With Valentine’s Day just around the corner and love in the air, here at JD we broke down some of the most popular baby name trends in England and Wales – inspired by the world’s biggest influencers.
From David to X Æ A-12, over the years we’ve seen a variety of baby names come from the influencer world. But how much do celebrities influence what we name our kids?
Celeb culture will always be a source of entertainment and inspo’ for everyone, forever. However, it also appears that celebs are inspiring the latest gen of parents trying to figure out what to name their children…
We’ve pulled together 30 years’ of data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS), breaking it down into trends that started since ’96, and comparing baby names with the names of the top 100 most-followed Instagram accounts to see which are most popular.
Stay locked in!⬇
What are the Most Popular Influencer-Inspired Baby Names for Boys?
For the boys, famous names since the late ‘90s have ranged from the arts scene, such as the iconic David Bowie and Leonardo DiCaprio, all the way to sports superstars, like David Beckham and, more recently, Mohamed Salah!
What are the Most Popular Influencer-Inspired Baby Names for Girls?
Including more than a few ‘90s throwbacks, which famous women stole the show and had newborns named after them between 1996 and now? Our list ranges from pop icons Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande and Katy Perry to the White House and Michelle Obama!
What are the Fastest-Rising Influencer-Inspired Baby Names?
Culture moves at a rapid pace; it can feel like a full-time job keepin’ up with who’s hot in the celeb scene. Since 2017, we’ve seen the drop of some once-popular baby names: sisters Khloe, Kourtney and Kendall have all fallen off their Kardashian perch to make way for new superstar baby names, such as Dua and Kylian, whose respective chart-topping and World-Cup-winning excellence have won the attention of parents-to-be!
Turns out that ‘Dua’ is the fastest-risin’ influencer-inspired name in England and Wales right now, up a staggerin’ 257% over the past five years – more than likely due to the rise of the British pop star Dua Lipa, whose self-titled debut album was released in 2017.
Behind Dua in second place was Kylian, a name which has seen a 235% increase since 2017 – mainly due to the emergence of Paris Saint-German and the French national football team’s Kylian Mbpape, widely considered one of the best players on the planet at just 24.
Furthermore, ‘Zendaya’ increased by 225% over the past half-decade given the rise in popularity of American actress Zendaya Coleman, who starred in the latest Spiderman trilogy as well as the sci-fi hit remake ‘Dune’.
What are the Fastest-Declining Influencer-Inspired Baby Names? ⬇️
It’s not only the Khloe, Kourtney and Kendalls of the world that has lost their charm to new parents over the last five years, we’re also seeing baby names like Ellen, Cristiano and Shakira all lose their appeal since their celeb twins have dropped out of the spotlight (or been in them for the wrong reasons).
Kourtney’ is the fastest-declinin’ influencer-inspired baby name in England and Wales right now, down a whopping 85% since 2017. This is despite Kourtney Kardashian maintaining her social media fame, with over 211 million Instagram followers.
Next on the list was Katy, which has seen an 81% drop over the past five years. Katy Perry, who is the biggest influencer ‘Katy’, has seen her name fall out of fashion among girls.
The third biggest declinin’ name is ‘Shakira’, which has fallen by 73% since 2017. Incidentally, that year was the last in which the Colombian singer of the same name released a studio album.
In addition, it would appear that the name ‘Cristiano’ has also fallen out of favour with parents, with this name down 67%. Cristiano Ronaldo himself recently controversially left Manchester United after falling down the pecking order at Old Trafford, much like in this list too.
Which Celebrity Baby Names have Trended Since 1996?
In 2009, England and Wales saw 496 newborn babies given the name Zac.
It was the 119th most popular name that year, and still the highest number of Zacs we’ve has ever seen in one go, beating off competition from Katy, Miley and Drake as the highest-ranking celeb baby name in 2009.
So, why did parents choose 2009 of all years to name their babies Zac?
Well, it probably had something to do with the ending of the ‘High School Musical franchise – the Disney sing-along film series was a hit!
Unlike the other two films, Disney decided that ‘High School Musical 3: Senior Year’ was gonna’ be the first to receive a theatrical release. It didn’t just become a box office killer, the success of the trilogy saw the tween legend reach new levels of fame.
To capitalise on his ‘High School Musical’ success, Zac followed up that year by featuring alongside ‘Friends’ actor Mathew Perry in ‘17 Again’. This success further cemented 2009 as the highest-grossing of the young actor’s career and only heightened his growing popularity.
Apparently, these achievements didn’t go unnoticed amongst new parents, 479 decided that Zac was the perfect name to give to their newborn baby.
This isn’t the only time it’s happened.
When we look at the data and trends since 1996, we can see loads of occasions where names have exploded into popularity. Usually, once we dig a little deeper, it’s not hard to trace the blame back to a specific celebrity turning heads at the time.
To uncover more facts and test our hypothesis, we zoomed in on the spikes of babies born with the same name in specific eras.
1. Emma | 2002
(2002) Child star Emma Watson features in ‘Harry Potter & The Philosopher’s Stone’, which was the highest-grossing film of 2001. The film was followed up by ‘Harry Potter & The Chamber Of Secrets’ a year later to similar commercial and critical acclaim.
2. Bella | 2012-2014
Bella Hadid, the sister of Gigi Hadid, enjoys a period of breakthrough success as a runway model.
3. Demi | 2004
Demi Moore ends her hiatus away from the spotlight and stars in Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle, with the film becoming one of the top-grossing for the year. She also signed a deal with Versace in that same year, becoming the face of the brand.
4. Zac | 2008-2009
Zac Efron stars in the third ‘High School Musical’ Film. The film was the first of the series released in theatres and grossed $252M worldwide. He also starred in the commercially successful ‘17 again’ around this time, alongside former ‘Friends’ star, Mathew Perry.
5. Miley | 2008-2012
Miley Cyrus stars in the hugely popular Hannah Montana series on the Disney Channel. Her ‘Best Of Both Worlds’ tour was labelled by Ticketmaster as one of the most intensely in-demand tours of all time, being compared to The Beatles and Elvis.
6. Rihanna | 2008
Rihanna enjoys a breakout year releasing the album ‘Good Girl Gone Bad’. The album included international hits ‘Umbrella’ and ‘Please Don’t Stop The Music’, catapulting her to global superstardom.
7. Shakira | 2001
Shakira releases her first English crossover album ‘Whenever, Wherever’ which helps her become one of the best-selling artists in the world, leading her to be dubbed ‘The Queen of Latin Music’.
8. Drake | 2011
Drake releases the album ‘Take Care’ featuring singles ‘Headlines’ ‘Take Care’ and ‘Crew Love’. The album was well received both commercially and critically and signalled the start of Drake’s rise as a superstar rapper.
9. Kylian | 2019-
Kylian Mbappe became the second most expensive footballer of all time, before winning a World Cup and firmly cementing himself as one of the best football players of his generation.
Conclusion
There we have it! A brief dive into the world of celebs and influencers, and how they inspire baby name trends in our culture.
Culture exists to inspire, and if your world has been touched by the work or lifestyle of somebody famous, why not raise your little one as a tribute to them?
Babies tend to embody their name anyway. Soon enough, baby Miley or baby Drake will become just that, your Miley, or your Drake, far removed from the influence of the celebrities who inspired their origin.
Plus, they are admittedly COOL names. What more could you want?
Shop from all of the biggest brands such as Nike, adidas, and The North Face for the love in your life at JD this Valentine’s Day.
