Game of Thrones (and other movie/tv) Names for 2012

The television show Game of Thrones based on George R. R. Martin's A Song of Fire and Ice series is in its third season, and more popular than ever! This was reflected in last year's names, especially for girls. Here are some from 2012 from the Social Security Administration's database:

Daenerys showed up for the first time, with 21 babies.

Nymeria, the name of one of the character's pet wolves, entered the top list with 5 namesakes.

Arya catapulted the name Aria (still the more popular spelling) into the top 100. in 2011 there were 386 baby Aryas; last year the number increased 51% to 754. Overall, all the spellings of Aria jumped 64%.

The biggest mover is the name Khaleesi. This isn't actually a character's name in the series, but a title held perennial favorite character Daenerys. in 2011, there were 34 girls named Khaleesi (and one other spelling variant, Kaleesi). In 2012, that number jumped to 205 (adding 5 more variant spellings)

Talisa increased from 13 babies in 2011 to 20 in 2012. This name wasn't used in the book series; just in the television show.

Asha increased slightly from 197 to 211. However, Asha is a name used frequently in the Indian community, as it means "wish; hope" in Sanskrit.

Shae (81 up from 77) -- Shae, in various spellings (Shea being the most popular, also Shay, Shaye etc.) as been around for a while.

in 2011, there were 32 girls named Lyanna, and it was the 9th most popular spelling of the name Liana (out of 27). In 2012, there were 46, and was the 7th out of 26 most popular spellings in 2012. In all spellings, the name is declining in popularity, but this spelling is increasing. Not bad for a character who died before the series began and is only mentioned a few times!

Renley is a male character. There were 10 boys named Renly last year, but there were 5 girls (none in the previous years for either sex)! The more popular spelling of this name for girls is Renlee, which leads me to believe that for girls, it's popularity probably comes from elsewhere.

There were 5 girls and 9 boys named Tully in 2012, (0 girls and 10 boys in 2011).

Catelyn hasn't shown a significant increase; probably because, even though the character pronounces is /KAT uh lin/ and is called Cat, it still looks like /KATE lin/, which has been declining in popularity since the 1990s.

There still aren't any Cerseis or Sansas, but those aren't favorite characters.

For boys, the names are less distinctive (i.e, they've already been in use for decades). The favorite character of people I know is Jon, whose name did increase from 340 in 2011 to 385 in 2012. The name Ned had 15 namesakes in 2011, which dropped to 12 in 2012. Jaime went from 730 babies in 2011 to 760.

Tyrion had 38 namesakes in 2012 (up from 25 in 2011)

Theon entered the charts with 12 boys given the name.

There were 10 boys named Renly.

Mance showed up 5 times and Rayder showed up 8 times.

10 boys were named Bran (up from 7 in 2011).

9 boys in 2011 were named Stark, and 16 in 2012. This could be influenced by Iron Man, though.

In other movie news, Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games books, which were turned into movies spawned two names: Katniss (12 in 2012, none in previous years) and Primrose (16 in 2012, the highest number ever. The previous record was set by 10 baby Primroses in 1910; the last time it made the chart was in 1982). 32 girls were named Rue, up from 13 in 2011. For boys, Finnick entered the database for the first time with 9 namesakes.

Merida, the protagonist in the Disney/Pixar film Brave had 19 namesakes in 2012. That is another record; the last time we saw that name was in 2002. The most times it was ever used in one year was 1949, when there were 13.

Eponine, a character from Les Miserables, which won an Academy Award last year spawned her first namesakes ever to make the SSA database: there were 7 born last year. Meanwhile, Cosette, a name that has been around the charts since 1912, had 114 namesakes last year (up from 97 the previous year).

Not a movie (although they made it into one in the 1980s), but the name Eilonwy, from Lloyd Alexander's The Chronicles of Prydain series made the SSA database for the first time in 2012. There were 5 girls named that. 

...and the biggest movie winner! Drumroll please!

Cataleya. In the movie Columbiana, this character is played by Zoe Saldana. In 2011, it showed up in the naming pool for the first time with 46 namesakes in 3 different spellings. In 2012, there were 1358 Cataleyas (with 28 different spellings!) 

I haven't finished doing all the calculations, but I'm pretty sure this is the largest increasing name of the year!

I didn't see the movie; I'm fairly certain this name was made up for the character, though. It is probably based on Cattleya, the genus of orchids (named for botanist William Cattley).

7 Recent Naming Trends

I've read a lot of articles about which names are trendy these days.

For example... Latin/Italian/Spanish versions of names as opposed to French forms of names are in. I.e., Michaela is IN, Michelle is OUT. Daniela is IN. Danielle is OUT.

Old-fashioned names are in (Isabella, Hannah, Grace etc.) and made-up nicknamey names are out (Traci, Kari, Jennie, etc.)

Biblical names are generally IN! (Elijah, Jacob, Ethan, Nathan, Noah)

But really, when are Biblical names ever NOT in?

What articles don't generally touch on are naming trends among the non-white and/or working classes. I know this is a touchy subject, since nobody likes to admit that not everyone in the USA is middle class, but naming trends really do follow socioeconomic lines pretty predictably.

Here are some trends that you are probably totally unaware of if you live in middle class areas on up!

Trends in Girls' names (boys' names don't hop on trends as fast for a variety of reasons, so I'm focusing on girls' names right now)

1. -ianna names. These names have been popular for years (Brianna, Ariana, Ayana etc.), but since the rise to fame of singing diva Rihanna, they've gotten way more popular. Also, Rihanna's spelling has influenced all sorts of names. Before 2005, you'd be hard pressed to find a single Brihanna, but in 2010 there were 81 (and 30 Brihanas). There were also a number of Arihannas, Gihannas, Khiannas, Tyrhiannas and others. It seems like pretty much any consonant can get an -ianna added to it to make a name, and it makes sense, because it's kind of a built-in naming element. Kiana, Ziana, Quiana, Viana... they all sound perfectly normal as names.

2. -iah, iyah, iya etc. names. Take a syllable and add -iah to the end, basically is this trend. Mariah was probably the touchstone for this trend (Mariah itself was how they pronounced "Maria" in England for a time up through the 1800s. It later got the "h" on the end to distinguish it from Maria). However, there are several Arabic names that are often anglicized with the ending -iya or -iyyah (Safiyyah, Samiya, Rabiya) as well as Russian forms of names that are sometimes anglicized with that ending (Sofiya, Lidiya). In the Russian and Arabic cases, the "y" actually stands for a letter: The "ya" (Я or backwards R) in ЛИДИЯ (Lidiya in Cyrillic; I'm not sure if the Unicode is working right). In Arabic, feminine names often end in ي ("Ya"). However, in modern American usage, -iya, -iyah, -ya, -yah, -iah and -ia are all used interchangeably. Some examples: Oliviya, Miyah (could be either Mia or Maya, probably more often Mia), and a host of recent additions, like Amiya, Aniyah, Kiyah, Diya, Giya, Amariyah, Kamariyah, Jamariyah, Maliyah etc.

3. Spanish-speaking Americans are adding a lot of the top names in the naming charts. There are several names in the top 200 that are mainly given to Latinas: Jocelyn (#37), Evelyn (#51), Gisele (#99), Genesis (#108), Stephanie (#134; higher if you count all the spellings of Estephanie/Estefany etc.), Leslie (#158), and Daisy (#163) to name a few.

4. -lani and -ani names. For every -ana name, there is probably an -ani form. Hawaiian names like Leilani, Ailani and Kealani have given way to Naylani, Alani, Milani, Jaylani, Malani, Maylani. Names that normally end in -ana, like Juliana, now have forms like Juliani, Briana/Briani, Eliana/Eliani, Ayana/Ayani.

5. Intangible or Concept names. The Puritans brought us such lasting concept names as Faith, Hope, and Charity (as well as some non-lasting names like Fear, Obedience, Sin-Not, and Flee-Fornication). The Victorians extended the conceptual names to include seasons like Autumn and Summer, though they never really caught on until the Hippies took this to new heights adding names like Sunshine, River, Rain etc. These days, anything goes! Names like Honesty are now found in multiple spellings (Aunesti, Ahonesty etc.), Cherish, Angelic, Savvy, Miracle, Twinkle, Shiny, Lyrical, Sweet, Heavenly, Bless/Blessed/Blessing (all verb forms! as well as the plural noun Blessings) Reality, Secret, Solace, and Allure are climbing the charts along with not-necessarily favorable names like Envy, Tyranny, Vanity and Racy (!).

6. British Isles Names. There are a lot of people of Irish, English, Scottish, and Welsh descent in the USA. Many of these people are fiercely proud of their heritage... enough to name their kids Irish, Ireland, Scotland, Britain and England. It doesn't end there, though. Alternate forms, like Briton, Brittyn, Irelynn, Irelyn, Scotlyn, and Scottlyn are also found in the top 2000. Not to be outdone, English place names like Brighton, Brixton and Bristol (thanks to Sarah Palin for the last one) are getting more frequent, as is London in multiple spellings: Londyn, Londynn, Lundyn, Londen, Lunden, Londan, Londin, Lundon, Lundynn, and Lundin.

7. -ii, -ye and -ei endings. Not content with the regular long e endings (e.g. as found in Ashley, Ashlee, Ashly, Ashli, Ashlie and occasionally Ashliee), a new group of eeee endings is out there. You can now spell this name Ashlei, Ashlii or Ashlye. The ye ending has been around for a hundred years or more, showing up in names like Bettye, Jessye (as in Jessye Norman the opera singer born 1945) etc. However, what makes all these names difficult is that sometimes they are pronounced /EYE/. For example, Danii as in Danii Minogue is pronounced like Danny. However, sometimes you find it pronounced like /dan EYE/. Ditto for names like Janei, Janye, Janii. Names ending in the /EYE/ sound are becoming more popular as well, so look out elementary school teachers of the future! You may have difficulty calling attendance in a few years! Note: names ending in -ih are almost always pronounced like 'eye'. We can thank the R&B singer Jeremih /JER eh mye/ for this. This is another new thing, but the -ih ending is mostly found in boys' names these days.

So there you have it-- 7 trends you probably won't run into in Beverly Hills or suburban Connecticut, but are alive and well in the USA!