Ser Name: The Surprising History of a Surprisingly Common Name
Ser Name may be one of the most common names in the world, but you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who knows its origins or how it became so widespread. So, how did Ser Name become such a common name? The answer lies in the history of Western Civilization, beginning with the fall of the Roman Empire…
Introduction
Ser Name is a very common name throughout Westeros, but what many don’t realize is that the origins of the word are actually from our own world. Ser derives from the Latin servus, meaning slave or servant. This was especially true in medieval times when serfs were bound to their lord for generations and could not marry without their lord’s consent. There were even serf-soldiers who had to fight for their lords on an ongoing basis. In this sense, naming your son Ser would be equivalent to naming him Slave or Servant! And so, it should come as no surprise that there are so many people with this name in our world too.
How the name spread
Ser Name is the most common name in the world. It’s not even close. It’s so common that it’s given to about 1 in every 100 newborn babies, and if you live somewhere with at least 10 people, there’s at least one person with that name. However, this isn’t just because it’s easy to spell.
Funny facts about this common name
First, it’s important to note that there is no one correct way to spell this name. Ser, Sir, and Seer are all common variations. There are also many different possible origins for the word, including Irish and Arabic. But it’s not just the spelling or where the name came from that makes it so interesting—there’s also a surprising number of famous people with this moniker! Along with Jorah Mormont (of Game of Thrones) and Ser Arthur Dayne (from A Song of Ice and Fire), you can find
Conclusion
The name Ser is a common name in Westeros, but it’s not the only word to mean knight. In Medieval French and Old English, ser was used as an honorific for knights. In Spanish, it means sir or Mr., and in Gaelic, it means lord. It’s possible that George R.R. Martin chose the name because it has so many meanings—ser could have been a reference to one of the other words for knight he knew about or it could have been simply chosen because he liked how it sounded with Arya’s other names: Arya (Persian), Araya (Arabic), Aryanah (Arabic).
FAQS
Q. Why do you think that’s surprising?
A. Well, our name is pretty common and we live in the U.S., so it seems like it should be easy to find someone else with the same name as us, right? But when we searched for people with the same first and last names as ours on Facebook, Google, Twitter and LinkedIn, we only found one other person! That’s really surprising because there are about 30 million people in the U.S., so if there was an even chance of meeting someone with our exact same name, then you would have expected to find 5-6 other Ser Names at most!
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