The Most Popular Baby Names in 2018

When it comes to choosing a name for your baby, a lot goes into the mix. Consideration is often given to the names of family members past and present and what works well with your surname. 

Celebrity baby names, movie characters and names made well known via pop culture also influence our choices. 

The last few years has also seen us embrace ancient times when it comes to our fave TV shows (think Game of Thrones), and baby name expert, Pamela Redmond Satran from Nameberry says this has undoubtedly helped revive ancient Greek and Roman names. 

Here are some of her top picks for ancient boy and girl names.

Girls names

• Alba
• Ambrosia
• Cecilia
• Cornelia
• Junia
• Livia
• Ophelia
• Roxana
• Tatiana
• Xanthe

Boys names

• Atlas
• Julius
• Justus
• Leon
• Lucian
• Lysander
• Magnus
• Rufus
• Urban
• Zephyr - (making a return from The most popular baby names of 2017)

Gender neutral names

Just as many parents are embracing gender neutral parenting, they are also embracing gender neutral names. Here are some of the more popular choices:

• Sage
• Charlie
• Lennon
• Oakley
• Frankie
• Murphy
• Reilly
• Jules
• Austen
• Ridley

Popular celebrity baby names

As always, we can expect to see plenty of bubbas born into names made popular by celebrity parents, and those lifted straight from characters in popular movies. 

Think Harley (Suicide Squad), Odin (Thor), Aurora (X-Men) or Kylo (Star Wars), or Chicago and Stormi for Kardashian fans, and Strummer or Hayes (Julia Styles and Preston J Cook, and Jessica Alba and Cash Warren respectively) for fans of unusual names. 

Not-so popular baby names

Much as parents-to-be avoid choosing names of people they don’t like in their personal lives, they also avoid the names of public figures they don’t like. The other big trend for naming no-nos are those of well-known consumer products. Examples?

• Felicia – a well-known, and negative internet Meme 'Bye, Felicia'
• Harvey – courtesy of the Harvey Weinstein scandal
• Donald – whatever your political views, it’s a bold name to carry in today’s climate!
• Alexa – the name of Amazon’s digital assistant
• Stan - the hashtag #Stan means 'stalker-fan' online, and it’s the name of a popular streaming service in Australia

At the end of the day, when it comes to picking a name, it’s always best to ignore the trends (though they do provide a great starting place) and go for something you’ll be happy to call them decades from now.

And ALWAYS practice saying the names on your short-list out loud with your surnames! ;)