Last night, the name “Arya” was trending on Twitter. After clicking into it, sure enough, it was about the Game of Thrones character Arya Stark, played by Maisie Williams for eight seasons on the landmark HBO show. Although it wasn’t as straight-forward as you might assume.
It turns out the discussion was about the name “Arya.” It started when a guy wrote the following:
there are two Arya’s in my son’s first grade class. my fellow millennials: what the fuck is wrong with you?
Now, I’m willing to quote the guy, but he since deleted this tweet, probably because he was inundated with heated responses, so we’re not gonna name him. In any case, many of the people responding to him pointed out that the name “Arya” has been around for a lot longer than Game of Thrones or A Song of Ice and Fire; it’s traditionally a boys name in India. Translated, it means “noble.” It’s true that Arya Stark has given the name an extra boost in certain parts of the world, but its popularity definitely didn’t begin with Arya Stark.
Naturally, some of the responses were funny, as well. I’m fond of this one from @filth_waste: “my daughter is also named arya. my partner sephiroth and i could not be more proud.”
Game of Thrones names
So it’s definitely possible to have a kid named Arya and for it to have nothing to do with Game of Thrones. Although, if you did name your child “Arya” because you liked the show…honestly, I don’t see much of a problem there either. Name your kids after TV characters, why not?
“Arya” was one of the names that increased most in popularity after Game of Thrones blew up, and I always assumed that was because it sounded unique but still normal enough to not call too much attention to itself. It’s milder than naming a kid “Daenerys,” for example.
Of course, if you wanted to go really stealth, you could always just name you kid Jon, Robb, or Ned. Could probably get away with Jaime, Catelyn or Margaery too. Any I’m missing?
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