There are some celebrity kids’ names that are immediately embraced by other parents and become instant hits. Take Kingston, for example, the name chosen for personal reasons relating to the city in Jamaica by Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale: it had all the ingredients to make it a success– accessibility, likeability, a strong, familiar sound with regal overtones, plus extremely high-profile parents.

Another name with similar qualities is Maddox, the first son of Angelina Jolie, which first entered the popularity lists in 2003 and has been steadily climbing ever since. A few recent names—Honor (Warren), Clementine (Hawkes), Seraphina (Affleck), and Harlow (Madden) spring to mind—were direct hits, and seem sure to spread.

On the other side of the coin are those that were just as instantly rejected as too weird for everyday consumption: the Ikhyds, Banjos, Bandits, Pumas, Pirates and Peanuts.

Some names that were greeted at first as too audacious have now become accepted. Romeo, second son of Victoria and David Beckham, had been considered too melodramatically Shakespearean until it became associated with a cute blonde crew cut and a British accent. The name of Romeo’s brother Brooklyn also produced a few guffaws when it was announced—but then other parents started to separate the two syllables into Brook and Lyn, gradually cancelling out the New-York-accented borough association and transforming it into a pretty name for a girl: now Brooklyn ranks in the Top 50 of girls’ names. That other New York borough name, Bronx, however, got an instant thumbs down.

Of course a lot of it is about exposure. The fabulous name of the kid of some C-list actress who has never once been seen in the pages of People or viewed on Access Hollywood probably isn’t gonna make it.

On the other hand, names that are paraded before the public daily, like Kelly Ripa’s Lola and Joaquin can’t help but be noticed and emulated. Teri Hatcher named her daughter Emerson in 1997, but it wasn’t until Hatcher hit it big with Desperate Housewives that the name really took off—as has her co-star Marcia Cross’s much-photographed twin’s Eden.

So which names have definitely been given a celebritized bounce? The leader of the pack is—hands down—Ava, used by no fewer than a dozen stars, most notably Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Philippe in 1999, and which is now the fifth most popular name in America.

Some others that have been boosted by a celebrity connection are:

AVERY for girls

BECKETT

CRUZ

EDEN

EMERSON

FINLEY for girls

HARPER for girls

JADEN

JOAQUIN

KINGSTON

LOLA

MADDOX

MILO

PAX

ROMEO

RYDER

SHILOH

VIOLET

ZAHARA

There ‘s also a more recent contingent of starbaby names that seem to have the potential for becoming more widely accepted, including:

ALICE

ANNISTON

ASHBY

BECKETT

CLEMENTINE

DASHIELL

HARLOW

HONOR

KENZO

MAGNUS

MATILDA

ROMY

TRUE

VIVIENNE

Which baby name trends do we see coming in for 2009 and which do we see heading out? Here, our predictions for the year ahead.

BIGGEST BIG-PICTURE TREND: DEPRESSION ERA NAMES

The hit TV show Mad Men, set in the early 60s, reintroduced names that were all the rage when the characters were born in the 1930s: Don , Betty, Joan, Peggy.  They’re plain names fit for hard times, and we predict the hardscrabble months ahead will inspire more babies with these names: Dorothy, Helen, Ruth, and Frances for girls; Thomas, Edward, Frank, Raymond, and even Harold for boys.  Plus the stylish new occupational names–Gardener, Ranger, Miller–are likely to gain in appeal for both boys and girls as actual jobs become more scarce.

MOST SURPRISING COMEBACK NAME

Leon, middle name choice for Brangelina twin Knox, had become a joke in the U.S. but was on the rise in Europe, where all lion-related names–Leo, Leonora, Lionel–are tres chic.  Leon and Leonie are the number one names in Germany and for the first time in decades, have style potential here.

BEST NEW TREND INSPIRED BY A CELEBRITY BABY NAME

Jessica Alba’s infant Honor has ushered in a new appreciation for virtue names, on the rise through the name ranks–and hopefully also in spirit–with Faith, Hope, Patience, Mercy, Justice, True, and Pax.

HOTTEST GENDER-BENDING TREND

Boys names that end in a vowel sound and girls’ names that end in a consonant.  Examples: Ezra, Eli, Milo, Noah, Hugo for boys, and for girls, Annabel instead of Annabella, for instance, or Eden instead of Emma.

ETHNIC NAMES GROUPS MOST LIKELY TO RISE

Hawaiian and Russian, thanks to First Daughters Malia and Sasha, short for Natasha, Obama.

TRENDIEST TREND-RELATED TREND

Names that are considered too trendy by stylish parents by virtue of their association with other, trendier names or with high-visibility celebrities.  Examples: Ada, fresh yet too close to the megapopular Ava.  Pearl, too much like groovy Ruby.  Roman, son of Cate Blanchett and Debra Messing.  And Matilda, toddler of Michelle Wiliams and Heath Ledger.

GIRL TREND READY TO JUMP THE SHARK

Names that end in –ella, from Isabella to Gabriella to Bella and even Ella herself.  The long trend for that extra-syllable a ending is about to end.

BOY TREND READY TO JUMP THE SHARK

Names that rhyme with -aden: Braden, Caden, Jaden, Xaden, you’ve had your moment in the sun.

COOLEST MIDDLE NAME TREND

Names that carry powerful meaning, launched when people adopted the middle name Hussein in solidarity with Obama.  Less name than symbol, the new middle name may carry political meaning, convey ethnic background, stand in for a place, animal, character, or thing that has meaning for the parents.

NEW “IT” VOWEL

I, with the rise of such iNames as Isaiah, Iris, Isaac, and Isla.

MOST FASHIONABLE CONSONANT

V, vivifying names wherever it falls: Olive, Vivienne, Eva, Victor, Avery, Violet, Evan, Nevaeh.

NAME TREND THAT’S BEST FOR THE EARTH

Green Names, which include the recycling of grandma and grandpa names like Mabel and Max, and also nature names drawn from the water (Bay, Lake), trees (Birch, Oak), and flowers (Violet, Poppy).

TREND MOST LIKELY TO CROSS THE OCEAN

The hot British baby-naming trend of using nicknames from Millie to Alfie to Dixie and Dot is coming our way, as a light-hearted antidote to tough times.

MOST SURPRISING CELEBRITY NAME INSPIRATION

Arianna Huffington, whose Huffington Post was the media star of the 2008 election, is an attractive and influential person but hardly the kind of tabloid hottie who usually inspires thousands of baby namesakes.  But joining Ashton and Angelina, the name Arianna has ascended with Huffington’s renown, reaching number 70 in the last year counted and certain to zoom much higher.

TREND WE’D MOST LIKE TO SEE DIE

Scary, violent names like Talon, Cannon, Gunner.

For twelve years now, since 1996, the most popular name for girl babies has been Emily.  But it looks like Emily’s reign as the top girls’ name may be coming to an end–something we won’t know until the next Social Security list comes out in May.  In all fairness,  Madison or Emma deserves to take the top spot–they’ve been hovering around it for so long, but there are five other newer names that are hot enough to threaten Queen Emily’s supremacy.

What’s interesting about four of the five current contenders , Addison being the exception, is that they’re trendy without the sound or feel of trendiness typical of some of the high-rated names of a few years ago–Tiffany, Brittany/Britney, Ashley–that flashed onto the scene, became red hot, and then faded.  The difference with the present group is that they have deep roots, both historic and literary, and though they are clearly feminine, they also have strength and substance.

ADDISON is the name that’s had the most rapid rise, being the logical rhyming successor to the long-running Madison, and the first name in a while to have sprung from a TV show–Grey’s Anatomy/Private Practice.  Currently at #11, it would be a long shot for first place, though it did reach that spot in two states

AVA is a name imbued with old Hollywood glamour via Golden Age star Ava Gardner and has taken off like a rocket, largely because of its use by a dozen or so current movie stars, starting with Reese Witherspoon.  It already headed the lists of nine states last year, and was #5 on the national list.

OLIVIA is a Latinate name popularized by Shakespeare for a leading character in  Twelfth Night and has continued to be used in literature all the way up to the contemporary kids’ book porcine character Olivia.  # 7 last year, it was also #1 in three states

ISABELLA was of course the Spanish queen who backed Cristoforo Columbo’s voyages, as well as being the name of a British royal, a character in Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure, in Jane Austen and in Wuthering Heights. Last year, it was #3 nationally, top name in nine states.

SOPHIA has been a favorite of British novelists, starting with the heroine of Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones, and shares reflected cinematic stardust with Ava, this time via the sultry Sophia Loren.  Three states had this name at #1 last year, it  was #6 nationwide.

So these are the candidates.  Place your bets.

Blame Ava.  Stylish but obscure when Reese Witherspoon picked it for her daughter less than a decade ago, it’s rocketed up the popularity list, with sound-alike Eva following close behind.  It’s become so popular, in fact, that our brand-new version of our original baby name style guide Beyond Jennifer & Jason, slated to come out next spring, will be titled Beyond Ava & Aiden.

Parents enchanted with Ava but looking for a fresh twist have discovered Ada.  If you check out the popularity chart on Ada’s name page, you’ll see that a very sleepy name is now heading straight upward.

But Ada is still only number 646 on the Social Security list, with just 452 baby girls in all of the United States getting the name in 2007 — an average of nine girls per state.  Hardly the kind of name where you risk running into another little Ada in every nursery school class.

And yet Ada is heading nowhere but up, and there’s every chance that over the next decade it will join Ava on the Top Ten.  Ava itself was, after all, in the 600s ten years ago, and has risen all the way to number 4. Eva is number 117, with Ava and Eva together given to more babies in 2007 than the number 1 Emily.

Names often follow each other up the popularity list, with a more unusual version of a name chasing the more popular one….and sometimes catching up.  Such is the case with Emma, now number 3 to Emily’s number one.  Or Addison, at number 11 closing in on number 5 Madison.  There are boys’ examples too: Christian and Christopher; Jack and Jackson.

Ada’s rise will also be, well, aided by its similarity to the popular Jada, and by worthy Ada namesake Ada Lovelace, only daughter of Lord Byron widely acknowledged to be the first “computer programmer,” albeit on a nineteenth century model.  And all names that start with A seem to be trending upward.

The lesson: If you choose Ada now, all your friends may admire your originality and daring.  But in five years, you’ll be working hard to convince everyone that you thought of it first.