Transcript Episode 80: Best and Worst Celebrity Baby Names of 2021

With Kate Fann!

J: I’m Jennifer Moss.

M: And I’m Mallory Moss.

J: And we’re the founders of BabyNames.com.

M: And we’re sisters, too (singing)

J: We are!

J: This episode did so well last year that we decided to repeat it! We are going to do a wrap up of the BEST and WORST Celebrity Baby Names of the year, and we welcome our returning guest – Kate Fann. Kate is the BabyNames.com Celebrity Baby Blogger extraordinaire and she helps us with our tiktok reporting on the celebrity baby news each week! Welcome Kate!

K: Thank you! I’m so happy to be back for this exciting episode.

M: Well this has been quite a doozie of the year – you guys it went so fast, do you feel it went fast? 

J: Yeah, well I feel like 2020 seemed like it lasted 20 years and so 2021 flew by!

K: Agreed. 

M: Okay, so we’re going to review the celebrity baby names of 2021 and give our opinions on these names and each choose the best & worst – in our opinion – and why. I do want to take a moment to say that out of respect for the privacy of Nick Cannon and his family, we will not be discussing any of his children’s names on this episode. We extend our sincerest condolences from all of us at BabyNames.com.

J: Yes indeed. That’s something any parent should not have to experience. OK, so let’s start with the Most shocking names on the list!

K: I was most surprised by Lilibet, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s daughter. It’s a beautiful sentiment but you always expect the royal family to use traditional names soI love that they decided to do something a bit different but still meaningful to the family.

J: Yeah, I loved Lilibet, too, and it’s funny because it was a nickname, it was Queen Elizabeth’s name when she was a kid, so they did something that was half-royal and half-casual, which is their vibe. Both of them! Do you agree, Mal?

M: I do agree. Lilibet is one of my favorite names, too, of the year. I think it’s a beautiful name. I think it’s going to create a name in the United States: Lilibet. I don’t think it’s really has been a name before.

J: Well, it could have been a name but it didn’t make the charts.

M: Good point, there could be a Lilibet out there.

J: What shocked you, Mal?

M: Alright, I have two names that shocked me. One is Harlow Monroe. I don’t care who the parents are, but to name your daughter after two bombshell starlets was really surprising to me. Just so you know, the parents are fitness influencer Megan Roup and her husband Morgan Humphrey. So that would be Harlow Monroe Humphrey.

J: And just so you know that would be Jean Harlow and of course Marilyn Monroe.

M:  However, I feel that Cleopatra Ricci wins for most shocking name of 2021.Mom, who is of course actress Christina Ricci, decided to go with a very surprising name. The nickname I think is darling and I believe Cleo or Clea would both work as baby names, but Cleopatra is like naming a child Princess Diana Katz. It does not work for me. I do know that baby will have great hair, however, because Christina’s partner is celebrity hair stylist Mark Hampton.

K: I think it’s a cute name. I don’t know. Cleo? I like that.

J: I’m going to talk about it later. I was shocked by Ellie Goulding’s son, Arthur Ever Winter Jopling. Arthur is so traditional and then Ever Winter sounds like a Fantasy Novel name. I don’t know. It just doesn’t go together. The fact that there are 2 arrows on the list shocked me: Arrow Vox Bolden-Curtis, son of Styling Hollywood‘s Jason Bolden and Adair Curtis. Although Arrow Vox sounds pretty cool. I don’t know. And then Big Brother Baby Victor Arroyo IV with nickname Arrow from houseguests Victory Arroyo and Nicole Franzel. First Archer was a thing, now Arrow. Is Arrow now an alternative to Archer now? I wonder. I also think it’s SUPER shocking that Aaron Carter would honor Michael Jackson by using the name Prince. That is the formal name of one of Michael’s children – Prince Michael Jackson II (who’s really not a second) aka Blanket. All of that just gives off bad juju vibes. BTW Miranda was so in love with Aaron Carter when she was like 8 there was a contest to go stay at his house and she came to me crying saying “I HAVE TO WIN THIS, I HAVE TOoooo!” and I’m like “no you don’t.” She eventually did end up meeting him years later when she was a teenager and she could blurt out ILUVYOU! And he’s like ahhahahhah okay! Like he never heard that before. Oh Oh Aaron. End of story.

J: NOW! Names that you loved (but excluding the best). Kate?

K: I really enjoyed the use of the name Grace this year: Pippa Middleton named her daughter Grace Elizabeth and Bindi Irwin’s daughter Grace Warrior. I love the name Grace. It’s just so beautiful and classic. The other name I really liked was Violet Betty – Lance Bass’ twin daughter. You don’t see Violet a lot anymore and I think it’s such a beautiful name. 

J: And I love that the 50s names are coming back into style. So Betty and Nancy and I see them coming back and they are so adorable. 

J: Ever since Entourage, I’ve loved Sloane for a girl. Soccer stars Ashlyn Harris and Ali Krieger named their daughter Sloane Phillips Harris Krieger, and although that’s a mouthful, I love it! Sloane is originally an Irish surname meaning “Expedition or Invasion.”  I also love that Bindi Irwin gave her daughter the middle name of Warrior. It would have been way too much as a first name, but Grace Warrior is a cool concept and a perfect name. Love the name of Luda’s  daughter Chance Oyali Bridges – his legal name is Christopher Bridges.

M: Ooooh, Christopher, hence LUDA – CRIS! 

J: Yep!

M: I love the name Maisy Joanna Stocklin, which was runner up for my favorite name of the year. Maisy and twin Wesley Koy were born on November 6 to Comedian and actress Colleen Ballinger and husband Erik Stocklin. I also like the name Nakano Oceana, daughter of actor Wilmer Valderrama and his partner Amanda Pacheco. According to Ancestry.com, of all places, Nakano is a Japanese surname meaning “central field” and can suggest being of ancient and noble birth. Kai, which means ocean, I think is starting to get pretty popular, so using Oceana of all things is a great alternative. Lastly, I am in love with the name Lilibet and know the name is going to skyrocket in popularity over the next few years thanks to Meghan and Harry’s royal baby girl.

J: We’ll see! I know that was in your predictions for 2022. Now, you know we were criticized by a listener by being harsh on names so instead of saying names we hated, we are going to say Names you absolutely didn’t love. So Mal, what are names that you absolutely did not love from the last year.

M: Names I did not love all that much from the last year include Jupiter Iris French, Jupiter is just too “out there” for me, hahaha. Get it? Plus I’m not a fan of the name Iris.Jupiter’s parents are former Disney star Ashley Tisdale and husband Christopher French. 

J: I’m going to talk about Jupiter later. Mine would be Mauz Mosely Muniz. Frankie Muniz’ son. Too much of a mauzmoselymouthful! I also don’t like Row – and I know that Morgan Stewart meant it to be a short form of the surname or the first name Rowan, which is becoming popular. But it’s a verb and not my style. Row McGraw Raw McGrow. I don’t know.

K: By the way, they’re expecting again – they announced it 7 months after Row was born. But I agree, her name (I think it’s a her) is named Row Renggli – it reminds me of a regatta, a series of boat races. That’s just too weird. I don’t know about that.

J: You’re right. It’s a daughter.

K: I thought so.

J: OK. I wonder what they’ll name the second baby, Sprint? Anyway – not liking Honey Huff either – the daughter of Sadie Robertson and Christian Huff. They are both dictionary words, which we always advise against,we always say be really careful if you are going to use two dictionary words or if your last name is a dictionary word like ours, Moss, and in a way they have opposite meanings. When you HUFF you’re mad about something. And as you mentioned, another 2-dictionary word baby is Jupiter French.Don’t like it; stupid.

M: Wait, don’t say stupid.

J: OK, don’t like it, not my style. Sorry, Ashley Tisdale! Now Derek Jeter used 2 dictionary names (River Rose) but those flow together and I really like it. Jupiter French sounds like a cosmic dialect and Honey Huff sounds like a cartoon dragon.

M: Or a cereal!

J: Lux Luyendyk is a tongue twister and I won’t go into all the expectation names like Saint, Legend, Sire and A’Queen, because you know how I feel about that. Although I would have hated it, Shawn Johnson and Andrew East missed the boat not calling their daughter Chicago. Then there would have been a Chicago East and a Chicago West. BAH!

K: Big missed opportunity there!

J: So Kate, what names did you not like this year.

K: I’m going to have to echo both of you: Jupiter Iris – just, no! Growing up, it was always a joke that “boys go to jupiter to get more stupider.” Silly, I know, but we were kids! Kids can be mean and I can’t imagine what little Jupiter will have to go through with a name like that. Amber Heard’s daughter Oonagh (OO-NAG) – I mean, that’s a mouthful and it’s not pretty. It sounds more like a sound than a name.

J: I think it’s OO-NAH, actually.

K: Is it? Oh my gosh.

J: But people are going to say (OO-NAG).

M: Everyone is going to say OO-NAG. It sounds like something out of Shrek.

J: Or egg nog.

M: OK, oops we’re being mean again.So Jennifer, what’s your pick for the number one –

J: Wait, wait, wait, wait! What was I going to say? Oh yeah, I remember Miranda watching all that, or some Nickelodeon show where Kel would run around and say Jupiter! Jupiter! And I can’t get that out of mind but it was one of our names from space. We’ll see if that goes on the charts now.

M: Speaking of Kenan, he has his own show now. It starts in January.

J: I like him.

K: Me, too.

M: So Jennifer, what is your pick for the worst, I mean least liked, not so hip, baby name of the year and why?

J: OK, I know we are all going to go with Prince Lyric – it’s pretty bad. But my gut – or tookus – is telling me to go with Lucky Tooker. I’m sorry but it sounds like a Fortunate Bottom. What about you, Kate?

K: I have to go with Prince Lyric. I know that Aaron said he chose Prince because that’s what Michael Jackson called him. It seems a bit narcissistic so I’m not sure about that. And then adding the Lyric part, I get because he’s a musician, it seems a little bit like now he has something to live up to. Being a musician. Don’t put that kind of pressure on a child with their name.

M: And a Prince lyric? I’m sorry. Ask anyone and a Prince lyric is Purple Rain. AlrightI think that Lucky Levi Tooker wins for most names referencing jeans and a tushy, I am going with my least favorite name as Navy Bea Charnas. Navy Bea is the daughter of the Something Navy blogger, Arielle Charnas. So yeah she named her baby after her company. I think that is so awful. I don’t even know where to begin. It’s like naming your baby .com in my opinion. Bea is a pretty cute name, like Aunt Bea, and Navy is alright even by itself, but the concept of what happened turns my stomach. And yes ladies, I hated the name Prince Lyric, too, and the reasons behind that name, and I think Lucky Levi Tooker is pretty far out there, but I’d rather be Lucky Moss than babynames.com Moss.

J: Yeah, that’s true enough. Yeah it would be like if one of us named our kid babynames. And you wonder if she’s going to have another product line named Navy Bea.We’re going to take a short break and we are going to come back with our choices for the very best, #1, celebrity baby name of 2021. Stay tuned.

J: And now we’re down to the best celebrity baby names of the year and why. Kate, take it away.

K: I love Nakano Oceana. I love the story about whatinspired Wilmer and Amanda to choose this name. They were on a trip to Japan that they described as spiritual, beautiful, and eye-opening. It’s where they said I love you for the first time. Reading what he described about that experience, it seemed like such an intimate and special experience that solidified their relationship so I love that they chose a name that commemorated that experience. And I mean the name itself is just so lovely.

M: MMhmm.

J: I agree. I didn’t know the story behind it. Sorry, I didn’t read that blog post. I like it and it really embodies what you should put into a baby name – it means something special to both parents. I love that.

M: Yeah, I love Nakano Oceana like I said above and it was really my second top name of the year.

J: Your runner up?

M: My runner up.

M: I also really love the name Lyla, I forgot who named their baby Lyla – we didn’t have a middle name – but my favorite name of the year is Bowie Ella. 

J: Sounds like Cinderella.

M: I like it! (Singing) Bowie Ella! Bowie Ella! I love the name Bowie Ella. Bowie Ella was born to Jessica Szohr of Gossip Girl fame and her boyfriend Brad Richardson, a hockey player for the Calgary Flames. What I think is super funny is that the baby was born on January 11, and so many people had an opportunity to upstage their name, but didn’t. Bowie is likely a tribute to the musician David Bowie but honestly, it’s becoming more popular and I think can carry its own weight without being associated with David Bowie. Kind of like what’s happening with Hendrix and Joplin now. Musician surnames are taking over the baby name world!

J: You know, I have a theory.

M: What?

J: Maybe Bowie is an extension of the Archer and Arrow genre. Archer, Arrow, and Bowie. And I wonder if that was influenced by Hunger Games.

M: You know if anyone listens to us they would think that all we do is read books for teens.

J: We do!

M: Twilight. Hunger Games.

J: OK OK, so mine is a 3-way tie!!! I think the celebs did well this year. I love Macklemore’s baby name: Hugo Haggerty. I think that’s cute and memorable and can grow with him like we say. Macklemore’s legal name is Benjamin Hammond Haggerty and that’s why the baby has Haggerty as the last name. And you know I’m newagey so I have to pick Indigo Wren as my woowoo favorite. Indigo is a color blue and wren is a bird. Indigo is the daughter of Grey’s Anatomy actress Kelly McCreary and director Pete Chatmon. But for my overall fave I have to go with Cleopatra Ricci Hampton – daughter of actress Christina Ricci. Each one of those names sounds important and affluent. 

M: WHAT? YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME! 

J: Cleopatra!

M: You picked that just to be annoying to me.

J: Cleopatra Ricci Hampton! I think it sounds so important.

M: Well, I’d rather be Cleopatra than Navy Bea.

J: Sounds like Navy Bean!

M: Yeah it sounds like Navy Bean and then aren’t the cee-bee’s something military? They are like Navy something. Sorry for my ignorance to all our military listeners.

J: Were the Navy bees like the female infantry or something? 

 M: I don’t know.

J: They were the cee bees. There’s Navy cee-bees and that what’s your thinking of. So Kate, you know how much we cut out now. Let me look this up!

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J: Alright, that’s it for SEASON FOUR of the Baby Names Podcast – thank YOU ALL for being loyal listeners, for all our binge-listeners, name nerds, ENTHUSIASTS, and expecting parents. 

M: And critics!

J: And critics, too. We appreciate that. And a big thank you to our guest Kate Fann, for joining us today and being an awesome celebrity blogger. I’m sure there will be lots to write about in 2022. 

K: There will. Watch out for my baby watch of 2022 post, coming soon in the BabyNames.com Celebrity Baby Blog. 

J: We wish you a Happy and Healthy new year! We’ll be back in January for season 5 with HOW THE INTERNET CHANGED BABY NAMING! That will be a good one.

M: And if you love the show – the best gift you can give us is a five-star rating and review!

J: Yes, If you love us RATE US!

M: But not if you hate us!

J: Be safe everyone, stay healthy, and spread love and kindness

M: And not germs!!

J: Not germs! Especially red ones with spikes. Bye guys, Happy New Year!

K: Happy New Year!

M: Happy New Year!