By Linda Rosenkrantz

Every year, a small number of new names manages to move onto the Top 1000 list for the first time ever.  Sometimes this marks the beginning of a climb up the ladder, other times it’s a name that will linger in the nether regions, and sometimes it might prove to be a one-shot wonder—perhaps an eccentric spelling picked up by just enough parents  to make the grade.

In 2011, for instance, we saw the debuts of such nouveau names as Elliot for girls, Aviana, Blakely, Juniper, Liv, and Temperance; Bowen, Brecken, Flynn, the musical Crosby and Hendrix, the presidential Nixon and the Ivy League Princeton.

But how about the recently released list?  Of the forty-five possibilities, here are the Nameberry Picks for the twelve most promising newbies of 2012.

girls

Azalea—Though there were fewer than three hundred baby girls given this name in 2012, it has now definitely crossed over from the wilder fringes into the main flower garden.  Azalea embodies a delightful combination of the fragrant floral with a shot of z-infused energy.

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For The Nameberry 9 this week, Appellation Mountain‘s Abby Sandel picks names that are both inside and out of the safety zone.

If you’re a long-time name nerd, I have a question for you.

Have you become more tolerant of names that fall outside your personal comfort zone?  Or are your convictions about certain topics – spelling, gender, nicknames – growing stronger?

This week’s most newsworthy baby names run the gamut, from the truly unusual to the just-a-little-different.  They remind me that I’ve become far more accepting over the years, appreciating the most common and the outlandish choices alike.  After all, there’s a fellow called Barack in the White House and a challenger called Mitt, making it tough to argue that only people called John and Elizabeth can attain lofty positions of power and influence.

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I was sitting here last week, making a list of what I was thinking of as Modern Hero Names – you know, like Palin and Winslet – when the news came in about the names Mariah Carey had chosen for her newborn twins. She’d given her daughter the Old Man Name of Monroe, she said, to honor one of her heroines, Marilyn Monroe.

Bingo. I’d been hesitating a bit about whether this was a real trend, but Carey’s choice confirmed it. There’s a new generation of Modern Hero Names that are, typically, surnames and that honor heroes and heroines who may not have been considered baby-worthy before now.

Not only do the namesakes need to be surprising and cool; their names have to be too. So we’re going to disqualify choices like Armani, Chanel, Kennedy, and Lincoln that are feeling a bit too familiar these days.

Modern Hero Names we’ve heard:

Bardot – David Boreanaz put French screen siren Brigitte’s last name on the map when he chose it for his daughter.

Bowie – Are parents honoring rocker David Bowie or do they just like this Western-sounding name? Whichever: Three times as many baby boys received the name in 2010 as 2009 and 19 baby girls were called Bowie too.

Edison – As a Thomas Edison fan, I’m delighted to find this surname gaining favor among parents appreciative of one of our greatest geniuses.

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