Yahoo LifestyleTop baby names for 2012
Baby names for 2012 are expected to follow the trend of the 'extraordinary', with adjectives and strong and modern hero names set to be the most popular for the year to come.
Children born in 2012 are likely to be Happy, Noble, Loving and Brave – and we’re not talking about their personalities.
In a bid to be original and create fresh names, Pamela Sartan from Nameberry.com believes that parents are moving away from nouns like Apple and Brooklyn and will follow the latest celebrity baby name trends, which includes using adjectives as monikers.
Peterborough footballer Gabriel Zakuani and his wife Shanice chose Trendy for their son born in November.
Sartan told the MailOnline: “The adjective is an expansion of the word name thing. People are pushing it in lots of different directions.”
New trends for baby names in 2012 also include modern heroes. Sartan said Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon’s daughter Monroe is a perfect example of this, having chosen it to honour Mariah's heroine, Marilyn Monroe.
[Parents win free games for life for naming their baby after a computer character]
These names are often taken from movies and literature - Gatsby, Atticus, Palin and Landry are amongst those already proving popular.
Satran said her online message board was buzzing with mentions of Fox, Wolf, Bear, Falcon, Hawk and Lionel and even Ranger, Wilder and Breaker.
She said: “Adventurous new macho names - aggressive and macho, but not traditional names, are gaining popularity.”
Celebrities following this trend include Clueless star Alicia Silverstone who named her baby boy, born in May, Bear Blu and Jamie Oliver who called his son Buddy Bear.
If none of those names impress you Nameberry.com also predicts a shift to names beginning with ‘M’, vintage names ending in ‘ie’ and inspiration from Westerns.
The stakes are high for baby names in 2012. Despite the criticism given to unusual names, Satran suggests: “Any name with personal meaning can only be a good thing.”
The 12 hottest baby name trends
1. Adjectives – Loyal, Royal, Loving, Noble and Brave.
2. Modern hero names – Gatsby, Atticus, Landry and Palin.
3. Names beginning with M – Maeve, Magdalena, Maisie, Mila, Millie, and Minnie, and for boys, Magnus, Micah, Milo, Montgomery, Moses and MONICA!
4. Combining favourite names – Instead of Isabella, parents will choose Arabella and Annabelle. Alivia instead of Olivia, Emmett as a brother to Emma.
5. Fierce names – Bear, Fox, Wolf and Lynx
6. Western names – West, North, East and Easton too, but especially Weston and Wesley. Along with Western cowboys names Boone, Bo, Wyatt and Wylie. Cole, Colt, Zane and Shane, and even Maverick.
7. The letter A – Acacia, Ada, Anais, Aurelia, and Azalea, and for boys, Alistair, Ambrose, Aragon, Archer, Arthur, Augustus, and Axel.
8. Comeback name – Betty
9. New connectors middle names – May, Wren, Bree, Pete and Hank.
10. Unlikely name inspiration – Arlo (Arlo Givens from TV show Justified).
11. Names most likely to fade away - those ending in -ley, like Brinley, Kinley, Finley, Huxley and Radley.
12. Vintage names that end in –ie – Lottie and Hattie, Addie and Nellie.
Follow @YLifestyleUK on Twitter
