A study looked at what could influence parents when they choose the first name of their future child. And contrary to popular belief, it’s not always traditions or individual tastes that win. One thing is certain, you know how to be original!
When future parents embark on the long quest for the right name for their future baby, they often allow themselves to be influenced by all kinds of things. For some, it is above all a matter of taste, they write down the little names they like, while others are inspired by the first names of their ancestors and even sometimes by their own cultural or religious traditions. Classic. But for others, it’s pop culture which turns out to be a bottomless pit of inspiration. Are you perhaps one of those who chose their child’s first name in reference to a character from a film, series or an artist? A study carried out by Photobox, a specialist in photo printing, studied the first names given to children in France between 2000 and 2021 listed by INSEE. The results showed that pop culture, and in particular films and series, mainly influence future parents. The study estimates that about 380,000 children born during this period are named after a movie character. Other categories, which we would not have suspected, also emerge as winners according to research.
What are the most common first names from pop culture in France?
According to the Photobox study, it is the first name Lucaswhich refers to the famous American series The Scott brothers, which was most often awarded between 2000 and 2021; 135,362 times to be exact. Immediately followed by first name Nathan…the other character from the same series, given 99,938 times. In third position, the Disney universe influenced parents thanks to the Frozen cartoon, the female first name Anna has been chosen more than 40,000 times. The rest of the ranking is as follows:
- Elsa (Snow Queen)
- Amelie (The fabulous destiny of Amelie Poulain)
- Remi (Ratatouille)
- Tony (Iron Man)
- james (james bond)
- Fiona (Shrek)
- Gustav (The Grand Budapest Hotel)
- Adrian (monks)
- Arya (Game Of Thrones)
- Serena (gossip girl)
- carl (up there)
- Harry (Harry Potter)
- Jack (Pirates of Caribbean)
- Luke (Star Wars)
- Steve (Captain America)
- Lizzie (Lizzie McGuire)
- Gregory (Dr House)
What are the names of the most popular singers?
In addition to pop culture, since the 2000s parents have also been inspired by music and by the names of singers. In the top 3 of the study’s ranking, there is the first name Adele given to 41,235 babies, followed by first name justin, for Justin Bieber (attributed 7,698 times), and the first name Abel (no, not the 2be3) worn by artist The Weeknd and which has been given away 7,666 times. Other names of artists, many of them international, have made it possible to name French children, such as:
- Celine (Celine Dion)
- Selena (Selena Gomez)
- Bruno (Bruno March)
- Christine (Christina Aguilera)
- taylor (Taylor Swift)
- Johnny (Johnny Halliday)
- Rihanna
- Ariana (Ariana Grande)
- Katy (Katy Perry)
- Britney (Britney Spears)
- Miley (Miley Cyrus)
- Mariah (Mariah Carey)
Nature also inspires parents
And because culture isn’t the only area that can be inspiring, the study found that nature, them flowers and the seasons, also give ideas of first names to French parents in recent years. Names relating to flowers are among the most popular. The first name Rose rises to first position, with 34,490 babies named by that name. Follows the Yasmine namesgiven 22,949 times and Nasturtium, awarded 20,595 times. Mostly these are female names, but there are also male names that relate to flowers such as Lillian, which comes from the Latin lilium and means “lily flower”. He is fourth in the study ranking.
Top 10 Flower-Inspired Baby Names
- Pink (given 34,490 times)
- Yasmine (attributed 22,949 times)
- Nasturtium (attributed 20,595 times)
- Lilian (awarded 16,165 times)
- Iris (attributed 14,691 times)
- Elodie (“flower of the fields” in Greek, attributed 11,527 times)
- Madder (attributed 9,568 times)
- Flora (attributed 8,809 times)
- Camellia (awarded 6,838 times)
- Violet (awarded 6,594 times)
Top 10 names from the 4 seasons
The seasons related to nature (autumn, winter, spring, summer) also offer some first names when looking at their meaning. Among them, we find in the study:
- Alban (given 11,650 times), in Latin it means “white”
- Ilona (given 11,011 times), in Greek it means “sun”
- Flavie (given 10,805 times), from Latin flavius meaning “golden”, “blonde”
- Lucian (given 9,782 times), in Latin it translates as “light”
- Chiara (given 8,957 times), it means “clear” in Latin
- Florent (given 6,674 times), derived from Latin Florens it means “in bloom”
- White (given 4,497 times), from Latin albus which translates to “white”, “bright”
- Virgil (given 3,076 times), of Arabic and Latin origin, it means “little flexible branch”
- Gina (given 1361 times), of Celtic origin it means “clear”
- Ermine (given 1,185 times), from German it means “majestic”