No. 1 Baby Naming Trend

First, to be clear, we are not fans of lengthy discussions regarding baby naming trends and pop-polls on name popularity and name fashion. We understand why this happens and enjoy analysing underlying societal shifts and petterns but generally baby naming trends are not really our cup of tea (that’s why we developed Theory of Names).

That being said, we are aware of the one major cross-atlantic trend influencing both boys and girls names for at least the last three years – being the adoption of classic, 60’s vintage names (we call them “Power Flower” names). Take for instance, Bruce Willis’s “Mabel”, Charlotte Church’s “Ruby”, Lily Allen’s “Ethel Mary” and not forgetting the highly-popular middle-name “Rose” (including my own daughter).

Here’s some brief lists of some other Power Flower names we have observed recently, both Stateside and in UK/Ireland-

US Boys – Ricky, Jeff, Danny, Wayne, Randall, Lawrence, Curtis, Jay, Dean, Randy, Craig and Todd

US Girls – Lisa, Kimberly, Donna, Michelle, Deborah, Tammy, Pamela, Lori, Laura, Barbara, Angela, Tina, Melissa, Dawn, Kelly, Shirley and Melody

UK Boys – David, Robert, Mark, Richard, Steven, Charles, Daniel, Kenneth, Anthony, Gregory, Eric, George, Keith, Terry and Walter

UK Girls – Audrey, Elaine, April, Helen, Yvonne, Heather, Dorothy, Joanne, Gail, Rita, Ruth, Vera, Cynthia, Beatrice, Eleanor, Charlotte, Sandra, Peggie and Grace.

So what are your favourites? What names are missing?