Beckett

Beckett is one of the big baby name hits of the decade.

A a handsome name with an attractively brisk sound, and rich in literary associations via major Irish playwright Samuel Beckett, it is especially hot among celebs. Melissa Etheridge jump-started the trend in 1998, followed by Conan O'Brien, Stella McCartney, Malcolm McDowall, Nicole Sullivan and Natalie Maines. In the past year alone, Beckett's popularity has shot up 26 places to Number 330, after only appearing for the first time in 2006!

Another worthy namesake is the martyred saint Thomas a Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, whose story was the basis of the Anouilh play "Becket," which became a film starring Richard Burton and Peter O'Toole.

In 2005, the authors of Freakonomics predicted that Beckett would be one of the most popular names of 2015. They could be right!