Hipsters are the new black. So is it any surprise there is now a hipster baby name finder?
Hipster naming cred is perhaps only important to those who need to sip espresso in tiny inner city cafes while parking the Stokke out of the way of their skinny-jean-wearing besties. There was a great post on the Daily Beast about avoiding hipster cliche names by:
1. Not naming a baby after a jazz musician: Ella, Duke, Billie, Ray, Miles – yes, those are the hipster names that have that jazz singer hip heritage to them.
2. No Gods or Goddesses: Zeus or Jupiter, anyone?
3. No high falutin’ literary names: Atticus, Harper, Tennessee, Dashiell and anything reeking of 20th century classic literature.
4. Stay away from names of travel destinations: Cate Blanchett named her baby Roman, but think of names like Savannah, London, Sydney and Adelaide.
5. Don’t name them something unhip just to be hip: That’s Edith, Myrtle, Ignatius, Hazel and anything that becomes cool by virtue of once being uncool.
Baby naming is a big responsibility. No one wants their adult children slapping them in the face by changing their birth name after a lifetime of teasing caused by a parent getting carried away with a baby naming tool.
Australians are typically more conservative than Americans when it comes to choosing baby names – they prefer traditional names, according to social trends researcher Mark McCrindle. Some of the biggest baby name trends in recent times include:
1. True blue Australian names
Names such as Acacia, Matilda and Tasman are increasing in popularity. Wait for the next wave of Australiana.
2. Surnames as first names
“This is a solid trend that we’ll see more of,” says Mark. “We thought that with Michael Jackson’s passing we might see more Michael and Jackson – and Jackson was on the rise anyway.”
3. Place names as first names
Place names are on the rise,” says Mark. “We counted 163 Victorias in the last year. And there were almost as many babies named Dakota, Indiana, Memphis, Chicago and even a Tennessee.”
4. Nicknames as first names
“There is a trend toward creating the nickname rather than allowing it to be created,” says Mark. “So Jack (which was a nickname for John), Charlie (for girls as well), Will, Jake, Nate, Alex, Ben, Jamie, Sam, Zac, Jay, Max … We see it more in boys’ names than girls’ names, though there is Eliza, Katie, Evie and Lily (not Lilian).” In the olden days, of course, you would be Nathaniel on your birth certificate and Nate to your mates.
5. Biblical names
“We predict a trend back to Biblical names,” says Mark. “Noah is in the top 10, as is Ethan, Joshua, Thomas, Daniel and James. Old Biblical names, such as Luke, Mark, Michael and John are out. But a new level of Biblical names is making a comeback – Chloe, Hannah, Grace. We may even see the return of Faith, Hope and Charity. Economic times shape us, and after a few years in the doldrums, people are looking for depth and substance.”