Baby Names from Contemporary TV Shows

In our third installment about how TV and movies have influenced parents naming their newborns, we see that TV programs continue to put names onto the lists of babies in real life. TV (and movies) have been a source of new name popularity since the 1950s. Bringing our timeline of baby names into today, we find some classic names reentering the baby name list at a higher rank.

The Summer I Turned Pretty is Amazon’s adaptation of the popular book series and had people choosing Team Conrad or Team Jere. Jeremiah is a Hebrew name meaning "God will uplift." Conrad originates from German and means "brave counsel." 

Isabelle (French, "pledged to God") reappeared in baby names.
Laurel (Latin, "bay or laurel tree") peaked in popularity back in 1956.
Susannah has been popular for many years. It comes from Hebrew and means "lily."
Steven is also an old name, though different spellings seem to change in popularity. It comes from Greek and means "wreath."

If you're a hardcore Star Wars fan and watched Andor, a spinoff series that aired on Disney+, you would be familiar with these names. Andor is Scandinavian and means "Thor’s eagle." You would also know Kleya (Greek) and Luthen (German).

The Pitt, the medical drama that is a popular and award-winning series on HBO has a compelling cast of characters.
Robby (German, "bright fame") alternately Robbie had earlier peaked in 1964.
Collins is another of the surnames that is used as a first name. It originates in Gaelic and means "young dog" which doesn't sound very baby-appealing to me.
Samira is an Arabic name meaning "evening conversation."
Mateo (Spanish, "Gift of God")
Perlah comes from Spanish and means "pearl."
Cassie (Greek, "shining") had previously peaked in 1982 and namesakes include R&B singer Cassie Ventura and actress Cassie Scerbo.

Nobody Wants This is a Netflix rom-com about a Rabbi who falls in love with a woman who isn't Jewish and is popular with millennials. From this show, attention again turned to Noah (Hebrew, "rest"). Joanne (Hebrew, "God is gracious") 

The Hunting Wives is a source of some girls’ names.
Margo (French, "pearl"), which had peaked in 1951.
Sophie, Greek for "wisdom" and popular for many decades as with Sophia Loren, Sofia Coppola, Sofia Vergara.
Callie (Greek, "beautiful")

Seth Rogen’s Emmy-winning series on Apple T, The Studio, is a Hollywood send-up. It brought attention to Quinn whose origin is Latin, Irish, Gaelic, Celtic, and means "wise leader." It also has Maya, which means "good mother" in its Greek origin.

Names from the series on Hulu, Only Murders in the Building, starring Selena Gomez, Martin Short, and Steve Martin, refocused attention on some older names.

Mabel (Latin "lovable") peaked in 1902.
Oliver (Latin, "olive tree") had some earlier pop recognition via Jamie Oliver, Oliver Platt, and Mary Oliver.
Charles is an English name meaning "free man" and has plenty of name recognition, including King Charles, Ray Charles, and Charlie Chaplin.
Loretta's origin is Italian and means laurel

Stranger Things had a long Netflix run. "Eleven" did not become a popular name, but what about actors from the show? Millie Bobby Brown brings some attention to Millie, a German name meaning "gentle roots." Finn has Irish roots and means fair. Gaten is an odd one from England with the meaning "from Gaeta."

Reality TV is another source of name inspiration. Love Island gave us Olandria, which appears to be a modern American creation. We also get Ace, a Latin word meaning one, or unity. Chelley is English, meaning "who is like God." Amaya has Spanish, Japanese, and Arabic origins and can mean night rain or mother city.