2024 Baby Names Inspired By Film And TV!

By Hannah McLaren

Shutterstock / JOCA_PH © 2024 baby names will be heavily influenced by what's on our screens, including the 'Barbie' movie! Image feature a Barbie movie promo shot of Margot Robbie playing on a TV screen. In the foreground is a bowl of popcorn and TV remote on the table.

Experts anticipate that 2024 baby names will be heavily influenced by what’s on our screens, including Barbie.

The Barbie movie was a box office hit, but would you believe us if we told you that Barbara is becoming more popular with new parents.

Barbie itself, which is often short for Barbara, hasn’t seen much uptick. However, according to BabyCenter‘s round-up of baby name trends there was a notable rise in the name Barbara, up 994 spots to No. 1,336.

A report by experts at Nameberry also speculates that Barbie could lead to ‘girlier’ 2024 baby names due to the movie’s celebration of femininity. Suggested names included Dorothea, Guinevere, Honey, Isadora, Lavender, and Theodora.

At the end of 2023, “witchy” names were also spotted on some birth certificates, including Luna and Matilda. Harry Potter fans are having children now and are likely to have had Luna bookmarked since their own childhood. While the release of Roald Dahl’s Matilda The Musical possibly brought the name Matilda to the forefront of our baby-naming brains.

Here in the UK, Disney names are also on the rise according to Baby Name Envy – a popular online baby naming consultancy. In fact, this time last year TV host Stacey Dooley called her new-born Minnie, while Love Island contestant Molly-Mae Hague chose Bambi.

This trend of naming babies after our favourite fictional characters was strong in 2023, and is likely to continue into 2024 and beyond.

The rise of gender neutral names

According to BabyNames, 2024 is going to feature more names that can be used for either gender or are genderless words. This is another interesting trend linked to a more progressive, younger generation. Listed names include Rowan, Willow, Finlay, Harper, and Avery. Names which are already popularly used across genders, like Noah, Ezra, and Luca are expected to continue.

Currently popular gender neutral names: