By Linda Rosenkrantz

　　In 1789, when George Washington was unanimously elected the first president of the nation—the first elected president in the world– there was a lot of discussion about what he should be called. John Adams and others favored royal titles such as Your Highness and Your Majesty, even His Exalted Highness. Washington himself was said to be relieved when the humbler President was settled on.

　　How astonished would George be today if he could flash forward and see all the American babies being given those very exalted regal titles he rejected? This trend is not limited to pop royalty either: numerous titles from the British peerage and other international kingdoms, as well as words related to them, are being bestowed by all parents on their little heirs. Some of these royal baby names are already in the Top 1000–let’s take a look at those first.

　　Duke— When high profile couple Giuliana and Bill Rancic announced that they’d be calling their son Edward by his middle name of Duke, it gave a big bounce to this venerable nickname name (as in John Wayne, Duke Ellington and baseball’s Duke Snyder). Duke has also been used by Diane Keaton and Justine Bateman for their sons—as well as for many litters of puppies. Duke now ranks at #557 in the US—its highest ever– is 361 on Nameberry, and is #8 for boy dogs.

　　King— The top-ranking monarch name comes in at #152, after just reentering the Top 1000 in 2006 after a many-decades hiatus. King Vidor was an important early film director, King Gillette was a razor king and Blac Chyna named her first child King Cairo.

　　Marquis— This noble title ranking between a duke and an earl is actually on the downturn, now at #943 after peaking at 258 in 1990. It acquired a number of spelling variations along the way, including Marquise and Marquez. I’m wondering if its similarity to the name Marcus also contributed to its popularity.

　　Prince— This name can obviously be an homage to the late Purple Rain singer, who died last year, as much as or more than to actual royal princes like Charles, William, Harry or George. Michael Jackson famously called both his sons Prince, and it was also used by rapper Swizz Beatz. Prince now ranks at the surprisingly high #343.

　　Princess— Princess, at #767, stands well below her brother name, but it’s still the 43rd most popular moniker for dogs. Singer Ciara used Princess as the middle name of her daughter Sienna and of course it’s rich in fairy tale associations.

　　Reign— This unisex regal word name got the Kardashian seal of approval when Kourtney K. chose it for her son in 2015. Not surprisingly, Reign debuted in the boys’ Top 1000 the following year. And 344 girls received it as well.

　　Reina— The Spanish word for queen also reigns in the US, standing at Number 853, a rise of 77% in the past year, when it was given to 328 girls. Also an appellation for the Virgin Mary, Reina lags behind alternate spellings Reyna, Rayna and Raina.

　　Rex— Rex has always been in fairly common usage and not particularly because of his royal association. Now it’s at #632, partly appreciated for its sexy-rexy x ending, and is 213 in England. (It’s still a doggy fave at #59.) Coldplay’s Will Champion chose Rex for his twin son in 2008 and there have been Rexes on Desperate Housewives and Toy Story (for a dinosaur, quite logically).

　　Rey— Somewhere between Rex and Ray is this Spanish word for king. It was featured in _Star Wars: The Force Awakens—_but for a female character. Rey is now at Number 868 for American boys and it was also bestowed on 63 girls—a number sure to rise.

　　Royal— This majestic word name is hot, hot, hot, leaping up to #460 from nowhere in four short years, possibly influenced by the Lorde hit, “Royals.” Royal was a main character name in Wes Anderson’s The Royal Tenenbaums, and has a solid name-world history, used since the 19th century, and reaching as high as #274 in 1888. There were several Royal girls last year too—474 of them to be exact.

　　Royalty– And why not take Royal a little further and give it a little feminine flair? Royalty was actually #532 last year, perhaps inspired by the choice of singer Chris Brown for his daughter and an album in 2014.

　　Others that are being used but haven’t yet entered the magic circle:

　　Baron—This was seen sporadically in the 1960s and 70s; nowadays the Trumpian spelling Barron is more in the public eye.

　　Earl—Has moved a million miles away from his aristocratic roots

　　Kaiser—The German word for Emperor was used by Teen Mom2 Jenelle Evans and has since risen to #408 on Nameberry and came close to reaching the US Top 1000.

　　Knight—A chivalrous name introduced by singers Kelis and Nas

　　Majesty—Your own little Majesty could be either a girl or boy; 136 girls got the name last year.

　　Noble—This generic aristo name was actually on the popularity list from the 1880s to 1954, reaching as high as 312 in 1901. Noble Sissle was an early jazz legend and Noble was the name chosen by country singer Blaine Larsen for his son in 2011. With its positive, principled associations, we predict that this one could make a big comeback. It was even used for a handful of girls.

　　Pharaoh—The storied title used for ancient Egyptian rulers has appeared occasionally, though jazz saxophonist Pharaoh Sanders was actually born Farrell

　　Sir—Beyonce’s newborn twin Sir Carter Carter is the only one we know of so far. But stay tuned.

　　Also out there: Count and Contessa, Duchess, Emperor and Empress, Queen and Queenie, the French Reine, Regina, Rajah, Kingdom, Sovereign and Sultan.

　　Interested in more conventional royal baby names, such as Charlotte and George? Check out this list.