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In 1865, Lewis Carroll published Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
It quickly go on to sell a zillion copies and transform into comic books, films,
TV shows, and even video games.
The book found an audience that glommed on to it in a way that children's literature
rarely had.
Quickly establishing a new type of phenomenon that left people scratching
their heads.
Let's talk about baby names.
The name Alice saw sharp rise in popularity after the release of
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
Seems like every time there's a new popular fantasy film or TV show,
there are reports of people naming their kids after a character.
And boy, did this hit a peak with Game of Thrones.
So what motivates doe-eyed new parents to name their
kid after a character in an HBO series?
And what does that say about our obsession with the anti-hero?
When did we ditch the fairy princess for the Mother of Dragons?
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The Song of Ice and Fire book series was tremendously popular when it was first
released and grew in popularity after the HBO adaptation, Game of Thrones.
The characters captured people in an unprecedented way.
But no one had more of a lasting impact than Daenerys Targaryen,
Mother of Dragons, Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, yada yada yada, you get it.
Dany would stand out as a strong female character who went
from oppressed slave to powerful queen.
Her transition would speak to viewers everywhere.
So much so that according to the US Social Security Administration,
over 1,000 babies would be named Khaleesi since 2014.
Now, settle down before you comment, yes,
we know that Khaleesi is Dany's title and not her proper name.
Why people glommed on to that is a mystery to us as well.
I guess Khaleesi rolls off the tongue better than Daenerys.
Anyway, while we definitely support the right to name your kid whatever you want,
the phenomenon does highlight an interesting dichotomy.
Dany would soon become an anti-hero with a really dark future ahead of her her.
And this leads to a really interesting point about our love of the anti-hero.
While Dany started as a character who gained power and was generally heroic,
that totally changed in the final season.
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For some reason that still isn't clear to most of the record breaking number of
viewers, Dany's forces would invade King's Landing.
which she arguably had every right to do, and proceed to destroy the city.
essentially burning to the ground the very place she had hoped to conquer,
out of spite, dark.
Game of Thrones had never shied away from violence.
So the act was sort of expected.
Just not from one of our beloved do good characters.
The anti-hero is defined by doing the right thing.
But usually because it benefits them.
If we're going to get nerdy here,
the hero falls in the good section of the dungeons and dragons alignment chart,
while the anti-hero is more in the neutral territory.
The anti-hero trend became popular in American literature during the 50s and
60s, with the various counterculture movements happening at the time.
Our culture slowly became obsessed with those conflicted characters as they
were forms of social criticism.
Fantasy naturally caught up with this trend by starting to
introduce truly complicated characters that audiences could connect to.
And that's the beauty of fandom.
We can gravitate towards those complicated villains and anti-heroes.
Admit it, Sauron and Voldemort are pretty awesome.
And no matter how you feel about the end of Dany's story,
having such a strong connection with a work of art is kind of inspiring.
Think about it.
A character that was born out of an author's mind, shifted from being a purely
fictional character to something worthy of naming your child after.
The name Khaleesi entered the English language as
a representation of feminine strength and royalty.
And while Dany did murder a ton of people, including women and children,
that technically doesn't change that meaning.
A fan's connection to a piece of literature can be extremely deep.
And if this trend of naming babies Alice or Khaleesi says anything,
it's the fans deeply love characters who aren't just good or bad.
It's all about the anti-hero.
And there are a ton of amazing anti-heroes in fantasy.
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The recently released Netflix adaptation of The Witcher,
features a complex character in Geralt.
Arguably an anti-hero, Geralt is seeing the same sort of cultural connection as
many other popular anti-heroes.
It's still early, but
there is a slight uptick in Google searches for Geralt baby name.
This attraction to anti-heroes and
villains has to do with how flawed those characters are.
Flaws in characters remind us of ourselves.
Real people are complex.
The good Paladin who devotes his life to being a hero of the light doesn't exist on
the streets of New York.
Flaws flesh out characters and it's good storytelling.
Not only do characters have to fight external forces, but
they also have to fight their own natural flaws.
This goes all the way back to Joseph Campbell's Heroes Journey.
So while, yes, it's easy to laugh at those parents who named a kid after a fictional
war criminal.
It also shows off a devotion to a work of art that feels fantastical, but also real.
And that's something that's hard to come by in today's break-neck
ADD pop-culture world.
Fantasy, with its sprawling worlds and three dimensional characters.
offers fans a chance to connect to something fictional on a real emotional
level.
flaws and all, and that's something to be celebrated.
C'mon, admit it, Geralt would be a pretty awesome name.
Let us know in the comments what your ideal bad boy or
girl baby name based on a fantasy book would be.