The name “Aria” for females was the most popular in the year 2018 with a raw count of 7417 and a percentage of 0.4374123. The same name was the least popular in 1957 with a raw count of 5 and a percentage of 0.0002445498. Though, it should be noted that the name fades in and out of the data base until 1969, so in sure there is a time where it is more unpopular than in 1957. After 1969, Aria steadily remains in the lower end of popularity, but starts increasing after 2000. The name dramatically sky-rockets around 2010. The gender associations with Aria lean heavily towards female. I feel this is due to two reasons. The first being linguistics. Languages of Latin origins often have the letter “a” to indicate feminine forms of words. Culturally speaking, this in reinforced as the number of female named Aria increases over the years. In addition, the 2 most popular character who have the name Aria(or at least the name is the same phonetically) are themselves female.

Considering that the name Aria (or its variations) have not been around as long as other names (like John or Mary), the gender associations have remained strong. That being said, while researching I found an interesting piece of information. Despite the previous reasonings, among the people who name their son Aria or its variations (again- Ariah, Arya, or Daria), Arya is comparatively more popular when analyzing without using logs. With logs, the difference - while still apparent- is not as surprising. I would attribute this to the absolute willfulness of Game of Thrones fans to name their child after Arya Stark. It is worth noting that, in recent years, gender norms are more relaxed than they used to be, perhaps this is also a contributor to the male Aryas.

In addition, before Game of Thrones aired, people were naming their sons Arya more frequently than their daughters from the early 1980s until 2004. So, while Aria has been a predominately feminine name throughout the years, Arya switched from being a predominately masculine name to predominantly feminine name.

I think it is evident that the combinations of the ending letter “a” and the reinforcement of the feminine gender associations through popular media explain these gendered Arias. The popularity of Aria and its variations (especially Arya) can be explained by the appearance of the character Arya Stark in Game of Thrones. Secondarily, the character Aria Montgomery from the hit television show Pretty Little Liars has also contributed to the names’ popularity.

Bibliography

Social Security Administration. “Baby Names Index.” Accessed October 14, 2021.