Several months ago, the cast of the inaugural season of MTV’s The Real World held a 6-day reunion in the very same NYC loft they shared back in 1992. The reunion — which was filmed, of course — is now airing as a series on the Paramount+ platform. (Here’s the trailer.)
When I was a teenager, I loved watching The Real World. (And I appreciated that the names of the cast members were always prominently displayed in the opening credits!) So I think now would be a great time to go back and see if any Real World cast member names had an influence on U.S. baby names.
First, let’s start with a comprehensive list of all the cast member names from each of RW‘s 33 (!) seasons…
- The Real World: New York (1992): Andre, Becky, Eric, Heather, Julie, Kevin, Norman
- The Real World: California (1993): Aaron, Beth (x2), David, Dominic, Glen, Irene, Jon, Tami
- The Real World: San Francisco (1994): Cory, Jo, Judd, Mohammed, Pam, Pedro, Puck, Rachel
- The Real World: London (1995): Jacinda, Jay, Kat, Lars, Mike, Neil, Sharon
- The Real World: Miami (1996): Cynthia, Dan, Flora, Joe, Melissa, Mike, Sarah
- The Real World: Boston (1997): Elka, Genesis, Jason, Kameelah, Montana, Sean, Syrus
- The Real World: Seattle (1998): David, Irene, Janet, Lindsay, Nathan, Rebecca, Stephen
- The Real World: Hawaii (1999): Amaya, Colin, Justin, Kaia, Matt, Ruthie, Teck
- The Real World: New Orleans (2000): Danny, David, Jamie, Julie, Kelley, Matt, Melissa
- The Real World: Back to New York (2001): Coral, Kevin, Lori, Malik, Mike, Nicole, Rachel
- The Real World: Chicago (2002): Aneesa, Cara, Chris, Keri, Kyle, Theo, Tonya
- The Real World: Las Vegas (2002-2003): Alton, Arissa, Brynn, Frank, Irulan, Steven, Trishelle
- The Real World: Paris (2003): Ace, Adam, Chris, Christina, Leah, Mallory, Simon
- The Real World: San Diego (2004): Brad, Cameran, Charlie, Frankie, Jacquese, Jamie, Randy, Robin
- The Real World: Philadelphia (2004-2005): Karamo, Landon, Melanie, M.J., Sarah, Shavonda, Willie
- The Real World: Austin (2005): Danny, Johanna, Lacey, Melinda, Nehemiah, Rachel, Wes
- The Real World: Key West (2006): Janelle, John, Jose, Paula, Svetlana, Tyler, Zach
- The Real World: Denver (2006-2007): Alex, Brooke, Colie, Davis, Jenn, Stephen, Tyrie
- The Real World: Sydney (2007-2008): Ashli, Cohutta, Dunbar, Isaac, KellyAnne, Parisa, Shauvon, Trisha
- The Real World: Hollywood (2008): Brianna, Brittini, Dave, Greg, Joey, Kimberly, Nick, Sarah, Will
- The Real World: Brooklyn (2009): Baya, Chet, Devyn, J.D., Katelynn, Ryan, Sarah, Scott
- The Real World: Cancun (2009): Ayiiia, Bronne, CJ, Derek, Emilee, Jasmine, Joey, Jonna
- The Real World: D.C. (2009-2010): Andrew, Ashley, Callie, Emily, Erika, Josh, Mike, Ty
- The Real World: New Orleans (2010): Ashlee, Eric, Jemmye, McKenzie, Preston, Ryan (x2), Sahar
- The Real World: Las Vegas (2011): Adam, Dustin, Heather (x2), Leroy, Michael, Nany, Naomi
- The Real World: San Diego (2011): Alexandra, Ashley, Frank, Nate, Priscilla, Sam, Zach
- The Real World: St. Thomas (2012): Brandon (x2), LaToya, Laura, Marie, Robb, Trey
- The Real World: Portland (2013): Anastasia, Averey, Jessica, Johnny, Joi, Jordan, Marlon, Nia
- Real World: Ex-Plosion (2014): Arielle, Ashley (x2), Brian, Cory, Hailey, Jamie, Jay, Jenna, Jenny, Lauren, Thomas
- Real World: Skeletons (2014-2015): Bruno, Jason, Madison, Nicole, Sylvia, Tony, Violetta
- Real World: Go Big or Go Home (2016): CeeJai, Chris, Dean, Dione, Dylan, Jenna, Kailah, Sabrina
- Real World Seattle: Bad Blood (2016-2017): Anika, Anna, Jennifer, Jordan, Kassius, Katrina, Kimberly, Mike, Orlana, Peter, Robbie, Theo, Tyara, Will
- The Real World: Atlanta (2019): Arely, Clint, Dondre, Justin, Meagan, Tovah, Yasmin
The names in boldface line up with a discernible increase in baby name usage. (Other Real World names may have affected baby names as well, but it can be hard to tell when, say, a name is already common, or already on the rise.)
Here are details on all the boldfaced names, plus two more influential RW names (from seasons 6 and 18) that didn’t even belong to primary cast members.
- The name Jacinda (from season 4; 1995) saw peak usage in 1996.
- The name Flora (5; 1996) saw increased usage in 1997.
- The name Kameelah (6; 1997) saw increased usage in 1998.
- The name Syrus (6; 1997) saw increased usage in 1997.
- The name Jason (6; 1997) was probably not affected, but the name of Jason’s girlfriend, Timber, saw increased usage in 1998.
- The name Amaya (8; 1999) saw sharply increased usage in 1999 and 2000.
- The name Kaia (8; 1999) saw increased usage in 1999.
- The name Ruthie (8; 1999) saw increased usage in 1999.
- The name Aneesa (11; 2002) saw peak usage in 2002.
- The name Arissa (12; 2002-3) saw peak usage in 2003.
- The name Brynn (12; 2002-3) saw sharply increased usage in 2003.
- The name Irulan (12; 2002-3) debuted in the data in 2003.
- It looks like she was named after the fictional character Princess Irulan from Frank Herbert’s Dune books…?
- The name Trishelle (12; 2002-3) saw peak usage in 2004.
- The name Mallory (13; 2003) saw increased usage in 2003 and 2004.
- The name Cameran (14; 2004) saw peak usage in 2004.
- The name Jacquese (14; 2004) both returned to the data and saw peak usage in 2004.
- The name Johanna (16; 2005) saw increased usage in 2005.
- The name Nehemiah (16; 2005) saw increased usage in 2005 and 2006.
- The name Janelle (17; 2006) saw increased usage in 2006.
- The name Svetlana (17; 2006) saw peak usage in 2007.
- The name Colie (18; 2006-7) both returned to the data and saw peak usage in 2007.
- The name Tyrie (18; 2006-7) saw peak usage in 2007.
- The name of Tyrie’s girlfriend, Jazalle, debuted in 2007 and is a one-hit wonder so far.
- The name Kellyanne (19; 2007-8) returned to the data in 2008.
- The name Baya (21; 2009) saw sharply increased usage in 2009. In fact, Baya was one of the fastest-rising baby names of 2009.
- The name Averey (28; 2013) saw peak usage in 2013.
- The name Kassius (32; 2016-17) saw increased usage in 2017.
Of all the names above, which one(s) do you like most?
And, for all the Real World fans out there: which season(s) do you like most? :)
I like
Jacinda
most, but not for a TV show, it is Jacinda Ahern, Prime Minister of New Zealand instead. She steered her country very well on a NullCovid course through the pandemia, an impressive political performance.
Oh my goodness! Nancy I was literally thinking about emailing you to suggest making a post like this and then stumbled upon this one! I’m a huge RW fan and had crunched these numbers before and thought it was super interesting.
Some more names influenced by the franchise:
Coral from RW10, though her name didn’t spike after her Real World season in 2001, did see increased usage in early 2000s (peak 2004). This coincides with Coral Smith who was a main cast member on the RW/RR Challenges.
Kalle, who was on Road Rules 4, experienced a jump in 1998.
It’s hard to tell, but Roni (Road Rules 5) and Gladys (Road Rules 7) might have had slight increases in 1998 and 1999. May just be natural fluctuations though.
Laterrian (Road Rules 9) debuted in 2000 and stayed on for a few years. Theo (Road Rules 9) saw a jump in 2000.
Jisela (Road Rules 10) saw a jump in 2001 and had a peak the next year.
Kendal (Road Rules 11) saw a jump in 2002.
Abram (Road Rules 12) saw a jump in 2002.
Kina (Road Rules 13) saw a jump in 2005 and peaked in 2006. Ibis (Road Rules 13) peaked in 2005.
If you haven’t done so already – America’s Next Top Model might be fun to look into. There were some fun names on that show and I know a few of them showed up in the data (Jenascia, Jaslene, Norelle, for example).
Bryan, wow! Thank you so much for all this Road Rules research! It’s so cool of you to share it with me. :)
Yes, I agree, ANTM names will definitely be a post topic one day soon — Naima, CariDee, Saleisha, and all the rest!