Meanings & themes
Video game names in real use
45 names · 24 girls · 21 boys · records through 2025
Games have been naming characters for fifty years, and a slice of that cast has crossed into real use — Zelda has been in the American records since long before the console, and the game gave it a second wind.
This guide has 45 names: 24 girl names and 21 boy names. A curated set of video game character names matched against the latest US records; only names in real use appear. Built from US Social Security birth records through 2025. Tap + beside any name to keep it on your shortlist as you read.
Before the names
The list divides cleanly. Some entries are ordinary names a studio borrowed (Ellie, Chloe, Arthur, Jesse); others arrived with the game and had no American record before it.
Only names verified in the latest national data appear, each with its live rank.
Girl names
24 names
- Mia#6 today
- Chloe#23 today
- Ellie#24 today
- Abigail#41 today
- Elena#42 today
- Sadie#50 today
- Victoria#54 today
- Alice#65 today
- Claire#68 today
- Rose#114 today
- Ashley#164 today
- Freya#176 today
- Ada#219 today
- Rachel#250 today
- Clementine#456 today
- Faye#514 today
- Kate#520 today
- Lara#691 today
- Zelda#832 today
- Yuna#950 today
- Kairi#1040 today
- Kassandra#1173 today
- Nadine#1622 today
- Sora#1942 today
Boy names
21 names
- John#23 today
- Charles#48 today
- Nathan#63 today
- Arthur#87 today
- Micah#90 today
- Leon#138 today
- Max#180 today
- Jesse#184 today
- Alan#191 today
- Joel#219 today
- Warren#240 today
- Marcus#258 today
- Javier#274 today
- Mario#438 today
- Atreus#582 today
- Chris#646 today
- Lee#725 today
- Ezio#1222 today
- Kenny#1267 today
- Barry#1520 today
- Link#1571 today
Every rank and count here is published by the US Social Security Administration and refreshed each year when the new figures land. The method is stated at the top of this page.
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