Baby Name News: Scottish, Star Wars and Starbabies
This week’s news includes baby naming tips from Star Wars, creative honor names, and masses of multiple births.
Star Wars naming advice
How much do you love Star Wars? Enough to let the actors choose your baby’s name?
When asked which names they’d recommend for real children, the stars suggested Lando, Unkar and Phasma. If they don’t do it for you, the more mainstream Finn also got a mention. So did Kylo, the fastest-rising boys’ name of 2016. The actors didn’t think much of Hux (as in General Hux, played by Domhnall Gleeson), but some parents rate it: it debuted on the US charts in 2016, when it was used for 5 boys.
Speaking of Star Wars names, if you’re lucky enough to be called Luke or Lucas, you could have gotten free seafood last week. To celebrate The Last Jedi’s release, the eatery Luke’s Lobster offered free lobster rolls to anyone with these names on their ID.
Vanellope across the pond
Another name from the movies: Vanellope has been on the US charts since 2013, thanks to the Wreck-it Ralph character.
In the UK it hasn’t been used enough to show up in the national statistics, but we know from the news that some parents have been inspired by Miss Von Schweetz. A baby girl called Vanellope survived an operation to correct a rare heart condition. Her mother said that she chose the name because of the character’s determination to succeed against the odds.
Maybe seeing the name in the news – along with the teasers for Wreck it Ralph 2 – will put this sweet smoosh on more parents’ lists?
Two become one: Dax
Another smoosh name in the news this week was Dax. Dax is a name in its own right, an obvious style companion to Jax and Dexter, and a nickname for names like Daxton. But for this family it’s a blend of Daniel and Alexander, the names of medics who saved baby Dax’s father’s life. It’s a neat way to create an honor name, combining two traditional names into one modern one.
Ski resort names: Revy
Revy was another alternative honor name in the news this week. Baby Revy’s outdoors-loving parents named their daughter after Revelstoke, the ski town in British Columbia. They wanted to impart the town’s “courageous spirit” to her, but thought the full name would be a bit much.
I’m always surprised that Rev- names aren’t more popular, seeing as Ev- names are so big now. Revy has never appeared on the US charts. Reverie is a favorite among name-lovers, and Revel has come to public attention recently thanks to Matthew Morrison using it for his son, but neither has ever been given to more than 18 children in a year. Who knows, maybe 2018 will finally be the year of Rev.
Classic starbaby names: Lucy and Nicholas
2017 has been a big year for celebrities welcoming twins. The latest additions to the list are Lucy and Nicholas, unexpected (at least by us) arrivals for Enrique Iglesias and Anna Kournikova. The couple must have been to the Clooneys’ school of naming, because their twins’ names fit in nicely with Ella and Alexander. They’re classic, international, erring towards unremarkable. They’re also subtly seasonal: both St Nicholas’ and St Lucy’s days fall in December.
Two other starbabies born this week also got never-out-of-style names: Mindy Kaling’s daughter Katherine, and Once Upon a Time actor Sean Maguire’s son Leo James.
In other celeb news, James Corden has disappointingly not called his new daughter Beyoncé. No word yet on what her real name is – until we find out, here are Nameberry’s best predictions.
The sextuplets are here!
In other multiples news, the Alabama sextuplets arrived safely last week. Big brothers Saylor Briggs, Wales Tucker and Bridge Ryder now have little brothers Layke Bryars, Blu Wellington and Tag Bricker, and little sisters Rivers McCall, Rayne McCoy and Rawlings McClaine. If you like their style, you’ll find more in these lists of offbeat occupational names, preppy -s surnames, and names starting with Mc-.
The most wonderful time of the year: new statistics and festive names
The most wonderful time of a name nerd’s year is any time that new name data are released. Excitingly, some countries’ stats for 2017 are already starting to appear.
Scotland has released its provisional list, and we can look forward to the final version in the spring. Jack and Olivia are the top Scottish names for another year – Jack for the tenth year running – and names on the rise at the top of the charts include island name Harris and nicknames Alfie and Archie, and for girls, Harper and Hannah.
Parents in Malta love Emma and Luca just as much as the rest of the world does. They were the top names in Malta in 2017 according to news reports, but it doesn’t look like the official report is available yet.
Even in Iceland, where baby names are tightly regulated, the newly-released top names of 2016 (yes, 2016) have an international feel. For boys, Icelandic parents love Alexander, Aron and Mikael, and for girls, Emilía, Emma and Elisabet. But you don’t have to go far down the list to find more local flavor. The top ten includes traditional names like Kári, Sigurður, Embla and Katla.
Wishing you a happy winter solstice, Christmas and holiday season, full of jollity and joy, peace and goodwill, and excellent names!