Arya, also spelled Aarya or Ariya ( sa, आर्य/आर्या '; peo, 𐎠𐎼𐎡𐎹 fa, آریا ') or as Aryo or Ario, is an Indo-Iranian name. The Sanskrit word ''Arya'' is a surname and a masculine ( ') and feminine ( ') given name, signifying "honorable" or "noble". In India and Iran it is a popular masculine given name and a popular surname. In the historically Indianized country of Cambodia, it is usually a name given to girls. In Indonesia, Arya is also commonly used as a masculine given name, usually in

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mo ...

Bali Bali () is a province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and ...

, and other places. In Javanese it becomes Aryo, Ario, or Aryono. It is a common name amongst Hindus and Muslims.

Modern usage

The 2011 television series ''

Game of Thrones ''Game of Thrones'' is an American fantasy drama television series created by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss for HBO. It is an adaptation of '' A Song of Ice and Fire'', a series of fantasy novels by George R. R. Martin, the fir ...

'' features a character named

Arya Stark Arya Stark is a fictional character in American author George R. R. Martin's ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' epic fantasy novel series, and its television adaptation ''Game of Thrones'', where she is portrayed by English actress Maisie Williams. S ...

, increasing the name's popularity among Western audiences. In 2013,

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadc ...

wrote that "the passion and the extreme devotion of fans" had brought about a phenomenon unlike anything related to other popular TV series, manifesting itself in a very broad range of

fan labor Fan labor, also called fan works, are the creative activities engaged in by fans, primarily those of various media properties or musical groups. These activities can include creation of written works (fiction, fan fiction and review literature), ...

, such as

fan fiction Fan fiction or fanfiction (also abbreviated to fan fic, fanfic, fic or FF) is fictional writing written in an amateur capacity by fans, unauthorized by, but based on an existing work of fiction. The author uses copyrighted characters, setti ...

, ''Game of Thrones''-themed

burlesque A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects.

routines, or people naming their children after characters from the series. In 2012, " Arya" was the fastest-rising girl's name in popularity in the United States, jumping from 711th to 413th position. It peaked in popularity in the United States in 2019, when it was the 92nd most popular name for newborn girls. It fell to 120th position on the U.S. popularity chart in 2021. The name entered the top 200 most commonly used names for girls born in England and Wales in 2017.

Notable persons

From India

* Arya Bhatta (476–550), Indian mathematician *

Aditi Arya Aditi Arya (born 18 September 1993) is an Indian actress, model, research analyst and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Femina Miss India World in 2015. She represented India at Miss World 2015 pageant. Early life Arya was born in C ...

(born 1993), Indian model * Aditya Arya, Indian photographer *

Arya (actor) Jamshad Cethirakath (born 11 December 1980), known by his stage name Arya, is an Indian actor and producer who predominantly appears in Tamil cinema. Arya has won the Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut – South and received two nominations ...

(born 1980), south Indian actor *

Aarya Ambekar Aarya Ambekar is a Marathi playback singer and actor from Pune, Maharashtra. She participated and reached the finals of the first season of ''Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Marathi L'il Champs'' aired on Zee Marathi channel between July 2008 and February ...

(born 1994), Marathi playback singer *

Aarya Babbar Aarya Babbar is an Indian actor who appears in Bollywood and Punjabi films. In 2014, Aarya participated in the eighth season of ''Bigg Boss''. Career Aarya Babbar started his film career with Raj Kanwar's '' Ab Ke Baras'' alongside Amrita ...

(born 1981), Indian actor * Arya Gopi, Indian Malayalam-language poet *

Arya Rohit Arya Babu, also known by the stage name Arya Badai is an Indian actress, comedian, model, and television presenter, who appears in Malayalam films and television. She started her career in television and modelling industry. She is best know ...

, Indian actress * A. S. Arya, Indian structural engineer *

Anita Arya Anita Arya is a former member of Lok Sabha. She is a leader of Bharatiya Janata party. She represented Karol Bagh, Delhi in 13th Lok Sabha. She was mayor of Delhi in 1999. Early life and education Anita Arya was born on 26 January 1963, at Ag ...

, Indian politician from the BJP * Chaudhari Kumbharam Arya (1914–1995), Indian freedom fighter and popular leader *

Ishan Arya Ishan Arya (born Irshad Ahsan) was an Indian cinematographer, and producer, best known as producer and cinematographer of Art cinema classic ''Garm Hava'' (1973). After working in theatre and advertising, he made his debut with ''Garm Hava'' dir ...

, Indian cinematographer and producer * Mangilal Arya (1918–1992), Indian freedom fighter and social reformer * Satyadeo Narain Arya, Indian politician from Bihar *

Shraddha Arya Shraddha Arya Nagal (born 17 August 1987) is an Indian actress. She made her film debut as a lead role in SJ Suryah's Tamil film '' Kalvanin Kadhali'' along with Nayantara in 2006, in Hindi film '' Nishabd'' and in Telugu film ''Godava'' with ...

, Indian actress from the Telugu film industry *

Shubhavi Arya Shubhavi Arya is an Indian animator and film director. She is most noted for creating cutout stop-motion animated film Adventures of Malia at a young age of 16 years. In 2015, she directed and animated the Adventures of Malia which got nomi ...

(born 1998), Indian animator *

S. N. Arya Shyam Narayan Arya is an Indian physician, writer and the former National Professor and dean of the College of General practitioners of the Indian Medical Association (IMA_GP). He has published several medical papers and monographs, has contribut ...

, Indian physician and writer * S. P. Y. Surendranath Arya, Indian independence activist *

Yashpal Arya Yashpal Arya is a 7-time MLA from Uttar Pradesh (twice) and Uttarakhand (five times) combined. He is a former Minister of Transportation, Social Welfare, Minority and Students' Welfare in the Government of Uttarakhand under Bharatiya Janata Par ...

, Indian politician from the National Congress

From Indonesia

* Arya Penangsang, Sultan of Demak (1549–1554) * Ario Soerjo (1898–1948), murdered Indonesian politician *

Arya Maulana Aldiartama Arya Maulana Aldiartama (born 30 September 1995) is an Indonesian badminton affiliated with PMS Solo club. Previously, he was a member of Djarum club, and has joined the club in 2009. Achievements ASEAN University Games ''Men's doubles'' ...

(born 1995), Indonesian badminton player * I Ngurah Komang Arya (born 1985), Indonesian footballer * Aryo Danusiri, Indonesian film director * Aryo Djojohadikusumo, Indonesian politician * Bima Arya (born 1972), Indonesian politician

From Iran

* Aryo Barzan, an

Achaemenid The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire (; peo, wikt:𐎧𐏁𐏂𐎶, 𐎧𐏁𐏂, , ), also called the First Persian Empire, was an History of Iran#Classical antiquity, ancient Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC. Bas ...

prince who was born in 368 BC and died in 330 BC *

Aryandes Aryandes (Old Iranian: ''Aryavanda'' or ''Arvanta'', Ancient Greek: ''Ἀρυάνδης'') was the first Achaemenid satrap of ancient Egypt between 525 BCE and 496 BCE, during the early 27th Dynasty of Egypt. Career When king Cambyses II defe ...

, satrap of Persian Egypt *

Ariamnes Ariamnes I ( grc, Ἀριάμνης ''Ariámnēs''; fl. 4th century BC; ruled 362–350 BC) was satrap of Cappadocia under Persian suzerainty. Son of Datames and father of Ariarathes I and his brother Orophernes (Holophernes), Diodorus states ...

, satrap of

Cappadocia Cappadocia or Capadocia (; tr, Kapadokya), is a historical region in Central Anatolia, Turkey. It largely is in the provinces Nevşehir, Kayseri, Aksaray, Kırşehir, Sivas and Niğde. According to Herodotus, in the time of the Ionian Revo ...

* Ariyāramna, a minor king in pre-imperial Persia (Pars region) and great-grandfather of

Darius I Darius I ( peo, 𐎭𐎠𐎼𐎹𐎺𐎢𐏁 ; grc-gre, Δαρεῖος ; – 486 BCE), commonly known as Darius the Great, was a Persian ruler who served as the third King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, reigning from 522 BCE until his ...

* Ariobarzanes I of Media Atropatene, ruled from 65 BC to 56 BC * Ariobarzanes II of Atropatene, grandson of Ariobarzanes I, king of Media Atropatene from 20 BC to 8 BC *

Ariobarzanes I of Cappadocia Ariobarzanes I ( grc, Ἀριοβαρζάνης), surnamed Philoromaios ( grc, Φιλορωμαίος, Philorōmaíos, "Friend to the Romans"), was the first Ariobarzanid king of Cappadocia from 95 BC to 63/62 BC. Ariobarzanes I was a Cappadocian ...

, king of Cappadocia from 93 BC to ca. 63 or 62 BC * Akram Monfared Arya (born 1946), first Iranian female pilot *

Fatemeh Motamed-Arya Fatemeh Motamed-Arya ( fa, فاطمه معتمدآریا; born October 29, 1961 in Tehran) is a multi-award-winning Iranian actress. She first got involved in theater during her teen years, and received her degree in theater from Tehran Art Instit ...

(born 1961), Iranian actress * Arya Aramnejad (born 1983), Iranian singer *

Arya Aziminejad Arya Aziminejad ( fa, آریا عظیمی‌نژاد; born 25 April 1973) is an Iranian music composer. Biography Aziminejad was born into a cultured family in Tehran. His first teacher was his grandfather who taught him to play setar. Arya' ...

(born 1973), Iranian composer * Arya Nasimi-Shad (born 1999), Iranian swimmer * Ariya Daivari (born 1989), Iranian-American professional wrestler

From other origins

* Arya Mitra Sharma (born 1959), German doctor *

Chandra Arya Chandrakanth "Chandra" Arya (born 1963) is an Indian-born-Canadian Liberal politician, who was elected to represent the riding of Nepean in the House of Commons of Canada in the 2015 federal election and subsequently re-elected in the 2019 ...

, Canadian politician

Fictional characters

* Arya Dröttningu (later Arya Dröttning), from the ''Inheritance Cycle'' book series by Christopher Paolini *

, from George R. R. Martin's ''

A Song of Ice and Fire ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' is a series of epic fantasy novels by the American novelist and screenwriter George R. R. Martin. He began the first volume of the series, '' A Game of Thrones'', in 1991, and it was published in 1996. Martin, who i ...

'' book series and its television adaptation ''

References

{{given name, type=both Indian masculine given names Persian masculine given names Iranian masculine given names Indonesian masculine given names Indian surnames Persian-language surnames Indian unisex given names Persian unisex given names Indonesian names