Even though we're in a presidential election year, it's commander in chiefs of the past -- not the future -- that are influencing baby names. "The surname of any president who is out of office for at least ten years and preferably dead is fair game," says Wattenberg. "It's a very dramatic trend and makes the name feel traditional and respectable." Reagan, Carter and Jackson have all moved up Social Security’s list as has Kennedy, which is what country crooner Jason Moore named his daughter. Of course at the last big election, everyone was talking about the names of the candidates' kids, especially Sarah Palin’s and Obama’s. But don’t expect any Bristols or Malias to come out of this crop of presidential hopefuls. "I did a whole breakdown of the names in the Republican race," says Wattenberg. "Romney, Santorum, Gingrich, they're non-starters. And their kids don't seem to have the kind of interesting names that spark trends."
