Boy Names - New Entries & Comebacks

Below I talk about the names that have debuted for the first time in 2015, and some of the names that have returned to the rank for the first time - some were there 2 years ago, others have made it after a long absence.

Overall, it's an eclectic bunch of names. Which names are you most pleased with their return or debut? Let me know.

Boy Names on Girls - Misogynistic?

I've been thinking of this issue for a while now... take a look

I feel the naming practice of using male names on girls is much more problematic than what we think. It runs deeper than a simple naming preference. Do you agree?

Name In Trend: Royal

  

 I get it. The royal family is everywhere these days. Prince William and Dutchess Catherine are the new and hip "it" couple in the royal world that everyone loves to talk about - they're the young Diana and Charles, except this time the prince is actually likeable.

Name In Trend: Oakley

Oakley is a name of old English origin that means "meadow of oak trees", pretty straight forward right? So its meaning puts it in the nature name camp, but its also a city in California, therefore it's a place name too. This name has so many great things going for it, starting with its grand O initial which are rarely used for boys these days, the trendy -ley ending, the fabulous nickname Oak, plus the meaning is pleasant and evokes an image of nature and beauty.

Name In Spotlight: Reign

After several days of speculation on what Kourtney Kardashian would name her second son, from Jeffrey, to something related to that name, it turns out we were all way off. She picked Reign. A lot of people were not pleased with this outlandish choice, but I dont think its as bad as North (West), or at least that name combo. And here's why: this name may seem crazy to us born in the 20th century, but for a newborn baby these days? It fits right in with other popular choices such as King or Major.

Names In Spotlight: The "No Doubt" Family

Pretty much everyone who is at least 15 years old has heard of the band No Doubt. Formed in the late 80s, they've had a remarkable career selling millions of albums and releasing iconic hit songs such as "Don't Speak", "Just A Girl" or "Hey Baby". Not only that, but lead singer Gwen Stefani also went on to have a successful solo career in the mid 2000s, as I'm sure you all remember hearing "Hollaback Girl" on the radio, or at least hear your kids playing the song out loud.

No Doubt is formed by frontwoman Gwen Stefani, drummer Adrian Young, guitarist Tom Dumont, and bassist Tony Kanal. All of them have went on to have families of their own, and I'm here to break it down for you. Most of these names are quite unique, so if this is your scene, I'm sure you're gonna love this post.

Name In Trend: Sawyer

Sawyer is a name of english origin that means "wood worker", therefore making it an occupational name. However, thanks to Mark Twain naming his hero Tom Sawyer in the novel "The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer", it also has a literary connection that most people are aware of.

Sawyer is a name that has been embraced by parents and celebrities alike. The Early Show presenter Erica Hill used it for her son back in 2010. Even though surnames have been adopted as first names for boys since the dawn of time, it wasn't always the case with Sawyer, who is relatively new to the "scene". Let's see how this name has performed on the SSA chart:

Name In Spotlight: Tennessee

So the latest celeb baby name making waves across the internet today is Reese Witherspoon's newborn son, named Tennessee James. With such a bold first name, people are either gonna love it or hate it. I'm actually on board with it, sounds like a fun strong name. State names have been used as human names for a very long time, we don't bat an eyelid anymore whenever we hear about someone named Montana or Dakota. However, most state names haven't transformed into popular human names, and when we hear about them being used, we are usually surprised.

How US Naming Influences The World

I've been thinking about this issue for quite a while now, and I've decide to share with you my thoughts. We all know how the US adopts names from all over the world, and sometimes it doesn't respect the names' origins by not using a certain name on the appropriate gender. We all know how that works, right? The so called "unisex" names have been migrating from boys to girls for over a century now, at the very least. But how do these naming trends influence the rest of the world you say? Well the most obvious answer is because the US is definitely the most influential country of the world, at least the western world, from its celeb culture, from movie stars and singers, to TV shows, to products, to pretty much everything.

England & Wales Ranking (2011)

So the combined ranking for England and Wales is out, and there are new number ones for boys and girls. Harry takes over from Oliver, and Amelia is the new ranking leader for girls.

However, the popularity lists for England and Wales separately show how different naming tastes can be for each region.

Wales

1. Oliver / Lily
2. Jack / Amelia
3. Jacob / Ava
4. Riley / Ruby
5. Ethan / Olivia
6. Alfie / Seren
7. Harry / Emily
8. Dylan / Ella
9. Thomas / Mia
10. Charlie / Megan

England

Name In Spotlight: Scotland

So a new Kardashian baby is born, and of course everyone is talking about it. The name, of course, is the focus of this conversation. While Penelope is a perfectly normal and well used name, and is sure to have a boost in popularity next year, I decided to focus on the middle name, Scotland. Now usually middle names don't get a boost of popularity because they're often neglected whenever we discuss a baby's name, whether on TV or magazines. Therefore, people in general don't get enough exposure to it, hence it doesn't affect the name's popularity. However, I wouldn't underestimate the Kardashian effect. Could the name Scotland get a boost of popularity?

Name In Spotlight: Maxwell

Well it had to be posted really... For those of you unaware about celebrity baby names, you might be taken by surprise, but Maxwell is on the spotlight because of its usage as a girl name.

When Lindsay Sloane named her daughter Maxwell, I was ready to ignore it as one of those outrageous celebrity baby names. But now Jessica Simpson has also given her daughter the first name Maxwell (with Drew as a middle name believe it or not), so I thought I had to post something on this issue...

Maxwell is an old male name of English origin meaning "from the great well". Looking at the SSA lists, Maxwell has never ever charted in the top1000 for girls, so the "robbing" of this name to the pink side is definitely just a 2012 movement. We will have to wait and see if this will have an effect or not in the 2012 ranking, I personally think it won't become unisex - although there should be an increase in popularity, maybe even debuting for the first time for girls. As a boys name, Maxwell has charted since 1882, and it sits at #134 for 2010, pretty high up the ranking.

Uncommon Names...

I normally don't talk about stuff that doesn't fit this blog's purpose, but I decided I had to tackle this subject because I felt personally targeted by something I saw. So I read this article about giving kids uncommon names, especially boys, would result in them being depressed and becoming violent. This is the kind of "study" that I just refuse to believe, borderline offensive. What's funny is that the data most of these studies provide is highly debatable.

First, from my experience, I've met several guys with uncommon (not wacky) names that had no problems groing up. I'm also a testimony to that since I'm named Skye, and while there are several Skyler's that go by that as a nickname, few have Skye as a full name. This also applies to guys with the so called "unisex" names, I've never met one that was exclusively bullied because he had a "girls" name. Bullies don't bully someone because of their name, they will bully kids that they feel are "weaker" because of the way they act, they sence fragility and prey on it. Of course they will most likely make fun of their name, but they'll make fun of pretty much everything about them, it won't matter to them if you're a John or a Kerry, both will get teased. I've met several men with unisex names that were never bullied, because they never put themselves in that position, and others named Christopher, Matthew and Michael who were teased to no end - and that's just the way things work when it comes to bullies.

Name In Trend: Aria

 The name Aria as a girl name is of hebrew origin and means "lioness". It can actually be a boy's name too and I have seen male Aria's around usually of middle eastern background, but in the US it has been used almost exclusively on girls. This name also contains a musical association: we call an "aria" to a solo performance by the leading character in an opera. Interesting, right?


Aria is a pretty recent name to the girl's popularity chart, having debuted in 2000. However, a name isn't "new" just because it's only been recently popular, unless it's a nouveau invention. The name has been recently adopted for a TV character in the show Pretty Little Liars, which may be why it has been zooming up the chart the past couple of years.

Let's take a look at the graph with Aria's evolution:

Name In Spotlight: Blue

Well, I had to post something. It's the name everyone is talking about this week, for one simple reason: it's the name pop singer Beyonce and her fiancé, rapper Jay-Z, bestowed upon their newborn daughter: Blue Ivy Carter. Surprisingly safe amongst all the wacky celeb baby names that we've learned about.

Colors as given names are very rare, however Blue has been picking up some steam as a name for a while, especially amongst celebrities. Last year we had Alicia Silverstone's son Bear Blu, which caused a lot of controversy, and the first one that I can think about was Cher's son Elijah Blue (who is now in his 30s).

Name In Coffin: Madison

This name, like it's ending suggests, means "son of" - in this particular case, "son of Maud or son of Matthew". Any name that ends in "son" has a masculine meaning, but it seems these days that isn't important when naming a daughter. Madison has become the iconic "son" name for girls, and made the "son" ending a trend that seems to be getting more and more popular these days.

So what started this trend on girls? A movie. In 1984, a film starting Tom Hanks called "Splash" starred a mermaid who happened to adopt this name when walking through Madison Avenue in New York. It just goes to show you anything can change your perception on a name, and even make it skyrocket in popularity out of the blue. But sadly, just like with most male names that get adopted by girls, this name started to sink for boys and exited the chart soon after.

So let's see how Madison performed for boys:

Name In Coffin: Courtney

Courtney is a name of English origin meaning "domain of Curtis". However, it first came to England from France (Normandy), and was spelt Courtenay, back in the Middle Ages.

Courtney was of male origin, but has since several decade ago become unisex. Right now, with so many female celebrities named after it, like Courtney Thorne-Smith, Courteney Cox, Courtney Love and Kourtney Kardashian, it probably won't be turning blue anytime soon. The most popular male sponsor of the name might be artist Courtney Taylor-Taylor.


Here is how Courtney has performed for boys:

Name In Spotlight: Egypt

There are many country/state/city names that have become popular over time: Israel, Zaire, Jordan, Dakota, Montana, Paris, London, Milan... however never has the country Egypt become a popular choice for baby boys.

This might be about to change: the newest celebrity baby out there has been named Egypt Daoud, the son of superstar singer Alicia Keys and her husband Swizz Beatz, a well known music producer. Now a first look at the name Egypt is bound to make question it. It looks funny, it's very uncommon, doesn't really remind you of a kid. However the more I looked at it, the more I liked it, and I began to imagine it on a boy. There's always the advantage that everyone knows how to pronounce it, and spell it (hopefully!).

Egypt has never dented the top1000 before, but there have been testimonials by other people that have met other kids named Egypt over the years. If there was any moment it could finally break through: this is it! I give Egypt my blessing! Plus it's one of my favourite countries, I'd say Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz have good taste in their travelling preferences.

Name In Spotlight: Azure

The name Azure is actually a color, a type of "blue". It has yet to enter the boys popularity chart, but it is a name that I've heard more and more often recently. With the name Blue rising in popularity, albeit not commonly used, I don't see why names associated with this color can't increase in popularity too.

Azure is the perfect alternative if you don't want your son's name to be directly associated with a color, since it is rarely mentioned or heard anywhere. It's actually not my favorite shade of "blue", but it has a pleasant sound, pronounced "ay-zhoor", and it just sticks in your head like a breeze of the sea that stimulates your senses. Hopefully soon, there'll be a baby boy named Azure by a big celebrity, and it'll explode in popularity. I'm definitely on board with it.

Name In Spotlight: Zenith

Zenith is of arabic origin, and means "the very top, the highest point". It is also a term used in geography to refer to the highest point in the sky directly above a particular location. Such a great meaning don't you think?

Zenith has yet to crack the top1000 for boys, but I can see it catching on in the future since nature/earthly names seem to be rising in popularity. Unfortunately there are no celebrity babies that are named Zenith until now, so they name remains relatively unknown.

If sharing the name Zenith with a brand of watches is too much for you to handle, here are some great alternatives: Zen, Zeenat, Zephyr, Zanti, Zammit, Zygmund. Interesting choices, and definitely unique.

So what do you guys think of the name? Too out there?