Here are the results of Pop Culture Baby Name Game 2017!
To streamline the results post this year, I didn’t include detailed descriptions of the pop culture influences. For the specifics, just click the above link.
On to the names!
Rises
Baby names that saw increased usage from 2016 to 2017.
- Logan (movie), +2,748 baby boys (also +248 baby girls)
- Dream (celebrity baby), +198 baby girls (also +22 baby boys)
- Maren (music), +172 baby girls
- Amaya (tv), +133 baby girls
- Alessia (music), +129 baby girls
- Winston (movie), +129 baby boys
- Renata (tv), +107 baby girls
- Callum (movie), +79 baby boys
- Harvey (event/news), +76 baby boys
- Asahd (celebrity baby), +58 baby boys (the top debut name for boys in ’17)
- Brennley (tv), re-entered the data with 56 baby girls
- Kenzo (celebrity baby), +55 baby boys
- Ivanka (politics), +52 baby girls
- Sunny (event), +52 baby girls (but -12 baby boys)
- Hayes (celebrity baby), +46 baby boys (also +42 baby girls)
- Barron (politics), +40 baby boys (and Baron rose as well)
- Kensli (celebrity baby), +39 baby girls
- Poppy (music/movie), +39 baby girls
- Kamaiyah (music), +34 baby girls
- Tala (tv), +33 baby girls
- Sally (news), +32 baby girls
- Chosen (celebrity baby), +30 baby boys (also +15 baby girls)
- Jones (celebrity baby), +28 baby boys (also +5 baby girls)
- Tommy (movie), +23 baby boys
- Solana (music), +20 baby girls
- Mika (tv), +17 baby girls
- Eissa (celebrity baby), +16 baby boys
- Moon (event), +15 baby girls
- Valkyrie (movie), +15 baby girls
- Zaya (movie), +15 baby girls
- Kelsea (music), +12 baby girls
- Shadow (tv), +11 baby boys (also +4 baby girls)
- Grover (tv), +10 baby boys
- Halley (tv), +10 baby girls
- Bear (celebrity baby), +9 baby boys
- Gal (movie), +9 baby girls
- Jyn (movie), debuted in the data with 9 baby girls
- Eleven (tv), debuted in the data with 7 baby girls
- Thor (movie), +7 baby boys
- Hela (movie), +6 baby girls
- Lyric (celebrity baby), +6 baby boys (but -77 baby girls)
- Sturgill (music), debuted in the data with 6 baby boys
- Zari (tv), +6 baby girls
- Eclipse (event), debuted in the data with 5 baby girls
- Eniko (celebrity spouse), debuted in the data with 5 baby girls
- Poe (movie), +4 baby boys
- Sir (celebrity baby), +4 baby boys
- Dory (movie), +2 baby boys
- Sire (celebrity baby), +2 baby boys
Same
Baby names that saw no movement from 2016 to 2017.
- Revel (celebrity baby), no movement as a boy name
- Rumi (celebrity baby), no movement as a girl name
- Sovereign (celebrity baby), no movement as a girl name
- Merlyn (tv), no movement as a boy name
Falls
Baby names that saw decreased usage from 2016 to 2017.
- Chance (music), -1 baby boy
- Irma (event), -1 baby girl
- Via (tv), -1 baby girl
- Gypsy (tv), -2 baby girls
- Julien as a girl name (music), -3 baby girls
- Loki (movie), -3 baby boys
- Lux (tv), -3 baby boys
- Soleil (event), -4 baby girls
- J’onn (tv), dropped out of the data
- Ned (movie), -5 baby boys
- Saoirse (movie), -5 baby girls
- Topaz (movie), dropped out of the data
- Jacinda (news), -8 baby girls
- Bea (rumored celebrity baby), -10 baby girls
- Moxie (book), -13 baby girls
- Gareth (movie), -16 baby boys
- Shayla (internet), -30 baby girls
- Fatima (news), -33 baby girls
- Kendrick (music), -54 baby boys
- Shawn (rumored celebrity baby), -121 baby boys
- Carter (celebrity baby), -415 baby boys (also -103 baby girls)
Absent
Baby names that were not in the SSA data in either 2016 or 2017.
Amilyn, Antiope, Asperitas, Bilquis, Bixby, Cardi, Creeley, Darci Lynne, Fenty, Gravity, Issa Rae, Jumanji, Kygo, Ladybird, Laureline, Libratus, Mahershala, Maisel, Midge, Ovince, Pence, Ragnarok, Saffie, Sonequa, Strummer, Sza, Tenney, Themyscira, Tommen, Totality, Trump, Valerian, Wiseau, Yulin, Zelle
Reactions
Some initial reactions…
I was so surprised that Rumi saw no upward movement as a girl name. Remi is rising fast, Rooney is inching upward, and then Rumi — a name that sounds like a mix between the two — gets the stamp of approval from Queen Bey herself. And still it doesn’t budge. I’m scratching my head over this one.
I’m always fascinated to see how name usage is influenced by events/people that are perceived as negative. Sometimes the associations drag them down, but sometimes the mere exposure lifts them up. In the case of Harvey, we had not one but two negative things: a destructive storm and a sexual predator. And yet, the name continued to rise.
It was neat to see Eclipse debut in the data. We already knew that a few babies got the name thanks to the news, but apparently there were a few more–just enough to nudge the name up to that 5-baby threshold. I wonder how much the August solar eclipse contributed to the rise of the names Luna, Moon, and Shadow in 2017.
How about you? Did the movement (or non-movement) of any of these names surprise you?
[Disclaimer: Some of the names above were already moving in the direction indicated, and some were no doubt influenced by more than a single pop culture person/event. I leave it up to you to judge the degree/nature of pop culture influence in each case.]
