Author: Nancy Man

It’s hard to put into words just how bizarre 2020 was.

Despite this…people still had babies in 2020, and people still paid attention to pop culture in 2020. (In fact, thanks to quarantine, many people probably paid a lot more attention to pop culture than usual last year.) So, let’s put the seriousness of 2020 aside for a second and kick off the annual Pop Culture Baby Name Game!

Of course, “pop culture” includes not just things like movies and music and social media, but also anything that was in the news — including COVID-19, Black Lives Matter, and the U.S. presidential election.

Which baby names will see higher usage — or appear for the very first time — in the 2020 SSA baby name data thanks to pop culture?

Here are some initial ideas (plus some context):

• Aalam, DJ Khaled’s baby
• Ahmaud, shooting of Ahmaud Arbery
• Amala, Doja Cat album
• Azula, character from Avatar: The Last Airbender (made available on Netflix in mid-2020)
• Breonna, shooting of Breonna Taylor
• Bryant, death of Kobe Bryant
• Casme, contestant on season 19 of The Voice
• Catori, Chris Brown’s baby (suggested by alex)
• Chadwick, death of Chadwick Boseman
• Charli, singer Charli XCX
• Corona, coronavirus
  • Not to mention the brand new Daddy Yankee song “Corona” [vid]…
• Crozier, naval captain Brett Crozier (suggested by elbowin)
• Daisy, Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom’s baby
• Desz, contestant on season 19 of The Voice
• Doja, singer Doja Cat
• Domhnall, Irish actor on (canceled) HBO series Run
• Dua, singer Dua Lipa
• Esty, character on the Netflix miniseries Unorthodox
• George, killing of George Floyd
• Gianna, death of Gianna Bryant
• Greta, Swedish activist Greta Thunberg
• Isaias, hurricane
• Jack, death of Chrissy Teigen and John Legend’s unborn baby
• Kamala, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris
• Kamiyah, character in the Lifetime movie Stolen by My Mother: The Kamiyah Mobley Story*
• Kaori, Kevin Hart’s baby
• Katara, character from Avatar: The Last Airbender
• Kobe, death of Kobe Bryant
• Kraken, NHL expansion team (Seattle)
• Larriah, contestant on season 19 of The Voice
• Laura, hurricane
• Lenin, Starbucks barista Lenin Gutierrez (suggested by elbowin)
• Liberty, Meghan McCain’s baby
• Lovella, singer Matt Bellamy’s baby
• Lynika, death of Lynika Strozier (suggested by elbowin)
• Lyra, Ed Sheeran’s baby
• McGivney, beatification of Fr. Michael McGivney
• Neowise, comet (suggested by elbowin)
• Onyx, Iggy Azalea’s baby
• Raddix, Cameron Diaz and Benji Madden’s baby
• Rayshard, shooting of Rayshard Brooks
• River, Joaquin Phoenix and Rooney Mara’s baby
• Robinette, President-elect Joseph Robinette Biden (suggested by elbowin)
• Rona, coronavirus
• Rue, Teyana Taylor and Iman Shumpert’s baby
• Rumble, model Lucky Blue Smith’s baby
• Ruth, death of RBG
• Sovereign, Usher’s baby
• Tchalla, death of Chadwick Boseman (who played T’Challa in 2018’s Black Panther)
• Wenliang, Chinese doctor Li Wenliang (suggested by elbowin)
• Willa, Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner’s baby
• Win, Ciara and Russell Wilson’s baby
• Yara, actress Yara Shahidi
• Zuko, character from Avatar: The Last Airbender

Some of the names from the 2019 game could be applicable to the 2020 data as well.

Also, feel free to zoom out and consider name trends this year. Here are a few ways in which baby-naming may have been influenced by our collective experience of COVID-19, for instance:

• “In my opinion this unprecedented situation will affect naming towards something “bolder” or “more badass” baby names and so you’ll probably see a spike of certain names like King, Major or Royal.” (Gheba)
• “I’d bet on the rise of virtue names, or at least modern version of virtue names, like Brave/Bravery, Courage, Honor, etc. And I’d say names like Legend, Messiah, Legacy, Major, King, will probably rise some more too.” (Skizzo)
• “I think it will also affect which media influence names this year. Eg we’ll miss out on names inspired by Olympic athletes, but might see even more from Netflix and YouTube.” (Clare)

What other names (or name trends) should we add to the list? Let me know by leaving a comment below. Just remember to make a note of the pop culture influence!

I’ll post the results as soon as I can after the SSA releases the 2020 data (in May of 2021, hopefully).

*Did you know that the actress who played Kamiyah in that Lifetime movie is named Rayven Symone Ferrell? Certainly a nod to Raven-Symoné…