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Apparently ‘Bridgerton’ And ‘The Gilded Age’ Are Influencing Baby Names
Jun
From Dutton to Khaleesi, the influence of popular shows like “Yellowstone” and “Game of Thrones” on the baby naming landscape has been well documented. Now it seems there’s another series inspiring American parents’ name choices.
According to a new report from BabyCenter, “Bridgerton” names are having a moment in 2024. The online parenting community released a list of trends for the year so far based on data from the hundreds of thousands of parents who’ve registered their newborns’ names on the site.
It turns out many “Bridgerton” character names are among the most popular ― including the latest season’s protagonist Penelope at No. 33 and Charlotte (who even got her own spin-off prequel in 2023) at No. 5. Other names from the Regency-era Netflix series have gotten a boost in popularity since last year, with Eloise up 20 spots, Francesca up 84, Anthony up five and Gregory up 40.
Meanwhile, another period drama appears to be making its mark. HBO’s “The Gilded Age” features Carrie Coon as a shrewd social climber named Bertha ― a name that has notably risen 700 places in 2024. And Peggy ― the name of Denée Benton’s plucky journalist character ― is up 4,934 spots.
Beyond the influence of historical TV shows, BabyCenter identified four other baby naming trends from the first five months of 2024.
A new batch of fantasy epics are inspiring parents, with names like Bryce and Quinlan from Sarah J. Maas’ popular “Crescent City” book series rising up the rankings. Following the release of “Dune: Part Two” earlier this year, there’s also been a boost for Chani and Sihaya, and the names Percy and Perseus are up after the “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” show premiered in December.
Another notable trend in the report is women’s college basketball, as the names Caitlin, Clark and Kamilla have risen up the popularity charts.
“Seeing Caitlin Clark’s popularity translate into real-world registrations for newborns is exciting since the name has been on a decline since the 2000s,” BabyCenter’s baby name trends specialist Rebekah Wahlberg told HuffPost. “It’s also quite surprising. Many trendy names right now are either short and sweet or they’re vintage names getting a revival ― so the name Caitlin doesn’t exactly fit those criteria. Just this year so far, the name has nearly doubled in registrations.”
“What’s also neat is it looks like she’s bringing the name Clark along for the ride – it’s being pulled out of a decline for boys right now,” Wahlberg added.
The other two BabyCenter midyear trends are celestial monikers pegged to the solar eclipse ― Sol, Sunny, Stella, Aurora and Eclipse ― and “C-suite names” with rises and falls related to the successes and failures of tech industry leaders like Satya Nadella, Jeff Bezos, Andy Jassy and Sundar Pichai.
“Being in the know about what’s trending in baby names is so important, whether you’re looking to embrace the trends or avoid them,” Wahlberg said. “We want our reports to equip parents with everything they need to make informed, inspired decisions about their baby’s future.”
Keep scrolling for the 10 baby names for girls and for boys according to BabyCenter’s data. Visit the website for more findings and information about the report’s methodology.
Girls
- Olivia
- Emma
- Amelia
- Charlotte
- Sophia
- Ava
- Isabella
- Mia
- Luna
- Ellie
Boys
- Noah
- Liam
- Oliver
- Mateo
- Elijah
- Lucas
- Levi
- Ezra
- Leo
- Asher
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