December is coming to a close, which traditionally heralds all sorts of past year reflections. Career accomplishments, places traveled—maybe even family expansions.
If you happen to be in the latter camp (or are about to be), chances are you’ve been awaiting one year-end recap in particular: The BabyCenter® Top 100 Baby Names of 2016 list, which was just released.
There were no big shockers at the top of the roster: Jackson nabbed the #1 ranking for a boy’s name for the fourth year in a row, and Sophia took the #1 spot for girls’ names for the seventh year running.But the site’s data scientists did uncover some surprising findings when they dove into the database of the BabyCenter—a member of the Johnson & Johnson family of companies—where 390,000 new parents registered their babies’ names this year.
Read on for the top five trends in newborn names in 2016—and what it says about you if you happened to choose one of them for your newest family member.
1.
Cloud
This unconventional (and unisex) moniker, which is up 76% this year, may sound wispy and dreamy. But naming your kid Cloud means you’re actually quite tech-savvy and tuned in to the Silicon Valley scene.
2.
Hillary
If you dubbed your child Hillary (and you’re not alone—its popularity has risen 64% since 2015), you may likely have been inspired and excited by the prospect of seeing a woman president in the White House.
3.
Ivanka
This relatively uncommon name, which is up nearly 40% this year, is tied to another strong female figure: Ivanka Trump, the eldest daughter of the U.S. President-elect.
4.
Darwin
Do you believe in the important of scientific inquiry? Are you hoping your baby is blessed with a superior intellect? That may be why you (and many others) named your child after the father of evolution: Charles Darwin’s last name grew a whopping 57% in popularity in 2016.
5.
Tyreese
Fans of the AMC TV show The Walking Dead could be forgiven for giving their infants this name, up nearly 50% this year, in commemoration of the tough but sensitive character on the show who cared for leader Rick’s baby, Judith—when he wasn’t fighting zombies, that is.
Want to learn about other monikers that made the BabyCenter’s top 100 rankings? Here’s the full list.
