Baby names in 2012 promise revolutionary new directions in the continuing and escalating search for meaning coupled with originality. That can be a hard bill to fill when it comes to baby names, pushing parents in 2012 to look to some fresh sources and create names that have never been heard before.
Every year, it seems, people become more aware of the power of names. And yet names are still free and universal, which increases the pressure to find that one perfect name that defines and encapsulates all your hopes and dreams for your child.
In the high stakes game of Baby Names 2012, then, here's what Nameberry sees as the 12 Hottest Trends:
Biggest Big Picture Trend: Modern Hero Names
Mariah Carey did it perfectly when she named her daughter Monroe, a name that honored her heroine Marilyn Monroe in a distinctly modern, non-Blonde Bombshell way. Such surname names may honor heroes real or fictional, contemporary or historic, from the arts, sports, or the world stage, and work for girls as well as boys. Other choices we've been hearing: Landry (as in football coach Tom), Gatsby (as in fictional hero The Great), and Palin (yes, as in her).
Trend Trying Hardest to Have It All: Same but Different Names
Popular names get popular for a reason: They capture the style of the times and they're well-liked by a wide range of parents. Yet as the horror of choosing a too-popular name grows, parents search for ways to create names that are similar to the top choices yet different, a trend we see expanding in several directions. So Number 1 girls' name Isabella gives rise to stylistically-related choices Arabella and Annabelle; Olivia, the top name in Britain, spawns spelling variation Alivia; Emma and Emily promote brother name Emmett.
Most Aggressive Trend: Fierce Names
Our frightening times seem to have inspired many parents to give their sons names that make them seem equally fearsome. There are fierce animal names such as Bear, Fox, Wolf, Lynx and a range of names from Leo to Lionel that mean lion, and then there are the perhaps-even-fiercer names like Breaker, Ranger, and Wilder.
Hottest Direction in Baby Naming: West
....and North and East and Easton too, but especially West and Weston and Wesley, along with Western-sounding names fit for a new generation of 'lil cowboys: Boone and Bo, Wyatt and Wylie, Cole and Colt, Zane and Shane, and even Maverick.
Now Vowel: A
A names have been trending upward for several years now, with more babies receiving A names than those of any other letter. What makes A names new are the adventurous choices parents are making these days in order to use a name with this primary letter: Fresh A names attracting attention on Nameberry include for girls, Acacia, Ada, Anais, Annelise, Anouk, Aria, Athena, Aurelia, and Azalea, and for boys, Alistair, Ambrose, Aragon, Archer, Arthur, Augustus, and Axel.
Consonant of the Moment: M
Over the past few decades, we've had J, K, and L names in the forefront, and with Baby Names 2012 it's M's moment. M names making their move include for girls, Maeve, Magdalena, Maisie, Marguerite, Marlo/Marlowe, May, Mila, Millie, and Minnie, and for boys, Magnus, Micah, Miller, Milo, Montgomery, and Moses.
Strongest, Bravest Trend: Adjective Names
Word names are taking a new turn away from nouns and toward adjectives. Or are now embracing adjectives as well as nouns Choices we have been hearing: True, Noble, Brave, Strong, Loyal, Loving, Sunny, Golden, Royal, Happy. One UK soccer star and his fashionista wife tried to beat this trend by naming their son Trendy.
Most Surprising Comeback Name: Betty
Betty was so hot for so long that it felt like one of those names that might never come back. But stylish mommy blogger Gabrielle Blair has a Betty (and a Ralph and a June) and stunning Mad Men actress January Jones did much to heat up the image of this old standard. Move over, Veronica: There's a new glamour girl in town.
Coolest Middle Names: New Connectors
Gone are the old one-syllable connective-tissue middle names like Ann and Lee and Lynn, and in their place are.... new one-syllable connective-tissue middle names such as May and Wren and Bee. Tied to this trend is choosing family middle names that are the nicknames of the person being honored, as in Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber's Alexander Pete and Sara Gilbert's Levi Hank.
Most Unlikely Baby Name Inspiration: TV's Evil Grandpa
When we first saw the name Arlo popping on the back end of Nameberry, we thought maybe folksinger Arlo Guthrie was having a resurgence. But no, today's Arlo inspiration is more contemporary but even more unlikely: The gun-toting, pot-dealing grandpa Arlo Givens on television's Justified.
Name Trend Ready To Jump The Shark: The -ley Names
We liked Hadley, name of Hemingway's sympathetic first wife. And Huxley, Ridley, and Radley, as in Aldous, Scott, and Boo, were all intriguing. But the trend toward tacking an -ley onto the end of a wide range of first syllables and calling it a name -- Brinley, Kinley, Finley, endlessly -- became so pandemic so quickly that we are ready to declare it over, already.
Sweetest Ending: Vintage Nicknames That End in -ie
Nicknames that end in ie -- Lottie and Hattie, Addie and Nellie -- were all the rage at the end of the 19th century but then gave way to "modern" y endings, which in the 1960s became cutesy endings, which in the yooneek era morphed into -ee and -eigh and -ea etcetera endings. But now we're back where we started from, with sweet vintage nicknames for girls spelled the authentic vintage way, with ie at the end.
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The quote from Fiddler on the roof comes to mind "I don't know why. Tradition! Tradition!"
I am named John. My father was named John, His father was named John. We named my son John. His middle name comes from his mothers mother's name.
Our daughter has a very traditional name as well - but more from Central / Eastern Europe than from the US.
"Divine Buggs", "Kissy Pitts" "Formica Dinette" (pronounced Formesha D'nett), two little black girls named "Snow White" as their first name, and a "Cinderella".
Bi-Racial triplets in L.A.