Which TV or movie character inspired the most baby names in NJ?

Naming a child can be a daunting task.

Should you honor tradition with a family name or go with something timeless yet unique?

Or do you name your child after a figure in pop culture?

As someone named “Kylie,” in the ‘90s I would occasionally asked if it was after Kylie Minogue.

Then my sister, Kendall, came along and after a few decades people thought we were named after the Jenner sisters (also named Kendall and Kylie).

We weren’t. For the record, we came first.

But some parents do look to pop culture for baby names and the team at Little Sleepies just found the most popular in New Jersey.

Baby names based on movie characters

When it comes to naming their babies after a movie or TV character, New Jersey parents' most popular pick was Bella.

Bella

This, of course, following the popularity of Twilight.

If you were a high schooler in the mid to late 2000s it was impossible to miss the Twilight craze. It’s no wonder that Bella or Isabella would be so popular now.
Per Little Sleepies:

Character-based baby names experienced a 59% growth in New Jersey, on average, from the year before to the year after they debuted.

Nationally, character-based names experienced a 98% increase in popularity, overall.

I never saw this next one coming: when it comes to naming their babies after celebrities, New Jersey parents were most inspired by Sean Connery.

Really?

As much as I respect 007, I would sooner guess Bruce, Meryl, or Frankie (Sinatra or Valli - take your pic) as a popular Garden State baby name before Sean Connery.

How did Little Sleepies figure this out?

Using the SSA Baby Name Database, they analyzed the top 100 baby names for boys and girls in each state from 1960 to 2023.

Then, they tracked how each name's popularity changed after a character’s on-screen debut, calculating the year-over-year spike to uncover the names that saw the sharpest rise thanks to TV and film.

This same methodology was also applied to celebrities, according to growth from the decade in which they debuted.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5's Kylie Moore. Any opinions expressed are Kylie's own. You can follow Kylie on Instagram.
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