Hey BABY! What’s in a name?!

By Aimee Serafin

One of the most exciting, and perhaps challenging, things about new parenthood is choosing a name for your new bundle of love. Family traditions, flower options, and celebrity leanings can all come into play in figuring out a good name. In fact, Spring Hill Nursery created a list of 200 popular flower names over the last century based on Social Security records and found the ones consistently out in front were Lily, Heather, Jasmine, Rose and Susan. Although Rose ranked highest in usage in 1911 and 1913, topping the list at number 11 is the US, newer flower names like Erica and Jasmine (Jazmin, Jasmin) have grown in the rankings within the last few decades.

Names.org is a good resource for understanding the effect of celebrity influence, peak popularity, variations of spelling and geographical trends. You can search the site to find names in the categories of “pop-culture inspired”, “celebrity influence”, “nature and space”, “religious”, and originating by country.

2020 ranked Liam, Noah, William, Calvin, and Darius as leading boy names and Imani, Aliyah, Emma, Olivia and Ava for girls. Harper, Charlotte, Lucas, Jada, Isaiah and Sophia all made top 10 lists.

No matter the option you choose when deciding a name for your baby you can rest assured it can never be outside the realm of creativity. Remember when Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin named their daughter Apple? Or rapper Rick Ross’s son was bestowed Billion? If you have a leaning toward out of the ordinary, the list below will keep you in good company (www.usatoday.com/story/life/allthemoms/2018/11/16/weird-celebrity-baby-names-audio-science-zolten/2017241002/).

Aleph (Natalie Portman’s child)
Aurelius (Elle Macpherson’s child)
Blue Angel (“The Edge” from U2, child)
Blue Ivy, Rumi and Sir (Beyoncé and Jay Z’s children)
Denim and Diezel (Toni Braxton and Keri Lewis, children)
Fuchsia (Sting and actress Frances Tomelty, child)
Harlow and Sparrow (Singer Joel Madden and Nicole Richie, children)
India (Chris Hemsworth and Elsa Pataky, child)
Jermajesty (Child of Jermaine Jackson)
Kal-el (Child of Nicolas Cage)
North, Saint and Chicago (Kim Kardashian and Kanye West’s children)
Poppy Honey Rosie, Daisy Boo Pamela, Buddy Bear Maurice, Petal Blossom Rainbow and River Rocket Blue Dallas (Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver’s children)
X Æ A-12 Musk (Elon Musk and singer Grimes, child)