By Alvin Ward, Mental Floss
When Game of Thrones made its original premiere on HBO back in April 2011, it's probably safe to say that no one had any idea just how big the series would become—and that its impact would extend well beyond the world of the small screen. In 2018, for example, an entomologist named three newly discovered beetle species after the epic series' dragons. And the propensity for naming living things after Westerosians has extended to both animal and humankind (Khaleesi, Arya, Tyrion, Brienne, Sansa, Bran, Sandor, and Theon have all gotten a boost in baby name popularity over the past several years).
Banfield Pet Hospital, the largest general veterinary practice in the U.S., analyzed its database of 2018 medical records to find out which Game of Thrones-inspired names are the most popular among their pet patients. While there is some overlap with the baby names list, naming your cat or dog after one of the Stark kids' direwolves seems to be the most popular way to go.
While Arya didn't come out on top, the name did show a lot of movement in the past year, with 21 percent more dogs and 13 percent more cats sharing a name with Ned and Catelyn Stark's youngest daughter.
But the real star of 2018—statistically-speaking, at least—was Daenerys's beloved dragon Drogon. Though he didn't make the cut for the top 10 names, the number of puppers bearing his fierce moniker rose by a whopping 64 percent between 2017 and 2018. As for the top 10? Here they are:
Lady
Ghost
Snow
Summer
Arya
Khaleesi
Winter
Nymeria
Sansa
Drogo
