Dungeons and Dragons publisher Wizards of the Coast has shared a heap of data about the game from 2023, and it reveals a surprising trend in DnD names. Yes, according to a D&DBeyond post from January 16, ‘Bob’ is the most popular name in the multiverse. And it has been for two years in a row.
Wizards hasn’t shared just how many Bobs are out there, heroically leading DnD campaigns. However, the rest of the data dump can tell us more about what these Bobs might be like. Statistically, Bob is most likely to be 28 years old, and he’s likely seen 4.77 DnD level ups.
Over 700,000 players chose a Human 5e from the DnD races list, so Bob is probably as mortal as the rest of us. And – surprise surprise – Bob the Human is usually a DnD Fighter. Around 300,000 players chose the fight-iest of the DnD classes, beating out the almost-as-popular DnD Rogue and Barbarian 5e.
While Bob maintains absolute dominance of the DnD name game, Wizards has also shared which titles are rising stars. ‘Link’ was 23% more popular in 2023 (no doubt spurred on by the release of Tears of the Kingdom). ‘Seraphina’ saw an 18% increase in use, and ‘Lyra’ was 6% more popular than in the previous year.
Some names are also falling out of fashion. ‘Bruno’ clearly couldn’t compete with Bob, dropping 56%. ‘Eddie’ is 45% less frequently used, and the eclectic ‘Rando’ saw 39% fewer christenings.
Beyond DnD character creation, Tuesday’s post shared data about some of its recent features. The new 2D DnD VTT, ‘D&D Maps’ saw 180 million characters and NPCs hop onto the platform, as well as 88 million monsters.
Plus, of all the Baldur’s Gate 3 companions ported to the tabletop RPG, it seems Gale’s free DnD character sheet was the most popular of all. We’re very fond of the DnD Wizard, so this time the crown is well-deserved.
For more roundups from last year, here are the best DnD books of 2023 ranked. Plus, you can find out which TTRPG we thought topped the year in our guide to the best new tabletop games of 2023.