Baby names of the future: check out the hot favourites for 2050

Yes, you read that correctly: we’re talking about favourite baby names for the year 2050. Sure, we often write about predictions for the following year maybe two years away, but 30 years from now? How can you possibly predict a name trend so far in advance?

The next generation

It took the baby name experts from the popular naming website Nameberry to nut this one out. Since the release of their first book in 1988, called Beyond Jennifer & Jason, the team has been predicting all sorts of trends in the baby name department such as unisex names, nature names, names starting with ‘U’, even super cool French-inspired baby names. 

“So, we challenged ourselves to do the same thing with the 2020 list,” Pamela Redmond, co-founder of Nameberry reported to the HuffPost. “We picked 30 years ahead because it’s a generation in terms of baby names – when today’s babies will be naming babies.”

How did they do this?

The Nameberry team examined thousands of names that were given to less than 25 babies born in 2020. From these they picked 10 not-so-common girls and boys names that they they believe will likely take off in thirty years time. “We’ve been looking at generational changes in names and discovered that many trending names today were extremely rare a generation ago, in the 1990 U.S. statistics,” Redmond commented. “It’s fascinating to look through the bottom of the extended list of names in 1990 and find names like Luna and Harper that are so hot right now. Only 12 girls were named Harper in 1990, and it’s now a top 10 name. Only 15 were named Luna.”

Will these names really be popular?

The names on the list may not appeal to parents of today but that stands to reason according to Pamela Redmond, as later generations don’t ever like the names their parents picked. “Every generation of parents needs to reinvent baby names,” she said.

“We hope to encourage parents to look further down the popularity list if they want a really rare name. There are a lot of treasures hiding down there that are going to sound really good for decades.”

Here is the list released by Nameberry with the top 10 girls and boys names that they believe will be favoured by the parents of 2050 – and we have to admit there are some excellent choices.

For the girls:

1. Eleri
2. Franklin
3. Ione
4. Lunarose
5. Pandora
6. Pixie
7. Prairie
8. Vita
9. Willoughby
10. Xoe

For the boys:

1. Clement
2. Florian
3. Hale
4. Helix
5. Isidore
6. Jupiter
7. Kanoa
8. Oakes
9. Vision
10. Wilbur