggests that’s exactly what’s happening, especially for babies born to “HBO and chill” date-night parents. Hey, at least it’s premium programming. These are top-shelf names, TV-wise.

In England, Arya and Khaleesi (we’re totally serious) are the most popular names from the series so far. More than 300 little girls were given the name Arya in 2017. We’re hoping all of them at least got a fully decked-out Direwolf-themed nursery out of the bargain.

More:Your Favorite Movie Character Could Be Excellent Baby Name Material

Other names on the rise thanks to Game of Thrones? Sansa, Daenerys, Brienne — and Tyrion. Tyrion Lannister is played to perfection by Peter Dinklage on the show. His famous line, “It’s what I do. I drink and I know things,” has inspired a massive merch collection. So hey! Plenty of baby shower gift options right there for the little Tyrion in your life.

Joffrey, Ramsay and Euron? Nah, man. Not yet, at least. We’ve got to be scraping the bottom of the baby-name barrel before we start going with the total monsters.

Khaleesi is a particularly weird choice, because 1) the spelling is nuts 2) the pronunciation is no picnic and 3) it’s not a name — as we understand it, it’s a title. Like, you can be a Khaleesi, but in the show, nobody’s going to yell out, “Hey, Khaleesi, let’s go get a pint of mead. It’s been ages since we plotted a death together, pal.”
The linguist who created the fictional and often unpleasant Dothraki language for the show — a job that actually sounds pretty fun to us — says the correct pronunciation of Khaleesi is “KHA-lay-see.” Good luck getting the other kids on the playground to get that one right, kid.
Anyway, if you’re craving a GoT name for your little gal, we compiled a cool list for you to peruse. We’re all for Gilly and Talisa. And if you’re looking for boy name inspiration, here’s another list that should help you out. Aye.

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