“Arya” (Spelled “Aria”) Cracks the Top 100 Baby Names for 2015
By Ani Bundel
Move it, Victoria. Out of the way, Ellie. Sorry, Riley! A new name has cracked the Top 100 baby names in the UK and Canada, and it’s one inspired by Game of Thrones.
“Aria,” a name inspired by Maisie William’s plucky heroine from the show (and opera), has gotten the baby name buzz before, along with, funnily enough, Theon. (Yes, as in Greyjoy. Heck, up until the finale he didn’t even call himself Theon, which made the baby name buzz all that odder.) But this year, it’s reached a milestone. Aria has cracked the Top 100 baby names. Currently it stands on the list at Number 95 in Canada. In the UK, it’s all the way at Number 59. And here in the US, it’s moved within the Top 25 most popular names of the year, sitting at Number 20. The move up the charts in the last year has been so swift, it was named Number 2 of the “Baby Names Popular For The First Time” list.
And yes, the spelling is slightly different with an “i” instead of a “y.” But the “y” variations of any name are always lower than the “i” ones. (Just ask anyone who has played Sporcle.) The only place where the “Arya” variation has close to the popularity of the “i” spelling is here in the US. Unfortunately, it hasn’t cracked the Top 100 threshold. (It’s stuck back at 140.)
Let’s just hope that Arya’s latest antics, which include ferociously murdering a man in cold blood while screaming at him that he was “no one” doesn’t ruin her name’s slow burn up the charts.