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There were three Jennifers in my small private-school class growing up, so while occasionally it was rough being saddled with a “weird” name (teachers alternately called me Gina, Janet, Jane, and once -- to my horror -- Gyna) I was at least glad not to be resigned to a last initial. Then Morgan Fairchild came along.
I was 9 when Morgan landed the role of Jenna Wade on Dallas. Suddenly, there were baby Jennas everywhere, and older Jennifers started stripping themselves of their "fers." I wanted my weird name back to myself.
Apparently, the practice of looking to prime time for baby-name inspiration is still going strong. The Social Security Administration released its list of the top names for 2010 last week. The two first place spots -- Isabella and Jacob -- are not-coincidentally also names of characters from Twilight. The fastest rising names for both genders -- Maci and Bentley -- happen to be the mom-and-kid-combo from the show Teen Mom (hopefully the inspiration-bit stops there). And as if to prove we're a boob-tube nation, the second hottest trending boys name was Kellen (Kellen Lutz is a Twilight actor), while gelatinous Knox nabbed the third spot (thanks Jolie-Pitts!).
They may not be breaking the top slots yet, but Nameberry.com co-founder Linda Rosenkrantz points out other hot celebrity names include (Disney Princess) Tiana, (Glee’s) Finn and Quinn, (Twilight’s) Cullen and Jasper, Kendra (Wilkinson), Scarlett (Johansson), Violet (Garner-Affleck), Anderson (Cooper) and Khloe (Kardashian).
The top 10 names still feature a few classics -- Abigail, Olivia, Michael and William -- although Joshua dropped off the list for the first time since 1978. Thankfully, it wasn’t to make room for Paris or Snooki.
Top 10 Baby Names for 2011
Boys
Jacob
Ethan
Michael
Jayden
William
Alexander
Noah
Daniel
Aiden
Anthony
Girls
Isabella
Sophia
Emma
Olivia
Ava
Emily
Abigail
Madison
Chloe
Mia
