Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth: Adult Gamers are Impacting Baby Name Trends

Growing up, it’s been fairly common to hear teachers having to call children by his/her first name and last initial to differentiate. 

Popular baby names like Sarah, David, Jess, and James have been an epidemic across the United States, with many people’s names easily being plucked off a top 100 list in any Google search.

However, a recent turn of events has passed the baton from common to unconventional with the number of gamer families on the rise. Michael has turned into Gannon, Jennifer has turned into Zelda, and various couple’s creativity has produced a much more unorthodox, individualistic approach to baby naming. 

Baby Name Trends in 1980

Among the 4 Michaels, 2 Christophers, the 3 Davids and the few James’ in one classroom, it’s been an unmistakable trend for these names to be rampaging through budding families of the 80s. 

These popular 1980s male baby names meet their female counterparts in commonalities such as Jessica, Amanda, Sarah, Nicole, and Heather. 

Male Top 10                                             Female Top 10

1. Michael                                                                1.  Jessica
2. Christopher                                                        2.  Jennifer
3. Matthew                                                              3.  Amanda
4. Joshua                                                                 4.  Ashley
5. David                                                                    5.  Sarah
6. James                                                                   6.  Stephanie
7. Daniel                                                                   7.  Melissa
8. Robert                                                                  8.  Nicole
9. John                                                                     9.  Elizabeth
10. Joseph                                                                10.  Heather

While these names all seem dated to approaching Mothers and Fathers, parents having children around this time were surprisingly being innovative from the previous generation, taking many of these names from inspiring 80s movies. 

Powering Through to the 1990s

Not to many people’s surprise, the baby name trends of the 90s have barely any substantial change from the top names of the 80s. 

Adding a Matthew, Daniel, and Andrew to the top 10 male names; and Brittany, Ashley, Samantha, and Lauren to the female side:

Male Top 10                                             Female Top 10

1. Michael                                                                1.  Jessica
2. Christopher                                                        2.  Ashley
3. Matthew                                                              3.  Brittany
4. Joshua                                                                 4.  Amanda
5. Daniel                                                                   5.  Samantha
6. David                                                                    6.  Sarah
7. Andrew                                                                7.  Stephanie
8. James                                                                   8.  Jennifer
9. Justin                                                                   9.  Elizabeth
10. Joseph                                                                10.  Lauren

Gathering data from the Social Security official website, these top names saw little change from the last few decades. 

It seems that as America aged, the unoriginality of our names began to take over (I’m guilty of having a name on both of these top 100 lists as well).

How Gamers Are Crashing Through the Name Barrier

It seems that most parents, especially families keen on playing video games, have been determined to break down the stagnant barricade of naming children.

For example, some contemporary names on an upward trend as of 2010 have been inventive titles such as:

Boys: Aiden, Jacob, Jackson, Jayden, Noah, Liam, Mason and Caden

Girls: Sophia, Isabella, Ava, Chloe, Madelyn, Zoe, Riley, and Avery

Gamers In Particular

While these names are a fresh spin on what most of us are used to growing up with, but the names most video gamers have been choosing are, dare I say, even more intriguing, especially to other gamers:

Boys: Aidyn, Arc, Cloud, Daxter, Ico, Jak, Kain, Link, Raiden, Tidus, Zidan

Girls: Aerith, Cortana, Kairi, Lara, Rinoa, Rynn, Selphie, Tifa, Yuna, Aoi

(I don’t know about you, but if I met someone on the street named Cortana, I would immediately want to be her best friend.)

Some popular name meanings include Zelda – Female Warrior, Raiden – God of Thunder, Aiden – Little, Fiery One, and Rinoa – Light. 

BabyNameWizard.com

Alongside the aforementioned list, a simple Google search allows endless possibilities, with a BabyNames.com tab only for baby names from video games, an article discussing a video game baby name section in a purchased book, and the story of a World of Warcraft couple who named their daughter Sylvanas. 

Not only is this exciting, new trend giving America a much needed element of individuality, but this is also the perfect way for families to develop a close, working relationship. In fact, our Editor in Chief, Amy, just gave birth to her son, Corbin, on the 12th. 

Not only is this a popular trend among the masses, but celebrities have been in on the trend as well. With Zelda Williams (daughter of Robin Williams) and Kal-El Cage (son of Nicholas Cage), this baby name movement excludes no one. 

Yet, the Ballot is Split…

It seems from various baby name forums and threads that the popularity of the video game name trend is split.

I know that I’m *personally* a huge fan of the movement, but I see even the biggest fans who aren’t willing to go to such an extreme to commemorate their favorite characters. 

I have a feeling though, based on the overwhelming upward trend, the product of video game-inspired baby names will become more and more accepted as time goes on.