Game of Thrones is known for three things: winter, sex and long-winded names. The absurdly popular Home Box Office show is only in its fourth season, but fans of the show are already showing their hardcore fandom. Scratch that, their kids are showing their parents' devotion for them? Some of these kiddos are being named after the Lannisters, as well as other characters on Thrones.

So why exactly is this phenomenon occurring and has it happened with any other show in the past? Quite simply people love to show devotion for their favorite characters. But not all characters on Game of Thrones are created equal according to Laura Wattenberg.

"There are certain qualities about a character that makes the name really catch on," the author of The Baby Name Wizard told Yahoo! Shine. "And in general, it's shows featuring attractive young people with supernatural powers."

But where's the love for the ugly, unwanted and unfortunate-looking blokes and lasses? Anyways...

"You can even find names from imagined fantasy worlds that have been used on real-world babies. For instance, hundreds of American girls have been named Eowyn over the past decade after a 'Lord of the Rings' character. But a name taken from a word that's not a name, from an imagined language? I can't think of a precedent."

The original version of Bewitched, which aired on ABC between 1964 and 1972, is another show with a devoted fan base. Fans just couldn't wait to fill out their daughters birth certificates out in honor of actress Elizabeth Montgomery's character Samantha.

"In many cases, we forget the celebrity origins. But no one was named Samantha before 'Bewitched,'" Wattenberg remarked.

Splash, the 1984 cult classic film starring Darryl Hannah (perhaps best know to younger audiences as the killer nurse in the Kill Bill series) inspired parents as well. However the effect wasn't instantaneous like with Thrones or LOTR.

"It took years for the girls in those audiences to grow up and have kids," Wattenberg said.

Let's just hope that the parent's don't influence their kids to go under the knife like Hannah. 

As evidenced by the research above this peculiar naming convention is no mere fad. It's definitely a trend that won't go away anytime soon. Just be mindful that you'll likely start to meet a sizable number of Harry Potter-inspired names like Cedric Diggory or Draco Malfoy children in the years ahead.

Would you ever consider naming your child after a fictional TV or movie character? Let us know in the comments section below.