Baby_Names_Comp - H 2016
Hollywood influences American taste in countless ways — impacting everything from clothes and cars to coiffures. Turns out, in plenty of cases, it even affects how parents name their children. Sifting through more than a century’s worth of meticulous Social Security Administration (SSA) data, which charts the popularity of baby names, offered The Hollywood Reporter strong proof of the connection between celebrities and fictional characters and the monikers that end up on birth certificates.
Suddenly seeing Scarletts on every playground? Johansson’s ingenue to A-lister career trajectory is largely responsible for making that happen. What’s the deal with all of those Archers in mommy-and-me class? There are a lot of hardcore fans of a certain eponymous FX cartoon on TV. Ever wonder why there are hardly any little Lindsays anymore? Thank Lohan for turning her name toxic.
Read on for 100 examples of how pop culture has blossomed on the branches of family trees — and perhaps your own.
Contributors: Eli Flesch, Devon Jefferson, Tori Latham, Candice Lim, Hannah Malach, Jason Pham, Maya Richard-Craven, Madi Schulz, Meg Zukin, Dale Chong, Jennifer Drysdale, Alexis Faber, Carmen Triola.
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Aaliyah
Image Credit: Sal Idriss/Redferns/Getty Images Aaliyah first appears on the SSA’s charts as the 202nd most-popular name in 1994, when the R&B singer released her debut album, Age Ain’t Nothing But a Number. The name breached the top 100 (at No. 96) in 2001, the year of her death in a plane crash in the Bahamas. By 2012, Aaliyah reached its peak, at No. 36.
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Adele
Image Credit: Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images Adele made its highest showing at No. 187 in 1914, around the time Adele Astaire, a prominent vaudevillian actress, was nurturing her young career. The name fell out of the top 1,000 by 1970, but made a comeback in 2011 with the release of 21 by English singer-songwriter Adele. The pop phenom took home six Grammy Awards in 2011, and the following year Adele, the name, reached popularity levels last seen in 1956. It now ranks No. 652.
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Adriana
Image Credit: John Shearer/WireImage Adriana has fluctuated since the late 1980s. Yet the name of the Brazilian supermodel and Victoria’s Secret Angel Adriana Lima peaked at No. 106 in 2006, the same year the practicing Catholic reached the apex of her own pop-cultural fame, stating in a GQ interview that she was still a virgin.
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Aidan
Image Credit: HBO/Photofest In the years following the debut of the good-natured furniture maker named Aidan on HBO’s Sex and the City in 2000, the name has steadily increased in popularity, rising from No. 114 and eventually peaking at No. 39 in 2003. That spelling has retained relative popularity, but has now fallen back down to No. 185. However, the alternate spelling, Aiden, is an extremely popular name, mirroring the other spelling in gaining popularity after 2000, peaking at No. 9 in 2011.
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Ally
Image Credit: FOX/Photofest Fox’s Ally McBeal premiered in 1997, pushing the name Ally into the top 1,000 one year later at No. 417. Following the series finale in 2002, Ally steadily declined until it saw a new peak in 2012 — a year after the show Austin and Ally premiered on Disney Channel — when it stood at No. 584.
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Ariel
Image Credit: Buena Vista Pictures/Courtesy of Everett Collection Ariel hit its most popular point two years after the 1989 release of Disney’s The Little Mermaid. Princess Ariel, the titular mermaid, was popular enough that in 1991, at its height, Ariel ranked No. 66 among the most popular baby names. Though dropping dramatically from that peak in recent years, it still remains in the top 250, at No. 137 in 2015.
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Archer
Archer has risen in popularity every year since FX’s Archer premiered in 2010, advancing from No. 549 that year to No. 289 at last count. In 2014, it was the fastest-rising male moniker, according to child-naming website Nameberry. Reached for comment at the time, the show’s executive producer joked to The Hollywood Reporter: “Now if only we can get Killface a few pegs higher” (referencing the villain on his and Archer creator Adam Reed’s other animated series, Frisky Dingo.)
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Aria
Image Credit: ABC Family/Photofest Sara Shepard’s Pretty Little Liars books debuted in 2006, but Aria did not jump the ranks until the mystery-thriller series debuted on ABC Family in 2010. A year following the premiere, Aria leapt from No. 353 to No. 157. Since then, the name has only grown more popular, hitting its peak of No. 29 in 2015. (Its rise may very well have been stratospherically boosted by the growing renown of Game of Thrones’ Arya — see below — which sounds and looks similar.)
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Ariana/Arianna
Image Credit: Screengrab/ArianaGrandeVevo Both Ariana and Arianna have had significant jumps in recent history. The former saw a small jump to No. 54 in 2013, the year Ariana Grande released her debut album, Yours Truly, followed by another leap to No. 37 in 2014, when the pop star made the publicity and chart-topping rounds for her second album, My Everything, which included hits “Problem” and “Love Me Harder.” The latter spelling may be attributed to journalism mogul Arianna Huffington: The name first made the SSA’s top 100 in 2003, the same year she ran for governor of California. The popularity of the name increased in 2006, one year after the founding of The Huffington Post. It peaked in 2014 at No. 40 on the list.
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Arya
Image Credit: Courtesy of HBO Arya’s rise in the rankings parallels the record-breaking viewership of HBO's Game of Thrones. After its 2011 television debut, the name rose from No. 942 in 2010 all the way to No. 412 in 2012. One of the most popular characters, Arya has only continued to surge. As of last year (and the fifth-season finale, which drew in 8.11 million viewers), the name sits at No. 201.
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Audrey
Image Credit: Paramount Pictures/Photofest In 1953, Audrey resided on the list at No. 166. In the same year, Audrey Hepburn made her Academy Award-winning debut in Roman Holiday, prompting its rise to No. 149 the following year. Numbers fluctuated until 2002, after the release of the French film Amelie, starring Audrey Tautou, when the name jumped up to the No. 100 spot. Over the next 14 years, the name continued to trend and last registered at No. 37 in 2015.
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Ava
Image Credit: Steve Granitz/WireImage/Getty Images Ava was popular in the early 1950s when Hollywood star Ava Gardner was at her peak. However, it wasn’t until 1998 that it became hot again, jumping 268 spots to No. 350 following the 1997 birth of Heather Locklear and Richie Sambora’s daughter Ava. Ava continued its upward trajectory in 1999 — the same year Reese Witherspoon gave her daughter the name — entering the top 300. Since 2006, Ava has been in the top five, currently sitting at No. 4.
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Avril
Image Credit: David Needleman While not as highly ranked as other names, Avril experienced a large jump from No. 9,938 to No. 2,923 between 2001 and 2002 – the same year Avril Lavigne released her hit song “Complicated.” The popularity of the name varied for a few years before it rose to its highest spot on the list, No. 1,247, in 2009, two years after Lavigne’s “Girlfriend” hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 list.
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Azalea
Image Credit: AP Images For more than a century, Azalea didn’t rank above 1,000 — until 2012, when it came in at No. 900 after Australian rapper Iggy Azalea dropped her popular album, The New Classic. Azalea — also the name of a flowering shrub — continued to rise in the ranks, peaking at No. 529 in 2014 before descending to No. 581 in 2015.
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Bella
Image Credit: Summit Entertainment/Photofest Bella has remained in the top 100 since 2009 but reached its peak in 2010, when it sat at No. 48. That same year, Kristen Stewart starred as Bella in The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, the highest domestic-grossing film in the Twilight series. In addition, the Disney Channel show Shake It Up debuted in 2010, with child star Bella Thorne in the role of CeCe.
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Blair
Image Credit: The CW Network/Photofest Modestly popular until 2000, Blair disappeared from the rankings until 2011, when the name came back into the top 1,000 at No. 976. The CW’s Gossip Girl, starring Leighton Meester as the preppy Blair Waldorf, was at its height during this time. Although the show went off the air in 2012, the name has seen a small increase over the past few years, and currently stands at No. 605.
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Blake
Image Credit: GIOVANNI RUFINO/THE CW Blake, as a female name, had been off the top 1,000 since 1998 when, in 2011, it made an appearance again, as Gossip Girl star Blake Lively transitioned to film and larger renown. Since then, the name has made steady gains, hitting No. 423 in 2015.
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Cameron
Cameron, as a male, has seen peaks associated with Kirk Cameron’s first appearance as Mike Seaver on ABC’s Growing Pains in 1985 (up 92 slots year-over-year to No. 62 in 1990), with a peak in 2000 at No. 31 following Cameron Crowe’s Almost Famous. Meanwhile, Kirk’s sister Candace helped the female Cameron see a spike to No. 650 in 1988, after the debut of ABC’s Full House a year earlier. While it would ultimately slide (to No. 530 last year), it was momentarily buoyed by Cameron Diaz’s pop-culture moment in 1997-98 with the back-to-back pics My Best Friend’s Wedding and There’s Something About Mary.
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Carly
Singer-songwriter Carly Simon deserves much of the credit for first bringing this name into popularity at No. 630 in 1973, as her hit “You’re So Vain” went to No. 1 on the Billboard chart. Days of Our Lives’ Carly Manning and As the World Turns’ Carly Snyder pushed it to its peak at No. 122 in 1995. The Nickelodeon show iCarly kept it steadily ranked toward the end of the last decade. Yet Carly Rae Jepsen’s 2012 hit single “Call Me Maybe” couldn’t stop its decline the following year 37 spots to No. 322.
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Carrie
Image Credit: Photofest Carrie hit its peak popularity at No. 28 in 1976 and 1977, the same years Sissy Spacek starred in the supernatural horror film Carrie, based on Stephen King’s novel, and Carrie Fisher first became Princess Leia in Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. An ensuing 40-year decline (the name currently resides at No. 999) only saw a relative bright spot in 2003, when Sarah Jessica Parker was starring as Carrie Bradshaw on Sex and the City.
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Chace
Image Credit: The CW Network/Photofest Chace found its footing in response to Chace Crawford’s time as Nate Archibald on The CW’s Gossip Girl. The series first aired in 2007, putting Chace on the map as No. 659 in 2008. The name peaked the following year at No. 528, but has steeply declined to No. 933 since the show’s end in 2012.
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Cher
Image Credit: Tom Wargacki/WireImage After the premiere of The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour, Cher broke the list for the first time at No. 650 in 1972. However, when the pair went their separate ways, the name’s cache faded. During the couple’s divorce, Cher plummeted to No. 995 in 1974 and has not since been seen on the top 1,000 list.
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Chrissy
Image Credit: Courtesy of Photofest Chrissy, a moniker for Christine, jumped to No. 377 in 1978, following the 1977 premiere of Three’s Company, which co-starred Suzanne Somers. Although Chrissy hasn’t made the top 1,000 since 1981, the name has witnessed a relatively modest increase in popularity of late, possibly thanks to model and Twitter enthusiast Chrissy Teigen.
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Christina
Image Credit: Ke.Mazur/WireImage Christina held a top 20 spot from 1973 to 1987, peaking at No. 12 in 1985. Its fall since — currently standing at No. 333 — was momentarily arrested by Christina Aguilera’s eponymous debut album in 1999. (The next year, the name held No. 73.)
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Cullen
Image Credit: Summit Entertainment After the release of the first Twilight novel in 2005, the name Cullen, after the famous vampire-heartthrob Edward Cullen and the rest of his family, saw an extreme jump in the charts, moving from No. 728 in 2005 to No. 485 in 2009. Cullen held its highest popularity in 2010 — when The Twilight Saga: Eclipse was released in theaters — coming in at No. 413.
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Daisy
Image Credit: CBS/Photofest Daisy has remained a popular name for over a century, starting in the early 1900s thanks to the appearance of Daisy Buchanan in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. After a decline in the 1950s and ‘60s, the name rose back to popularity starting in 1981, when it ranked No. 328 two years after The Dukes of Hazzard character Daisy Duke became an American icon. Since then, Daisy has only become more common, standing at No. 183 in 2015.
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Dakota
Image Credit: Photofest In 2001, the same year Dakota Fanning had her breakout role in I Am Sam, the name ranked at No. 329. The name peaked in 2006 at No. 190 after Fanning had worked on films such as The Cat in the Hat and War of the Worlds.
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Dawson
Image Credit: Warner Bros./Photofest Dawson enjoyed its peak in 1999, the year after hit teen drama Dawson’s Creek premiered. James Van Der Beek’s portrayal of the titular character bumped the name to No. 136. Leonardo DiCaprio’s role as Jack Dawson in Titanic two years earlier likely played a strong role as well. It currently resides at No. 239.
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Demi
Image Credit: Paramount Pictures/Photofest Demi first appeared on the top 1,000 list in 1991 at No. 656, one year after Demi Moore starred in Ghost. The name remained modestly favored throughout the mid-1990s before dropping off the list completely. A resurgence arrived in 2009, a year after teen star Demi Lovato appeared in the Disney Channel movie Camp Rock and released her debut album. The name placed at No. 602 — its highest ranking — in 2015.
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Drake
Image Credit: Christopher Polk/Getty Images Although Drake has enjoyed a relative popularity since the 1990s, the name had its highest ranking (No. 197) in 2010, the year after Canadian rapper Drake (full name Aubrey Drake Graham) released his first hit, “Best I Ever Had,” and the mixtape “So Far Gone.”
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Elijah
Image Credit: New Line Cinema/Photofest The use of Elijah began to increase in the late 1990s, but it wasn’t until the early 2000s that the name really took off. In 2001, Elijah Wood starred as Frodo Baggins in the first Lord of the Rings movie, moving the name up to No. 45 that year. The subsequent films allowed the name to continue its rise. It has been at No. 11 for the past three years.
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Ellie
Image Credit: Netflix Ellie jumped to No. 104 in 2010 when Ellie Goulding appeared on the charts with her single “Lights.” Recently, the name has made it all the way up to No. 47, perhaps due to both Goulding’s rise and that of Ellie Kemper, the star of Netflix’s Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.
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Elle
After the release of Legally Blonde in 2001 and Reese Witherspoon’s starring turn as Elle Woods, Elle made the top 1,000 list at No. 613 the following year. (Residual pop-culture glamour associated with Elle MacPherson’s '90s-era supermodel run may have provided additional jet fuel.) The name has found continued popularity with the rise of Elle Fanning, whose Super 8 came out the year before Elle hit No. 381 in 2012, its highest ranking thus far.
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Elsa
Image Credit: Courtesy of The Walt Disney Company Elsa made a huge jump, from No. 527 in 2013 to No. 286 in 2014, after the release of Disney’s hit animated film Frozen, in which Idina Menzel voiced a heroine named Elsa. The name has since sagged to No. 487 in 2015. But just wait for Frozen 2.
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Elyse
Image Credit: Photofest After a 27-year hiatus from the list, Elyse returned at No. 702 in 1983. This was the year after Meredith Baxter began to play Elyse Keaton, the matriarch of the Family Ties household. The name continued to gain popularity as the show went on, reaching its peak at No. 305 in 1987. When the show went off-air in 1989, Elyse dropped further down the list, landing at No. 653 most recently.
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Emma
Image Credit: © 2010 CTMG With the birth of Rachel and Ross' Emma Geller-Green on Friends in 2002, the name jumped from No. 13 to No. 4 and has since remained one of the top three names since 2003, currently standing at No. 1. Emma Watson began playing Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter series in 2001 and Emma Stone starred in several movies, such as Easy A and The Amazing Spider-Man, before being nominated for an Oscar for her role in Birdman. Emma Roberts and Emma Thompson are two other famous Emmas who have likely kept the name at the forefront of the pop-culture mix.
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Felicity
Image Credit: Photofest Felicity jumped more than 400 spots from 1998 to 1999, landing at No. 390 the year after the eponymous WB show created by J.J. Abrams premiered. Keri Russell’s protagonist kept the name highly ranked through the show’s run, but a decline followed its 2002 end. Felicity bounced back to No. 360 in 2015 following Felicity Jones’ Oscar nomination for The Theory of Everything and the announcement of her upcoming role in the latest Star Wars installment.
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Flynn
Image Credit: Raymond Hall/FilmMagic Orlando Bloom and Miranda Kerr named their son Flynn in 2011. The next year, the name lept 242 spots, to No. 697.
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Gary
Image Credit: Valerie Macon/AFP/Getty Images Gary rapidly gained popularity after the 1920s, following the success of actor Gary Cooper, eventually breaking the top 10 in 1954, two years after his iconic appearance in High Noon. Yet it’s been downhill since, with the travails of Garys Coleman, Busey and Glitter offering a cumulative public relations disaster for the name, which currently ranks No. 582. (Most fatal, however, may have been Nickelodeon’s SpongeBob SquarePants, which debuted in 1999 and popularized the most famous Gary in half a century: a meowing snail sidekick.)
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Giselle
Image Credit: Venturelli/WireImage Giselle has maintained a top 200 rank since 2003 but peaked at No. 134 in 2007 when Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bündchen (note the single "l") opened and closed Dolce & Gabana’s show in Milan and was selected as one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world. (She would go on to wed New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady two years later, further enhancing her profile.) The name has slowly declined in popularity since, currently situated at No. 221.
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Grace
Image Credit: Courtesy of Photofest NBC’s Will & Grace, starring Debra Messing as titular character Grace Adler, may be responsible for the name’s growth during the late 1990s and early 2000s. In 1999, a year after the show’s premiere, Grace went from the No. 54 spot in 1998 to No. 27 on the list. It continued to rise each year, finally topping off at No. 13 in 2004, at the height of the series. Though the name has declined, it still sits high, currently at No. 19.
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Gwyneth
Despite an Oscar win in 1999, the name Gwyneth didn't surface in the top 1,000 — albeit barely, at No. 957 — until 2004, the year after Gwyneth Paltrow secretly wed Coldplay lead singer Chris Martin. The name didn’t appear again until 2011 when the actress, also known for her polarizing lifestyle brand Goop, won an Emmy for her stint on Fox’s Glee. Gwyneth’s last appearance on the list, at No. 891 in 2013, followed Paltrow’s roles in 2012’s Avengers and 2013’s Iron Man 3.
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Harper
Image Credit: Alo Ceballos/FilmMagic While To Kill a Mockingbird author Harper Lee, who died in February, may be the most famous Harper, the name broke the top 100 in 2011, the year David and Victoria Beckham welcomed daughter Harper. The name has since hit its peak, at No. 10, in 2015.
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Harrison
Harrison had a rough ride between 1900 (No. 245) and 1977 (No. 971). Then its fortune changed with the release of Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, starring Harrison Ford as Millennium Falcon captain Han Solo. The next two years saw three decades of increasing popularity (currently it ranks No. 119), with particularly strong gains made between 1984 and 1985, coinciding with the release of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
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Hillary
Image Credit: Photofest Hillary had its strongest year, at No. 132, in 1992, just before Hillary Clinton assumed the role of first lady of the United States. It then saw a dramatic decline, falling in rank by 754 places throughout President Bill Clinton’s tenure. After three years of not cracking the top 1,000, Hillary managed to rise to No. 808 in 2004 as the similarly spelled Hilary Swank starred in three films, the most notable of which was Clint Eastwood’s Oscar-winning Million Dollar Baby.
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Jacob
Image Credit: Photofest For more than 10 years in a row — mostly during the 2000s — Jacob took the top spot. And for six of those years, Jacob Black of the Twilight series was the most well-known werewolf in the world. Taylor Lautner’s portrayal of the lovable outsider helped keep the name in its place until 2012, the year the last Twilight film came out. Since then, the name has only declined slightly, ending up at No. 4 in 2015.
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Jasmine
Throughout the 1990s, Jasmine remained steadily in the top 30 names, but it peaked at No. 23 in both 1993 and 1994. This came just one year after the release of Disney classic Aladdin, the highest-grossing film of 1992, with more than $500 million in international revenue. Jasmine dropped off after 2006, but stayed in the top 100 until last year.
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Jax
Image Credit: Michael Becker/FX Jax did not become a regular on the top 1,000 until the premiere of Sons of Anarchy in 2008. Protagonist Jax Teller helped bump the name to No. 692 the year of the show’s debut and by the end of the show’s run in 2014, the name had reached a high of No. 209. Since, the name has only slightly fallen in popularity; it currently sits at No. 214.
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Jaden
Image Credit: Getty Images After the Fresh Prince dubbed his son Jaden, the name rose from No. 328 in 1998 to No. 203 in 1999. The name of Will and Jada Pinkett-Smith's son peaked in 2007 at No. 74, but the celeb-spawn’s growing public persona has likely allowed the name to continue to do well, currently ranked at No. 201.
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Justin
Justin experienced a high point in the late 1990s with the pop superstardom of NSYNC’s Justin Timberlake. The teen star helped the name reach No. 19 in 2000, the same year that the group’s most popular single, “Bye Bye Bye,” was released. Since then, the name has dropped most recently to No. 110, perhaps due to the foibles of the more recent teen star Justin Bieber.
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Katniss
Image Credit: Murray Close/Lionsgate Katniss didn’t hit any rankings until 2011, three years after The Hunger Games was released as a novel. At that point, the name was extremely rare, ranking at No. 15,699. Once the film versions of the books were released with Jennifer Lawrence in the role of Katniss, the name jumped significantly, reaching No. 2,917 in 2015.
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Kellan
Image Credit: Photofest Kellan was given a big boost thanks to actor Kellan Lutz, who portrayed Emmett Cullen in the Twilight franchise. The name wasn’t even in the top 1,000 in 2008, but it moved to No. 622 a year later. Kellan only continued to climb as more movies were released, reaching its height at No. 364 in 2011.
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Kendall
Image Credit: Mark Davis/Getty Images Kendall first became popular in the early 1990s, thanks to the appearance of Sarah Michelle Gellar as Kendall Hart Lang on the daytime soap opera All My Children. The name took a slight dip before resurfacing right around the time Kendall Jenner and the rest of the Kardashian family became reality television stars. Jenner’s breakout as a model and fan favorite likely allowed the name to peak at No. 116 in 2012.
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Khaleesi
Image Credit: Courtesy of Helen Sloan/HBO Khaleesi broke into the top 1,000 names in both 2014 and 2015 thanks to HBO’s highly rated Game of Thrones. An honorific reference to Emilia Clarke’s character Daenerys (a “khaleesi” is the wife of a ruler among the series’ nomadic horse-mounted Dothraki warriors), it became the 756th most popular name in 2014 and dropped slightly to No. 816 the following year.
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Khloe
Image Credit: Cindy Ord The Kardashians are responsible, again, for bringing the name Khloe to families everywhere. Once only a name spelled with a "C," this version of the name skyrocketed to No. 42 in 2010 — the name first made the top 1,000 at No. 950 in 2006, then escalated to No. 663 in 2007, the year Keeping Up With the Kardashians premiered. The name has remained in the top 100 since then, hanging on by a thread at No. 100 in 2015.
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Kimberly
Image Credit: Getty Images Kimberly, and its shortened moniker Kim, has been popular for decades (its peak was at No. 2 in the mid-1960s, possibly due to the popularity of Vertigo star Kim Novak). However, it’s recently seen a decline tied to the timing of the rise of Kim Kardashian. The name of the polarizing reality-show regular and most famous of the Kardashian clan was at No. 54 in 2007 and by 2015 ranked No. 107.
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Kourtney
Image Credit: Getty Images Another name with a more typical "C" spelling, Kourtney has also seen a bump because of the Kardashian who bears the name. Kourtney jumped to No. 645 in 2010, three years after Keeping Up With the Kardashians premiered. The popularity of the name has declined and officially dropped off the top 1,000 in 2014.
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Kylie
Image Credit: Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic/Getty Images The youngest member of the Kardashian clan, reality TV heiress Kylie Jenner is most likely responsible for the current popularity of her name. Kylie topped out at No. 51 in 2008, one year after the premiere of Keeping Up With the Kardashians and the introduction of Kylie Jenner to the world. The name has fluctuated for the past few years but remains high at No. 66. The name first started gaining popularity in 1986 when Kylie Minogue joined the cast of Australian soap opera Neighbours. The name hit an all-time high at spot 49 in 2004, just three years after the release of Minogue's single “Can’t Get You Out of My Head.”
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Lara
Image Credit: © Paramount Pictures Lara first broke into the top 1,000 in 1966, just after the 1965 premiere of Doctor Zhivago, starring popular actress Julie Christie as Lara. Although originally a video game character in 1996, Lara Croft didn’t have much impact until after the premiere of Lara Croft: Tomb Raider in 2001, starring Angelina Jolie as the title character. The name then saw a relative boom, jumping 91 spots to No. 634 in 2002. It’s since steadily declined, currently standing at No. 817.
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Leighton
Image Credit: Courtesy of WME Leighton didn’t hit the list until 2009, two years after Leighton Meester began her role as prep school queen bee Blair Waldorf on The CW’s Gossip Girl. At that time, the name entered at No. 675. In the six years since, its climbed to No. 473.
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Leonardo
Image Credit: Photofest After Leonardo DiCaprio’s leading role in 1997’s Titanic, Leonardo jumped 100 spots to No. 257 in 1998. The actor’s rise has only helped the name further. The same year DiCaprio starred in The Departed (2006), Leonardo reached No. 183. 2013’s The Great Gatsby and The Wolf of Wall Street coincided with the name reaching No. 131. The name now sits at No. 103, its highest point yet.
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Leia
Image Credit: Photofest Predictably, Leia first made the list in 1978, the year following the first Star Wars film’s premiere. In 1981, the name disappeared from the list, but it made a comeback in 2006 — just a year after Star Wars: Episode III was released, though Fisher’s character was relatively absent — at No. 962. Leia rose in the following years, hitting No. 421 in 2015, the year Star Wars: The Force Awakens rebooted the film series.
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Liam
Image Credit: SGranitz/WireImage Liam’s first huge bump in popularity came in 1994, the year Schindler’s List, starring Liam Neeson, won the Academy Award for best picture. The name went from spot 515 in the previous year to No. 360 in '94. Liam reached its peak in 2013 at spot No. 2 and has remained there since, thanks in part to Liam Hemsworth, star of The Hunger Games trilogy, and Liam Payne, a member of boy band One Direction.
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Lindsay
Image Credit: Mark Boster-Pool/Getty Images A name popular in the 1980s, Lindsay retained its rankings through the 1990s and early 2000s during Lindsay Lohan’s early roles in films such as The Parent Trap and Mean Girls. However, once the good girl turned bad, her name took a hit in the rankings. At No. 263 in 2006, Lohan’s several rehab visits and two DUIs likely helped bring the name down to No. 846 by 2015.
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Logan
In recent years, Logan has climbed into the top 20 names multiple times. This first occurred in 2007, when a character named Logan appeared on three different television shows: Gilmore Girls, General Hospital and Veronica Mars. The name peaked at No. 13 in 2014 following the rise of actor Logan Lerman, who starred in 2010’s Percy Jackson & the Olympians and 2012’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower.
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Lorelai
Image Credit: The WB/Photofest Gilmore Girls deserves full credit for bringing Lorelai into the top 1,000. The name first appeared in 2006 at No. 993 and jumped to No. 868 in 2007, the year of the show’s end. Lorelei stayed on the list, varying in popularity, as nostalgia for the show continued. And the recent announcement of a Gilmore Girls reboot brought the name up to No. 651 in 2015.
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Luke
Image Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection Luke first climbed above the 100 mark after the introduction of Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars films. The name made it to No. 97 in 1980 before falling back into the hundreds for 10 years. Once the prequel trilogy hit theaters, the name rose above 50 starting in 2001. It has now sat comfortably at No. 28 for the past two years.
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Maisie
Game of Thrones deserves credit for pushing Maisie to its first-ever appearance on the top 1,000 list, debuting at No. 653 in 2014. Following the TV debut of Maisie Williams as Arya Stark in 2011, the name has risen in rank to No. 624 this past year. The actress joins Carrie Fisher (above) in earning a double-mention on this list, as both have impacted baby-naming trends with their real and fictitious names.
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Mallory
Image Credit: Photofest When eldest daughter Mallory Keaton appeared on Family Ties in 1982, the name appeared on the top 1,000 list for the first time at No. 333 in 1983. During the show’s run, the name peaked at No. 91 in 1987 and has since steadily declined to its current position at No. 392.
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Mariah
Image Credit: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic, Inc Mariah Carey became a '90s phenomenon after her self-titled debut album was released in ‘91, skyrocketing this name from No. 259 in 1990 to No. 69 the following year. Mariah officially hit its peak in 1998 at spot 62, just after the 1997 release of her sixth studio album, Butterfly. Fresh off her divorce from Nick Cannon, Mariah dropped from 137 in 2014 to spot No. 155 in 2015.
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Marilyn
Marilyn first hit the top 100 in 1925 but continually declined throughout Hollywood icon Marilyn Monroe’s career, whose biggest films included Niagara (1953), Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), How to Marry a Millionaire (1953) and The Seven Year Itch (1955). It now sits at No. 426 and has not been in the top 100 since 1958.
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Mason
Image Credit: Alo Ceballos/FilmMagic Mason comes in at No. 3 in 2015, following its peak at No. 2 in 2011 and 2012. Mason Dash Disick, the first child of Kourtney Kardashian and Scott Disick, was born in 2009 and the name has climbed each year, perhaps due to his frequent appearances on E!’s hit reality program Keeping Up With the Kardashians and cute shots on his doting mom’s Instagram.
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Meadow
Image Credit: Photofest Meadow, the first daughter of The Sopranos’ leading man Tony Soprano, made this name popular two years after the show’s premiere in 1999 — it first hit the top 1,000 in 2001, at spot No. 806. After reaching No. 760 in 2003, Meadow resurged again in 2014 after Paul Walker’s death, putting his teenage daughter Meadow in the spotlight as the name climbed from No. 974 to its current ranking at No. 677.
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Mia
Image Credit: Photofest Mia first entered the top 100 in 2000 at No. 93, experiencing a boost to No. 76 the following year with the release of the film version of Meg Cabot’s The Princess Diaries, starring Anne Hathaway as Mia Thermopolis, the teenage princess of fictional Genovia. Since 2000, Mia has quickly risen through the ranks, currently resting at No. 6 for the third year in a row.
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Miley
Image Credit: AP Images/Invision This name’s recent popularity began in 2006 with the premiere of Disney Channel’s Hannah Montana, starring Miley Cyrus. Miley first entered the top 1,000 list at No. 278 in 2007. Even though Miley made a major comeback with her album Bangerz in 2013, it appears that her controversial new image has done nothing but harm the name’s ranking, given that it’s fallen to spot No. 1,703 in 2015.
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Monroe
Image Credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images Mariah Carey’s high-profile pregnancy with then-husband Nick Cannon brought this name to No. 951 in 2012, a year after fraternal twins Moroccan and Monroe were born. Carey named her daughter after Hollywood icon Marilyn Monroe, whose last name currently ranks at No. 716 for girls.
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Noah
Image Credit: New Line Cinema Although this biblical name’s made the top 1,000 for decades, the name Noah began its most modern incline in 1996, hitting spot No. 50 for the first time in the century. It significantly rose again to spot No. 38 the following year. Actor Noah Wyle first made his ER debut in ‘94, and the popular romance novel The Notebook was released in ‘96, featuring Noah Calhoun (Ryan Gosling) as a main character. Since 2013, the name has topped the list.
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Olive
Abigail Breslin starred as Olive in Little Miss Sunshine a year before Olive debuted in the top 1,000, ranking No. 990 in 2007. By 2010, it’d risen to No. 543, the same year Emma Stone played another Olive in Easy A. Since then, the distinctive name has continued its rise, currently ranking at No. 264.
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Olivia
Image Credit: Courtesy of Photofest The name Olivia first broke into the top 10 in 2001, just two years after the premiere of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, featuring the character Olivia Benson, played by Mariska Hargitay. It has since remained there, as other popular Olivias, including the actresses Olivia Munn and Olivia Wilde, have made their way into the spotlight. Currently, it sits at the No. 2 spot and has held that spot since 2014 — no doubt also assisted by Kerry Washington protagonist Olivia Pope on Shonda Rhimes’ ABC drama Scandal, which premiered in 2012.
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Paris
The name Paris climbed 190 spots to No. 273 following Paris Hilton’s breakout on Fox’s The Simple Life in 2003. By the following year, with the release of her best-selling book Confessions of an Heiress, the name hit No. 157. But after her 2006 DUI and 2007 jail time, the name was marred, falling severely to No. 462 by 2008. It was redeemed, however, by 2013, resurrecting itself to No. 260 as Hilton made an indirect appearance in Sofia Coppola’s The Bling Ring and began building a DJ career. It’s since settled at No. 263.
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Paul
Image Credit: Scott Legato/Getty Images Paul is no newcomer to popular baby name rankings. From 1900 to 1968, the name was consistently in the top 20 names, and has remained within the top 200 since. In 1964 and 1965, during Paul McCartney’s Beatles run, the name peaked at No. 16. It was also around this time that actor Paul Newman broke onto the scene, lending his cache to the already popular biblical moniker. The name has since experienced a relative slump, currently resting at No. 200.
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Phoebe
Image Credit: Photofest Phoebe had not been faring well until Friends premiered. Following the first season, the name jumped 231 spots to No. 581 in 1995. By the end of the show’s run nine years later, the name sat at No. 405. Yet Phoebe has only ascended since, peaking just last year at No. 287.
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Penelope
Image Credit: Photofest Prior to 2009, the name Penelope last peaked in 1944 at No. 265. Recently, the name has seen significant increases, holding an all-time high just last year at No. 34 after sitting at No. 941 in 2001. Penelope Cruz’s Volver came out in 2006 (No. 482) and following the birth of Kourtney Kardashian’s daughter Penelope in 2012, the name jumped from No. 125 to No. 56 in 2013.
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Quentin
Image Credit: Photofest Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction garnered critical acclaim in the film world, but also helped popularize the director’s first name. In 1994, the year of the film’s release, Quentin ranked at No. 344; the following year it rose to No. 295. His activity in the 1990s parallels the name’s rise as it hit an all-time high of No. 273 in 1998. It’s since dipped, however, coming in at No. 483 in 2015.
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Rachel
Image Credit: Photofest Rachel owes its 1990s popularity to the name’s decade-long run on Friends. After the show’s premiere in 1994 (when it ranked No. 14), the name rose two years later to No. 9. Since the series finale, Rachel has dropped to No. 167.
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Rihanna
Image Credit: Getty Images Rihanna first appeared on the top 1,000 list in 2006, after the singer/songwriter released her first album Music of the Sun the previous year. Two years later, buoyed by her “Umbrella” mega-hit fame, the name peaked at No. 310. Since then, the bottom has fallen out on Rihanna, most recently appearing at No. 957 in 2013 and has not been seen since.
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Sabrina
Image Credit: Photofest Sabrina’s debut occurred in 1954 at No. 799, the same year the eponymous film starring Audrey Hepburn premiered. Just one year later, the name surged in popularity to spot No. 245. Sabrina did not reach its peak, though, until 1997 at No. 53, one year after the Archie Comics-based ABC sitcom, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch premiered, and two years following the remake of Sabrina starring Harrison Ford and Julia Ormond. However, it’s subsequently made its way back down the ladder, claiming spot No. 355 in 2015.
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Scarlett
Image Credit: Photofest Scarlett first emerged on the top 1,000 list at No. 943 in 1940, the year after the film Gone With the Wind was released, featuring Vivien Leigh as leading lady Scarlett O’Hara. The name had another substantive jump in 2003, to spot 761, with the release of Lost in Translation, starring Scarlett Johansson. Since then, the critically acclaimed actress, whose work spans popcorn fare (including several Marvel films as Avenger Black Widow), has driven the name to prominence. It currently stands at No. 22.
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Shakira
Image Credit: Sam Levi/WireImage Shakira, the name of the internationally renowned Colombian pop singer, first made its debut on the top 1,000 at No. 647 in 1996, the year Shakira had her major-label debut with her album Pies Descalzos. Yet it soon deflated again, dropping out of the list by 2007.
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Skylar/Skyler
Image Credit: AMC The feminine Skylar jumped from No. 302 to No. 173 between 1997 and 1998, when Minnie Driver played Skylar Satenstein in Good Will Hunting. Its variation, Skyler, experienced a similar year-over-year bump, from No. 457 to No. 372, between 2011 and 2012, timed to the cult-status emergence of AMC’s Breaking Bad, in which Anna Gunn played Skyler White. Nearly three years after the show’s conclusion, the latter spelling now stands at No. 285.
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Tamera
Image Credit: Paramount Pictures/Photofest Tamera first made the top 1,000 after a 12-year hiatus from the list in 1995, just a year after the premiere of the sitcom Sister, Sister starring twins Tia and Tamera Mowry. The name has declined since, not even making the top 1,000 since 1999, where it held No. 913. Meanwhile, the similarly spelled name Tamara peaked in 1974 at No. 64. During that year, the popular Christian show The PTL Club first aired, starring Tamara “Tammy” Faye Messner (then Bakker). The name has experienced a long, slow decline ever since, dropping to No. 908 in 2015.
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Taylor
Image Credit: Getty Images Even with the Taylor Swift’s superstardom (and the edgier interest of Orange Is the New Black lead Taylor Schilling), the name Taylor has steadily waned since its height in the mid-1990s for several years at No. 6 to No. 76 today.
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Tiana
Image Credit: Walt Disney The name Tiana experienced a huge boost, from No. 603 to No. 335, between 2009 and 2010. The reason: 2009’s animated film The Princess and the Frog, whose main character is the first black Disney princess.
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Tina
Image Credit: Brian Rasic/Getty Images Tina peaked in 1972 at No. 18. A year earlier, Ike and Tina Turner won a Grammy for their cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Proud Mary.” The name Tina has dropped dramatically since then, to No. 931 in 2006 before falling off the top 1,000 entirely the following year.
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Tyra
Image Credit: Steve Eichner/WireImage The name Tyra was most popular in 1998, hitting No. 320. Supermodel Tyra Banks became a Victoria’s Secret Angel and received VH1’s “Supermodel of the Year” the previous year. The name declined thereafter, missing the top 1,000 list cut-off since 2007.
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Tyrese
Image Credit: SGranitz/WireImage Tyrese hit its apex in 1999, at No. 201, the year after the singer (and later actor) Tyrese Gibson dropped his eponymous first album the previous year. The name suffered a vertiginous fall thereafter, losing top 1,000 status after 2007.
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Whitney
Image Credit: Photofest Unsurprisingly, Whitney hit its peak at No. 32 in 1986, the year Whitney Houston was nominated for four Grammys for her eponymous debut album. The name had jumped from No. 73 the year prior. Despite the singer’s continued popularity, the name began to descend in the rankings in 1988, now sitting down at No. 640.
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Zayn
Image Credit: AP Images Zayn debuted on the top 1,000 at No. 897 in 2013 thanks to One Direction member Zayn Malik. That year saw the release of One Direction: This Is Us, a documentary about the boy band. The name most recently reached No. 644 in 2015, the same year Malik announced his departure from the band and turn toward a solo career.
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Zendaya
Image Credit: Getty Images Zendaya Coleman, known simply as Zendaya, first starred on the Disney Channel sitcom Shake it Up in 2010. A year after the season finale in 2013, the name made its first appearance within the top 1,000 at No. 892, and just last year, it rose to No. 801.
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Zoe
Image Credit: AP Images Zoe saw a 200-spot jump, to No. 582, in 1989 — the year after the birth of Zoe Kravitz, born to the then-couple Lenny Kravitz and Lisa Bonet. It broke into the top 100 in 2000, at No. 82, as other pop-culture Zoes took center stage, including Zoey Bartlet (played by Elisabeth Moss) on ABC’s The West Wing and the actresses Zoe Saldana, Zoe Kazan and Zooey Deschanel. Kravitz herself emerged as a Hollywood player in recent years, with roles in X-Men: First Class, Divergent and Mad Max: Fury Road. Zoe now sits at No. 33.
