Valyria is a fantasy-style form inspired by Latin valere, carrying associations of strength and power.
R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" saga (and the HBO adaptation "Game of Thrones"). The Valyrian Freehold, as Martin constructed it, was a civilization of sorcerers and dragonlords centered on the volcanic peninsula of Valyria, whose catastrophic destruction — the Doom of Valyria — left a haunted ruin and a diaspora that founded the cities of Essos and, eventually, the Targaryen dynasty that conquered Westeros.
The name thus arrives trailing clouds of mythic grandeur, lost civilization, and draconic power. Martin's invented name has a carefully crafted classical sound, evoking Roman place names like Illyria, Valeria, and Aquileia, as well as the Latin root "valere" (to be strong). This is no accident — the author borrowed heavily from the phonetic patterns of ancient Mediterranean cultures to create a sense of deep historical weight.
As a result, Valyria feels both invented and ancient, fictional and somehow real. Since the television series peaked in cultural influence in the 2010s, Valyria has appeared in birth registries in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia, proof of fiction's longstanding power as a naming source — from Shakespeare's Viola and Olivia to Tolkien's names and now Martin's. Parents drawn to Valyria tend to prize its sweeping, romantic sound and its connotations of lost greatness. It joins a class of openly fandom-derived names that wear their literary origins proudly rather than concealing them.