Baby Names 2012: Hottest New Choices

Baby names 2012 are already proving themselves to be very different from last year's choices, with "The Hunger Games" taking over from "Twilight" as the primary cultural influence on names, the hottest boys' names taking a cue from the girls, and musical names trumping Hollywood for inspiration.

In an analysis of nearly three million views of Nameberry's individual name pages in the first quarter of 2012 compared with the same period last year, these names are enjoying the biggest jumps in attention. Here, the names we predict you'll be hearing a lot more of in 2012 and beyond.

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Comments

[Bambi Kirby Gray]

04:45 PM on 05/01/2012

Well my son's name is Damian Armand...my oldest Daughter is Jhessel Alexandria and my youngest is Kyra Elizabeth. I don't think my kids have boring names....they all mean something to me and my husband.

[Grayjt]

01:29 PM on 04/24/2012

I've always wanted to have a daughter and name her Seiko. Pronounced Say-Co, It's Japanese for truth or force. In my opinion it's absolutely beautiful! I also want to name my son Klees pronounced how it's spelled. I met an African male from Bongo with that name and thought it was unique, but no to strong. I'm an Black maled by the way.

[Caryn Banker]

04:05 AM on 04/21/2012

I just started working at a primary school. The other day I kid you not, I heard a teacher call out, "Cruella please give that ball back. Don't make me say it again!".

Oh, dear.

[barbara jay]

06:00 PM on 05/01/2012

I knew a little girl of primary school age named Swastika. I realize that the name is not unusual in her culture, and that the swastika itself has a religious (and positive) symbolism in that culture. But come now, this was a family in which the father's career path in a global corporation predictably took them to other parts of the world.

[teresa1960]

09:18 AM on 04/15/2012

My boys have normal names, Eric Mathew and Mitchell Alexander how boring of me.

[barbara jay]

06:09 PM on 05/01/2012

Bet they're not complaining. My daughter, adopted at age three, came with a hard-to-pronounce, hard-to-spell name from her birth country. She decided on her own, though, at age six, to use the normal western name I'd added when adopting her, after getting fed up with all the mispronunciations she'd had to listen to.

[msv2012]

02:04 AM on 04/15/2012

I love my Meagan and my Katelyn names

[msv2012]

01:59 AM on 04/15/2012

I like my Meagan and my Katelyn!

[BebeCool]

02:27 AM on 04/13/2012

Going thru my high school yearbooks, I am finding some interesting names: Leandrew, Rolando, Cyndreah, La Toya, Moises, Alana, Raezel, Joehayward, Jaquelle, Shaunda, Jessamyn, Stevonta'E, Rae'Osha, Dejanae, Marit, and Kritzi. All of those names really stood out to me from 2 of my high school yearbooks. Most of those people were born between 1987 and 1993. Go figure.

[Jeknee]

11:35 PM on 04/12/2012

Not sure if this will even be read, but I find it interesting enough to post... I always thought I couldn't have children with all my health issues... When I married, I was pregnant within the year, and decided that since HE gave me the miracle I'd always wanted, I'd use a biblical name. I now have a Hannah, an Isaiah, and an Elijah. If I ever have another, I'm sure I'll go with Naomi... I used to dig Caleb, but found out that this was a dog's name in the great book. Good luck, just make the name MEAN something... they are truly a blessing to your life!

[geddy lee is a god]

02:13 PM on 04/12/2012

Some of these names make you scratch your head, but it's no different than the women in the 80s who were giving their babies soap opera names: Crystal, Erica, Blake, Dominique, Victoria, Adam, Alexis, Victor.

Dynasty, Young & and the Restless, and All My Children were popular back in the day...little boys running around named Blake, lol.

[leskataus]

01:06 AM on 04/20/2012

Yes, I remember coming across quite a few Fallons and Krystles back then.

[lensamy]

06:38 PM on 04/11/2012

My niece is named Storm and she and her mom love the name. While I hate when ppl name their child weird names like kohohigugyuf also is a bit silly when you have to go thru life with a plain boring name.

[barbara jay]

06:16 PM on 05/01/2012

What one person considers boring, another might consider simple and beautiful. How else can we explain how our neighbor could have chosen a name we think is awful?

[Sara Lira]

03:20 PM on 04/11/2012

What do you guys think about the name Catalina Sofia Lira (lira our last name)?

I know it's an island

[Bianca S]

01:40 AM on 04/12/2012

I don't like Catalina, it reminds me of salad dressing and those coupons Americans use. I love the name Sofia and the last name Lira though.

[Caryn Banker]

04:07 AM on 04/21/2012

I think Catalina is nice. I'm from CA, but still didn't think of the island first off. Also, I have a Greek friend, whose daughter is Katarina.

[mgme]

02:39 PM on 04/11/2012

I know someone who named their baby "Maybe." That's the worst name I have ever heard, like maybe you shouldn't have named your child "Maybe."

[baxtron]

02:06 PM on 04/11/2012

what about the name horsesh*t. oh wait. I was just naming those names. sorry.

[KarasudaJay]

11:28 AM on 04/11/2012

We went back and forth on our son's name for a while and he almost got a Western name, but since we expect most of his life to be lived in Japan we gave him a Japanese first name and Western middle name (which is actually not part of his name at all on his Japanese paperwork).

[Carmen DA]

11:20 AM on 04/11/2012

what is a hunger game? I'm so not cool anymore I guess

[Jenny-Ann]

05:15 PM on 04/11/2012

Really? The Hunger Games is a book. It's the first in the series. That ones quite good. I don't know about the others. Haven't read them yet.

[hangdogit]

11:01 PM on 04/11/2012

"The Hunger Games" aka the "Ryan Budget": a plan by Paul Ryan to reduce the US middle class to perdition -- as we fight amongst ourselves for food scraps to survive.