The revelation of Tennessee as the name of Reese Witherspoon and Jim Toth’s baby boy came as something of a surprise to the celebrity babies‘ name-watching world—but perhaps it shouldn’t have been, what with other recent starkids named Alabama, Indiana and Arizona.  And a simple Google search will tell you that though Reese was born in New Orleans, most of her childhood was spent in Tennessee, her mother’s native state, explaining why it was meaningful to her.

Although the name Tennessee’s two notable most namesakes, playwright Williams (born Thomas) and country singer ‘Tennessee’ Ernie Ford, are male, Tennessee actually had some popularity as a girl’s name in the late nineteenth century, appearing in the Top 1000 five times between 1880 and 1890.  It reached as high as Number 580 in 1884—though granted that accounted for only fourteen girls—the same year that Missouri, Nevada and Florida were also on the girls’ list.  (The nickname Tennie, on the other hand, reigned for more than forty years.)

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Celebrity baby names can reflect or even launch naming trends in the general population.  Here, some of the hottest celebrity baby names and trends we see heating up right now:

Babies Named After Heavenly Bodies, Objects, And/Or Beings –

SERAPHINA – Ben and Jen

MARS – Erykah Badu

LUNA – Constance Marie

Stella LUNA – Ellen Pompeo

Scarlet – Melanie Chisholm & Thomas Starr

CIEL (French for sky) – Niki Taylor

Aven ANGELICA – Matthew Settle

Journey JETT – Jenna Jameson

JETT Hamilton – Jill Scott

Petal Blossom RAINBOW – Jamie Oliver

Babies with Animal Names

BIRDIE West – Maura West

SPARROW James Midnight – Nicole Richie and Joel Madden

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The celebrity baby-naming year got off to an exciting start with the birth of Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck’s second daughter, whose name remained a mystery for more than a week.

When it was finally announced, it was so surprising and lovely that it made the long wait worthwhile: SERAPHINA ROSE ELIZABETH, a shoo-in for one of the Best Celebrity Baby Names of the year.

Our other nominees for Best Celebrity Baby Girl Name:

MABEL PAINTER – Chad Lowe’s little girl’s name is a charming, quirky vintage choice, with an original artistic middle name from the hot occupational genre.

HELENA GRACE – The classic Helena is a name just emerging from the attic, chosen by Gossip Girl’s Kelly Rutherford.  Its originality makes up for the lovely yet somewhat standard-issue Grace in the middle place.

PALOMA LOUISE – Ana Ortiz chose this exotic-yet-familiar name for her daughter, with the original Louise, tres chic in Paris, in the middle.

PHOEBE MARGARET – Phoebe is a mythological and biblical name that’s newly finding favor, chosen for her newborn daughter by Julianne Nicholson.

For boys, our nominees for Best Name are:

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As reported in the not always reliable Star magazine, Nicole Richie, mother of Harlow Winter Kate, has at the top of her list of names for her baby-to-be Baron, inspired by Donald Trump’s little Barron.  (Her other two published possibilities being Kypher and Martavious, about which I’ll restrain my comments).  This is the latest evidence of a disturbing trendlet among celebs–Hollywood royalty taking their status literally and bestowing noble titles on their offspring.

So who are these little peers and peeresses of the realm?

At the top of the ranks would be King.  Discounting Kingston Rossdale, whose nickname might be King, there is the son of rapper Jayceon (The Game) Taylor. Since The Game’s other nicknames include The California King and King of the West, what could be more logical than to have named his second son King Justice?

Next in line to the throne would be a Prince.  Michael Jackson liked the idea of starting a royal line so much that he named both his sons Prince Michael Jackson–I born in 1997 and II (aka Blanket) in 2002. Not to be outdone, British model Katie Price (aka Jordan) and pop star husband Peter Andre called their little princess Princess (“Princess because she is our little princess”) Tiaamii, with Mum expressing ing her intention of commemorating the regal birth by getting a Princess and crown tattoo on her neck.

Both Diane Keaton and Justine Bateman have sons named Duke, but somehow this name doesn’t project the same air of entitlement or pretension to royalty the others do, probably because Duke has long been used as a laid-back nickname name, and because it was so much associated with anything-but-aristocratic John Wayne–who got his nickname from  the family dog  that used to follow him around: the dog was known as “Big Duke” and young Marion Morrison as “Little Duke.”

A couple of celebs have used variations on the title Marquis.  Rapper 50 Cent chose the Marquise version; David Caruso used Marquez–the surname of his son’s mother.

Though the British don’t have the rank of Count (it’s equivalent to an earl, and somehow My Name is Earl doesn’t have much of a royal ring)–show biz does. Never one to hide his light under a bushel, Danny Bonaduce has a son named Count Dante Jean-Michel Valentine and a daughter called Countess Isabella Michaela.

How much have other parents been picking up on this noble-name trend?   Well, King, Prince, Princess, Baron, and three different spellings of Marquis are all on the current popularity list, but pretty near the bottom, each with under 500 anointed babies nationwide.  And, personally–it would be fine with me if they didn’t rise any higher.

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