Newborn names of fame
By REED TUCKER
May 21, 2013
We Americans already take our cues from celebrities when it comes to fashion, food and how not to act when getting arrested (thanks, Reese!), so it makes sense that bold-faced names would also inspire the names of our babies.
The Social Security Administration just released data identifying the most popular names for tykes in 2012, and
the list reads like a particularly sexy day on Page Six, with plenty of Angelinas, Khloes and Scarletts.
“Celebrities do influence names up to a point, as long as the names aren’t so outlandish that it would bring ridicule upon the child,” says Jennifer Moss, founder and CEO of Babynames.com.
Take the name Reese, for example. In 2000, when actress Reese Witherspoon was breaking through in “Election,” it wasn’t even in the top 1,000 nationally. Now Reese is 128th in popularity. Same goes for Blue, the spawn of Jay-Z and Beyoncé born in January 2012. Since the birth, the name has become 51 percent more popular for girls, according to BabyCenter, a site that collected survey data from 450,000 moms of babies born in 2012.
That said, not every celebrity can start a trend. Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin named their daughter Apple in 2004, and that name was later adopted by . . . no one. It never even cracked the top 1,000. Same with Pete Wentz and Ashlee Simpson’s son Bronx. That name is now about as popular as the borough was in the late 1970s.
What the couple should have named their youngster was Brooklyn. The hip borough is now the 29th most popular name for girls in the entire country, due in part to David and Victoria Beckham’s son, born in 1999.
Brooklyn is ridiculously popular in almost every part of the country. It’s 14th in Alabama and 45th in California. About the only place parents aren’t naming their daughters Brooklyn is in the actual borough of Brooklyn. And near it. The name doesn’t land in the top 100 in either New York or New Jersey.
New York resident Scarlett Johansson, on the other hand, is popular around these parts. For girls, Scarlett ranks 69th in New York and 49th in New Jersey.
“Scarlett kind of follows the trend of old-fashioned, turn-of-the-20th-century names for girls that are feminine but are not necessarily diminutive. They don’t end with a ‘y,’ ” says Moss. “Olivia, Scarlett, Charlotte and Emma are very feminine names but are also a little stronger and fit the modern girl.”
Aaliyah is a biblical name, which are always in demand, but it has also jumped in popularity in recent years after the eponymous singer died in 2001. It went from 211th in 2000, to 95th in 2001, to 64th the following year. In New York, it was the 50th most popular girl’s name last year.
While Angelina has dropped slightly in popularity in recent years, it still checks in at 132nd nationally, 54th in New York. A spike might be in the offing, however, thanks to the increasingly burnished profile of actress Angelina Jolie.
“I would predict she’ll be gaining popularity with this recent revelation,” says Paula Motte, a senior editor at BabyCenter, of Jolie’s recent decision to undergo a preventative double mastectomy. “She had some bad press back in the Jennifer Aniston years, but with her ambassador work and the breast cancer [issue], I could see her being viewed as a strong, powerful woman who’d be a good role model.”
Jolie’s son Maddox is also a comer. Before the actress adopted the boy in 2002, his name did not break into the top 1,000. Now it’s up to 167th nationally.
Also evidently viewed as good role models like Jolie: presidents.
“People like political names as long as they admire the person,” Moss says.
Lincoln, for boys, cracks the top 100 in quite a few states, including Idaho (41st), Iowa (53rd) and Maine (78th).
“It’s coming into style,” Moss says. “Lincoln is going to pick up with the popularity of the movie and all these retrospectives.”
It was the 132nd most popular name nationally, up from 610th a decade ago. “Lincoln was becoming celebritized last year,” Motte says.
Oddly, one of the states where there’s less love for the name Lincoln is in Abe’s home state of Illinois. He doesn’t make the top 100 there.
Another Republican is also getting a lot of love with newborns: The Gipper. Reagan, for girls, made the top 100 in many states — just not in New York.
Kennedy, another popular name for girls, didn’t break through locally either. It was 31st in Delaware and 35th in Nebraska but failed to crack the top 100 in New York, New Jersey or Connecticut. Kennedy also, curiously, flunked out in his home state of Massachusetts, failing to make the top 100.
Like presidents, reality stars are also influencing naming trends, God help us all.
Bentley, for boys, was a name that wasn’t even in the top 1,000 before 2007. Now it’s shot up to 75th, due in part to Maci Bookout, one of the contestants — victims? — on MTV’s series “Teen Mom.”
“It’s a brand name like Porsche, but she named her son that, and it shot onto the charts,” Moss says.
America is trying to keep up with the Kardashians, as well. The unusual spelling of Chloe that one of the sisters uses, Khloe, had zero heat before 2006, ranking 905th in that year. Now it’s 55th nationwide and 65th in New York state.
Despite America’s love for reality TV, all may not be lost. Names derived from literature are on the rise, as well.
Arya, one of the characters from “Game of Thrones,” shot up 298 places on the list between 2011 and 2012 to land at 413.
Next year’s list is likely to have one hot mover. Expect whatever name William and Kate choose for their royal heir to make huge gains in popularity. Fingers crossed it’s Daenerys.
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And then there's the ever-popular SyPhyllis and GonnOrhea.
