Today is officially Soap Opera Day (woo hoo!) and though this isn’t as big of a deal in the baby name world as it once was, with a lot fewer sudsers on TV than there were when soap operas were the main staple of daytime programming, we have to acknowledge the influence that they did have in the past—just as powerful as reality show show TV names do today.

　　This is true both in terms of trends (as in sometimes condescendingly considered “soap opera names” on the order of Thorne and Trent, Blade and Brent, and also place names like Sierra and Egypt, boys’ names for girls) and individual names—the classic example of which is Kayla.  It’s highly doubtful that there would have been 16,000 baby girls named Kayla in 1996 if popular good girl Kayla Brady hadn’t appeared on Days of Our Lives a decade earlier.  And the same goes for all those Ashleys too.

　　What follows is a list of soap opera names across three decades that did have some influence—though it sometimes took as long as a decade or two to make an impact (and of course there could be other factors involved)—followed by the year in which they were at the peak of their popularity.

　　1970s

　　Brooke—All My Children—2003

　　Cameron—General Hospital-2000

　　India—The Secret Storm–2001

　　Kyle—General Hospital–1990

　　Kylie—Search for Tomorrow–2003

　　Logan—The Edge of Night–2007-10

　　Maeve—Ryan’s Hope–2010

　　Paige—The Edge of Night–2003

　　Raven—The Edge of Night–1993

　　1980s

　　Ariel—As the World Turns—1992 (The Little Mermaid came out in 1989)

　　Ashley—The Young and the Restless—1991-2

　　Ava—Loving—2007

　　Brittany—Another World—1989-91

　　Caleb—As the World Turns—2011

　　Cole—The Young and the Restless–2000

　　Colton—General Hospital–2011

　　Haley—As the World Turns–2000

　　Holden—As the World Turns–2011

　　Hunter—Another World–2000

　　Jackson—All My Children– 2011

　　Jasmine—As the World Turns, Days of Our Lives-1993-94

　　Jonah—Days of Our Lives—2008

　　Kayla—Days of Our Lives—1995-96

　　Kendall—All My Children—2011

　　Lexie—Days of Our lives—2010

　　Lucas—General Hospital—2011

　　Marley—Another World–2008

　　Miranda—Another World–1995

　　Savannah—Days of Our Lives–2006

　　Skye—General Hospital—2004

　　Skylar—The Young and the Restless–2011

　　Sydney (girl)—Santa Barbara—1999-2002

　　Taylor (girl)—As the World Turns—1994-96

　　1990s

　　Azure—The City—not yet, but a color name that could pop

　　Blake (female)—The Guiding Light—2011 (debut on the girls’ list)

　　Braden—All My Children–2005

　　Brady—Days of Our Lives—2007

　　Connor—The Bold and the Beautiful—2004

　　Cooper—Days of Our Lives–2010

　　Jagger—General Hospital–2011

　　Jasper aka Jax—General Hospital—2001 for Jasper, 2011for Jax

　　Kylie—General Hospital—2004

　　Lark—The Bold and the Beautiful—not yet, but definitely on the rise

　　Mateo—All My Children—2011

　　Zeus—One Life to Live—not yet, but stay tuned

　　Do you know of anyone who was named for a daytime drama character?  Or any other TV character for that matter.