50 Shades of Grey and Apple products inspire popular 2012 baby names
London, Nov 30 (ANI)
Aiden and Sophia may still hold the crown for "world's most popular baby names," but Mad Men's Betty, several characters from the erotic novel 'Fifty Shades of Grey,' and even Apple products are moving up the list fast.
BabyCenter released its annual global list of top 100 baby names for 2012, and Aiden took the top boys' spot for the eighth consecutive year, while Sophia sits at the top for girls for the third year in a row, the Daily Mail reported.
But several trending names made headway this year, including the Fifty Shades of Grey-inspired Anastasia, rising by 10 percent, Ana moving up 35 spots, and Grey rinsing by nearly 20 percent. Christian, however, actually declined in popularity.
BabyCenter's global editor in chief, Linda Murray, told Today: "Earlier this year we heard moms telling us... 'this book is an aphrodisiac,' and it's helping them get pregnant. So it was not a surprise to see these names coming up the list."
"I'm wondering how the moms are going to explain the inspiration for these names in a few years,' she added.
However the biggest gain in the top 100 was the name Betty, up 54 percent this year thanks to Betty Draper's character on 'Mad Men,' coupled with a growing trend in old-fashioned names.
But BabyCenter also pointed out that technology, namely the iPhone, is also having a big effect on 2012 trending baby names.
Apple, the name of Gwyneth Paltrow's daughter, is up 15 percent for girls, while Mac is up 12 percent, and Siri, the name of Apple's talking personal assistant, jumped five percent on the girls list.
"This was a surprise to us this year. We hadn't seen Apple rise when Gwyneth Paltrow named her daughter, but people love their technology," Murray said.
The top 100 name list is based on the names of 450,000 babies born this year to mothers worldwide registered with the BabyCenter website.
Filling the other spots on the top ten girls list are Emma, Olivia, Isabella, Ava, Lily, Zoe, Chloe, Madison, and making a debut in the list, Mia.
After Aiden on the boy's top ten came Jackson, Ethan, Liam, Mason, Noah, Lucas, Jacob, Jayden and also making a debut this year, Jack.
Harry is up 57 percent from the 2011 list, and Duchess Kate's sister, Pippa, increased by 35 percent.
"People love Harry and Pippa. They're less in the spotlight than Will and Kate," Murray said.
2012'S hottest names for girls are:
Sophia
Emma
Olivia
Isabella
Ava
Lily
Zoe
Chloe
Mia
Madison
Top names for boys are:
Aiden
Jackson
Ethan
Liam
Mason
Noah
Lucas
Jacob
Jayden
Jack