2012

I've noticed several recent articles about upcoming baby name trends. It seems like people pull these names from out of thin air. It's almost impossible to predict baby naming trends. Especially bad baby names. Some names do seem to come from nowhere at first until you dig a little deeper. Most popular names(especially bad names) come from pop culture. People do name their children after their favorite actors, TV characters, athletes etc. To try to predict the future you have to look at the past or at current naming trends. The name Bentley came from the popularity of the MTV show Teen Mom where likable Teen Mom, Maci named her son Bentley. Bentley rose 101 spots in 1 year. Maci has actually gone up over 200 spots in 1 year. Be on the look out for baby girls named Monroe thanks to Mariah Carey naming her daughter Monroe. Her son is named Moroccan aka Roc. Monroe is Roe. Finley is another male name becoming popular for girls thanks to several celebs using that name for their daughters. Paisley is on the rise for girls. I assume it's due to the popularity of country singer Brad Paisley. A popular trend in bad baby naming is changing one letter of a popular name to create an even uglier trendy name. Examples: Zayden, Payden, Rayden and even Layden. Presley is another name on the rise for girls. I guess this generation has forgotten than Elvis Presley was a man! Be aware that that the SSA does not account for different spellings so Maci is spelled Macy, Macee, Maycee etc and is even more popular than it appears. If you know someone who is thinking of using a horrible name for their baby, mention how popular the name really is if you take into account the spellings. Encourage them to google the name so they can see it isn't really all that original. Maybe you can save a child from enduring a lifetime with an embarrassing name.