Parents tend to put a lot of thought into the names that they will give their babies. Often, a baby will be given the name of an ancestor. Sometimes, baby names are influenced by pop culture. For the first time ever, the internet appears to be a source of inspiration for baby names. Parents are actually naming their babies after Instagram filters.
BabyCenter puts together an annual list of the most popular baby names of the year. The names that make the list are the ones that were given to the most children in a specific year. The trendy Instagram inspired names did not make the top ten lists. Rest assured, there will not be a kindergarten classroom full of Ludwig’s or Valencia’s in the next five or six years.
The ten most popular girl names of 2015 were: Sophia, Emma, Olivia, Ava, Mia, Isabella, Zoe, Lily, Emily, and Madison. The ten most popular boy names of 2015 were: Jackson, Aiden, Liam, Lucas, Noah, Mason, Ethan, Caden, Logan, and Jacob. The name Jackson is having a third year in the number one spot. The names Sophia, Emma, and Olivia have been on the top ten list for several years now. It isn’t unheard of for certain names to remain popular for about a decade or so.
BabyCenter noted that this year there were several #Instagrambabies. Parents, who obviously used Instagram, decided to name their babies after one of the Instagram filters or tools.
Parents named their boy babies Lux (up 75% from last year) Ludwig (up 42%) Amaro (up 26%) Reyes (up 10%) Hudson (up 4%) and Kelvin (up 3%). Parents named their baby girls Juno (up 30%) Valencia (up 26%) and Willow (up 13%).
Not every Instagram filter remained popular as a baby name in 2015. Sierra, Walden, and Lark all lost ground. Some filters have not yet appeared as baby names in the BabyCenter names database.
Eventually, almost every child asks his or her parents about the story behind their name. If these parents are still using Instagram to frequently take and post photos of their child, the answer may seem obvious.
Perhaps the story behind the name will describe why the parents picked Lux instead of Brannan. It would be interesting to see if the parents always used the filter the child was named after to enhance photos of their child.
What if, years from now, Instagram “goes under”? Would the children who were named after Instagram filters feel that their names are out of style? Amaro and Juno might one day seem as dated as Agnes and Elmer.
Image by Saku Takakusaki on Flickr.
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