A study conducted by an online toy store in the United Kingdom has found which film produced over the last two decades has had the most impact on the naming of babies.
The study looked at films made from 2000 to 2019 and used data from the U.K. and the United States. The study found that thousands of baby names were shared by some of the biggest movie characters of the 90s and 2000s.
Coming in at tenth is Coraline, the title character for the 2009 stop-motion dark fantasy film. However, the study doesn’t state if the 4,367 mothers who named their daughters Coraline had buttons for eyes. In ninth is Belle from Beauty and the Beast with 5,794 girls who’ll probably get a dog someday. In eighth is Precious from the 2009 drama Precious.
Speed round: seventh place goes to Leia from this small franchise called Star Wars, in sixth is Elsa from another obscure film about magical talking snowman (Frozen for those of you who don’t have a daughter under the age of 10). The fifth is Tiana, our first Disney princess on the list (if you exclude Leia but that’s a whole other thing) from The Princess and the Frog.
Amélie comes in at fourth place inspired by the French 2001 romantic comedy film. The last spots on the podium go to Disney with the red-haired mermaid Ariel in third, the blond Aurora from Sleeping Beauty in second and magic carpet riding Jasmine from 1992’s Aladdin in first.
Here are the totals:
- Jasmine - 132,633 girls
- Aurora - 45,764 girls
- Ariel - 36,393 girls
- Amélie - 22,216 girls
- Tiana - 15,775 girls
- Elsa - 11,923 girls
- Leia - 10,979 girls
- Precious - 8,245 girls
- Belle - 5,794 girls
- Coraline - 4,367 girls
In tenth place for the boys is Donnie from the 2001 science fiction psychological thriller Donnie Darko. In ninth we have everyone’s favourite pill popper from the Matrix franchise Neo. In eighth place, there’s the galaxy’s future asthmatic robot: Anakin.
Speed round 2.0: Rocky from Sylvester Stallone’s boxing films sweatily fights his way into seventh, Forrest from Forrest Gump runs 24,539 kilometres into sixth place. In our first possible Marvel-inspired name, the Norse god Odin takes fifth.
Disney’s redheaded mermaid makes a repeat appearance with Ariel taking fourth place with 9,085 boys receiving the name.
The top three spots on the podium are a unique mix. In third place is Atticus from 1962’s To Kill a Mockingbird. Ace takes second, surely inspired by the world’s first and only pet detective Ace Ventura. Taking the top spot is Maximus from the 2000’s film Gladiator.
Here’s the breakdown:
- Maximus - 31,131 boys
- Ace - 11,209 boys
- Atticus - 11,178 boys
- Ariel - 9,085 boys
- Odin - 8,183 boys
- Forrest - 5,419 boys
- Rocky - 4,520 boys
- Anakin - 3,082 boys
- Neo - 2,985 boys
- Donnie - 2,734 boys
