Daenerys
Daenerys was given to 115 girls in 2025, #1,760 among girls’ names; 1,477 Americans have been recorded with it since 2012 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,470 Americans named Daenerys and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (99% of everyone recorded); the median is 7 years old and half are between 3 and 9.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Daenerys by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Daenerys mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Daenerys is “a female given name originating as a coinage, of modern usage.”
Coined by American writer and television producer George R. R. Martin. From the name of a character in George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire novels; popularised by the later television adaptation Game of Thrones. Borrowed from High Valyrian Daenerys.
/deɪˈnɛɹɪs/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Daenerys?
#1,760 among girls’ names, 2025
Daenerys rose from #2,283 in 2015 to #1,760 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 45.9 to 71.6 per million.
166 babies in 2018, the peak
Daenerys peaked in 2018, when 166 girls were given it, #1,361 among girls’ names. The 115 births of 2025 are 69% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 115 | #1,760 | 71.6 |
| 2024 | 136 | #1,559 | 83.9 |
| 2023 | 125 | #1,658 | 77.9 |
| 2022 | 123 | #1,698 | 75.0 |
| 2021 | 108 | #1,851 | 65.8 |
| 2020 | 85 | #2,139 | 52.6 |
| 2019 | 144 | #1,510 | 85.8 |
| 2018 | 166 | #1,361 | 97.6 |
| 2017 | 111 | #1,845 | 64.3 |
| 2016 | 102 | #1,962 | 57.6 |
Every recorded year (14)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 82 | #2,283 | 45.9 |
| 2014 | 86 | #2,202 | 48.1 |
| 2013 | 68 | #2,605 | 38.8 |
| 2012 | 21 | #6,162 | 11.9 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Daenerys a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Daenerys has been given almost only to girls: 5 boys in 14 years of records.
Girls and boys named Daenerys: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Daenerys, and how old are they?
1,470 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 99% of the 1,477 Americans ever recorded as Daenerys. The median Daenerys alive today is 7 years old; half are between 3 and 9.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 21 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 1,450 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made.
Where are babies named Daenerys born?
The states with the most babies named Daenerys are Texas, California and Florida, with 62% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 16 | #1,474 | 1.2× |
| California | 15 | #1,510 | 1.1× |
| Florida | 12 | #1,187 | 1.3× |
| New York | 8 | #1,557 | 1.1× |
| North Carolina | 7 | #1,166 | 0.4× |
| New Jersey | 6 | #1,066 | 0.9× |
| Pennsylvania | 5 | #1,440 | 0.5× |
Where Daenerys is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Daenerys is most over-represented in Florida: since 2012 it was given 1.3 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Daenerys with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Daenerys
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Daenerys and names like it
- Compare Daenerys and ZendayaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2010sDaenerys peaked in 2018.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Daenerys since 1910.
- Coined namesWiktionary’s origin for Daenerys: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2018The year the most babies were named Daenerys.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Daenerys alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with DMost given first.