Place Names
Last year, celeb mamas Mariah Carey and Alicia Keys chose geographic names for their sons; Carey named hers Morocco, while Keys chose Egypt. This year, Reese Witherspoon continued the trend by naming her third child, a son, Tennessee James. The name pays homage to Witherspoon’s home state, and has a nice literary connotation with playwright Tennessee Williams.
Camden has also taken off as a celeb fave. The name of the hip London neighborhood mixes proper British-ness with edge, and two new celeb moms—Kristin Cavallari and Vanessa Lachey—chose it for their firstborn sons. This also taps into another trend among Parenting.com readers: searching for last names as first names, our most popular baby name list.
Plus: 20 Celebrity Baby Names We Love
Color Names
Naming babies after hues? It works—see Beyonce and Jay-Z’s daughter Blue Ivy Carter. Alicia Silverstone also riffed on blue for son Bear’s middle name, Blu. Though it’s an unconventional choice, “blue” radiates calm.
New mom Drew Barrymore also jumped on the color bandwagon with the name Olive for her daughter. Olive is a pithy alternative to the elegant and wildly popular Olivia, and with a quirky-cool mom like Drew, the choice seems very fitting.
Color names also tie into a trend we predicted last year, with a rise in interest in jewel-tone baby girl names. Serene Jade, feisty Ruby and old-soul Opal all made the top 50 most-searched names list on Parenting.com.
Plus: The Top 2012 Baby Name Predictions
