This week’s news includes the US state data, names from the royal wedding, and some long-expected starbaby arrivals.

　　

Top names of 2017: local favorites

The last couple of weeks have been a whirlwind of excitement over the new US name data for 2017. Highlights include some surprises in the Top 10 (with props to the readers who guessed the Top 10 boys’ and girls’ names almost right), and the ever-fascinating alternative popularity list of combined spellings. We’ve seen some exciting new entries to the Top 1000, and creative names rising further down the charts.

　　A week later, the most popular names in each state in 2017 were revealed. There’s a lot of data to chew over, but here are some state-level stories of the past week.

　　It’s no news that the name Donald has been steadily declining for decades, but Bloomberg reporters found that in 2017 it rose a little in some Republican states.

　　In Pennsylvania, Carson (as in Philadelphia Eagles footballer player Carson Wentz) has jumped up to #39. It’s #82 nationally, so there are definite signs of local pride influencing parents’ name choices.

　　Aurora has been more popular in Alaska than elsewhere for years, no doubt thanks to the northern lights. In 2017 it was #3 in Alaska, but #51 nationwide. Alaska also gets a mention here because they’ve visualised their Top 100 as an interactive bubble chart. Who needs lists, anyway?

　　

Royal name round-up

There’s been royal fever on both sides of the Pond this week, with the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Besides the happy couple, the other stars of the show were their bridesmaids and pageboys, and they made for some excellent namespotting. There was Florence, Zalie, Jasper, siblings John, Brian and Ivy (which Abby pointed out is short for Isabel Veronica – delightful!), sisters Remi and Rylan, and of course George and Charlotte.

　　There’s no end to royal sources of inspiration. Beyond your run-of-the-mill royal names like William and Elizabeth, for example, there are princess names from all over the world, and names inspired by royal dogs (warning: may contain cute corgis). Linnet, Lupo and Zemira are among the less common ones.

　　But it wasn’t all about the UK. There’s a new royal baby in Monaco: Francesco Carlo Albert is the second son of Pierre Casarighi, who’s seventh in line to the throne, and his wife Beatrice Borromeo. Francesco is the number one name in his mother’s home country, Italy, but in Monaco the top names last year were Nolan, Ethan and Lucas for boys, and Victoria, Alice and Léa for girls.

　　Continuing with the royal theme, did you spot this baby named Monarch? The Boston Post thinks the name is inspired by butterflies, not royalty – but in a world where Royal and Reign are in the top 1000 for both sexes, why not use Monarch too?

　　

Super starbaby sibsets

We’ve had several much-anticipated celebrity baby names this week. These parents have already shown themselves to be original namers, so we couldn’t wait to find out what they’d choose for their new arrivals, and they didn’t disappoint.

　　Alec and Hilaria Baldwin already had children named Carmen Gabriela, Rafael Thomas, Leonardo Ángel Charles – so it’s no surprise that they continued the Latino/classic theme for their fourth child, who was born last week. Enter Romeo Alejandro David!

　　Chrissy Teigen and John Legend also stuck with a theme for their second child. Their daughter’s name, Luna Simone, was a nod to Nina Simone, and now they’ve named their son Miles Theodore, paying tribute to jazz legend Miles Davis. (Nameberry’s starbaby correspondent Sophie was spot-on in her prediction!) It’s cool to see them using another jazzy name, and it’s certainly better than some of the spoof suggestions they got, like Stephen Stephens and Absolute Legend.

　　With sons named Bronx Mowgli and Saint Lazslo, Pete Wentz was bound to choose an offbeat name for his daughter. Sure enough, Marvel Jane has a rare word name, though that middle name brings it nicely back down to earth.

　　The unexpected middle name award of the week goes to the rapper Macklemore, for his daughter Colette Koala. Fierce animal names like Bear and Fox get lots of attention, but this marsupial name strikes a more cuddly note. File it with Teddy and Kitty. Like her sister Sloane Ava Simone, Colette’s name also has pleasantly singsong repeated sounds.

　　

Inside the name hoard

Are you a name hoarder? Lots of Berries share their favorite baby names in the forums, but one mother-to-be in Australia has taken things to extremes and shared a list of 1391 unusual names she’s gathered over the years. There are so many stunners on there – from Astoria and Brock to Yelina and Zeo – it’s worth a good peruse.

　　

Tattoo typo changes child’s name

What would it take for you to change your child’s name? One mother in Sweden got a tattoo of her children’s names, Nova and Kevin – only to find the artist misspelled Kevin as Kelvin. Rather than change the tattoo, she decided the with-an-l version was better anyway, and changed her five-year-old son’s name. Now she’s getting a tattoo of her youngest daughter’s name, Freya – but plans to check the spelling 10,000 times to make sure she doesn’t have to rename her Freyja or Freda.