Around this time every year, we peek behind the Nameberry curtain to see which names are the most popular with our visitors.  This Top 100 for each gender, which reflects views of the name pages on our site, indicates which names have captured the most interest since the start of the year.

The girls’ list is evidence of both pop culture events along with future baby name trends.  Some analysis:

– The Hunger Games is the obvious inspiration for Katniss at Number 1.  We don’t ever expect to see Katniss — or Primrose or Rue — in the U.S. Top 100 for real live baby girls.  But the appeal of the heroine inspires a great amount of curiosity about her unusual name.

– Celebrities and their babies attract a lot of page views, which sometimes translate into baby name trends.  Names high on the Nameberry list thanks to celebrities and starbabies include Harper, Seraphine, Penelope, Violet, Isla, and Scarlett.  And these are all names that will continue to rise in the national name statistics as well, we predict.

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Here, the 12 hottest trends for Baby Names 2012.

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