Happy Birthday, Britney Spears!
And you guys know what happens every year on Brit’s birthday…we kick off the annual Pop Culture Baby Name Game!
Which baby names have become more popular in 2012, thanks to popular culture?
We won’t have definitive answers until the SSA releases its next batch of data (in mid-2013). But 2012 is almost over, so we have all the information we need to start making guesses.
Some possibilities I’ve already blogged about:
- Anastasia, Grey – Fifty Shades of Grey
- Arrietty – The Secret World of Arrietty
- Avila, Hildegard – St. John of Avila and St. Hildegard of Bingen
- Azealia – Azealia Banks
- Carly, or Carly Rae – Carly Rae Jepsen
- Dev, Lovely – “Dev”
- Django – Django Unchained
- Essined, Lidislay – “Nuestra Belleza Latina”
- Felix – daredevil Felix Baumgartner
- Kateri – St. Kateri Tekakwitha
- Katniss – Hunger Games
- Lorenzo, Dominic – Snooki’s son Lorenzo Dominic
- Merida – Brave
- Olive – Drew Barrymore’s daughter Olive
- Penelope – Kourtney Kardashian’s daughter Penelope
- Renesmee – Twilight
- Sparkle, Tika – Sparkle
- Tennessee – Reese Witherspoon’s son Tennessee
- Toby – “Good Luck Charlie”
- Trayvon – Trayvon Martin
Plus a few I forgot to blog about:
- Blue, Ivy – Beyonce and Jay-Z’s daughter Blue Ivy, born way back in January. (Only 7 girls and 11 boys were named Blue in 2011. I have a feeling both of these numbers will be going up.)
- Maxwell (for a girl) – Jessica Simpson’s daughter Maxwell, born in May.
- Mitt, Romney – Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney
Want to play? Leave a comment with your name predictions and the pop culture event(s) you think gave those names a boost this year.
UPDATE, May 2013: Here are the results!