Baby Name Predictors: Place, Ethnic Names Will Reign for Future Generations - East Idaho News
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Baby Name Predictors: Place, Ethnic Names Will Reign for Future Generations

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GETTY 31414 BABY?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1394812432288Lai leng Yiap/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — “Vintage” names — like Beatrice and Asher — are all the rage right now. But don’t expect little Bea in a few decades to name her baby a vintage name. Think more along the lines of Falconer.

It’s one of the names the baby-naming experts at Nameberry.com predict will be popular when today’s babies have their own kids. Also on the list: Everest, Nile, Beach and Oceana.

“There’s a growth in the popularity of ‘place’ names,” Pam Satran, the woman behind Nameberry and author of several baby-naming books, told ABC News. “Place names that are popular today, like Savannah and Dakota, are paving the way to more adventurous place names in years to come.”

Also predicted to be popular: ethnic-sounding names. Two female names predicted to be popular for future generations are Columbia and Consuelo. That might be in part attributed to the growth in influence of Latino culture, but Satran doesn’t think the use of those names will be limited to one culture.

“You might be Irish but love the Latino culture or just the sound of those names,” she said.

So how accurate are Nameberry’s predictions? Satran said she predicted back in 1988 the name Adelaide would be getting popular right around now — and it has according to BabyCenter.com.

“Just like fashion forecasters are looking at what’s in style now and predict what will be coming up in 10 or 20 years, we do the same,” Satran said. “We look at origins of names, the sounds that are attracting people and pop culture influences.”

But it may take a while to get to little Lettice. The immediate future of baby names will still be vintage-inspired, but perhaps not on the list of the 1,000 most popular today. For boys, that included Otis, Ralph and Nigel. For girls, Aurelia, Annette and Clementine.

A few more of Falconer’s friends may include:

  • Persephone
  • Rhiannon
  • Rowena
  • Sheba
  • Sybella
  • Florin
  • Freeman
  • Gower
  • Guthrie
  • Lazarus
  • Lowell
  • Lucius

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