Hundreds of you put your best (and worst) names forward in the annual Baby Name Pool, guessing the fastest rising and falling names of the year. I'm always fascinated to see the patterns in the voting. Right or wrong about 2008, they're a great glimpse at the name-culture zeitgeist.
This year's Pool entries give us an Obama landslide even bigger than the one last November. But this time, the winner isn't Barack...it's his daughter. The name Malia was your overwhelming favorite for a fast-rising name of 2008.
Malia sat at the intersection of two hot themes in your voting, the Obamas (Barack and Sasha were also heavy vote-getters) and famous kids (Vivienne, Honor, Violet). The other dominant theme was Twilight (Cullen, Edward, Bella), with tween rockers close behind (Miley, Jonas).
On the other side of the fashion equation, you all seem confident that the name Madison has run its course. That name absolutely dominated the falling predictions...as it has in the past. Other popular predictions: the end is nigh for the phenom Nevaeh, Britney is so over, and old favorites like Jennifer, Jessica and Ashley will continue to fade.
Many of you banked on the "what goes up must come down" principle and wrote in last year's fastest rising names like Miley and Jaslene. Finally, we saw a reverse Obama phenomenon. Plenty of you decided that a year when both parties seemed to be running against incumbent George Bush had to be tough on the name George.
And now, as promised, I'll try my hand at the prediction game. Here's my own ballot. When you trounce me with Malia and Madison, be kind.
RISING
This was a tough choice due to sheer abundance. The fastest-rising names are often inspired by celebrities, and 2008 looks like a Hollywood bumper crop.
Last year's rising champ Miley kept up her cultural momentum, and fellow tween-dreamers the Jonas Brothers should give a boost to the already hot name Jonas. Twilight and Gossip Girl also stand to cut a broad swath through the 2008 name charts, with their bevy of well-named beauties: Cullen, Bella, Jasper, Esme, Leighton, Serena, Chace. And it never pays to look past reality tv, where Kenley and Audrina made their marks -- or telenovelas, home of Marely, Camila, Hugo and Lola. Of course, style didn't stand still off the screen, either. Finn, Harper and Cruz are strong competitors in the fashion arena.
But pick I must, so the rising slate is: Marely (F), Chace (M), Kenley (F). That's a mighty risky group. Marely already got a big bump in 2007, and neither Chace nor Kenley has ever hit the top 1000. If the latter two don't break through, I'm in for a whippin'. But bold guesswork's the name of the game on the rising side!
FALLING
Falling picks are always harder, because breakout stars are a lot more common than breakout obscurities. Reality TV can be an exception with its 15 minutes of fame, but last year's name-making reality stars (Jaslene, Jordin) have shown some staying power. So here, I play it safer.
The picks:
Dakota (M): This '90s favorite has hit its downside, accelerated by a pair of young actresses who have tilted the name toward the feminine side. Look for parents of boys to scurry away.
Ashlee (F): When a name starts to decline in popularity, alternate spellings often take the hit the fastest.
Ciara (F): For an R&B star, a year without a new radio hit usually means a year without namesakes.
Comments
I'll bet you're right on the money there with Kenley. I've seen it on the boards and I bet it's here to stay. I misread Marely as Marley at first. Not up on my telenovelas, but I like that angle! I did meet a brand new Latina baby named Marielys the other day. She is named after two people in the family.
Finn and Brittney both made my ballot for risers and fallers, respectively. I keep thinking Esme is going to break through, but my money's on 2009 for that one.
I posted the rest of my ballot on the blog, where I hope we'll continue the discussion after you're done here.
http://youcantcallitit.com/
Hm, I wonder if Project Runway's finalist will help Kenley make the charts? Good one.
And, yay, a nod to Harper, one of my choices. :) Cruz is a name I've heard discussed among several yuppie type couples lately - could've been a good choice.
Laura, how do you come up with your information about which names hold strong through the year? Do you scan baby announcements in the newspaper? Hospital websites? And how to you hear about all the popular names? Part of that is how well one keeps up with popular culture, but honestly, I don't know the first thing about Spanish tv.
Marely? I've never encountered this (in real life or on the web). Anyone have insight on this name?
Ooh, Kenley! Yes, I think I agree with that one. Marely is so weird to me. First I thought you meant Marley. I guess I don't know anything about telenovelas...
I've been making a list all year, every time I think "Hmm... that might go up/down this year..." Here's my list:
GOING UP
Maverick
Vivienne
Knox
Heath
Serena
Demi
Jonas
Taylor
Barack
Sasha
Malia
Michelle
GOING DOWN
Britney
Nicole
Talan
George
Kenley, why ever would someone want to name her child after a surly young woman who assaulted her boyfriend with a cat??? Not IMO a good role model.
Miriam, I know what you mean - except it doesn't seem to matter. Regan rose the year after The Exorcist premiered, and Damien got a boost from The Omen.
Kenley is a good pick, but I wonder if she will she be lost in alternate spellings. Or will we see Kenlee and Kenleigh debut, too?
One of my picks for girls was Emerson. While I'm not convinced Madison is over, I do think parents are looking for more surname picks - and Emerson, with her Emme, Emma nicknames, seems like a winner.
True, but I've never seen the show and as soon as I read that name I thought it was BEE-yoo-tiful. So I'm guessing it works well on its own as a name without many associations for the many people who don't watch the show!
I recently heard the name Kenley for the first time when a kindergarten grandson told me about his friend Kenley who's "the bestest girl in the world". I had no idea that Kenley is a rising name, but it certainly has the right sounds to catch on as a new name.
Interesting that Kenley has struck such a chord here! I just looked again at the pool entries, and of the 300 ballots (900 rising choices), only 2 others chose Kenley...and I'm alone on an island with Chace and Marely.
Marely, incidentally, is the heroine of "Yo amo a Juan Querendón," a telenovela that aired on Univision from mid 2007 - mid 2008. It was the 11th-fastest rising name of 2007, but I'm betting it still has farther to go.
Laura-Your rising picks are great. I have not ever heard of Marely or Kenley but they work sound-wise. I'll have to disagree with Ciara though. According to my hospital website, either we here in PA are behind the times or it is still on the upswing along with its cousins-Ci'Anna, Cianni, Ciara-had 1 of each this yr so far. Not huge numbers but still I think it won't decrease enough.
We also had 1 Dakota (m), 1 Chace (m), 3 Chase(m), 1 Emerson (f), 2 Jennifer(f), 1 Edward(m), and Marlee, Marley, Marlie (1 each F).
Yes, I don't think people name children AFTER someone like Kenley exactly. It just gets the name on their radar. And also, only if you watched the show regularly would you know she was crazy i think. At first she just seemed cute.
Kenley fits right in there, doesn't it? Darn.
Gossip Girl's Penn is also a contender, I think- short, quirky, the guy seems sweet and there is at least one other namesake, plus the sporty and academic connections to the university. Though I did chicken out from putting it on the ballot...
@ Angela- I have a year-long list too! Here's mine (rising ones):
Leighton (f)
Matilda
Leona
Vivienne
Dalila
Honor
Malia
Nola
Blair
Blakely
Juniper
Agatha
Cordelia
Rosalie
Penn
Crew/Krew
Cashton/ Kashton
Pax
Bowen
Boden
Jonas
Leon
Dexter
Heath
Barack
Trig
Graydon
Blythe - It's interesting that you put Leon on your list of rising boy's names. Why is that - have you come across more little Leon's? My husband and I are expecting a boy in July and like this name, but the few times we've mentioned it have gotten the reaction mostly that it's a stuffy old man name. We obviously don't agree (with think it's a potential come-back name that's both strong and cool) and may go with it anyway - I'm just wondering what made you put it on your list!
Re: Marely, I know someone named Mariely (mid-20s, Dominican), which I think looks and sounds much better than Marely. I feel like, at least with native English speakers in the US, Marely will end up sounding too much like Morelli.
How is Marely pronounced? I have a friend named Marilee, but I'm guessing Marely is pronounced differently. And is Marely a Spanish language name? It sure doesn't look like one, but it does look like it might have a "Mary" connection.
I know a Merli who is 21 or so and a Marlena nn Marly who is maybe 2? So I certainly see this sound around.
I'm proud of myself as I actually guessed Ashley for falling, but as always Laura is right, I probably should have guessed an alternative spelling.
I did think about Kenley when I was watching Project Runway, I think we talked about it here a little, but it didn't even occur to me at ballot time! Oh well:) Miriam- since the cat thing didn't happen til after the show was over I bet a lot of people who heard the name from the show didn't necessarily hear about her other "issues." Laura, good call on Gossip Girl too!
My guesses were:
Maile, Lyra, Beatrix rising
Jaslene, George, Ashley falling
Laura, I'd also be curious to know how you track names for the current year?
In other news I met twin boys 9mo yesterday, Spencer and Trevor.
Finally, my roommate was learning a song yesterday and the narrator of the song, Carol, falls for her barista, Taylor. I was distracted the whole song, because I think they're sposed to be the same age, but it really sounds like she is his mom...
I did a quick search for "baby name Marely", "Spanish name Marely" and just "Marely", but found no info on the name. I did come across four women with Spanish last names who have Marely as their first or middle name (one is 48 years old). Every Google page asked, "Did you mean to search for: Marley" and suggested "Searches related to Marely", all of them for individuals with the surname Marley. Laura, what have you found out about this name?
I had Marley as one of my rising picks (I've heard of quite a few babies named this recently, it's similar to Miley, and I thought the movie/book publicity might give it a boost). I haven't heard of Marely before - wonder if Marley will catch on first?
Maybe Marely is a combo name--a combination of Maria and Araceli, both pretty common Spanish women's names. Araceli means "altar-sky" (think "heavenly altar") so combining it with Maria makes for a very religious name.
But then again, some of the Marely popularity might be misspelled Marley?
(Have Wrenches is my captcha phrase right now)
Marely would be pronounced Mahr - a - lee ("a" as in Amy). I have no idea how to reproduce the sound that the "r" makes, but it is different in Spanish than in English. The accent falls on the second syllable: marEly
Do you all think Rosalie is headed down the Twilight popularity road as well? Blythe, I noticed you put it on your list. I have really started loving that name and baby #2 is still a couple of years away.
A rise in little Kenley's makes perfect sense. Even though she was annoying on Project Runway, her name has got all the makings of a trendy name. Even though it's not my style, I have to admit it's cute.
I love names and have been especially into them lately as my daughter Genevieve was born 4 months ago but I never would have guessed Marely as a riser. Marely is the long time nn of my 40-something sister who's name is Marilyn but she never liked it so we call her 'Mare' or 'Marely'. So interesting. Of-course, we pronounce it mare-lee.
I can see Marley picking up a lot because of all the promotion for 2008's Marley & Me.
Marely seems like one of those names that would be subject to multiple spellings, like Merilee or Marelie.
To answer Nora who asked about Leon, that's the middle name chosen by Brangelina for their boy twin (born summer '08).
Chace is a good idea! I hadn't realized Chase was so popular until I looked that up, so an alternate spelling of it during a fantastic year for Chace Crawford makes a lot of sense.
One of my rising choices was Levi. I named my son Levi in June 08. It seemed like an original choice at the time since it didn't rhyme with Aiden. Afterwards, I left like I heard it everywhere (ARGH), so I'm reluctantly confident it's a riser!
I picked Miley as a faller. First off, it's a made up name and second, Miley Cyrus was HUGE this year and pretty much owns the name (kind of like Oprah). Unless it was a 15 year old teen mom, I'd think most people would be embarassed to name their child Miley.
I really hope Rosalie doesn't explode. It's my grandmother's middle name and I wanted to use it for DD's middle as well.
It seems that we are forgetting a few things-the name poll was for 2008. That was LAST year and we are 4 months into 2009 already. Marley wasn't introduced until halfway through the year. Malia might be a good choice but I didn't see it in my area at all. Kenley I've never even heard of. Kaylee was popular here as was Peyton(g) and Mason(b). Those last two were on my list to Laura. A faller on my list was Maverick since that "team" didn't win. However, maybe you all know something I don't as I spend way too much time reading this blog and "don't get out much":)
Nicole2 - I thought your take on Miley was interesting. However, I think it's less likely to seem to belong to Cyrus partly because rhyming names Riley and Kylee are big now. It fits the general trends of the time, whereas a name like Oprah didn't when she broke into the mainstream. Although it's nms, I can see parents shrugging off the Cyrus connection (especially first time parents, who are not so tuned into tweenie pop culture).
re Chase, Chace - does anyone else think that being the name of a large bank will hurt these names? Maybe not hugely, but just a tiny bit?
I'll take a stab at the pronunciation of Marely:
Mah-RAY-lee
The R sound almost has a trill/rolled R (but not quite).
I can more see it spelled Mareli. That would clear up much of the confusion with Marley.
re Rosalie and Leon-
Rosalie was on my list before I clued into the whole Twilight thing- it's a great way to formalise Rosie, its "lee" ending is perfectly in tune with current trends, but it's got that vintage/classic thing going for it too. It's also the third most popular name in Quebec. As a name, Rosalie has much more substance and staying power than Twilight does as a novel/series...it's a great name, and I'm probably dead wrong about it rising.
Leon has a bit of the old-man thing that Henry had ten years ago, but with the 2-syllable-ending-in-'n' thing, the association with lions and the fact that it's one of the Jolie-Pitt names, I think it'll get over the "old man" connotations. It's quite popular in europe at the moment.
I've heard both names on newborns at the shop where I work (a baby/child clothing store), and they were both "oooh" names behind the counter :)
I know a surefire way to predict rising hipster names: whatever seemed funny (because fuddy-duddy) on a cat to people a generation older than you, a decade or two back. I know this because I know a cat named Leon, which at the time he was acquired 10 years ago had me rolling on the floor laughing. Other cat-generated predictions:
My cat Samantha, of the early 1970s, my students of the 90s with that name.
My cat Frankie, of the 1980s, a 2000s surge in the name (albeit more for girls)
My cat Perdita, of the early 1990s, awaits her moment. You heard it here first.
Beth the original - add to your list my aunt's cat Max, named around 1990.
And I know a kitty named Joan now.
I definitely feel Perdita.
A friend has cats named Winston, Edgar, and Arthur, all between the ages of 1 and 2.
my cat is Symphony... don't know if that will ever be a hit. Friends of our have a cat named Chandler named 9 years ago.
We had cats named Sylvia and Vivian in the late 90's.
My submissions were:
Rising
Lila
Delilah
Blake (f)
Falling
Spencer
Paris
Ashley
My full list that I've been adding to throughout the year:
Rising
Levon (m/f)
Hayden (f)
Blake (f)
Delilah
Cullen (m)
Rex
Trace
Emerson (f)
Isla
Silas
Olive
Vivian
Sawyer
Jack
Lila
Norah
Falling
Madison
Ashley
Paris
Spencer
I even though of Cullen before I knew anything about Twilight. I feel like Lila and Delilah could be rising fast - based off of the popular song from 2007 and the fact that I'm hearing Lila more and more.
Blake and Hayden could be the next crossover names for girls - inspired by two actresses.
Well, we have a cat named Daisy named about 12 years ago, cat named Oscar named 5 years ago, and a cat named Macy named 3 years ago.
I forgot to add that Finn, Finlay, and Finley are everywhere these days. I wouldn't be surprised if that was the next big thing - for boys or girls.
In the early 90s I had cats Ben, Abner, Chloe, and Sadie. At the time I also seriously considered Tess. Ben was obviously well-enough established, but I certainly didn't know people with the other names.
I chose Miley as a riser because I agree that most parents, esp first-time parents, won't be as aware of Miley Cyrus and, as mentioned before, it fits in so well with other current trends.
Other risers I chose were Silas and Jonas. I sucked at the fallers and didn't make much of an effort there.
Overheard a family at a Borders in a Midwest college town today with daughters Elsa and Sophia. The baby was almost a year old and the other was maybe 3 or so. Not sure which was older but I'm thinking probably Sophia (in part based on what I overheard but also b/c of the trend that new parents tend to go more common, not knowing current trends). I think Elsa is a great name! I wanted to compliment them. lol.
I'm loving these cat predictions! I could totally see Perdita in the next few years... We had cats named in '84 Gus and Gertie. I feel like with Max and Millie on the rise Gus and Gertie could be next. We actually had a Ben too, funny.
I picked Miley as a faller. Any parent that would consider names like Caylee, Kylie, Riley etc. would definitely know who Miley Cyrus was. She was beyond the point of overexposed this past year.
I can't help but read "Marely" repeatedly and sing "...merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream..."
I am glad we avoided Jonas - my 'pop-culture-oblivious' husband really liked the name!
I agree that Kenley will rise, and would posit that so will Finley (previously a male name, I think the girls will grab it). Sidebar: Finley was a Project Runway contestant's daughter's name.
Finally, I was little shocked to see Jasper mentioned, since it's my nephew's name. I hope my little boy's name isn't climbing!
Ha! I love the cat predictions!
I had 2 cats in the 90's: Julian and Lola.
I'll be waiting to see if my current cats (Amos and Serge) are trend-predictors, too.
Re: Jenny L3igh's cat named Gertie. Just this afternoon I heard my neighbor call for her dog, Gertrude, Trudy for short.
Re: zoerhenne, "It seems that we are forgetting a few things-the name poll was for 2008. That was LAST year and we are 4 months into 2009 already. Marley wasn't introduced until halfway through the year."
Note that Katrina rose in 2005, even though the name had only four months to make an impact. For names like Katrina -- names that would otherwise have stayed steady or fallen off just a bit each year -- even the slightest uptick in new babies with that name can be enough to turn it into a riser. As such, I wouldn't discount Marley, Malia, Cullen, or Piper (one of my choices) simply because they only started popping up in the news toward the end of 2008.
Amusing commentary about how to keep others from using your favorite baby names:
http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/News/local/2009/04/17/9141251-sun.html
Thanks Patricia-that was cute!
Btw, for the poster who asked about Irish names-the favs of mine are ones that have been used widely in America and aren't difficult to spell.
Colleen, Deirdre, Collin, Shawn, and Brian
Maybe Declan and Eilish(sp) too!
just heard of my first irl Ayla, middle name is Jade.
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