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Maeve, Bowie, Boomer…12 Baby Names Of The Year

Written by Katie Hintz-Zambrano

Photography by Rajni Jacques, Photographed by Maria Del Rio

Baby name trends, obviously, we just can’t get enough of ’em. (See proof here, here, and here!). So, when Nameberry released what it’s dubbing the 12 “Names of the Year,” we just had to share. You won’t find mainstream winners Sophia, Emma, Jackson, and Aiden on this list (head over to Babycenter’s Top 100 of 2016 for those classics). Instead, Nameberry is forecasting what it feels will be big naming trends going forward, thanks to some major pop-culture moments of the past year.

And, without further ado, here are Nameberry’s top 12 Names Of The Year, and the real-life folks who inspired them.

1. Aziz (after Aziz Ansari, the hilarious Master of None creator, writer, and star)
2. Bowie (the one and only David Bowie, who passed away on January 10, 2016)
3. Cuba (thanks to the newly open-for-business country, as well as The People v. O.J. Simpson actor Cuba Gooding Jr.)
4. Ivanka (Trump, of course)
5. Simone (Olympic stars Simone Biles and Simone Manuel)
6. Wrigley (the hometown field of the World Series-winning Chicago Cubs)
7. Alden (after actor Alden Ehrenreich, who will play the young Han Solo in Millennium Falcon)
8. Boomer (the standout name of Michael Phelps’ infant son)
9. Bruno (Mars)
10. Lin-Manuel (the creator of cultishly beloved Hamilton)
11. Maeve (Thandie Newton’s character in Westworld)
12. Wilder (after Gene Wilder, a.k.a. Willy Wonka, who died in August 2016)

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