10 Pop Culture Baby Names on Our Radar Right Now
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Movies, TV shows, boy bands — you never know what’s going to inspire the hottest new baby names. We predict these unusual monikers will move up the baby name charts because of their pop culture ties.
Arya
We think this Persian name will experience a huge jump in popularity thanks to Game of Thrones. On the show, the character Arya is a daughter of a ruler and was raised as a boy (and sword fighter!) when she was separated from her family. Arya means “friend” and “faithful.” (Pretty, huh?)
Blue
Beyoncé and Jay-Z caused quite a stir when they chose this name for their baby girl, but the color trend has been going strong with celebs for a while. Kelly Preston and John Travolta have a daughter Ella Bleu and Alicia Silverstone and Christopher Jarecki named their son Bear Blu.
Niall
Pronounced like Nile, this Irish name (it means “cloud”) is experiencing an increase in searches due to blond heartthrob and singer Niall Horan of boy band One Direction.
Gatsby
We think surname of the main character of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel is sure to rise in popularity when the film debuts at Christmas. It definitely will help that Jay Gatsby will be played by everyone’s favorite leading man, Leonardo DiCaprio.
Halcyon
Crazy, Stupid, Love actress Beth Littleford adopted a baby girl in March and named her Halcyon. The name is derived from Halcyone, a mythical kingfisher bird that calmed the seas.
Django
This is the title character of Quentin Tarantino’s next movie about Django Reinhardt, a Belgian jazz guitarist who adopted the Gypsy nickname meaning “I awake.”
Sybil
People are starting to forget all about the ‘70s movie Sybil, where the title character (played by Sally Field) has multiple personality disorder and instead are getting inspired by kindhearted nurse Sybil Crawley of Downton Abbey, bringing back this ancient Greek name.
Rue
The Hunger Games are everywhere, especially when it comes to baby names. Rue used her survival skills to befriend Katniss in the Games. Name your daughter after this clever tribute, and she’ll be the talk of the playground.
Grayson
This English name means “son of the grey-haired one.” The Grayson family on ABC’s Revenge is the inspiration for this unique boy’s name. But there are plenty of other Graysons in pop culture, such as the bachelor-turned-family man Josh Hopkins plays on Cougartown.
Primrose
Forget Lily or Rose. Instead, try this (yes, another) nod to The Hunger Games. Primrose was chosen as a tribute, but older sister Katniss volunteered to save her sweet-natured sister.
Plus, more from The Bump:
The Craziest Celebrity Baby Names of All Time
The Knot Blog
The Nest Blog
Awesome to see a Syracuse University student writing for the Bump. Way to go, Lindsay! All very cool names, BTW. Admittedly I am glad to NOT see my son’s name (born 6/20/12) on the list.
Yay!! First comment!! As I said on my Facebook profile. I absolutely love the names Arya and Rue.
First comment!! Yay!! I love Rue and Arya. So cute.
Ahhh, I’m so mad at Game of Thrones! We named our son Arya (by the way, in Sanskrit it means “noble; truthful”), and now he’ll grow up with a generation of girls with his name. We absolutely love the name Arya (for boy or girl), but really hope it doesn’t end up being common. How sad that baby name trends are being set by television characters……… Oh well.
I love Rue but then I had to laugh because so many toddlers have trouble with the R sound, that Rue might end up being called Wue!
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