One of the most important decisions you’ll ever make in your life is when you name your child. Your child’s name is the one thing that will identify them for the rest of their life, the one thing that will set them apart from the rest of society, and the one special detail that they will inform everyone when they first meet them.
When it comes to boys names like Levi and Asher were on the rise last year according to babycentre.com, perfectly normal boys names that roll off the tongue. Oliver earned its place in third place on the list, being popular for more than a decade, whilst Elijah climbed up to the fourth place. However, Logan left the top 10 list falling in popularity.
One of the most popular methods when it comes to naming children is looking at pop culture. Films and TV shows are one of the leading ways to name a baby, with expecting couples snuggling up to watch a movie, suddenly thinking of the perfect name to give their newborn when the special day finally comes. The year’s fastest-rising girls name is Raya going up 53% throughout 2021. Coincidentally, “Raya the Last Dragon” debuted on Disney+ last year which could have been the leading catalyst of rising popularity.
Sitting down with Sophie Flowers, she revealed that she was named after the film “Sophie’s Choice”, the film with Meryl Streep. “My mom went to see the film whilst she was pregnant and had the inspiration”. You shouldn’t underestimate the power of pop culture when it comes to baby names, Titanic came out in 1997 and then three years later Jack became the popular boy’s name of the year 2000.
Pop culture can give parent’s good ideas but sometimes parents can get the wrong idea. The actor Nicholas Cage named his youngest son Kal-El, after DC’s most popular superhero, Superman. Wandavision was the main show that people named their babies after, the name Wanda was up 54%, Agatha was up 32%, Darcy was up 11%, but the greatest surprise of all was the name Vision, which went up 22%. If you can name your child after an android that can fly and shoot lasers out of his forehead, then you are simply living your best life.
The last son of Krypton is a paragon of hope and the morals of tomorrow, Vision is the robot that learned compassion, and Wanda taught viewers how to deal with grief so those names aren’t that bad…they are not traditional, but they aren’t terrible. However, what if your child was named after a terrible person? Well, back in 2018, a couple called their child “Adolf” after the terrible person in history. 2021, was also the year that the UK had the first recording of a baby naming their son Thanos, it might not be a good idea to name your child after the purple alien that wiped out half of humanity in the Marvel movies.
It may be one of the driving techniques to name your child, but pop culture is a dangerous thing to play with, speaking from experience, it’s a bit too much when you’re named after a pop culture phenomenon. High School Musical was literally bigger than The Beetles, my parents didn’t mean for it to happen but I shared a name with the main character one of the most popular franchises of all time, which means people now burst into songs from the first and second movie wherever I say my name.
Take caution when it comes to your child, a name is sacred so be careful…no pressure.
