Stick to the classics or carve out a new name entirely? That is the question for 2025 parents to be in the era of influencer baby names.
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Oh, baby! How do you spell that?
We’re babbling about baby names, coming off of the annual announcement from the Social Security Office in late May. The Popular Baby Names list, as reported on by Forbes, included pretty typical names like Liam, Olivia, Noah and Emma, plus two different spellings of Sophia/Sofia, gathered for the 2024 report.
These lists can serve as inspiration for expecting 2025 parents, but some use this roundup as a guide for what not to name their future offspring, as to avoid having 10 different Isabella’s in their kiddo’s Kindergarten class.
Many of these outliers can be found just by scrolling through your social media, as celebrities and influencers have become infamous for incredible new spellings of common names, as well as taking nouns and even verbs out of their typical usage and into the nursery.
Emily Kim, 34, of Minneapolis, Minnesota, or Em Doodles to her followers, expertly taps into this trend, and has blown up on TikTok for her hilarious and sometimes suspiciously accurate influencer baby name predictions.
“I shared my first influencer baby name prediction on TikTok in August of 2021, after occasionally using the app to casually share art projects from time to time,” said Kim. “Within a week of that first post, it had nearly one million views. As people kept sticking around, asking to see more predictions, I realized it was not a random one-time viral sensation. It really all began with the very, very first video and grew all from there!”
Her predictions spare no celeb, as Kim has discussed everyone from headline-making celebrities like Kylie Kelce, Ashley Tisdale and Trisha Paytas to the currently incredibly viral cast of “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,” and even fictional pregnant stars like Peppa Pig’s mom, aptly named Mummy Pig. The only criteria needed for a great prediction, according to the expert, is a social media presence.
“Social media presence is everything. When I see a person’s lifestyle, or specific home style, or fashion sense, I can begin to make sense of who they are,” said Kim. “A person with an elegant home style is likely to choose an elegant baby name. A person who loves to dress very boho is more likely to choose a boho baby name.”
Even though some of the baby names of now may seem out there, that is exactly what Kim predicts will continue to happen. She is even more shocked when seeing names like Emily top the list, saying, “Where are these babies named Emily?!” despite being a top 25 name on the official 2024 list.
Another poignant point Kim made as to why influencers and celebrities may use out-of-the-toy-box names may be due to their reach and viewership by the masses, wanting to stand out from the rest of us and our children.
“If you used the same baby name as your old middle school friend who lives 2,000 miles away, very few people would know or care. Now we have a constant digital connection with those who we wouldn’t otherwise be in touch with,” explained Kim. “Influencers have a huge web of social connections; it’s a tangled web of business and pleasure. They may feel that they already ‘know’ someone who has used a baby name, even if that person is someone they’ve never met. It can feel like every baby name has already been ‘taken’ and they’ve got to reach further and further outside the box to be original. To be accused of ‘stealing’ or ‘copying’ another influencer’s baby name is a pain point for many.”
This pain point was recently outlined in one of Kim’s most recent “MomTok” videos featuring the “Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” star Mikayla, whom, according to Kim, bases her baby’s names off of what is trendy in that given year. This year, the trend is her very own show on Hulu, which added some humorous ideas to Kim’s list. The video above also explains just how interconnected the baby name world is when it comes to content creators, adding yet another layer to these predictions.
For those that may not be influencers or celebrities, but still want their kid to stand out with a more unique moniker, there are still some tips to be taken from all this. Kim says that gender neutral names will trend upward, in addition to using last names as first names and names that reflect pop culture or society.
Should you have a new bundle of joy coming soon, Kim has one final prediction to share for all expecting parents—her very own list of trending baby names, perfect for influencers and otherwise.
2025 Top Ten Influencer Baby Names:
Remi
Luca
Brooks
Banks
Scottie
Archer
Juniper
Sol
Ever
Rome
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