Popular Baby Names for 2012

Traditional Filipino, a touch of Spanish, catchy American, biblical or taken from a movie, baby names differ from generation to generation. Filipinos are known to have strong family ties, thus naming babies after their parents and grandparents is still very popular.

This is true with Vanessa Salosagcol, mommy of 1 and with a second on the way. "We would like to remember our departed loved ones by naming our kids after them. This way, they would be remembered for another lifetime through the child.” But rather than naming the kids after Lolo and Lola, most parents-to-be opt to use their parents’ initials, combining their names or spelling them differently.

Being a Christian country, a biblical touch to the baby's name is inescapable. This commonly results to having two first names, e.g., Arkin Miguel or Anaiah Gabrielle. Choosing a patron saint can give the name a Spanish tone, too. For mom Beatrisa Martinez, a Spanish name sounds noble and manly. She named her son Emilio Jose and is also considering "Rodrigo Luis" if she ever has another one. 33-year-old Buena Rio Ocampo-Vecino, who is due to give birth in February, will name her baby Anton Gerard. Because of this, names like Antonio, Miguel and Matteo for boys and graceful girl names such as Isabella, Francesca and Clara will still remain in the Filipino baby book for years to come. 

Though the basis upon which Filipino parents choose names for their children remains the same, new twists are expected to come up in 2012: movie characters (Lycan from Underworld, Meyer for Twilight), European names (Mekhi, German for Michael and Jean for John), even car models (Porscha, Cayenne) may not be new but are seen to emerge. Anime characters (such as Lorcan), video game heroes (like Cloud), and names that depict the child’s birth order (Threecia for the 3rd grand child and Uno for the firstborn) and other unique, outlandish names that are easy to pronounce but hard to spell. Shirley Bairon, a 33-year-old engineer whose baby will be christened this year, sees this as a fad. "Tongue-twisting names with bizarre spellings might continue to be a trend."

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American-influenced names are seen to come by less with the entry of other foreign names such as Ichiro (Japanese), Feevrier (French) and Soairse ((pronounced seer-sha, Irish). Common names also got a new look, like Denyz for Dennis, Zander for Alexander, Eiron for Aaron, Eireen/Iryn for Irene, and Micayla for Michaella. 34-year-old Yna Alex, who is due to give birth in July, predicts that the selection of names will be greatly influenced as well by the Chinese zodiac, 2012 being the Year of the Dragon.

On nicknames, gone are the era of "forever young" staples such as Baby, Boy, Girlie, Totoy or Nene, the "edibles" like Apple, Cherry and other Pies, and repetitions like Jay-jay, Ning-ning and Bong-bong. These have given way to initials like JT for Juancho Timothy, AJ for Arkin Joachim, and JAG for Juanito Antonio Gabriel. Though initials are more appropriate for boys, girls’ nicknames are derived from their first names, on the other hand, such as Adie for Nadine, Jassy for Jaslene and Izzy for Isabella.

Young mom-to-be Pat Tria chose to stick to her baby's 1st name Cloud for his nickname. "This way, it will be easy for everyone to remember. In school, teachers and classmates call each other by their first names; Cloud wouldn't have to go through the trouble of answering to many names since his is unique." New nicks that will soon make their way into baby books Include Ryu, Aiah, Ish, Ysab, Gab, Rei, Zayn and Cer (pronounced "Sir", for Ceres).

The following baby names, sourced from over a hundred respondents* (mostly to give birth this year), are said to be the most popular names in 2012.

First names for BOYS:

Aedan

Aandrei

Anton/Antonio 

Arkin

Ashton 

Brave

Caleb

Caeden

Chrysler

Clark

Cloud

Cyrus

Denyz

Diandre

Diego

Draco

Elijah

Eljin

Enzo

Ethan

Gabriel

Gabrian

Gad

Gyan

Hugo

Hunter

Ichiro

Inigo

Jacob/Jake

James

Jeff

Jermaine

Jerome 

Joaquin

Jacob/Jakob

Joeven

John/Johann

Jose/Josef 

Juancho/Juan

Julian

Karl

Keenan 

Kevin

Kris

Kurt

Keiichi 

Kyle 

Lance 

Lauren

Lemuel 

Liam

Lorenzo

Louis/Luis

Lucas

Marek

Mark/Marcus

Mateo

Matteo

Mckyro

Miguel/Migs

Nathan/Nathaniel/Nate

Nealon 

Nikko 

Paul

Pio

Rafael

Raven

Roarke

Rodrigo

Rouvin 

Samuel

Sarkie

Santino

Sean

Sebastian

Seth

Tyler

Uriel

Xian

Yoseff 

Zach/Zachary

Zander 

Zion 

 

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Second names for Boys

Adriel

Alexander

Alfonso

Andrei

Andrew

Antonio

Arth

Ashby

Augusto

Azrael

Caleb

Corvin

Cullen

Dominic

Eiron

Eljin

Elric

Enzo

Francis

Gabriel

Gavin

Gerard 

Harley

Immanuel

Iñigo

Iosef

Jac

Jace

Jacob

Joachim

Joaquin

Kael

Kalix

Lance

Leopold

Levi

Luis

Lycan

Matteo

Matthew/Matthieu

Mari

Michael/Mikhail/Miguel

Nestor

Ram

Reuben

Spencer

Timothy

Travis

Vaughn

Vyen

Willem

Winston

Yezechkiel

Yosef

Zachary

Zareth

 

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First names for GIRLS

Adrianna

Aesha 

Aila

Akeeshia

Alainnah

Amelie

Amity

Anaiah

Andreia 

Antoinette

Arabella

Arriana/Aryanna

Atasha

Audrey

Ava-Eve

Bianca

Blair

Brianna

Bienne

Brielle

Caitlyn

Candice

Cashmere

Celestina

Celina

Fevrierbelle

Soleil

Chelsea

Chleo/Chloe

Clara

Daphne

Eireen

Erin

Francesca

Gabriana

Gabrielle/Gabriella

Galia 

Giada

Gianna

Gizelle 

Gwyneth

Hailey

Hatasia

Iashi

Isabella/Ysabella/Ysabelle

Isolde

Jaiyanna 

Jaden

Janna

Jaslene

Jenice

Janine

Jillian

Julia

Kirsten

Kyrie

Leane

Lelaina

Lucienne

Lyra

Maddison

Malena

Maria/Mariyah

Maryll

Mikhaila

Nathalia

Nicole

Patricia

Porscha/Porsche/Portia

Prescilla

Priya

Reese

Rory 

Sabrina

Samantha

Samarah 

Saoirse

Serena

Sienna

Sophia/Sofia/Sophie

Sofiel

Summer

Syeira

Tharaa

Trisha

Vivienne

Verena

Xyzie

Zoe

 

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Second names for GIRLS

Abbienne

Adriann

Aisha 

Alexa

Amber

Amity 

Antonia

Arabella

Arraine

Athena

Bettina

Cassandra

Cayenne

Ceres

Claire

Daile

Dominique

Dyana

Eleonore

Erryn

Faith

Flare

Francheska

Gabrielle

Gloria

Haley

Iryn

Izabelle

Janina

Jeigh

Katarina

Kendra

Khloe

Laurice

Leika

Liane

Luzainne

Marian

Marie

Miakka

Micayla

Mikaela/Mikhaila

Nadine

Nathalie

Nicole 

Pauline/Paulene

Penelope

Rae

Raiza

Rei

Rose

Ryline

Savannah

Sofia/Sophia/Sophie

Soleil

Summer

Veronica

Victoria

Ysabelle

Zayn

 

For more baby name suggestions, click here.

* based on Girl Talk / forum threads from Female Network and Smart Parenting

Photo by Mani Yang’s lounging world via flickr creative commons