Fame Inspired Baby Names

It is incredible what a musicians increasing popularity can achieve: in some cases, it even inspires parents to name the new-born babies after famous musicians.
There have been quite a few cases of this happening in recent years, and some of the names are quite rare so there really can only be one explanation to their increased popularity.
In the case of Rihanna, in the year before her career was truly launched (2004), there was no babies named after her – whereas in 2008, after releasing her third incredibly successful album, 1074 baby girls were named Rihanna.
In 1988, when Mariah Carey started off in the world of music, 424 baby girls were named like her. That figure increased to 5191 in just three years thanks to the release of her first album.
Miley Cyrus is another musician who has inspired parents to name their kid after her. In 2003, when she was just starting out, the name Miley wasn’t too popular – there were only 27 new Mileys in 2003. In 2008, when Miley Cyrus had established herself in the world of music, a total of 2649 babies were named Miley.
Zayn Malik has become very famous in recent years. In 2010 he started off his music career when he appeared in the X Factor and became a member of boy band One Direction. Only 46 babies were named Zayn in that year. Flashforward six years, Zayn Malik’s popularity had grown and so had the number of babies named Zayn: 741 babies were named Zayn.
You can have a look at more examples on an interactive graphic here.
> Naomi Round