It’s time for the annual Pop Culture Baby Name Game!
This year we’re kicking things off January 8th, the birthday of Elvis Presley! (He was born in 1935 and would have been 83 today.)
So how do you play the game? Just brainstorm for baby names that could have gotten a boost in usage in 2017 thanks to the influence popular culture: movies, music, television, social media, video games, sports, politics, products, trends, and so forth.
Here are the names we’ve come up with so far:
- Amilyn – movie Star Wars: The Last Jedi (stolen from Abby)
- Antiope – movie Wonder Woman
- Asahd – son of DJ Khaled (suggested by alex)
- Asperitas – a new type of cloud (suggested by elbowin)
- Bea – rumored Beyoncé baby name
- Bear – son of Liam Payne
- Bilquis – TV show American Gods
- Callum – move Assassin’s Creed
- Cardi – rapper Cardi B
- Carter – son of Beyoncé and Jay-Z (suggested by elbowin)
- Chance – Chance The Rapper
- Creeley – TV show Damnation
- Darci Lynne – winner of America’s Got Talent
- Eclipse – August solar eclipse
- Eissa – son of Janet Jackson
- Eleven – TV show Stranger Things
- Fatima – 100th anniversary of Marian apparitions
- Fenty – Rihanna’s company Fenty Beauty
- Gal – actress Gal Godot
- Gravity – daughter of fashion models Lucky Blue Smith (male) and Stormi Bree (female)
- Grover – fictional baby born on TV show Girls
- Halley – fictional baby born on TV show Big Bang Theory
- Harvey – hurricane
- Hela – movie Thor: Ragnarok
- Irma – hurricane
- Issa Rae – actress Issa Rae
- Jacinda – New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern
- Jumanji – movie Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle
- Jyn – movie Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
- Kelsea – singer Kelsea Ballerini
- Kendrick – rapper Kendrick Lamar
- Kensli – daughter of Chance the Rapper (suggested by alex)
- Kenzo – son of Kevin Hart
- Laureline – movie Valerian
- Libratus – artificial intelligence (suggested by elbowin)
- Mahershala – actor Mahershala Ali
- Maren – singer Maren Morris
- Mika – news presenter Mika Brzezinski (suggested by alex)
- Ovince – MMA competitor Ovince Saint Preux
- Poppy – singer Poppy; movie Trolls
- Ragnarok – movie Thor: Ragnarok
- Revel – son of actors Matthew and Renee Morrison
- Rumi – daughter of Beyoncé and Jay-Z
- Saffie – victim of Manchester bombing (suggested by elbowin)
- Sally – former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates
- Saoirse – actress Saoirse Ronan
- Shadow – TV show American Gods
- Shawn – rumored Beyoncé baby name
- Shayla – beauty influencer Shayla Mitchell
- Sir – son of Beyoncé and Jay-Z
- Sonequa – actress Sonequa Martin-Green
- Sovereign – daughter of Cam Newton
- Strummer – son of Julia Stiles
- Sturgill – musician Sturgill Simpson
- Sza – singer SZA
- Tenney – doll/character Tenney Grant (full name: “Tennyson Evangeline”)
- Totality – August solar eclipse
- Valerian – movie Valerian
- Valkyrie – movie Thor: Ragnarok
- Yulin – San Juan mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz (suggested by elbowin)
- Zaya – movie Gods of Egypt (stolen from Maybe it is Daijir?)
- Zelle – payment app
Have any additions to make? Comment below! Just don’t forget to mention the pop culture influence.
The SSA will release the next batch of baby name data in May, so I will post the results to the game a few days after that 2017 data becomes available.
If you don’t want to miss the results post, please subscribe to NBN by entering your email address into the “Get New Posts via Email” form in the sidebar.
P.S. Have some ideas for 2018? Comment with those too — I’ll add them to next year’s game. One addition I just made: Grayson, for the winter storm. (Here’s a Massachusetts baby named Grayson, and a Maine baby possibly named Grayson.)
