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I love it when Caroline asks for my thoughts about name trends, because I know she’ll gather lots of thoughts from thoughtful people. Definitely worth a read.
Just as much fun: her round-up of names we’re watching in 2026. I’m bullish on Rumi, Fia, and Macklin and lots of these suggestions are worth a closer look.
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ELSEWHERE ONLINE
A Top Ten featuring Alma, Hugo, Otto, and Vera? Look to Sweden. Nancy has the full list here, as well as rarities like Tindra, Texas, Lioness, and Jojje.
The Art of Naming updated their list of Quirky Girl Names, and it’s incredibly fun to see which formerly quirky picks have become mainstream favorites. Could Revel and Zinnia be next?
Going back to where we started with thoughts about future trends … NPR reviewed YouTube’s top trends of 2025, and it’s hard to miss the influence of South Korean culture. From Gangnam Style to Squid Game, BTS to KPop Demon Hunters, it’s a trend that has built over more than a dozen years. Beyond Rumi, could we see Ren, Jae, or Hana trending?
UPDATING & THINKING ABOUT
At last, Stranger Things is revealing all the secrets and wrapping up a nearly decade-long adventure. The baby name Eleven is rising in views here, but it has yet to translate to a lot of actual children with the name … but numbers remain a micro-trend, so don’t rule it out just yet.
Ira seems stuck in grandpa mode. For now. But so were Ezra and Levi not so long ago.
Saoirse has been on my mind lately. American parents passed it over for the more accessible Maeve, but it remains a compelling choice. (And how weird that I wrote about Ira and Saoirse back-to-back? I feel like my attempt to finish House of Guinness on Netflix is pushing all things related to Ireland to front of my brain lately …)
That’s all for this (last) week (of 2025) – what? Thank you for reading, and have a great week and a happy new year!
