Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad, The Great Gatsby and celebs we love-to-hate have all inspired the top-trending baby names of 2013, but royal names no longer rule the register.
BabyCentre has released its list of the top 100 baby names for the UK and the US, based on details provided by a membership of more than half a million parents in 2013.
Perhaps due to people not wanting to be seen as royal ‘copy-Kates’, the name George was knocked out of the top 10 list shortly after Prince George was born in July this year.
A little surprising given that so many other things the Duchess chooses, from her clothes to her hairstyles, instantly rise in popularity. Other royal names such as William, Harry and Catherine also fell in popularity.
Parents are now looking elsewhere for inspiration and creativity. The name Arya from Game of Thrones entered the UK’s Top 100, and the first baby Sansa was also named this year.
Names from the top-rating crime drama Breaking Bad, Skyler and Jesse, were up 70 percent and 13 percent, respectively in the UK.
Thanks to Baz Luhrmann’s film adaptation of The Great Gatsby and period drama Downton Abbey, popular names from the 1920s are experiencing a comeback. Gatsby names Daisy and Jay rose in popularity in the UK, as well as Downton names Violet, Elsie, Ivy, Rose and Cora.
Kanye West and Miley Cyrus may be provoking mixed feelings in the public of late, but their names are still finding some fans. The name Kanye has risen 38 percent and the West is also on the up for boys, jumping 22 percent.
Kanye and Kim’s choice of North for their daughter hasn’t started trending but her sweet nickname Nori went up five notches on the US database.
Clearly some parents dream of their little girl growing up to twerk while waving a foam finger, with 3 percent more mini Mileys set to take on the world.
The award-winning HBO show Girls (billed as a grittier Sex and the City) has been making its mark off the screen and in the maternity wards with lead characters’ names trending up in the US. Marnie is up 62 percent and Shoshanna (with a slight spelling variation of one ‘n’) rose 67 percent.
The actresses who star in Girls also drew name fans, with Zosia Mamet (who plays Shoshanna) going up by 46 percent and it’s talented creator and star, Lena Dunham, went up 25 percent.
In the 50th anniversary year of President John F. Kennedy’s death, the name Kennedy shot up in popularity by 25 percent for boys and 21 percent for girls. Barack Obama may have been getting mixed reviews on the job, but his name’s approval rating was strong with a 48 percent leap in little babies named Barack.
Here are the top 10 lists for the US and UK…
