Click here for the Top 200 Baby Names of 2011

What are the hottest new baby names this year? Based on an analysis of over 23 million page views at Nameberry since January, we’ve pegged these choices as the Hottest Names of 2011.

It’s a surprising list, driven by unexpected celebrities, rediscovered classics, and the year’s most compelling events.

Nameberry’s Hottest Baby Names of 2011:

Pippa – It wasn’t only Pippa Middleton’s bottom that attracted widespread attention at the Royal Wedding; her name – both the familiar Pippa and the more formal Philippa – is the Number 1 hottest baby name of the year on Nameberry. Pippa ranks 35 on our most-searched list so far this year and did not appear at all among the 200 most popular girls’ names of 2010. While Kate is up too, it’s not nearly as hot.

Asher – The soft, Biblical Asher takes the Hottest Boys’ Name spot by virtue of having unseated Henry as the all-time Number 1 name for boys on Nameberry. For the first time in 2011, Asher has pulled ahead.

Elula – New celebrity baby name trend: Parents choose attention-getting name, then refuse to reveal the name they’ve picked, perhaps to heighten interest and publicity? This unusual choice of Isla Fisher and Sasha Baron Cohen for their second daughter was not even in our database last year – it’s a name drawn from the Hebrew calendar — and now is the Number 38 most-searched name on Nameberry.

Read More

Click here for lots more cool names.

Yesterday we brought you our picks for best cool unusual girls’ names; today we look at the best 100 cool unusual boys’ names from the master list of names given to 25 or fewer babies last year.

Our criteria: We tried to pull out names that have genuine roots, that are attractive, and that work in the modern world.  True name nerds or obsessive name searchers can go to comb through thousands of unusual boys’ names from the entire file of all the names used every year stretching back to 1880.

Here’s our list of Top 100 unusual boys’ names:

1. AHMET
2. AMIAS
3. AZAIAH
4. BALTHAZAR
5. BARNABAS
6. BAY
7. BIRCH
8. BRANCH
9. BRECCAN
10. BRICK
11. CALIX
12. CALLOWAY

Read More