The most popular kids tv show and film inspired names
Ever wondered which film or tv show character has inspired the most baby names in recent years? We compiled a list of 50 boys’ names and 50 girls’ names from kids’ tv shows and films to investigate just that. Looking at the most recent government data we can show you the top 100 on-screen monikers from 2000 to 2020 and how many babies have been given these names over the 20 year period.
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The Top 10 Baby Girl Monikers
1. Elsa – 3,121 Babies
Peak year – 2014
Elsa is one of two female leads of Disney’s hit film Frozen, released in 2013. The name Elsa is a German and Scandinavian variation of Elisabeth. After the release of Frozen, Elsa became much more popular across the world. Elsa was already in the top 10 baby names in Faroe Islands and Sweden before the film was released, becoming the number one most popular afterwards.
2. Tiana – 2,985 Babies
Peak year – 2011
Princess Tiana of Maldonia, also known as Tia, is the Disney princess of 2009, playing the lead role in The Princess and the Frog. Tiana is also Disney’s first African-American princess and her personality and values have been praised by critics. Princess Tiana has been described as “a strong woman who doesn’t need anyone to do things for her”.
3. Belle – 2,101 Babies
Peak year – 2018
Belle is another famous Disney Princess and the lead character in Beauty and the Beast. Originally released in 1991, Beauty and the Beast got a live-action remake in 2017 where Belle was played by Emma Watson. Belle is a certified bookworm, and her passion for fantastical and adventure stories make her strive for a life of adventure.
4. Hermione – 2,003 Babies
Peak year – 2014
Hermione Granger is potentially the most famous witch of all time. Co-starring in the immensely successful Harry Potter series, Hermione has landed herself in the top five on-screen monikers for baby girls. Also played by Emma Watson, Hermione possesses a brilliant academic mind and is a talented witch, becoming a gifted student in every subject she studies.
5. Leia – 1,672 Babies
Peak year – 2017
Leia is the very famous Star Wars Princess, sister to Luke Skywalker, who was one of the Rebel Alliance’s greatest leaders throughout the franchise. Leia has been a steady favourite among parents over the last two decades and, with the release of Marvel’s Princess Leia Comic in 2015, saw a spike in the last five years. Leia has been called a feminist hero and 80’s icon and continues to be one of the more popular characters in Star Wars.
6. Carly – 1648 Babies
Peak year – 2007
Carly is the feminine name of Carl and has seen a steady decrease in popularity over the years. First popularised by Carly Simon back in 1970, Carly has fallen out of favour among modern parents. Despite this, Nickelodeon’s kids show iCarly saw an albeit short-lived spike in baby girls when the show began in 2007. Carly is the host of her own web show which quickly finds success among her generation.
7. Minnie – 1641 Babies
Peak year – 2016
The long-time sweetheart of Mickey Mouse, Minnie is probably one of the most famous anthropomorphic mice in the world. Minnie is a singer-songwriter and has found fame within Disney’s animated roster since her first appearance in 1928. More recently, with the release of Minnie’s own show, Minnie’s Bow Tunes, Minnie has found popularity once again and is the 8th most popular girls moniker of 2000-2020.
8. Agnes – 1273 Babies
Peak year – 2015
Agnes Gru is the adorable adopted daughter of Gru, Despicable Me’s lead protagonist. Agnes is a sweet 6-year-old with a strong love for both her adoptive father and unicorns. In 2013, she plays a more significant role in Despicable Me 2, which saw the baby name Agnes double in popularity by 2015. Agnes is a sweet and loving sister, and also very innocent, completely unaware that unicorns are mythical creatures.
9. Winnie – 928 Babies
Peak year – 2019
Winnie is a unisex name of welsh origin and has found favour among new parents for their baby girls over recent years. When the animated feature film, Winnie the Pooh, was released in 2011 there were exactly zero baby girls with this name. By 2019, there were just shy of 100 baby girls called Winnie, further inspired by the live-action film Christopher Robin, featuring the iconic Winnie The Pooh, released in 2019 and starring Ewan McGregor.
10. Daphne – 890 Babies
Peak year – 2020
Daphne is the ever-beautiful and enthusiastic but clumsy and danger-prone lead member of the Scooby Doo gang. With the release of two live-action Scooby Doo films, Scooby Doo & Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, in 2002 and 2004, the name Daphne has shown a 200% year on year increase in popularity and completes our top ten for most popular baby girl monikers.
The Top 10 Baby Boy Monikers
1. Remy – 1,417 Babies
Peak year – 2020
Remy, also known as The Little Chef, is the lead character of Disney’s hit film Ratatouille, in which Remy has a passion to become a professional chef in France and break down the stigma of rats in kitchens following the famous phrase “anyone can cook”. Ratatouille was released in 2007 and Remy has since continued to become more and more popular, becoming the most popular boys on-screen moniker of the last two decades on our list.
2. Buddy – 1,394 Babies
Peak year – 2016
When Elf was released back in 2003, only nine babies were called Buddy in that year. In 2016, there were 180 babies named after the film’s titular character. Buddy is a human raised by Santa Claus and his elves, and so has a passion for all things Christmas. Will Ferrell has portrayed the lovable Buddy in 14 movie and tv appearances and is one of the most recognisable Christmas characters of all time.
3. Woody – 1,384 Babies
Peak year – 2020
Voiced by Tom Hanks, Sheriff Woody of the Toy Story franchise is arguably the most recognisable kids movie character of all time. Woody is Andy’s favourite toy and the leader of all of Andy’s toys, has been the main character throughout the franchise, being positively praised for his character’s arc and personality. Woody has since become the third most popular boys baby moniker on our list.
4. Edmund – 855 Babies
Peak year – 2015
Edmund was a king of Narnia at the end of the first film in the Chronicles of Narnia series, alongside his siblings who were all also crowned kings and queens. Edmund was mischievous, dry-witted, and sarcastic, and also proved to be very brave in battle. Due to his great council and judgment, he later became known as King Edmund the Just. Edmund has shown a steady increase in popularity since the franchise began in 2005.
5. Ernie – 788
Peak year – 2019
Ernie is the orange muppet and trouble maker on the show Bert and Ernie. Ernie has a characteristic chuckling laugh, signature pronunciation of the word “again” (ay-gain), and is famous for his fondness of baths alongside his Rubber Duckie. Ernie also has a musical predisposition, as he is trying to learn to play the saxophone and often keeps Bert awake at night with his drum-playing.
6. Loki – 720 Babies
Peak year – 2019
Loki is Marvel’s God of Mischief and the antagonist in several Marvel Cinematic Universe films including Thor and The Avengers. Despite this, the character has become much beloved by Marvel fans largely due to Tom Hiddleston’s charismatic performance in the role. In 2021, Loki even led his own tv series of the same name. Loki is known for his mystical abilities and telepathy alongside his unquestionable intelligence.
7. Ace – 664 Babies
Peak year – 2020
Ace Ventura is a Miami-based animal detective, specializing in the retrieval of missing animals. Portrayed by Jim Carrey, Ace is a highly eccentric character who eventually earns the Miami Police Department’s respect after he rescues Snowflake, the dolphin mascot of the Miami Dolphins.
8. Olaf – 663 Babies
Peak year – 2015
Olaf is a snowman brought to life in the animated movie Frozen. This quirky snowman has an ironic love for summer and all things hot and can reassemble his body at will. He is a much-loved main character in the Frozen franchise as the optimistic and outgoing snowman. Olaf saw a peak in boys’ baby names in the years following the release of Frozen in 2013.
9. Perry – 514 Babies
Peak year – 2000
Perry is a seemingly innocent and domesticated platypus that is in reality a secret agent leading a double life as a crime-fighting spy on the show Phineas and Ferb. The name saw a small revival after the first episode was released in 2007 and has since made it to number 8 on our list with 514 babies named Perry between 2000-2020.
10. Caspian – 465 Babies
Peak year – 2018
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian is the second installment of the Narnia series following The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. Caspian, also known as Caspian the Seafarer, has a deep love for the sea and is described as noble, handsome, and brave. He is known for his nature to seek fairness and justice at all times.
The most inspired baby names
We also wanted to investigate the baby names that saw the biggest spike in names after their namesake character appeared on the screen. By recording the number of babies with any given name in both the years of character release and their respective spike years, we calculated the % year on year (YoY) increase for these names to see which characters inspired the most new-baby names.
1. Buzz – 280% YoY Increase
Buzz is the most inspired name on our list, with a galactic 280% year-on-year increase in baby names since the release of Toy Story 4 in 2019. Buzz Lightyear is the toy action figure / Space Ranger superhero in the Toy Story franchise and a much-beloved character both within the films and by fans alike. In Toy Story 4, Buzz acts as Woody’s moral support and best friend for a fourth and seemingly final time.
2. Daphne – 228% YoY Increase
Daphne took the last spot in our top 10 baby girl monikers, with an astounding 890 babies given the name between 2000 and 2020. Between the release of the first live-action film Scooby Doo in 2002, Daphne has increased in popularity by 280% year-on-year, going from just five baby girls in 2002 to 210 baby girls in 2020.
3. Buddy – 146% YoY Increase
Buddy is our Christmas hero and number two in our most popular baby boys moniker. Buddy had nine namesake babies in 2003 when Elf was first released, which increased to 180 by 2016 demonstrating an impressive 146% year-on-year increase in baby names over 13 years.
Methodology
We looked at the most popular and well-known kids tv shows and films from the 2000’s on iMDB, Netflix and CBBC, and took the names of characters that were a little more obscure than more common names (e.g. Hermione from Harry Potter and not Harry). We recorded the yearly and total frequency of baby’s being given these names from ons.gov.uk.
To calculate year-on-year increase we recorded the number of babies given monikers in the released year of each character and the spike year (the year with the most babies with that characters name). The percentage increase was then divided by the number of years between the release year and spike to give the average year-on-year increase.