Baby Names: Trends & Predictions 2018

Most Popular Baby Names 2018

With loads of gorgeous baby names to consider, it’s so much fun choosing (almost tempted to have another babe just do be able to pick another name. Almost.). In Hollywood, Jessica Alba kicked off the New Year by naming her little boy Hayes (love it!) – and with Kardashian babies due this year, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge expecting a sibling for Prince George and Princess Charlotte in April, plus celebs Eva Longoria, Kirsten Dunst, Hilaria Baldwin and Miranda Kerr all announcing their pregnancies recently – predictions as to what names will be trending are flying about.

If you’re expecting this year, mama, we’ve had a look through popular baby naming website nameberry.com to see what they’re predicting as 2018’s hottest names and trends to give you a few ideas.

According to nameberry, the ‘rise of powerful women’ (go girls!) sees a new emphasis on strong girls’ names and heroic names for both sexes. This year is all about getting serious and using names that have deep roots and meanings but that also feel fresh. Some examples? Here goes!

For the girls:

The good old fashioned names are back in swing (we love a bit of vintage) with strong names including Eleanor (super cute when abbreviated to Elli or Nellie), Margaret (again, how cool is ‘Maggie’?!) and Ruth all proving popular. Also names which mean intelligence or wisdom including Sophia (from the Greek word for wise), Pallas (in classical mythology Pallas Athena was the goddess of wisdom and the arts), Matilda (we love ‘Tilly’ or ‘Tilda’ for short) and Bridget too (meaning ‘strength’ and instantly reminding us of Bridget Jones who incidentally we love for her ‘can-do’ attitude!).

Heroines and goddesses will feature more this year, too – think Freya (‘a noble woman’), Luna (because your little one will be your moon, sun and stars), Arva and even Sojourner (after African-American women’s rights activist Sojourner Truth). And, as with boys names below, some really fab Roman-derived names too – from Anais to Frances, Iris to Venus – we love them all.

For the boys:

Super interesting – according to nameberry, the top boys’ names of 2017 were impacted much more by fashion shifts than girls’ names, which shows a huge shift from the more conservative boys’ name trend. In 2018 they foresee the same kind of style shift as for girls, with top names including Atticus (popular after ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’), Jasper (meaning ‘bringer of treasure’) and Wyatt (a fave amongst Hollywood parents), plus Jackson as a more modern alternative to Jack and Milo over Michael.

Trending too will be s-ending names for boys derived from Rome – think Amias, Augustus, Aurelius, Cassius, Justus, Lazarus, Linus, Ozias and Rufus (all super cool, right?!).

Also for 2018? Gender-neutral names including Harper (chosen by the Beckhams for their first daughter and popular ever since), Skyler, Aster, Ember, Juniper and Sailer just to mention a few.

And the names that we (and nameberry) would like to see disappear this year? Brand names for babies. Gucci, Armani, Porsche, Ikea…. Just NO!

Just a few ideas, mamas, for many more visit the nameberry site. Happy naming!