Lifestyle

Celebrity trials influence parents: Top baby names of 2022 so far announced

05/07/2022

With all the recent celebrity trials names such as Johnny, Wayne, Coleen, and Rebekah have all had zero registrations so far this year, with Amber also tumbling out of the top 100.

Amid controversies Andrew plummeted down the charts, but jubilee fever did see a rise in other royal names.

Today, the top baby names were released in BabyCentre’s annual mid-year charts – it has also revealed that parents have unnamed and shamed big buck trial celebrities, sending down key names in high-profile court cases.

There were no winners when it came to the names in defamation cases on both sides of the Atlantic as the Wagatha Christie trial and the battle between Amber Heard and Johnny Depp saw parents fling the names out of court.

After years of enjoying a top 100 spot, Amber spectacularly dropped out. And, despite a number of registrations last year for Johnny, a total of zero parents so far this year chose the name for their baby while Jonathan too saw a big fall in the number of registrations.

Wayne, Coleen and Rebekah also all had zero entries so far this year while registrations dropped for alternative spelling Rebecca and the name of her husband Jamie.

Sarah Redshaw, managing editor for BabyCentre, said: “Parents proved they are judge and jury when it comes to baby names as they threw the book at Amber, Johnny, Wayne, Coleen and Rebekah, all at the heart of expensive high-profile court cases. I predict the impact of Johnny and Amber’s battle and the Wagatha Christie effect will continue and we will see those names fall further in the charts.”

Meanwhile as jubilee fever swept the nation our half year names chart saw some right royal climbers. Elizabeth went up two places in the top 100 while William climbed 12 places from 41 to 29. Lily – the shortened version of the queen’s nickname Lilibet as well as Harry and Meghan’s baby girl’s name- was crowned number one.

Charlotte moved up four places to number 30 after the young princess entertained the world with her cute jubilee celebration reactions, while the diminutive form Lottie jumped up 14 places to take a seat at number 52. George remained a firm favourite in the top 10 while Louie, which also includes sound-a-like version Louis held steady in the top 30.

Outside the top 100 though the number of registrations for Andrew plummeted amid controversies surrounding the prince.

Television continued to make its mark on the BabyCentre name charts. A binge on epic gangster drama Peaky Blinders appeared to inspire parents-to-be. Arthur, Alfie, Freddie, Charlie, Finley (Finn), Luca, and Thomas were all in the top 20. Tommy was at number 43, Grace at number 14, Esme at 31 and Ada sat at number 51.

And the hotly anticipated new series of Stranger Things saw a rise outside the top 100 of fan favourites Robin, Maxine (Max), Elle, Mike, Billy, and Steve. Robyn, as an alternative to Robin, and Willliam (Will) both climbed up the top 100 while Lucas and Nancy held firm.

Sarah said: “We’ll have to see how the conclusion of the series affects naming choices for the rest of the year and it might not be just character names running up the charts. Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill went viral thanks to its inclusion in the series and now holds the record for longest ever gap between release and hitting number one. Kate may scale the heights of the name charts, stranger things have happened!”

The release of the BabyCentre top 100 most popular names at the end of each year is a much-anticipated fixture for parents keen to know the nation’s favourite baby boy names and baby girl names.

But because parents love finding out whether their chosen name will make it into the charts, the mid-year results offer a sneaky peek at naming trends.

Lily’s capture of the throne pushed last year’s number one Olivia down to number three while Sophia clung to number two. Elsewhere in the girls’ top ten Aria and Ivy were new entries at numbers eight and nine after Ella and Rosie dropped out.

In the boys’ chart Muhammad and Noah held onto numbers one and two but Jack soared six places to take third place from Oliver, which dropped to number six. Freddie and Harry fell out of the top ten to make room for new entries Ethan and Oscar at numbers eight and nine.

New entries included Zion creeping in at number 95, possibly inspired by heart-throb Zion Miller in the popular show Ginny and Georgia. High new entry Elliot at number 62 could have been due to the surge in media coverage on Elliot Page after his character’s transition in the TV series The Umbrella Academy.

Another new entry was Maddison at fifty-nine, perhaps inspired by the queen bee of TV series Euphoria, Maddy Perez, or TikTok star Madison Lewis. Raya was new at ninety-two, and might have been inspired by the release of the Disney film Raya and the Last Dragon last year.

Names that dropped out of last year’s top 100 to make way for the newbies included Jasmine, Clara, Elodie, Lola and Amelie for the girls and Joseph, Edward, Ronnie, Stanley and Milo for the boys.

Zero-registration names outside of the courtroom often harked back to the 70s. Kelly, Gail, Brenda and Susie and Keith, Leslie, Glenn and Terry were all rejected by parents.

The top 100 names in full

Boys’ names