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Would you regret naming your child Arya?


AnotherCrannogman

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My tortoiseshell (born feral under the garden shed) seems happy enough with Arya, and is growing up without any sort of complex as far as I can see (although she is a bit too keen at catching pigeons for my liking!).

Does she use a stick?

Just sheer bloody-mindedness mostly!

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First off, its a gorgeous name. Also, its not just a ASOIAF name, Aria is an italian song and is an amazing name if you understand italian or appreciate opera. Also, Aryan by itself is not offensive, unless you are of the mindset that the name Adolf, and Osama, and anything like that is inherently offensive. Just because someone evil was associated with a name or a word it doesn't mean the name or word is similarly offensive. Naming someone "Nazi" however, is different.



We almost gave my daughter the middle name Arya, but went with Amelia instead. In hindsight, I would've stuck with Arya (mostly because I like the name Amelia for another daughter - but I don't think we'll pull that one). My wife didn't realize i was suggesting it based on ASOIAF, but after Season 4 Ep 1 last night, she would definitely not be down. Her verbatim reaction to the ending last night? "That kid is so fucking weird". Im kind of glad I didn't remind her that Arya reminds me of my daughter when her scene with the Hound started...


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First off, its a gorgeous name. Also, its not just a ASOIAF name, Aria is an italian song and is an amazing name if you understand italian or appreciate opera. Also, Aryan by itself is not offensive, unless you are of the mindset that the name Adolf, and Osama, and anything like that is inherently offensive. Just because someone evil was associated with a name or a word it doesn't mean the name or word is similarly offensive. Naming someone "Nazi" however, is different.

We almost gave my daughter the middle name Arya, but went with Amelia instead. In hindsight, I would've stuck with Arya (mostly because I like the name Amelia for another daughter - but I don't think we'll pull that one). My wife didn't realize i was suggesting it based on ASOIAF, but after Season 4 Ep 1 last night, she would definitely not be down. Her verbatim reaction to the ending last night? "That kid is so fucking weird". Im kind of glad I didn't remind her that Arya reminds me of my daughter when her scene with the Hound started...

The problem is, regardless of whether you feel a name is offensive or not, you are giving it to another person. You have to also question if your child will grow to resent it. Naming someone is a huge responsibility that has to involve more than your person political/spiritual beliefs. I don't find Aryan or Adolf or Osama offensive but I would never give my kids those names because it's impossible for me to know whether they will grow to find them offensive.

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I somehow doubt that naming your daughter Arya is going to have unwanted repecussions on your daughter's future, unless you actually train her to be a borderline sociopathic assassin. The name is apparently Sanskrit, but Martin undoubtedly cribbed it from Alia, the name of Paul's sister in the Dune books, IMO.


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I somehow doubt that naming your daughter Arya is going to have unwanted repecussions on your daughter's future, unless you actually train her to be a borderline sociopathic assassin. The name is apparently Sanskrit, but Martin undoubtedly cribbed it from Alia, the name of Paul's sister in the Dune books, IMO.

I always thought it was a tribute to Jon Arryn somehow. That's interesting too.

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Remember how the name Arya trended in the United states and became a top ten name after season one? Will those folks regret it when they know she is an assassin?

I doubt it, since the reason people probably used the name is that she's clearly a very strong person. And in the end, while she's learning assassin's tricks, she's not so much an assassin as she is GRRM's nod to the Rogue fantasy archetype, just like Tyrion is a dwarf, the Valyrians (and Targs like Dany) are elves, etc., etc. He likes playing around with tropes that way.

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