Pop culture inspired baby names
BY MORGAN GIORDANO
Last week, news that 'Star Trek' actress Zoe Saldana is expecting twins broke, and many are anticipating the day she unveils photos of her little bundles of joy -- and reveals their names. Pop culture has a huge impact baby names in the United States. When celebrities announce the name of their newborns, many parents throughout the nation are inspired to give their children the same monikers. But the phenomenon doesn't stop there. Fictional characters from TV shows and movies do as well.
Back in 2010, character names from Stephanie Meyer's enormously popular 'Twilight' series soared to the top ten names list released by the Social Security Administration. While Jacob had already been a top-ten baby name for boys for 10 years straight, the rise of Isabella and Edward is credited to the frenzy created by the vampire series.
Isabella, Jacob, Edward, and even Cullen are tame compared to some of the more unusual names that appeared on the Social Security Administration's list of baby names in 2013. Reality TV stars, like the Kardashians, and famous Disney characters were relatively common inspirations. Personal taste for characters seems to be a factor as well. There were 43 boys named Tyrion after Peter Dinklage's complex character on 'Game of Thrones,' while no one in the United States named their son Joffrey, the 'Game of Thrones' villain who was among the most hated characters on television in 2013.
The trend of naming children after favorite fictional characters or celebrities is not new. WhitePages recently revealed to AOL that there are many people living in America who not only share an unusual first name with characters, like the 232 people named Spanky from 'The Little Rascals,' but some share both a first and last name. Those lucky enough to share a surname with famous figures can give their children very specific names. The result is Americans with full names like Peter Pan and Elvis Presley.
Click through our gallery and take a look at the craziest copycat names.
