Every year on Britney Spears’s birthday (December 2) we start another round of the annual Pop Culture Baby Name Game.
What is the Pop Culture Baby Name Game, you ask? Good question! It’s not a “game” really, but more of a group brainstorm. We try to guess which baby names became more popular during the year thanks to pop culture — music, movies, television, sports, politics, current events, products, etc.
I’ve searched for all the 2013 predictions we’ve made so far (in posts & comments) and listed them below. I also threw in a few more possibilities — mostly celebrity baby names. So here’s what we’re starting with:
- Ace – Jessica Simpson’s baby boy, born in June
- Armand or Armie – Lone Ranger actor Armand “Armie” Hammer
- Axl – Fergie’s baby boy, born in August
- Bailey (per skizzo) – Grey’s Anatomy baby
- Benedict (per Rita) – Benedict Cumberbatch
- Bilbo (per elbowin) – The Hobbit character
- Cressida or Cressie – Prince Harry’s girlfriend Cressida “Cressie” Bonas
- Cricket – Busy Philipps’s baby girl, born in July
- Cypher – After Earth character
- D’Ussé – Jay Z-endorsed cognac
- Elon – Tesla founder Elon Musk
- Evanora (per skizzo) – Oz the Great and Powerful character
- Everly – Channing Tatum’s baby girl, born in May
- Evo (per elbowin) – Bolivian president Evo Morales
- Fantine – Les Mis character (especially since the Oscars)
- Finley (per skizzo) – Oz the Great and Powerful character
- Francesco, Francis, Francisco – Pope Francis, elected in March
- Gatsby (per skizzo) – movie The Great Gatsby
- George – Kate and William’s royal baby boy, born in July
- Harley (per skizzo) – Iron Man character
- Kitai – After Earth character
- Ladar (per elbowin) – Lavabit owner Ladar Levison
- Lincoln – movie Lincoln
- Lula – Bryan Adams’s baby girl, born in February
- Luna – Penelope Cruz’s baby girl, born in July
- Macklemore – rapper Macklemore
- Malala – young Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai
- Marnie – Lily Allen’s baby girl, born in January
- Milan – Shakira’s baby boy, born in January
- Minaj – singer Nicki Minaj
- Neymar (per Rita) – Brazillian football player Neymar
- North or Nori – Kim Kardashian and Kanye West’s baby girl, born in June
- Philomena – movie Philomena
- Quvenzhané (per Rita) – child actress Quvenzhané Wallis
- Rainbow – Holly Madison’s baby girl, born in March
- Robin (per Rita) – singer Robin Thicke
- Snowden – NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden
- Tesla – Tesla cars
- Tessanne – The Voice
contestantwinner Tessanne Chin - Thatcher (per Rita) – Margaret Thatcher, died in April
- Theodora (per skizzo) – Oz the Great and Powerful character
- Turbo – movie Turbo
- Wendy – Texas politician Wendy Davis
- Winnie – Jimmy Fallon’s baby girl, born in July
- Yeezus or Yeezy – Kanye West album Yeezus
- Zoella – beauty blogger Zoella
Wanna play? Tell me in the comments which baby names you think got a boost from pop culture in 2013. Don’t forget to mention the reason.
I’ll post the results of the game after the SSA updates the national baby name data in May. If you don’t want to miss the results post, subscribe to the blog!
Previous rounds of the Pop Culture Baby Name Game: 2012, 2011 #1, 2011 #2, 2010
I think, Tessanne has the right sound to get a big boost in name frequency.
From the Hunger Games films, I expect a raise for Katniss, Primrose (girls), Finnick (boys) and Gale (unisex, with a slant to boys).
I also think that Levison has some potential as a newcomer name: For the initiated it has a strong meaning, for others it is just a more formal and expanded name with the short form Levi.
Ah, and not to forget Kateri Tekakwitha—her canonisation was in October last year, so a statistical effect may be seen this year.
Argo
Lincoln (girl)
Fantine
Cosette
Tris
Clary
Jace
Harlem
North
Walt
Sansa
Robin
and maybe Trayvon?
Skyler & Jesse – Breaking Bad
Brody – Homeland
Saul – both Breaking Bad and Homeland
Violet – Downton Abbey
(Some TV names that BabyCentre.co.uk says are on the rise, at least over there.)
Finnick or Johanna from Catching Fire. Paul and/or Walker due to the untimely death of Paul Walker.
My favorites are Benedict and Cressida. I don’t have any suggestions for new ones though.
Ender & Petra from Ender’s Game.
Sherlock?
Just noticed that Sherlock was back on the US list in 2012. (This article about Sherlock appearing on the England/Wales list in 2012 is what prompted me to check.)
Recently there have been 2 Sherlock movies (2009, 2011) and 2 Sherlock BBC series (2010, 2012) and more of both are in the works. So maybe more Sherlocks to come?
This also speaks to Rita’s suggestion of Benedict, as Benedict Cumberbatch plays Sherlock in the BBC series.
I think it’s more appropriate for a pet, but I wonder if ” Sleepy Hollow” will shake the puritanical fustiness off of the name Ichabod?
In light of Nelson Mandela’s death today, I predict boosts in the names Nelson, Mandela and Madiba. However, due to it being December already, these names will probably see more of a boost in 2014.
As great as the Run Wendy Run and Stand With Wendy slogans were, I wonder if it will be Davis that gets the boost, instead of Wendy? I imagine today’s new parents probably will think of Wendy as a Grandma’s name.
@Julie – Good point about Davis!
I’m wondering if the massive popularity of the game Candy Crush will cause a small increase in the use of Candy ;)
Disney’s Frozen probably came out too late (November 27) to have any effect, but here are a few possibilities from the film: Elsa, Anna, Kristoff, Arendelle.
(Here’s the popularity graph for Mandela, btw. Notice the spike in 1990, the year he was released from prison.)
How fun!
More ideas:
Nelson — Mandela’s death
Elsa — from Disney’s Frozen
Louis — Prince George’s middle name (+ One Direction member)
Thor
Loki — Thor 2
Miley
Diamond – Rhianna’s hit “Diamonds”
Django
Emmanuelle – Riva, nominated for Best Actress at the Oscars
Pharell – from Blurred Lines & Get Lucky
Ariana – Grande
Corey / Finn — Corey Monteith’s death
Adele — won an Oscar this year
Kimbra — someone that I used to know
Kendall — younger Kardashian sister
John, Kennedy — JFK’s 50th anniversary
Keaira, Tessanne, Keaira, Cilla, Janetza, Tawnya, Cáthia — The Voice Contestants
Llewyn?
From from Coen brothers film Inside Llewyn Davis.
Kendrick?
Hip-hop artist Kendrick Lamar isn’t exactly my cup of tea… but he’s has a Grammy nominee for best new artist and I’ve seen a few Kendricks in local birth announcements.
Here is one for the year 2014—it appears too late this year to become really visible: Tauriel (for girls) from the second film of the Hobbit trilogy.
Oh, weird — I had to look up Tauriel because I don’t remember her from the book. Turns out she wasn’t in the book — she was made-up for the film. I wonder how Tolkien fans will react to that.
Great suggestion, btw. I’ll make a note of it for next year’s game.
Bruno/Mars
Lorde
Roger (Ebert)
Yolo?
Mellie (Scandal)
Marnie (Girls)
Daryl/Michonne(Walking Dead)
Winnie (Jimmy Fallon’s daughter)
Everly/Channing (Tatum)
@Blue Juniper, re: Candy – Apple announced yesterday that the most downloaded free app of 2013 on both iPhones and iPads was Candy Crush Saga.
Maybe Sandy? The hurricane happened fairly late in 2012.
Just posted about Selfie. Is it a possibility?
A few more: Sochi, Messiah, Chrome.
Two more, both for the sinking of the Bounty in the hurricane Sandy:
Claudene (Claudene Christian was on the ship and died in the storm)
Fletcher (Claudene was a descendent of the Bounty mutineer Fletcher Christian).
Fletcher already has taken a big jump upwards in New Zealand.
Random ideas from the Grammys: Royals, Clarity, Zedd, Foxes, Skyfall, Kaskade.
Just heard a pop song that mentioned Dubai, and I checked to see if Dubai has ever been on the SSA list…nope. So I’m throwing this one in there as well.
The results!
Snowden finally reappeared on the charts in 2015.