Modern Baby Names

Kairi is the name of the main female character in the popular role-playing video game series, Kingdom Hearts. Voiced by Hayden Panettiere in the main series, Kairi is one of the seven Princesses of the Heart. Kairi entered the US Top 1000 in 2010 and was given to over 400 baby girls in one recent year.

Before there was Aspen, Denver was the Colorado city name of choice, and it reentered the US Top 1000 in 2015 after a 14 year absence as a stylish two-syllable boys’ name with its trendy -er ending. Its decade of greatest use was the 1920s, when it reached as high as Number 422.

Reign is one of a new, ahem, kingdom of word names that suggest a high-born child, joining Royal, Lorde, Titan, Saint, King, Princess, and Noble. We predicted this kind of defining name to be the Number 1 baby name trend of 2015...two weeks before Kourtney Kardashian and Scott Disick named their third child, a boy, Reign.

Saint as a descriptive word name was first chosen by rocker Pete Wentz for his younger son (baby brother is Bronx), and now Kim Kardashian and Kanye West have catapulted the name into the celebrity stratosphere by choosing it for their baby boy. The couple called their baby "Saint" throughout the pregnancy because his conception had been so difficult. Saint was named in our predictions for the top baby name trends of 2015, on descriptive word names which also include Royal and Noble, King and Rogue. Saint is moving beyond the group of names that are only celebrity baby names and into the general lexicon.

The original Kyle has sparked many variations, including Kylie, Kyler, and Kylo, after Kylo Ren, the villain played by Adam Driver in the seventh Star Wars movie, released in December 2015.

With the sounds of Jennifer and Alexis, and the vibes of Eden and Serenity, Genesis is a Biblical inspired choice that has been popular in the US since the 2000’s.

Kaiser, as in roll and Wilhelm, appeared for the first time on the US Top 1000 in 2017. It fits the two-syllable -er ending style that's all the rage, and it lends itself to the short form Kai. But we hope this Germanic version of what is essentially a title rather than a name doesn't keep rising on the charts.

Cairo is an exciting place name possibility with upbeat o ending and an on-trend first syllable. Debuting in the US Top 1000 in 2015, it has been climbing ever since, and, as of 2023, it is given to more than 1000 babies each year.

A recent addition to the Most Popular list, Bridger has the trendy two-syllables and 'er' ending, and a historical reference to Jim Bridger, a foremost nineteenth-century frontiersman, explorer, trapper, scout, and teller of tall tales.

One of several Japanese names that refer to a child's place in the family birth order. Kenji has attracted notice in the US as the name of The Food Lab chef, James Kenji López-Alt, know simply as Kenji.

Pixie is a cute -- quite possibly too cute -- name that suddenly feels possible thanks to the craze for names that contain the letter x. Though its origin may be uncertain, a pixie is internationally recognized as a sprite or fairy: tiny, sometimes green, usually pointy-eared.

This unisex name, the seventh most popular surname in Scotland, can make a more unusual Cameron alternative. It is represented on the girls' side by TV news correspondent Campbell Brown, for whom it was a family name, Brown was born Alma Dale Campbell, Alma Dale being her grandmother's name,and Campbell her mother's maiden name.

One of numerous usable Irish and Scottish surnames starting with Mac and Mc, this is the real McCoy. McCoy Tyner, the well-known jazz pianist, is one of the few to use this very cool name. Bonus: Nickname Mac.

Having only entered the US Top 1000 in 2012, Briggs is yet another ends-in-s surname name for boys currently on the rise, along the lines of Brooks and Hayes.

King is a name that sends a mixed message. While some might think of it as more fitting for a canine, others see it as a strong name with offbeat style and a full court of rich associations, from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to Elvis.

King Vidor was an important early Hollywood director; King Camp Gillette invented the safety razor.

If it's king names you're after that aren't King itself, see our list of Names with Royal Meanings or other lists and blogs on royal names.

Riggs, with its suave, cowboy-cool style, is one of the hottest new names on the scene. Boy names that end with S are particularly trendy right now, with similar choices Briggs, Wells, and Jones zooming up the charts.

With its surname-style, literary feel, and similarity in sound to Finley, Juniper, Pippa, Riley, and Presley, Ripley is an unexpected choice that was given to more than 200 girls in each recent year. First used back in the 80s, thanks to the powerful character played by Sigourney Weaver in the Alien films, it began to be used more substantially in the 2000s, after it was chosen by actress Thandiwe Newton for her daughter.

Bellamy is emerging as an up-and-coming girls' name, an Irish surname-y riff on the super-popular Bella series of names. While the Bella connection makes Bellamy sound a little trendier and more popular than it really is, we see the name possibly rising through the ranks for both genders in the coming years.

Ridge may be the quintessential daytime drama name, but it's still better than most. This is one word name rising rapidly through the ranks, reentering the US Top 1000 in 2015 for the first time since 1989.

This surname has a modern yet old New England feel, perhaps because of the association with the transcendental teacher and reformer Bronson (born Amos Bronson) Alcott, father of Louisa May. (One-time sitcom star Bronson Pinchot's full name is Bronson Alcott Pinchot.) A more muscular image comes via tough guy Charles Bronson.