New Names Showdown 2018 is here! It’s our annual summer contest to choose the boy and girl names most likely to catch on. In order to compete, the name has to be new to the US Top 1000 list, or returned after an absence.
If you’ve yet to vote, please do so here:
- The Opening Round of the Girls’ New Names Showdown
- The Opening Round of the Boys’ New Names Showdown
In other news:
- Does Imogen work in the US? I think it does, but maybe that’s because I know one.
- Ooh … can you name Mae’s little sister June? Duana wrestles with the matter.
- If you know your rock star baby names, you might think of Bono’s kids: daughters Jordan and Memphis, and sons Elijah and John. Memphis’ full name? Memphis Eve Sunny Day Hewson, with Eve representing her date and time of birth – seven in the morning on July 7th. Memphis is now an actress, but she’s dropped her wildly unusual name in favor of plain Eve Hewson. I’m also interested to see how celebrity children deal with their unusual, headline-grabbing names.
- While we’re talking pop culture, in Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, Sophie is expecting a baby with her boyfriend, Sky. I really like Sky for a boy. It reminds me of 90s favorite Kyle and current Top 150 name Kai. The numbers still show this one going to the girls by a wide margin, at least for now.
- Oh, I like the name Wilfred quite a bit!
- X names from Baby Name Wizard, many of them rather … extreme. Yes, some people really are naming their daughters Siouxsie and their sons Knixon.
- A fascinating conversation about the importance of making an effort to pronounce athletes’ names correctly.
- Name quotes from Nancy!
That’s all for this week. As always, thank you for reading – and have a great week!
I love the article about correct pronunciation of names. My hope is that this becomes the norm. It feels like such an important conversation.
Without looking it up, I think the main character in the musical Guys and Dolls went by Sky … as a nickname. His real name he kept hidden but was revealed at the end to be something old testament biblical – maybe Obadiah or Hezekiah?
There is a new actor in the Broadway show Dear Evan Hanson named Sky. He plays Jared Klienman. I like Sky for boys too.
I agree! I really like Sky for a boy. Something about the Sk sound works. I don’t know though if it would be a burden in my area where it is 100% a girl name. Maybe by the time my grandkids are born it will be back in the blue.