America Now Has More Baby Girls Named Khaleesi Than Betsy

Here’s what’s happening on the baby names front: Fantasy fiction is taking over.

We’d previously heard about the rise of Arya; but it seems she’s not the only Game of Thrones character parents are turning to for name inspiration. As Vox reports:

According to data from the Social Security Administration, were 21 newborns in 2012 named “Daenerys,” which was never used enough in previous years to show up in official counts (for privacy reasons, the SSA only releases numbers for names used five or more times in a given year).

But wee baby Daeneryses were dramatically outnumbered by newborns named “Khaleesi” — the title Targaryen earned when she married Dothraki leader (or “Khal”) Drogo. 146 “Khaleesi”s were born in 2012, making it more popular as a full name than “Betsy” or “Nadine.”

In addition, babies named after Harry Potter characters are on the rise — and in 2012, there were more baby girls named Katniss than Maude. Of course, names fall in and out of fashion, and today’s Arya, Khaleesi and Daenerys might be tomorrow’s Peggy, Loretta or Ida, and feel dated. But as someone with a unique name, I’m all for mixing it up and trying something new — and disrupting the ubiquity of Jessica. (Sorry, Jessica.)