Scarlett Johansson and Mark Ruffalo as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow and Bruce Banner/The Hulk; Marvel, Copyright 2015(SAN FRANCISCO) — BabyCenter, the #1 pregnancy and digital resource, released the results of its renowned Baby Names Survey for 2016, and with it its anticipated rankings of the Top 100 Names of 2016.
For the seventh year in a row, Sophia was most popular name for girls, while Jackson topped the list for boys for the fourth year straight.
However, names from comic books, The Walking Dead, Stranger Things, and those from tech titans have begun marching quickly up the charts, according to Linda Murray, BabyCenter Global Editor in Chief. “It’s a direct reflection of millennial parents’ enthusiasm for shaking up the status quo,” she notes.
New millennial faves include Elon (as in real-life billionaire genius Elon Musk) Tony (as in fictional billionaire genius Tony Stark AKA Iron Man), and Jessica (up 6% thanks to Marvel’s Jessica Jones).
Banner of The Hulk fame shot up 48% from last year; Harley — after Suicide Squad’s Harley Quinn jumped up 35%; Scarlett after Johansson’s roles in The Avengers and Captain America, bumped up 20%.
Even Rocket — the name of Bradley Cooper’s wise-cracking animated raccoon hero from Guardians of the Galaxy — jumped 25%.
Walking Dead fan parents were also responsible for the climb of Tyreese (up 48% since 2015), Hershel(up 37%), and Carol (up 18%).
Stranger Things viewers led to a 32% jump for Dustin, Mike (up 28%), and Joyce (23%).
The name Iris, Kathy Bates’ character from American Horror Story: Hotel jumped 16%.
Even virtual assistants like Microsoft’s Cortana and Amazon’s Alexa saw some movement, with bumps of 36% and 10%, respectively.
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