Pregnancy and parenting site BabyCenter looked a a sample of 450,000 babies born in 2012 and found that some Apple-related names are on the rise.
While these name didn’t crack the top ten for either sex, they definitely saw significant gains this year. The name “Apple” saw its popularity increase by 15% this year for girls (that’s a jump of 585 spots on the list). Of course, we’ve seen the name “Apple” given to a baby based on a non-tech motivation, so it’s unclear whether the company had a direct tie to this spike. Even though it’s also a popular name in Scandinavia, it would be hard to deny Apple’s influence on “Siri,” which jumped 5% on BabyCenter’s list.
“Mac,” also saw a 12% rise. Steve didn’t make the top 10, however.
On the space front, names like “Sky,” “Star,” “Stella,” and “Mars” all saw their stock rise. And as you would expect, masturbatory megahit Fifty Shades of Grey seemed to have an impact on mothers this year – the name “Grey” saw a whopping 20% jump.
FYI, the top overall names for boys this year were “Aiden,” “Jackson,” and “Ethan.” The top three names for girls were “Sophia,” “Emma,” and “Olivia.”
“A unique or unusual name remains one of the top qualities parents seek in a baby name, but it’s trending down. What’s becoming more important to new parents is finding a name with meaning,” says Linda Murray, BabyCenter Global Editor in Chief. “Parents are looking for more substance in baby names. They want names with more significance. Meaning can come from the name itself (for example, Sophia means ‘wisdom’ and Aiden means ‘fiery’) or because the name is associated with a loved one or other inspiring person. This is a significant new trend in baby naming and one I’m delighted to see.”
Names with meaning? Tell that to little baby Hashtag.