2011 Baby Names Almanac - Emily Larson [11]
Lil: When you add in the 7 variations of Liliana, there are a total of 13 Lil names in the top 1,000, and the trend isn’t showing any signs of stopping. Others include Lily, Lilly, Lillie, Lilian, Lillian, Lilia
Aniya: Parents are adding this popular collection of letters to a wide variety of consonants for 9 different popular names: Zaniyah, Aniya, Aniyah, Janiah, Janiyah, Saniya, Saniyah, Taniya, Taniyah
BOYS
Twilight Stars
Look out, top 10—here comes Cullen. It rose a stunning 297 percent in 2009, accelerating from 782 in 2008 to 485 in 2009. It’s a no-brainer why: the ladies get all swoony from Twilight vampire Edward Cullen (not surprisingly, the Gaelic name means “good-looking boy”). If you like Cullen, you could also consider Kellan—yet another Twilight connection! Hot actor Kellan Lutz plays Emmett Cullen in the Twilight series, and his name has leaped back onto the chart in 2009 at 632 (after being a total no-show in 2008). Oh, and after years on a downward trend, Edward was also up 8 percent in 2009…it’s not old fashioned anymore! What’s perhaps more surprising is Emmett—this dowdyish name ranked at 740 in 2000, but is now 332, up 39 percent over 2008.
We can’t ignore Jacob, of course, but the fact is that Jacob has been the number 1 boys’ name for 11 years, long before the Twilight books. What’s more, Jacob is actually declining, even though it’s still number 1. As we mentioned earlier, more than 35,000 babies were named Jacob when it hit number 1 in 1999. Today, a mere 20,858 babies received the name.
Variants for Cullen: Cullan, Cullin, Cullinan, Collen, Callan, Collin, Colin
Variants for Kellan: Kellen, Keelan, Kelan, Keillan, Keilan, Kellin Variants for Edward: Edwards, Ed, Eddie, Eddy, Edison, Eduard, Edouard, Eduardo, Edvard, Ted, Teddie, Teddy, Ned, Neddie, Neddy
Variants for Emmett: Emmitt, Emet, Ahmet, Emerson, Emery
Jacoby
Jacoby is a modern spin on Jacob, a Hebrew name meaning “he who supplants,” and we think its incredible rise in popularity—despite being nearly off the chart in 2006 at 913, it ranked at 444 in 2009—is only going to accelerate in 2011. The fame of Houston Texans wide receiver Jacoby Jones and Boston Red Sox outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury certainly isn’t hurting its ascent.
Variants: Jakobe, Jacob, Jacobi, Jacobus, Giacomo, Hamish, Iago, Jago, Jaime, Jake, Jakob, Jakov
Trace
We see 2011 as a big year for Trace, a much more boyish version of the name Tracy. It’s also popular for girls, but we like Trace as a breakout name for boys next year. Trace came in at 533 in 2009. Country star Trace Adkins has been a star for a long time, but it’s Trace Cyrus, older brother of Miley Cyrus, who’s really behind the surge in popularity. Trace and his band, Metro Station, are on the rise.
Variants: Traye, Drake, True, Tre, Trey, Brice, Bryce, Trai, Tracy
Liam
Liam is all the rage, and it’s going to be even stronger in 2011. This name, which ranked at 49 in 2009 (up from 75 in 2008), is an old German word for “protection” and is also an Irish diminutive of William. Liam has almost tripled in popularity over the last 10 years. Lots of celebrities have named their little ones Liam (Tori Spelling, for example), and it’s also the moniker of one of the young and gorgeous characters on 90210.
Variants: William, Len
More 2011 Forecasts: Getting Hotter
Cash, Gamble, Keno, and Chance: In these tough economic times, people are gravitating toward casino-friendly names.
Jax, Jaxson: Spinning the popular Jack in a more futuristic way
Casen/Kasen: We’ve already seen the wide variety of variations in this name, but it’s worth noting that the whole pack is relatively new to the list, and likely to gain.
Tristan/Trystan: This name also brings in quite a few variants, but the increase in both popularity and variety makes us think we’ll see more Tristans around soon.
Beckett, Bennett, Beckham: This surname trio springs from the popularity of