One of the most fun things about running nameberry, as opposed to being a visitor, is that you get to peer behind the scenes and see which names people are actually searching for.  Some of the most visited names on nameberry are ones you’d expect: Ava and Aidan, Lucy and Logan.  And then there are the stylish nameberry favorites as detailed in a recent blog: Beatrix, Penelope, Atticus.

But a bit further down on the list, we’re noticing less expected names that our visitors seem to be inordinately curious about.  These are the choices that are not on any popularity list – not even a sophisticated, fashion-forward one like nameberry’s – yet are attracting more than their share of attention.

Our conclusion?  These are names to watch.  It may be only the more adventurous baby namers who are actually using them at the moment, but we predict that in a decade, most will feel more familiar – perhaps way more familiar – than they do now.

These names of the future include:

Girls

ANAIS

ANASTASIA

ANNABEL

ANWEN

ARDEN

(more…)

Beyond Ava & Aiden hits the bookstores today,  the first complete all-new edition of our landmark book, Beyond Jennifer & Jason, totally revised from beginning to end, with a brand new title and lots of brand new features.

Like what?  To recapture the freshness, lightness, humor and user-friendliness of the original, we went back to our basic four-part structure of Style, Image, Sex and Tradition.  Out went the Popularity section, since so much of that information is now accessible instantly online.

We’ve added fresh advice and approaches to the challenges of naming a daughter and naming a son, new categories like Green Names, Powerboys and Metrodudes, Baby Gods and Goddesses, and Mixed-Marriage Names–hundreds of the kind of subjective lists we invented, pointing out not only current trends, but where they come from and where they’re going.

Finding the right name for our baby was a major challenge.  (The naming of The Baby Name Bible had been such a torturous process that we documented our struggle in an article in Publishers Weekly magazine.

We knew it was time to let go of our original title, since Jennifer and Jason are now the parents of the new generation of babies.  But which alliterative pairing to choose?  Among the many considered and rejected: Beyond Emily & Ethan, Beyond Addison & Aiden, Beyond Adam & Eva, Beyond Jayden & Jada, Beyond Miley & Max.

And then the latest popularity lists decided for us, with Ava and Aiden pulling ahead of all their trendy compatriots to become the Jennifer and Jason of today.

We can’t wait to hear what you think of the result.  And to give you more of a taste of what’s in the new book, we’ll be  posting excerpts every Friday through the summer, starting this week.

There’s a lively discussion going on over at our message boards on what names have gone out of style and will probably never come back.  On the permanent Out List, by consensus, are:

BERTHA

BEULAH

BRUNHILDA (was this ever in, I mean since the 11th century?)

CLORIS

DORCAS

DORIS

EUNICE

GAY

HESTER

HILDA

HORTENSE — Enjoys the shortest entry in The Baby Name Bible: “No.”

IRMA

RHODA

SELMA

VERNA

boys

CLETUS

DWAYNE (This reminds me of a very funny line from the Pioneer Woman: “I didn’t even know his name; I just hoped it wasn’t Dwayne.”)

EBENEZER

HORTON

HUBERT

LEROY

MORRIS

NORBERT

WILBUR

We’re with you so far, name lovers, and can even understand why you disagree on whether some choices belong on the Out-Forever List.  One person sees Gertrude as cute, like little Drew Barrymore in ET, while another says it reminds her forever of the word girdle.  Myrtle is fresh and flower-like to one visitor, terminally dowdy to another.  And Grover is adorable to one message boardie, doomed to Sesame Street purgatory by another.

And Linda! ?! Let’s not even go there.

We’ve learned the hard way that there are very few names you can categorically declare out of style forever.  Today’s Shirley — terminally dated name — is tomorrow’s Ida or Arthur: born-again hottie.

Here some names that we once declared dead forever (or forever-ish) only to see them rise again.

girls

AUGUSTA

ESTELLE

ESTHER

FLORENCE

FRIEDA

IDA

LENORE

MILDRED

MURIEL

PEARL

VERA

ZELDA

boys

BERNARD

EDGAR

EDWIN

ERNEST

FRANKLIN

HARVEY

JULIUS

MARTIN

RAYMOND

VICTOR

VINCENT

WARREN

WOLFGANG

Are there any besides the ones already identified by the message board devotees that we’d still call as out forever?  Gladys.  Myrna.  Phyllis, Shirley, Wanda.  Arnold and Dewey, Egbert and Elmer, Hyman and Melvin.  Which I guess pretty much guarantees that they’ll come back into style any day now.

One of nameberry’s hidden wonders is its lists of names that peaked in every year from 1880 to 2007, the most recent one counted.  These lists, created by our brilliant yet anonymous (ironic, huh?) software engineer, give a snapshot not of the most popular but of the trendiest names at any given moment.

It’s possible to look at the peaking names and their variations to pinpoint trends current and future.  Some directions evident in the 2007 list include:

THE AD NAMES

In 2007, we see the peak of Addison: no surprise there.  Also peaking are Addisyn, Addyson, Adison, and Adyson.  A little further removed are Adalyn and Adelyn.  And from there it’s only a quick hop to Adrian and Adriel (and not such a stretch to include all the Aidens in this group).   Look for other Ad- names to follow: Ada, Adelaide, Adelia, Adeline, Adair.  Adolph, not so much.

THE EL NAMES

Heirs of Ellen and Elliot, we see Elias peaking for boys.  And the much longer girls’ list includes Elaina, Eliana, Elle, and Ellie.

THE DOUBLE L NAMES

Girls’ names with the lovely two-l sound peaking in 2007 include Layla and leyla,, Leilani, Lilah, Liliana in various spellings, plus Lily herself.  Lorelai and Lyla are also at their peak.

THE SOFT G NAMES

Two attractive celebrities, supermodel Gisele Bundchen and chef Giada De Laurentis, might be behind this trend. The most popular of this Latinate group is Gianna, but also included are Giana, Giuliana, and Giselle, plus Giovani and Giovanni for boys.  On deck: Gia and Giulia?

THE JAY NAMES

Every spelling you can imagine (well, maybe not every, but a lot of them) of Jayden, Jaylyn, and Jayda peaked in ’07.  This is one set of peaks due to begin its descent.

THE RY NAMES

Riley (or Rylee) started this trend, which now includes the peaking Ryder, Ryker, Rylan, Ryland, and Ryleigh.

SPIRITUAL NAMES: HEAVEN and EARTHLY

Spiritual names at their peak include Deacon, Genesis, Journey, Harmony, Haven, Messiah, Miracle, and Nevaeh, Serenity, Sincere, and Zion.  But on a less heavenly note, 2007 also saw the ascendance of Cannon, Gunner, and Maverick.

CELEBRITY INSPIRED NAMES PEAKING in 2007 include Audrina, Gael, Jolie, Kelis, Kimora, Leonardo, Maddox, Malia, Marley, Miley, Peyton, Presley, Reese, Rihanna, Scarlett, Shiloh, Sienna, and Tatum.

Coming up tomorrow: Names you’ll be hearing a lot more of.

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.