WARNING: contains spoilers from season eight, episode five.

Among those feeling most horrified as they watched Daenerys Targaryen’s mass-murderous turn in this week’s Game of Thrones episode were surely some of the parents who had named their daughters after the dragon queen.

The name Khaleesi was given to 560 girls in the US last year, many more if you include variations on the spelling. In total, more than 3,500 children have been named after her since the show began. Indeed, up until the penultimate episode in the long-running series, which aired on Sunday night in the US, Daenerys Targaryen was one of the most-beloved characters in Game of Thrones.

A freer-of-slaves, mother-of-dragons and all-round badass, she won fans around the world, including former Australian prime minister Julia Gillard, who told the Guardian back in 2013 that she was rooting for Khaleesi to take the Iron Throne.

But, a series of setbacks in recent episodes has seen Dany transform from benevolent leader into a mass-murdering, city-razing mad queen.

This week’s episode, The Bells, in which she truly breaks bad has been the worst-received of the entire series. Scores for each episode have slumped over this season, the opening episode, Winterfell, received a score of 92% from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, whereas The Bell got a score of just 49%.

Daenerys’ character arc has prompted sharp debate among fans, with some saying it is implausible. In its review, the Guardian said “her descent into dead-eyed vindictiveness has been too steep, in keeping with the general, compressed feel of this series”. Others have said the show has been leading Dany down this dark path.

But among the anger on social media, was speculation about how parents of the hundreds of Khaleesis and Danys were feeling now.

The Daily Beast quoted one parent of a Khaleesi as saying she was “in shock”, while The Cut spoke to another who said “I don’t think she did anything wrong”.

One Twitter user addressed all children named after the dragon queen: “Your parents owe you an apology”. Others suggested they might consider changing their name. Another noted the timing of the episode: