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Top baby name trends for 2012
Wondering why some names will win out over others next year? Here are the top name trends for 2012
Every year baby name experts gather stats and figures to determine which names will likely come out on top. And what have they found this year? While names like Scarlett continue to rise steadily, other names, like Madison, are in steep decline.
Read on to find out which trends will determine the names you’ll hear parents calling in the playground in 2012.
What was old is new again
Some names just never go out of style, and research shows old-fashioned names tend to remain relatively popular each year. According to Jennifer Moss, founder and CEO of babynames.com, biblical names (think Ethan, Noah and Benjamin) will wind up on many parents’ lists this year, especially for boys; as well as time-honoured Celtic names (like Liam, Declan and Owen). Something more commonly traditional will top a lot of lists for girls’ names. Look for a rise in names like Charlotte, Sophia and Amelia.
Game boy
Alright, so it’s not like we’ll have a bunch of little Donkey Kongs or Princess Peaches running around our daycares (or, at least we hope not), but where favourite literary or film characters once heavily influenced parents, a surprising new trend will pop up in 2012. “Even bigger than music or movies, video games are becoming more and more a part of adult popular culture,” says Laura Wattenberg, author and creator of babynamewizard.com. “For example, Raiden from Mortal Kombat can be an alternative to popular names like Aidan and Hayden.” This could prove a more than suitable substitute, especially since similar sounding names to Raiden are decreasing in popularity. “For boys, the Aidan, Jayden, Braden and Caden craze is finally over!” says Moss.
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What do you think?
Melanie (not verified) says ....
Since I live in Quebec and my son will attend French primary and English secondary school we need to find names that they be pronounced in both French and English. My eldest son is named Austin, which you can say in French (doesnt sound great though). I'm naming my second son Noble. His last name is Knight so we thought Noble Knight sounded nice. It's a love it or hate it thing.
Maya (not verified) says ....
Hope that people are more considerate and stop giving girls and boys names to cats and dogs !
Hannah (not verified) says ....
Whan people are happy because that got a baby that they don't care what they name there baby they just name it.
ginny07 says ....
Winners or losers?! Seems most people these days don't think of a top or popular name as a winner; they want a name that is not on the top lists!
I tend to like classical names but not 'trendy'; names where you know if it's a boy or a girl, and know how to spell the name. I'm fed up with boys' names that have a Y in them, and then it's somehow a girl's name, and then they get upset when you pronounce it incorrectly (ie: Cameron and CamrYn are pronounced differently, same with JorDAN and JorDYN, and I just came across a KevvYn - a female Kevin lol).
Christina (not verified) says ....
When we named our son Aidan, I had never heard it before. Didn't know it would turn out to be so popular. Almost everywhere I go I hear the name or a similar sounding one.
Glad to hear that it is on the decline. Some of the variations are a little too weird for my liking.
dad (not verified) says ....
I kind of use these articles NOT to pick also.
If you do the research there is a lot of it on why you should NOT name the babies something like in this article. Reasons like fitting in and hard to pronounce etc.
In my boys class which I lost with the mother to name, he is in there with 2 other boys with same name. He is not that confident. For my girl I named her something classic and elegant. She is always the unique one with the older name! The other girls have mostly the "popular" names and there are 2 or 3 per class. She is pretty confident and happy.
I stress common sense and research carefully before you pick a populer name like "ip fr eel y" in Simpsons.
Sully Syed says ....
Funny - using the top lists to *avoid* names had never occurred to me. Very smart!
Michelle (not verified) says ....
I have to admit - I have been checking all these baby name lists like crazy to make sure our first name isn't in the top 10 or 20.... so I'm definitely guilty of that!