Baby Gifts Blog

Here at babycupcakes we often see unusual baby names on our personalised baby gifts… but Australia woke this morning to news reports that our most popular baby names are inspired by celebrities… with experts predicting a surge in “Michaels”!!!!

MIA has come from nowhere to be Australia’s most popular girls’ name, possibly thanks to tennis ace Lleyton Hewitt and his wife Bec.

Experts predict a surge in Michaels since the death of Michael Jackson.

A McCrindle Research survey found traditional names dominated, but some parents chose the unusual, such as Mickayla, Jaedyn, Me-a, Thai-son, Ty’Ana and Al’Bert, the Herald Sun reports.

McCrindle looked at birth records nationally and found Jack, William and Lachlan were the most popular boys’ names registered last year. Mia, Chloe and Isabella topped the girls.

Some star-struck parents added a celebrity angle. They included: Sienna (Miller), Lily (Allen), Ruby (Rose), Imogen (Bailey), Eva (Mendes/Longoria Parker), Scarlett (Johansson), Isla (Fisher), Charli (Delaney), Keira (Knightley), Isabel (Lucas), Angelina (Jolie), Jack (Black), (Prince) William, Harrison (Ford), (Prince) Harry, Seth (Green) Ashton (Kutcher) and (Prince) Charles.

Social researcher Mark McCrindle said Michael Jackson’s death would result in more Michaels.

Mr McCrindle said Mia had “come from nowhere” in 2000 to top the list, possibly due to Mia Hewitt.

He said Generation X parents were conservative with names, and few opted for the unusual or gender neutral like Robyn and Peta.

His poll of parents found the most important considerations were sound, spelling and possible teasing. But one in four dared to be different.

Victorian parents have recently named their children Kyashia, Nivek, Shaneen, Cameo, Aliyana, Nykiyah Lezley, Tyallah, Bodelle, Teyanah, Zahn, Desten (girl), Zaclan, Aiyahna (boy), Abileine, Jyda Mark, Nikaylah, Bekam, Zaaran, Bae (boy), Rad Ryko, J.J. and Jynia.

After strongly considering the name Xavier, Amy and Stuart Brent instead decided to call their son Xander Charlie when he was born on June 18, hoping his name would give him the X-factor and separate him from the crowd.

“We wanted something that was a little bit different and more modern,” Mr Brent said.

“We didn’t think there would be too many people in his class with the same name.”

Shayella Grace Tennick was born on June 24 - her mum Allison made up the name: “A person’s personality has a lot to do with their name and I figured that if she has something different then she will be free to be her own personality as she grows up.”

Mr McCrindle said odd names could make life difficult in the internet age.

“I’ve got reservations about it because now your name ends up being your … social networking brand for life. It just gets very confusing.

“We found that parents who gave their children a creative first name tend to give a more normal or traditional middle name. It does give an option to the child to change.”

Jack has been the most popular boys’ name in seven of the past nine years, beaten only by Joshua in 2000 and ‘03.

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