Pippa Gaining Ground on Top Baby Name List in 2011
Filed under: In The News, Baby Names, New In Pop Culture, Celeb News & Interviews
Pippa Middleton. Credit: Getty Images
Reuters reports the baby name website Nameberry analyzed 23 million page views of baby name pages on various naming sites and found celebrities are having a serious impact on the monikers folks are bestowing on their little ones.
"Five years ago, I might have said that the biggest overarching factor was personal meaning, now the biggest factor is celebrities," Nameberry's Pamela Redmond Satran tells the news service.
True, Isabella, Sophia and Emma were the top names for girls last year, with Jacob, Ethan and Michael winning out among boy names, but names such as Pippa, Elula (the name actress Isla Fisher and actor Sacha Baron Cohen chose for their daughter), Mila (as in "Black Swan" actress Kunis) and Flynn (the name of Orlando Bloom and Miranda Kerr's son) are gaining steam.
"There is a culture of the celebrity baby," Satran tells Reuters. "The whole world goes on name watch. By not telling the name, it becomes a big news event."
Satran tells the news service the number of searches for a baby name can help predict how popular that name will become.
Nameberry compiled a list of hot names so far for 2001, posted on Today.com. Here's what people are searching.
Pippa: "Both the familiar Pippa and the more formal Philippa is the Number 1 hottest baby name of the year on Nameberry. Pippa ranks 35 on our most-searched list so far this year, after not appearing at all among our 200 most popular girls' names of 2010. While Kate is up too, it's not nearly as hot as Pippa.
Asher: "The soft, Biblical Asher takes the Hottest Boys' Name spot by virtue of having unseated Henry as the all-time Number 1 name for boys on Nameberry."
Elula: "Elula, the unusual Hebrew calendar name chosen by Isla Fisher and Sasha Baron Cohen for their second daughter, was not even in our database last year and now is the Number 38 most-searched name on Nameberry."
Everett: "The popularity of Everett, up 50 places on our most-searched list, was inspired by such stylish girls' choices as Eva and Evelyn."
Hadley: "The success of the bestselling novel 'The Paris Wife' has catapulted the intriguing name of Hemingway's first wife, Hadley Richardson, 50 spots up our list this year over last."
Arlo: "... Arlo, as in folksinger Guthrie, (is) enjoying a popularity surge. Other o-ending names for boys heating up in 2011: Nico, Hugo, Otto."
Mila: "It's the name of a gorgeous young star, Mila Kunis, PLUS it resembles a handful of trendy names -- Mia, Maya, Lila -- that are due for a hiatus."
Flynn: "Finn is already hot, but cousin Flynn, baby name choice of Orlando Bloom and Miranda Kerr, is taking off."
Ada, Adele, Adeline, Adelaide: "If it's a vintage girls' name that starts with Ad-, it can't miss this year, it seems."
Archer: "Archer, as in Henry James' 'Portrait of a Lady' and Edith Wharton's 'Age of Innocence,' is perfect: It's unusual, classic yet contemporary-feeling, and there's no danger of anyone actually having read the books."
Luna: "The real hottie launched by the Beckham name quest was otherworldly Luna, the name rumored to be their girls' pick for most of Posh's pregnancy."
So, don't be surprised if the kindergarten class of 2016 is full of Pippas, Milas, Elulas and Flynns. Kinda sounds like a new sort of British invasion, now, doesn't it?











ReaderComments (Page 1 of 7)
7-27-2011 @ 2:10PM
Randy said...Good luck finding any of those names on a mug when you take your kids to Disneyland! lol
Reply
7-27-2011 @ 4:01PM
George said...Elua and Luna sound like names for a chimpanzee.
7-27-2011 @ 4:39PM
STUART said...WITH ALL THE ILLEGAL ALIEN ANCHOR CHILDREN BEING SPEWED OUT IN AMERICA, I WOULD HAVE EXPECTED TO SEE PEDRO, AND MARIA ON THE LIST.
7-27-2011 @ 8:36PM
derek37 said...pedro or maria is yesterdays news, how about: lee. hi, chang, cho
7-27-2011 @ 10:30PM
Kathy said...Elula, Luna and Pippa? what the hell is wrong with people? LMAO!
7-28-2011 @ 12:46PM
pnaikeed said...There's no need for anyone to be racist about this.
"lee. hi, chang, cho?"
Obviously you don't know that many Asians, or you're just very ignorant to know any at all.
7-29-2011 @ 11:34AM
ralph said...We had twins and named them Poly and Ester
7-27-2011 @ 2:14PM
Janet said...Archer: "Archer, as in Henry James' 'Portrait of a Lady' and Edith Wharton's 'Age of Innocence,' is perfect: It's unusual, classic yet contemporary-feeling, and there's no danger of anyone actually having read the books."
Really?? What kind of a stupid thing is this to say? I've read both of those books and so have a number of people I know. Sheesh. Not everyone is reading moronic thrillers and bodice rippers with recycled plot lines.
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7-27-2011 @ 10:33PM
Amaya said...It was actually "Archer" the animated Adult Swim show that made it famous. LOL
...or at least that's why I like it. >.>
Though "Sterling" is even better.
7-27-2011 @ 11:51PM
Alicia said...@Amaya,
Exactly. That show is all I could think about when I read "Archer." And if I ever have a son he is so getting named Sterling.
7-28-2011 @ 2:49AM
Erniesduck123 said...The show Archer is actually on FX. I don't believe you've actually seen the show.
7-28-2011 @ 3:37AM
beren said...well, i read thrillers, and don't find them moronic ... but i was going to say nearly the same thing about the novels as i have also read them both. to use your word, i thought it moronic to assume that no one had.
isn't archer also a character name on the television show "private practice"?
7-27-2011 @ 2:34PM
Fran said...My guess is that the upsurge in interest in the name Luna has less to do with the Beckhams than it does with the quirky heroine who comes into her own in the last three volumes of the Harry Potter saga, Luna Lovegood. If you look at these trends more closely I'll bet that you'll see names that are unusual in America like Hermione and Neville also moving their way up the ranks of popularity, on account of the Potter cultural phenomenon.
Reply
7-27-2011 @ 3:10PM
melblev1226 said...That was my thought also.
7-27-2011 @ 6:26PM
Hooper said...I believe you're right. The names Everett and Jacob are from that teenage vegeterian vampire book. There may be more from that book but I could only get through the first one.
7-27-2011 @ 10:17PM
erikka said...and your kid will curse you when all the kids on the playground are calling her Loony!!
7-29-2011 @ 10:32PM
Lindsay said...That's a good theory, but I think it has more to do with the fact that my dog's name is Luna...or at least that's what I'd like to think (who was born in 2002, before the book with her in it even came out). =)
7-27-2011 @ 2:44PM
Maria said...Anyone who names their kid "Pippa" ought to be shot.
Reply
7-27-2011 @ 9:04PM
Buck said...Thank you, Maria, for saying exactly what I was thinking. Silly people who give silly names to their kids in the interest of being cool, hip, fashionable, etc. don't seem to realize (or care) that the poor kid is going to have to live with it for the rest of his/her life, or until s/he convinces a judge to change it for him.
7-28-2011 @ 4:12AM
Eve said...Pippa is actually the word for vagina in the Polish lanauage, and I am being serious !!!! So any parents should keep this in mind.