Russians are beginning to name their children after characters from the popular fantasy book and television series Game of Thrones, newspaper Izvestia reported Thursday, citing data from Russian birth registries.
The most popular name taken from the show is Arya, the name of the youngest daughter of major Game of Thrones protagonists Lord Eddard and Catelyn Stark of Winterfell. Last year eight girls born in the Moscow region and four in St. Petersburg were named Arya, according to Izvestia.
The appearance of Arya as a new name for Russian children follows a growing trend in the West. In 2012, 754 american girls were born with the name Arya. Other popular names from the series given to newborns that year included Khaleesi, Tyrion, and Brienne, Izvestia reported.
Russian have yet to take to those names in great numbers, though Izvestia reported that a boy in the Ural Mountains was last year given the name Theon, and in Chelyabinsk two newborns were given the names Varys and Petyr — two of the most sly and conniving characters in the series.
In the U.K., popular names taken from the series are Catelyn, Sansa and Gregor. In Sweden, popular names are Sandor, Jaime, Theon, and Joffrey.
