Baby names rise and fall in popularity; it’s a curious thing. We imagine that popular culture plays a significant role. Songs, movies, books, and television are the biggest influences, and will continue to influence the baby name trends for 2022 We’re excited to see where these predictions land. (Take a peek back at our previous speculations)
It’s clear that as cultural evolution happens, so do name evolutions. It’s probably unlikely that we’ll be seeing many babies with the name “Karen” in the next few years. Here at Mabel’s Labels, we can confirm it isn’t a name we see passing through our printers very often (Although, full disclosure: we have a lovely Karen working here at Mabel’s Labels customer service, and you’d be lucky to know her!)
We also don’t see unique names that were previously trending, like Delta on the rise much further. Instead, it’s far more likely we’ll see a rise in names like Faith, Hope, and Noah (meaning rest and comfort) and names that sound positive and hopeful for 2022.
Predictions for Baby Name Trends in 2022
Here is a list of names suspected to rise in the coming year. The cultural evolution and pop culture are genuinely seen in these names. Trending names list doesn’t mean these games are topping the charts; it simply means they’re trending upwards. So, if you are selecting one of these names doesn’t mean that your child will share the name with three other kids in the class. It just means the name is on the rise.
Musical Names:
It’s expected that musical names will continue to rise in popularity. Much like Aria, Harper and Reed have done in the past five years. We expect to see more like these:
Viola
Melody
Allegra
Strummer (m)
Coda (m)
Major (m)
Bridgerton Names:
With Bridgerton being such a success in early 2021, the Regency era names started to be considered among expecting parents. With season 2 release date expected in 2022, we expect to see this popularity flourish even further as parents look to give their babies these unique yet regal names.
Cressida
Eloise
Prudence
Benedict
Simon
Rupert
Nameberry suggests that names ending in an S seem to be on the rise:
Remember, if you’re naming your baby a name ending in S, make sure you familiarize yourself with the correct grammar. For example, possessive or plural possessive of the name. Adding only an apostrophe after the S.
Banks
Wells
Idris
Girls names starting with R:
These short and punchy names are on the rise. For example, we saw an increase in the name Ruth in 2019 (here’s looking at you, RBG). We think these are the modern version of that solid and powerful namesake.
Rumi
Revel
Roxy
Two ‘R’ boys names we anticipate seeing, thanks to popular Yellowstone is:
Roarke (Irish, meaning mighty)
Rip (Dutch, meaning strength and might)
These strong-sounding boys’ names are already on the rise, and both are up 20% in popularity as of early Jan 2022!
Unisex Names:
Unisex names have been on the rise for some time now. This is most likely due to millennial parents being open to embracing the possibility of gender fluidity in their children.
Harlow
Holland
Sasha
Wren
Marlowe
We’re always excited to see the new names coming through the printers here at Mabel’s Labels, and a good gage of popular names for us is with our baby label pack– we love seeing what all the new and expecting parents have Chosen to name their bundles of joy!
