Category: Trends and Predictions
By Esmeralda Rocha
Each year, the Top 1000 names in the US are given to around 78% of boys and 69% of girls (in 2017 2,798,250 babies received a first name that ranked in the Top 1000).
While there is always a little movement in the Top 10 and Top 100, nearly 90 new names appeared in the Top 1000 last year – making that list a fun way to gauge trends and find hidden or underused gems.
Top picks:
Our favorite dozen names from each list are:
Our hottest baby names are those we see attracting an outsized share of attention from expectant parents, based on number of views of our name pages for the first quarter of 2018 compared with the same period last year.
These hot names may not show up on the popularity lists….yet. Most are unusual, even unique, but hit the right style tone for today.
If you’re looking for a rare, cool name for your baby and want to be ahead of the fashion curve, we recommend these 30 hot choices.
by Sophie Kihm
Sibsets with half-siblings can be tricky. Often there is the desire to create a completely cohesive sibset. But new partners can introduce new tastes and preferences for baby names, so a harmonious posse isn’t always possible.
When it does work out though, it is incredibly satisfying. Stanley Tucci has done a fantastic job blending the name his youngest child (with wife Felicity Blunt) with the names of the children from his first marriage. This is especially impressive considering there is a twelve-year age gap between the two youngest. He and Felicity are set to welcome another little one later this year, and I can’t wait to hear his or her name.
By Pamela Redmond Satran
Can the rise of ancient names for babies be credited to the prominence of Sophia, Amelia, Zoe, and Atticus on international baby name popularity lists?
Or maybe it’s a reaction against all the new names and trends that have mushroomed over the past few decades, from word names to nature names to place names to invented names.
Or maybe it’s the start of a new millennium that makes us consider the cultures of ancient Greece and Rome, or a new interest in names from mythology, or TV shows and movies starring hunky gladiators.
All these influences have undoubtedly helped revive ancient Greek and Roman names for modern girl and boy babies, appearing on birth announcements throughout the Western World.
If you’re looking for a really old name for your new baby, here are some that sound stylish today.
This week’s baby name news includes a new princess, moon-inspired names, trends in Finland, and the merits of popular vs unusual names.
Welcome, Princess Adrienne!
There’s a new royal baby in Europe! No, not that royal baby. This week Princess Madeleine of Sweden and her husband Christopher O’Neill welcomed their daughter Adrienne Josephine Alice. While her name isn’t distinctively Scandinavian, it has a classic pan-European style – which is what we’d expect for Leonore and Nicolas’s little sister (all shown).
Her middle names come from the royal side of her family, and the word is that Adrienne is a name her parents just liked. In the US, Adrienne is languishing in the 800s, but it might appeal to parents who can’t choose between Audrey and Vivienne.
Meanwhile in the UK, royal baby name speculation continues. The latest sensible weigh-up of the possibilities (so not the bookmakers’ odds) comes from Nameberry’s Abby: check out her guesses for a prince or a princess.
