People naming their children after dumb stuff is nothing new. As long as humanity will continue to propagate, stupid names will always be a given. However, this latest trend is one of the silliest. New data shows that people are naming their infants after Pokemon now, which, while crazy, isn’t totally unexpected. We are living in a post Pokemon Go society, and the “gotta catch ’em” all mentality was bound to bleed over into every section of life.
According to The Telegraph, the baby name tracker site BabyCenter noticed an uptick in popularity for some rather odd names in recent days. Eevee, the name of a particularly adorable and potentially powerful Pokemon, has risen 1,377 spots in the ranks of popular girl names in the last year, and Onyx, a rock snake Pokemon, has also joined the ranks, climbing 2,184 spots for girls. Roselia, who hasn’t arrived on the insanely popular game yet, also jumped 5,859 spots since last year. A few parents have opted for a more subtle tribute, with Ivy (Ivysaur) and Star (Staryu) also rising +1,287 spots for boys and +2,040 spots for girls respectively. The fairly normal and popular Ash has also jumped 200 spots up the lists.
According to BabyCenter editor and chief, Linda Murray, we should have seen this coming.
“We see babies named after TV show characters, celebrities, and even Instagram filters. Millennials are particularly attracted to technology and ’90s nostalgia, which is one of the reasons we think Pokemon Go is already having an impact on baby naming trends among pregnant women.”
I guess we should keep an eye out for little Pikachus and Bulbasaurs popping up in pre-schools in a couple of years.
(Via The Telegraph)