Celebrity Baby Names

Baby is rarely seen as a given name — or even nickname — these days, although it did rank in the Top 1000 from 1989 to 2003. These instances can be accounted for in two ways. Firstly, infants whose birth certificates are not filled out on time are given generic placeholders for registration, such as Infant, Unknown, or Baby. But more influential during this decade was the 1987 movie Dirty Dancing, starring Jennifer Grey as Frances "Baby" Houseman. It's the origin of the famed line, "Nobody puts Baby in a corner."

Westlyn is a hot new girls' names, rising 350 percent in 2017 over the year before in official US statistics. It was given to just over 100 baby girls in 2017. Actor Josh Brolin named his daughter Westlyn Reign. Near-identical twin Westlynn is also growing in popularity, given to about half as many baby girls. Westlyn is a combination of word name West, also becoming more popular in various forms including Weston and Wesley for boys, and the long-used suffix lyn. West is a stylist and attractive unisex short form.

Long synonymous with the American outlaw Harry Longabaugh, aka The Sundance Kid, who got his nickname from the town of Sundance, Wyoming, where he was incarcerated as a teenager. The place name Sundance was taken from the sun dance ceremony practiced by local Native American tribes.

Cool word name for boys evocative of rock and roll. Julia Stiles named her son Strummer in 2017.

Moroccan is a name newly minted by Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon for their newborn twin son. Meaning a person who lives in Morocco, Moroccan was used by the couple as a nod to the Moroccan Room in Carey's Manhattan apartment, where Cannon proposed to the singer. Place-name Morocco is another choice for either sex, as is music name Maraca.

Marchesa, pronounced with a K sound rather than a CH, fits right in with all those boys named Messiah and King. In Italy, a marchesa is the wife of a marchese. In France, the equivalent titles are marquis and marquise, and in England, marquess and marchioness. The title is most familiar today thanks to Georgina Chapman and Karen Craig's fashion house, Marchesa.

Nick Cannon use this, well, powerful name for his daughter, born in 2020. It joins the ranks of other strong adjective baby names, such as Noble, Epic, Sovereign, and Brave.

For theater-loving parents -- an homage to one of our premiere playwrights.

Homophonous with Mae and May, Méi is a short and sweet heritage choice. While Mei can have multiple meanings, including beautiful, the diacritic mark on Méi (梅) clarifies the derivation: Chinese plum, specifically the species Prunus mume.