‘Elon,’ ‘Kanye’ among baby names quickly falling in popularity on baby site, 2022 data suggests

(NEXSTAR) – Despite his own plethora of children, Elon Musk may actually be contributing to a decrease in future “Elons,” according to a website specializing in baby names.

BabyCenter, an online resource for new or expectant parents, has released its findings on the baby-naming trends of 2022 thus far — but the data also shows which names are falling out of fashion with the site’s users.

In addition to “Elon,” which fell 466 spots in 2022 to become the 1,284th most popular male baby name for parents who shared their information with BabyCenter, the site identified several celebrity-inspired names which also appeared to be falling in popularity with users. Among them are “Kanye,” which fell 3,578 spots to become the 8,131st most popular name for boys among BabyCenter subscribers in 2022, and “Jada,” which dropped 262 spots to become the 903rd most popular name for girls among parents who submitted data to BabyCenter.

BabyCenter suggested that these names — which just so happen to belong to celebrities Kanye “Ye” West and Jada Pinkett Smith — may have become less desirable due to recent controversies or headline-grabbing events, but the site did not provide evidence or examples of users offering such explanations. (The site also found that names associated with Will Smith’s antics at the 2022 Oscars — “Will,” “Smith” and “Chris” — all fell in popularity, though BabyCenter did not say whether users had cited this event as a catalyst for deciding against these names.)

It may be more likely, actually, that some of these names have been declining in popularity for years.

“Kanye,” for instance, was most popular among users at BabyCenter in the early-to-mid 2000s when it was the 489th most popular name for boys, but it has never come close to reaching those heights since. Historical data from the Social Security Administration, meanwhile, shows “Kanye” peaked in 2004, and fell from the top 1,000 most-popular names by 2006.

“Will” and “Chris” have also been falling in popularity for decades, the SSA database shows. “Elon,” meanwhile, only managed to crack the top 1000 names in 2018 and 2021 (at 940th and 952nd most popular, respectively), according to the SSA.

BabyCenter’s data, of course, is not nearly as comprehensive as the SSA’s. The baby site’s analysts reviewed only internal information provided by users who gave birth in 2022, drawing data from approximately 416,000 submissions. The Social Security Administration would be a better gauge of the waxing/waning popularity of names including “Kanye” or “Elon,” although any SSA info concerning 2022 births likely won’t be available until sometime in the earlier half of 2023.

Until then, Elon Musk may just have to shoulder the burden of bringing more Elon-inspired offspring into the universe — which, again, doesn’t seem all that implausible, really.