Do celebrities really influence baby names? After all, the top names in America, Jacob and Emily, are hardly stripped from the headlines. In general, the most popular names reflect a general cultural zeitgeist that's more powerful than any single celebrity.
You do see the celebrity influence, not in the most common names, but the most changed names. If hundreds of parents suddenly all have the same idea, chances are they all got that idea from the same place. And chances are that place is their television.
Some parents may choose a celebrity name in homage to their favorite star. More often, though, people simply take a liking to a name when they hear it. Watching Charlize Theron stride to the Oscar podium in a slinky gown, the thought wafts across the nation: "Charlize, that's a pretty name!" The celebrity plants the seed, but the name has its own life.
I did some quick calculations to find the 20 names that rose most dramatically between 2002 and 2004. (In case you care, I calculated rise as a function of the percentage change and the log of the absolute change. Ah, didn't care after all? Nevermind, then.) Sure enough, most of the top rising names had a clear pop-culture trigger during that time. The triggers ranged from the serious (Laci Peterson's murder) to the silly (Paris Hilton's...well, everything.)
Here is a handy cultural reference chart to guide you through the young Ashtons and Keiras in your neighborhood:
NameEventAshton (male)2002-2004: General-purpose celebrity Ashton Kutcher stars in a series of films, tv series, gossip columns.Charlize2004: South African actress Charlize Theron wins the Best Actress Academy Award, experiences the Halle Berry Memorial Name Surge.Dayanara2002: Former Miss Universe Dayanara Torres and singer Marc Anthony hold huge cathedral wedding. 2004: Torres and Anthony divorce, amid his romance with Jennifer Lopez.Dylan (female)2000, 2003: Drew Barrymore plays the character Dylan in two Charlie's Angels movies, establishing the name's "pretty tomboy" credentials.Jamarion2002: Singing group B2K, featuring *Omarion (née Omari) debuts. (*Name Omarion instantly soars in 2002, soon followed by variants Amarion, Damarion, Demarion and Jamarion.)Kanye2004: Rapper Kanye West's The College Dropout is one of the top albums of the year; 10 Grammy nominations create publicity flood that threatens coastlines.Keira2003, 2004: British actress Keira Knightly breaks out in Hollywood films Pirates of the Caribbean, King Arthur. (Lest you think Americans are the only ones to care, the name Keira soars especially dramatically in the U.K.)Laci2002: Laci Peterson announced missing. 2004: Husband Scott Peterson convicted of murder.Maddox2002: Actress Angelina Jolie adopts a baby boy, names him Maddox.Norah2002, 2004: Singer Norah Jones releases first two albums, wins armload of Grammys.Paris2003-4: General-purpose celebrity Paris Hilton's personal life is revealed in an array of media including home videos, electronic organizers, and the tv series "The Simple Life."Roselyn2002-2004: Actress Roselyn Sanchez stars in a series of films and tv series.Sanaa2002-4: Actress Sanaa Lathan stars in a series of films including Out of Time and Alien vs. PredatorSherlyn2002, 2004: Mexican actress/singer Sherlyn González stars in a series of telenovelas.
Comments
Very interesting. I know I've heard Angelina's son Maddox's name and thought, "Hmmm ... if I didn't despise her so much that would be a good name." Now the question is which celebrity named their kid Aidan or Caden?
Nothing new under the sun--some of us grew up amid a throng of little girls named Linda, or Carole, or Debbie. Maybe not as glamorous-sounding as Charlize is today, but memorializing movie stars nonetheless.
I just wanted to say thanks for a really fascinating blog, (Even for someone not planning to have children anytime in the visible future). In particular this entry was very interesting - I'm not american, but am innudated by american media, and it's fascinating to see how this looks in america, "on the ground", so to speak. A question - when mucking about with the Voyager program, I noticed that all the vouwels (except, partially, U) have a similar graph - high at the beginning of the century, low in the middle, high again now - Is there any reason or explanation for this? Thabnks again for the cool information on such a grat topic. Tamara
Roselyn & Sherlyn had me pretty baffled, so thanks for clearing that up.Here's a question to ponder: was the increase of the previously declining Janet related to Ms. Jackson's Super Bowl "exposure"?
We named our son Christopher Tigran (I'm half-Armenian) and my chess expert uncle informs me there's a SLEW of Tigrans competing in current world chess championship. They're all named after World Champ from 50s Tigran Petrossian, but Tigran (TEEgran) shows up on NO hotbabyname list. Which is kind of fun. We call him T for short...
Aidan Shaw was a Sex & the City character. Does the rise of that name correspond to his appearance on the show?
Heh. My daughter, born in 02, is Sanaa. It's becoming popular, but I have only 'known' one other, and it's her middle name.
Also, you're right about 'planting a seed'. I constantly have to tell people that though the actress is how we became familiar with DD's name, she is not named after her.
If I was into TV and was much exposed to the slinky outifts, gowns or otherwise, of female celebrities, I would be so busy thinking "Oh, please" that I would probably end up going the opposite direction and naming my kids Dick, Jane, and Spot.Okay, not really. ;)But if Janet did begin to come back because of Ms. Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction," I am disgusted at the vulgarity of American taste.
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Just want to clear up the Janet question, since it's starting to look like a legend in the making. Here are the actual number of Janets born:2004: 662vs.2003: 5622002: 6272001: 6952000: 6841999: 642_________5-year average: 642You'd be hard pressed to call the post-wardrobe-malfunction year (2004) a surge...the previous year, 2003, is the anomaly.-LW
Aidan is inspired from the character dating Carrie in Sex in the City.
Aidan is inspired from the character dating Carrie in Sex in the City.
Maddox is horrible! It sounds so evil. Who would name a baby that?
im am from south africa and dylan was a very popular name.although i liked it i didnt want to be like the rest. so instead i changed the 'a' and the 'y' to name my son Dalyn(pronounced day-lin). i cant seem to find this name anywhere and i've heard that a celebrity named their son this aswell.anyone heard it before? who is the celebrity
I was so upset when Ross and Rachel on Friends named their baby Emma. My daughter was 4 months old and the Social Security charts available at the time had Emma safely OUT of the top 10... then Friends had to blow it out of the water to the top 2 after Emily... I just keep seeing my life as a "Chris" during the 70s replayed as an "Em" now...
why would anyone want to name their child after someone who was murdered (i.e. laci)?
Speaking of pop culture driving baby names, let's go back a few years, say about 25 or so, give or take a couple. One day, I noticed that just about every other little boy at the time was either named Jason (or Justin, or Jeremy) or had a freind who was. Confused, since I wasn't sure as to why all of a sudden that this was popular. At the time, there were only two celebrities named Jason that I knew of, both fairly grown up (1. Thompson, a baseball player for the Pirates in the 80's; and 2. The late Robards, the actor). Of course, there was the mythical creature, Jason (the captain of the Argo), and Jason the character of the Halloween movies that were out at that itme. [perhaps this is one explaination.] But perhaps the solution was what a lady at work said which was that back in the mid-70's , a very popular TV show was on (that I never watched) named "Here Come the Brides" which the three main characters were--Jason, Justin, and Jeremy. A look into a what to name your baby book confirmed this.Your thoughts, Laura?
...as for Aidan, I think most of us of child bearing age, saw Aidan Quinn in movies throughout the 80's & 90's, with his big blue gorgeous eyes, always playing a charming sensitive man, and said to ourselves; what a lovely and original name, one day when I have a son......, Unfortunately ladies, we were all thinking the same thing, too bad.
I think naming your child after a pop culture figure is really risky. I knew of a family with two girls, Samantha and Tabitha (names from the 1960s sitcom Bewitched). How many people do you suppose have cracked jokes? How sick do you think Samantha and Tabitha are of them?And during the 1960s, we suddenly had a whole SLEW of "Darren's" from the same show. Do you truly want your child's name to have that kind of association? Soap opera, or cheezy sitcom? It just lasts and lasts and lasts and lasts...A few years ago there was a local newscaster named Tabitha who was trying really hard to be taken seriously. I read somewhere that the origin of her name just keeps coming up, and she keeps denying that her parents named her after Tabitha Stevens (but we all know they did, right?) She put on a brave front, but you have to know her name is kind of an embarrassment. It would be for me.
"But perhaps the solution was what a lady at work said which was that back in the mid-70's , a very popular TV show was on (that I never watched) named "Here Come the Brides" which the three main characters were--Jason, Justin, and Jeremy. A look into a what to name your baby book confirmed this."The three main character's names were Jason, JOSHUA, and Jeremy. That show absolutely sparked the whole Jason phenomenon. Jason was the handsome oldest, smartest brother who was the star of the show. His name became so overused by so many parents in the 1970s that it became a joke. Jeremy was the shy, cute brother all the girls had huge crushes on (he was a teen idol for the duration of the show). But he wasn't a strong character, and he played the role with a stutter.Joshua was the serious brother who wasn't all that great looking - his name didn't really get a lot of action until later.Pre-1900s "J" names were all the thing in the 70s on account of that show. That was also about the time people started making a conscious effort to name their children names with the same first letter. Before then you didn't see that very much.I think "Justin" (and also Jonathan) was an off-shoot of the J revolution, and chosen by parents who wanted to have a J name that was a little different. I don't recall that it really took off until later on, though.
To the person who anonymously posted that the name Maddox sounds evil??? Where do you come off saying that?? I am 8 1/2 mos pregnant and will be naming him Maddox. NOT because that is Angelina's babies name. But because I like the name, I have for years! I am Irish and that is a very Irish name, which by the way means "Son of God". I think you just have to go with what you like. As long as you like the name you choose that is all that is important!
i am so upset that me and my husband-to-be cannot seem to agree upon any names for our much anticipated baby girl. he is more on the traditional, or some might even say, plain taste. but i myself prefer classically unique. any suggestions?!
Prior to 'Here Come the Brides' there was an English TV series in the 60's called 'Jason King' whcih certainly started the Jason phenomena in Europe and Australasia.
I am 8 months pregnant and we are naming our baby girl Noelle Sanaa (scheduled to arrive in early August 2006). I think Sanaa is a beautiful name and it has African roots being that the word "sanaa" is swahili for "work of art". We are, as you might guess an African-American couple.
I love the name Maddox, in fact, we my son's name is Maddox. We call him "Matt" for short. We did not name him after Angelina Jolie's baby. She did not make this name up herself people. Its a very old name. Too bad that people are so caught up in pop culture that they think everyone else must be too. We think it is a great, classic name and we get compliments on it constantly.
do u have a peom that gose with this name Rachel
yo omarion waz good. Iknow all you song.I relly like you i take you as my brother i hope you get this letter. you can reach me at 3271182. thanks if you relly like me as you sister you will call me.iTHINK YOU CAN DANCE.
love,tyesha
hey omarion i think you is cute and i will like to meet you. whyen i get money im going to get you name on my leg. I LOVE YOU BABY!THANKS FOR YOUR TIME!
LOVE,mae mae
What is proper nicname for a son of a Mexican named Marc? is it Marcito or Marcoito?
My three year old son's name is Damian Zaknafien. Damian is what he goes by and we get a lot of grief because of the omen movies and no one thinks anything else of it. But the name is actually ancient greek and there is a patron saint Damian in the Catholic religion. So this name with thousands of years of good meaning and character got ruined by this movie and no one can seem to move past that. But the good news is kids his age don't seem to have a problem with Damian or Zaknafien (phonetically pronounced). And I think that will be good for him because unpopular or 'strange' names are the popular thing now, so kids (and as he grows adults, will have no issue with his odd names.
carried chiefly upon the former of those two circumstances. The coal trade destined for more necessary expenses. What Dercyllidas said of
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