By Pamela Redmond Satran

　　People often ask us how we come up with our baby name trend predictions.

　　The short answer: It’s a mix of science and inspiration, with a dash of magic.

　　One of our major predictions for baby names 2015, for instance, was a trend toward short, simple names.  The basis for this prediction was scientific: These names are now stylish and popular throughout Europe, and the names themselves are both fresh and easily translated to the American culture.

　　But now suddenly we see that trend for sleek, cool names really taking off, and here’s where the magic comes in.  First, early this morning, we noticed extremely positive comments on the Nameberry pages for both Jude and Lux, perfect examples of this kind of short, modern, stylish name.

　　And then, just as we were beginning to compile a list of similar names we saw as fitting the same attractive mold, we opened the New York Times magazine to read about a hot new clothing company called Kit and Ace, named for two prototypical millennials who personify the cutting-edge brand.

　　In the baby name trend predicting world, three influences like this from three different sources — international statistics, grass-roots comments, and the fashion world — add up to a bona fide trend.

　　And then a fourth item drove the idea home: Abby Sandel’s Monday column right here on Nameberry, discussing all the new celebrity baby names that fit the short, simple trend.

　　Here, our picks for baby names that embody this major trend toward sleek, simple, cool names.  Most of these move beyond traditional choices such as Bill and Anne but stop short of being word names or nature names such as Wren or Snow (though there are selections here that veer toward both the traditional and the nature categories).  But the best of them, to our mind, live somewhere in the middle.

　　[column1]

　　Ace

　　Art

　　Bard

　　Bas

　　Bax

　　Bay

　　Bee

　　Bryn

　　Cas

　　Cort

　　Cru

　　Cy

　　Dane

　　Dash

　　Dov

　　Dune

　　Fay

　　Ford

　　Gage

　　Gray

　　Gwen

　　Hart

　　Hawk

　　Huck

　　Jet

　　Jude

　　Kai

　　Kit

　　Lake

　　Leaf

　　[/column1]

　　[column2]

　　Leith

　　Link

　　Liv

　　Lux

　　Lyle

　　Mac

　　Nile

　　Oak

　　Oz

　　Pace

　　Pax

　　Po

　　Puck

　　Ren

　　Rue

　　Ry

　　Seb

　　Sem

　　Shay

　　Sim

　　Taj

　　Tay

　　Ty

　　Van

　　West

　　Whit

　　Win

　　Xan

　　Zeb

　　Zen

　　[/column2]