When it comes to baby names, unusual is the new ordinary.
Just look at the 10 most popular names of 2007 from BabyCenter.com, a Web site for expecting and new parents. Head of the class is Aiden for boys and Sophia for girls. The line behind them includes little boys named Caden and Jayden and girls called Madison, Hailey and Addison.
Not a Charles or Mary to be found at the top.
Indeed, the regal names that once made up the list have given way as more parents search for originality.
The result is a rotation of new, or newly rediscovered, names chosen by parents determined that their child will stand out in a crowd.
“Baby naming has definitely changed in the last two generations,” said Laura Wattenberg, author of the “Baby Name Wizard” (Broadway, $12.95).
Rather than just something to scream from the sidelines of a soccer field, a child's name has become a branding of sorts to help the child succeed in the marketplace of life, Wattenberg said.
“It is almost that we are naming children the way we name products,” she said.
That means the kingly and queenly classics have plummeted in popularity, to be replaced by just about everything from television characters to nations.
Dr. Jill Hutton, for example, has delivered a world of babies. Well, part of a world. So far she has helped bring onto the planet a Sierra, a Holland, a Dublin and an Ireland.
“You'll ask (the parents), and they are not from there,” said Hutton, who is affiliated with The Methodist Hospital.
Hutton also has seen the use of traditional last names as first names. And she has patients who return to nature in search of a name for their city kid. That means Hutton's delivery portfolio includes a Jackson and a Presley, a Forest and a Hunter.
The BabyCenter list includes a shift as Emma was knocked from the top of the girls' list. Aiden remained the same, but Jayden unseated Ryan for the No. 4 spot and Caden took over for Matthew at No. 5.
The BabyCenter list is drawn from more than 300,000 babies whose parents logged their newly named child into the site. But the official national list comes from the Social Security Administration. The government office updates its information around Mother's Day. But in 2006, the top names were Jacob and Emily, with Michael and Emma following.
Ah, the good old days.
Inspiration still comes from public figures. It's just that those figures are more likely television characters and movie stars than presidents. Recent years have seen Willows and Xanders, characters from “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” BabyCenter says the addition of Addison to the top 10 might be attributed to a character from “Grey's Anatomy.”
The style-maker of baby names is no surprise to tabloid readers or anyone who has ever stood in line at the grocery checkout.
“Angelina Jolie is probably the most influential baby namer in America,” Wattenberg said. “She has impeccable taste.”
Her most enduring contribution to hipster naming was her first, Maddox. But Jolie has four children and has also launched Pax, Zahara and Shiloh into the world of baby names.
