Adelyn, Elliot, Kay’lyn, Connor. What do these names have in common, aside from their six letters? They are all names of babies born on New Year’s Day in hospitals across the country.
Each year while revelers ring in the New Year, in hospitals and birthing centers and in the back seats of cabs there is a race to be give birth close to the stroke of midnight and be named the state’s New Year’s Baby. In their own holiday tradition, Namecandy.com digs through public records and compiles a list of the names of the New Year’s babes as a way of trendspotting baby names for the coming year.
So what can we tell about the future of baby names in 2012 from this bumper crop of New Year’s babies? One thing is clear, K names are going to be very popular. In the results from the 47 states (Maryland, Minnesota and New Jersey didn’t report), there are six babies with names starting with the letter K, ranging from Kyren to Kristiana to Kay’lyn to Khloe. One guess is that the fascination with K names stems from the far-ranging influence of the Kardashian family. Another popular trend in 2012 will be A names. The list of New Year’s babies includes seven A names, including two Aubreys, an Akier, an Anya, and an Adrian.
While the Social Security Administration lists Isabella and Jacob as the most popular names of 2010, neither made this list. Although, Isabella’s variant, Bella, does make an appearance thanks to the continued popularity of a little series called Twilight.) It is clear that American parents are increasingly willing and perhaps eager to give their children creative monikers. For every Michael Joseph or Grace Kathleen on the list, there’s a Daytona Jaymes and a Shekinah Rain Shanice. You can’t blame parents for wanting to give their kids interesting handles. Washington State’s Hanna Rose may as well be named Plain Jane when she’s compared to Nevada’s Envy Essence-Faye.
Good luck, 2012 babies! We can’t wait to see what you name your kids.