Noah and Olivia were revealed as the most popular baby names for 2021/22 by ONS data last week, and using new sales and search data, experts have predicted the baby names expected to surge in 2022/23. According to ONS, films such as Star Wars and Pixar’s Luca, heavily influenced boys name last year, and TV hit Sex Education, saw the name Olivia hit the top spot for girls.
This prompted personalised gifting specialists, DCUK, to delve into search volume data to identify the most influential events and pop culture moments of the past year, alongside their most recent requests for certain names, allowing the experts to predict which names will see a surge in popularity over the next 12 months.
The biggest searches of he year so far are:
- Harry (Harry Styles- 498,000)
- Elizabeth (Queen Elizabeth ll- 487,000 searches)
- Wolf (Kylie Jenner’s retracted baby name- 393,000 searches)
- Pandora (Avatar 2- 246,000 searches)
- Charles (Prince Charles- 200,000 searches)
Harry
Expected to come out on top next year for boys names next year is Harry. With average monthly searches of 498,00 in the UK, Harry Styles has dominated pop culture in 2022 with chart topping songs, a global tour and a leading role in Olivia Wilde’s Don’t Worry Darling. Steve Manser, head of marketing at DCUK said: “I would not be shocked if Harry became an even more popular name choice next year. Not only has the One Direction-er become the nation’s sweetheart, but there is a more traditional link there with Prince Harry too.”
Elizabeth
Britain’s longest reigning monarch celebrated the huge milestone of 70 years on the throne and sadly died shortly after, with the funeral being the most watched broadcast of all time. Steve said: “We saw huge demand for jubilee related memorabilia this summer across the gifting sector with our limited-edition duck selling out in five seconds. Brits want her name and legacy to live on for generations to come and since the funeral, we have seen a 65% increase in demand for Elizabeth name tags.”
Wolf
Predicted for third place is Wolf, the famously retracted name of Kylie Jenner’s new-born son in February. Kylie is one of the most influential women on the planet with over 370 million followers on social media. Steve said: “We know that reality TV has huge influence on the lives of everyday people, particularly when it comes to finding a more unusual and modern baby name. Our demand for animal related name tags such as Wolf, Bear and Rex increased by 15% from 2021 to 2022.”
Pandora
Next up is Pandora. The fictional setting for Avatar, the utopian land of Pandora is inspired by the name of the first woman created according to Greek mythology. Steve said: “The ONS has already explained the huge impact of films on last year’s baby names, and we expect that this long-awaited sequel that has over 240,000 monthly searches will have a similar effect.”
Charles
Charles is predicted to be the fifth most popular name choice for next year. The new monarch’s name is set to move up the rankings just as royal names have in the past. Steve adds “The coronation celebrations will be sure to set a new trend for royal related names over the coming 12 months. We have already seen a 35% increase in demand for Charles name tags since the Queen’s funeral.”
Steve said: “It’s always interesting to see which names are becoming more or less popular, and we are often able to track trends amongst our customers and the personalisation’s they ask for. These are just some of the names that we’ve already started to see more of which we anticipate will become increasingly popular due to their correlation with impactful people and cultural moments of this year.”
