People love Game of Thrones so much they're naming babies after the characters
The wait is almost over, Game of Thrones is back tonight for its seventh series. But while the nation eagerly counts down the hours to the first episode, some parents are giving the ultimate fan tribute by naming their babies after the show itself.
Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) have revealed that parents are taking some pretty big GoT namespo when it comes to choosing a moniker for their little one.
Arya Stark feisty and fearless character (played by Maisie Williams) has proven a popular choice for baby girls with 280 parents in England and Wales naming their daughters Arya in 2015 (an increase from the 244 named in 2012).
The name has now become the 192nd most popular names in the UK.
Meanwhile Mother of Dragons, Daenerys (played by Emilia Clarke) has inspired six families to name their little ones after the character and a further 68 under her pseudonym Khaleesi.
2015 also saw 11 Sansa’s born to GoT-loving parents – as well as four little Brienne’s, Catelyn’s, Meryn’s and Shireen’s, and three Ellarias.
And boys are getting a sprinkling of GoT-inspo too. A total of 30 boys in 2015 were given names inspired by Theon (Greyjoy – played by Alfie Allen) et al.
There were 29 Eddisons, 11 boys called Bran and six Sandors. And despite his evil nature, there were also five babies named Ramsay in 2015. While Tyrion (played by Peter Dinklage in the show) dropped from 17 in 2013 to 14 in 2015.
But even though the show’s popularity continues to grow, not all the names of the characters are being adopted by parents.
According to ONS figures, if there are any children named after the evil King Joffrey, or after Eddard or Samwell, they may well be the only ones on the nursery register.
Margaery, Cersei, Robb, Stannis, Ygritte, and Rickon also failed to offer inspo to parents.
And GoT isn’t the only namespo for parents right now, it seems mums and dads to be are also taking inspiration from the summer time.
Parenting site, Emma’s Diary, have just revealed the top 10 most popular baby names for boys and girls this summer, and it seems the trend this season has seen parents taking inspiration from nature.
For baby girls names inspired from water, flowers and gems were popular, while parents of boys also opted to stick with themes in keeping with water, nature and the sun.
When it comes to choosing names for baby girls, many parents opted to go flower-inspired, with the top three most popular names being Lily, Daisy and Rose.
Names inspired by the water and the natural world, such as Oceana, Coral and Sky, were also popular monikers for baby girls.
A post shared by Jools Oliver (@joolsoliver) on Jul 5, 2017 at 11:22am PDT
And little boys were also given water-inspired names with River – the name of Jamie and Jools’ Oliver’s youngest child, Fisher and Kai (the Hawaiian meaning for ‘sea’) all making the top ten.
Sticking with the summer-themed trend, seasonal names such as Theros (the Greek name for summer), Nikko (the Japanese meaning for light or sun) and the name Sunny proved popular for baby boys, with Summer also ranking high for girls.
Top 10 summer baby names for girls
Lily
Daisy
Rose
Summer
Jasmine
Sky
Ruby
Coral
Dahlia
Oceana
Top 10 summer baby names for boys
Leo
Dylan
River
Kai
Eden
Sunny
Beckett
Nikko
Theros
Fisher
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