Baby Names Trending in Hollywood
Celebrities, like with everything else, are tastemakers when it comes to baby names. They set the tone for what’s hot and what’s not, and their choices in names are often the mainstream hits of years to come. We saw many cool celebrity baby names in 2019 with potential to become the hot names of 2020.
Of course, one of our favorite trends of the year was the coincidental naming of multiple starbabies named Charlie Wolf(e) from Lauren Conrad and Carly Waddell, two years after Zooey Deschanel used the name for her son. The name has tons of appeal—we understand why it’s so popular among the stars!
We’re still waiting on some high-profile celebrity baby name announcements from 2019. Stars including Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds, Christian Slater, and Oscar Isaac have not yet revealed their babies’ names. Olympic skier Bode Miller hasn’t even decided on what to name his twin boys, although we offered to help him out.
Top Celebrity Baby Name Trends of 2019
Be My Valentine
It was October, not February, that saw an influx of baby Valentines! Imagine Dragons singer Dan Reynolds named his son Valentine, citing its meaning of “strong” as a key factor in the decision. One week later, musician Natalie Imbruglia gave birth to a son named Max Valentine, and Rachel Campos Duffy called her daughter Valentina StellaMaris.
Valentina is a trendy name for girls, currently ranking at #81 on the US popularity charts. Valentine is also trending upwards but isn’t at risk of cracking the Top 1000 anytime soon. We expect it to be more common as a middle name in 2020, a la Natalie Imbruglia’s Max Valentine.
Italian Inspiration
The hottest destination in celebrity baby names for 2019 was Italy. Kobe Bryant named his daughter Capri after the Italian island, and Jason Aldean was inspired by Italy for a middle name with his daughter named Navy Rome.
Besides Italian-place names, other names with Italian roots were popular among celebs, including Daphne Oz’s Giovanna Ines, Mario Lopez’s Santino Rafael, Snooki’s Angelo James, and LaToya Luckett Walker’s Gianna Iman. Comedian Sebastian Maniscalo used the Italian surname Caruso for his son’s first name in June.
Here Comes the Sun
Three celebrities welcomed daughters with Sun– names in 2019, and despite the limited number of choices, all three chose different names! Actress Janet Montgomery gave birth to a daughter named Sunday Juno in March, while singer Michael Hobby named his baby girl Sunny Grayson. Influential couple Ty Haney and Mark Wystrach had a daughter in November and named her Sundance Leon, arguably the most far-out name of the three. They plan to call her Sunny.
Short and Surprising Word Names
Unexpected word names have always been cool among celebrities (Apple or Pilot, anyone?) but this year the shorter the better. Psalm was added to the baby name lexicon by Kim Kardashian and Kanye West this May—a brief but meaningful name perfectly matched with brother Saint’s.
Other celebrities who surprised us with their single-syllable word name choices include singer Phillip Phillips, who named his son Patch, Amber Rose with her baby boy Slash, and NBC News correspondent Kasie Hunt with her son Mars.
Double Word Names
Speaking of word names, many celebs decided to double up this year, choosing names in this category for their children’s first and middle names. This can be a risky move, as multiple word names strung together can sound more like a sentence than a baby name, but for the most part we think these stars struck a good balance between wordiness and name-iness.
For girls we saw Story Grey—daughter of Derek Jeter—as well as Teresa Palmer’s daughter Poet Lake and Rachel Platten’s Violet Skye. Phillip Phillip’s son is Patch Shepherd, and country singer Rodney Atkins named his baby boy Scout Falcon—although Falcon is his wife Rose’s maiden name. Alanis Morissette gave birth to a son named Winter Mercy in August—his sister Onyx Solace also has a double word name.
Vintage Nickname Resurrection
Celebrities gave us a peek at the next wave of vintage names that are soon to come back in style. These choices may still sound dusty to your ears but trust us—now that they have celebrity endorsement, they will only continue to rise. It was particularly popular in 2019 for stars to eschew a longer name in favor of a nickname-name on the birth certificate.
British singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor named her son Mickey, which along with Minnie is beginning to shed its mouse-like image. Mickey’s brothers are named Sonny, Kit, Ray, and Jesse—a whole brother set of vintage nicknames! Comedian Amy Schumer chose the name Gene for her son, and Jenna Bush Hager’s son is called Hal, although his full name is Henry Harold in honor of his father and great-grandfather.
For girls, the most notable revival was Bobby, daughter of Robert F. Kennedy III.
Creative Honorifics
Stars went the extra mile in 2019 when it came to honoring loved ones with their babies’ names. While it’s typical to use the name of a beloved friend or family member somewhere in a child’s name, many celebrities put a spin on these names, coming up with modern and creative monikers that still convey the intended honor.
First and foremost, how could we not mention Archie Harrison, son of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who’s middle name literally means “Harry’s son”? What a cute way to pay homage to Dad.
Similarly, soccer players Dom and Sydney Dwyer named their daughter Roux James, with her first name taken from part of Sydney’s maiden name, Leroux. Actor Jonathan Tucker and his wife Tara had twins in May, and honored Tara’s Indian heritage by naming them Hayes Taj and India Moss, and Robin Thicke honored his father Alan with his daughter Lola’s middle name, Alain.
Perhaps the most creative honor name of the year goes to film director Jon M. Chu, who named his son Jonathan Heights. Chu is directing the upcoming film In the Heights, which inspired his son’s name. To avoid confusion with Dad, the baby will go by Heights, increasing the honor tenfold.
Name to Watch: Ramona
And finally, here’s a name to put on your radar screen—Ramona. It was only given to two starbabies in 2019—not enough to warrant a trend, but worth noting. Both baby Ramonas were born in June. Ramona Lynn to Margo Price and Jeremy Ivey, and Ramona Rae to Ryan Lewis.
Ramona was ranked at #835 in the 2018 Top 1000 and given to only 323 baby girls last year. We’re going to keep a sharp eye out for more starbaby Ramonas in 2020—a sure sign that this name is going places.
What was your favorite celebrity baby name of 2019?