Every year, one of the world’s largest parenting sites, BabyCenter, releases a list of the most popular baby names of the year, and after collecting data from more than 742,000 parents, tells us what they’ve noticed as the biggest naming trends of the year.
In 2018, the lists for boys and girls looks like this:
Sophia is number one for the ninth year in a row for girls, and Jackson holds his top position for the sixth year. Oliver and Layla are both new entrants in the top 10, removing Logan and Zoe.
Everly, Isla, Leo, and Carson were the fastest climbing names of the year.
Here are the top emerging trends which BabyCenter noticed in their data.
Names inspired by Fortnite.
Yes, Fortnite - the online game, which this year became a cultural phenomenon, with more than 125 million players worldwide. So it was inevitable parents would be influenced by it.
For example, Ramirez - a soldier character in the game - increased in popularity by 57 per cent. BabyCenter also found the names of the "skins" used to costume players were also popular: Leviathan is up from 46 per cent for boys, Bunny increased by 30 per cent for girls, and Rogue, 47 per cent for girls and 21 per cent for boys.
Even the professional Fortnite player Dakotaz's name featured on the list, and increased by 13 per cent for girls and 6 per cent for boys, from the previous year.
The Kardashians.
The Kardashian/Jenner family has been influencing baby names ever since North was born to Kim and Kanye in 2013. This year, there was a lot of baby action, with the births of Stormi (Kylie), True (Khloe), Dream (Rob) and Chicago (Kim).
This saw the name Stormi rise by 63 per cent, and Dream, by 42 per cent. The name Nori (the nickname of Kim's eldest daughter North) increased by 14 per cent amongst girls.
Kim and Kanye's son Saint increased by 42 per cent. Reign, Kourtney's third child, went up by 27 per cent.
A little alarmingly, the name Kanye rose by 22 per cent. Kim also rose by 19 per cent.
Names you can eat.
BabyCenter also noticed food-related names emerged as a trend in 2018. For example, Kale rose by 35 per cent, Kiwi by 40 per cent, and Maple by 32 per cent.
Herbs and spices also increased in popularity: Saffron increased by 31 per cent, Rosemary by 20 per cent, and Sage by 15 per cent.
Zen names.
In 2018, calming names emerged as an increasingly popular trend. Peace rose by 66 per cent, Harmony by 15 per cent, Rainbow by 26 per cent, and Hope by 10 per cent.
Nature-related names such as Ocean and Sky increased by 31 per cent and 38 per cent respectively.
Top Comments
I thought it odd that Stormi is on the rise: I would have thought that its association with Stephanie Clifford's professional name would have sent it in the reverse direction: maybe it's just a matter of the timing of the survey...
Well, people who would name their child Stormi because Kylie Jenner did it are probably not the same people keeping up with the Stormy Daniels/Donald Trump saga.
Imagine the weddings thirty years from now. “Do you, Leviathan, take Kiwi to be your lawfully wedded wife?”