By Abby Sandel 　　Are you ready to go back to Hogwarts? 　　On July 31st, the eighth installment in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, will be released. A two-part stage play based on the story debuted in London’s West End earlier this summer. 　　Thanks to a...

　　After making us wait an agonzing extra three weeks this year, The Office of National Statistics has finally released the top names in England and Wales in 2015. 　　Once again — unsurprisingly — Amelia and Oliver reign supreme among British names. This is Amelia‘s fifth and Oliver‘s third year in the...

　　We hope you caught the great segment on this morning’s (Tuesday) Today Show featuring Abby giving her typically sage baby name advice to pregnant staffers Dylan Dreyer and Savannah Guthrie! Watch the video here. 　　By Abby Sandel 　　Your new baby is here, and you? You have a ballpoint pen and...

　　By Lilibeth Leda at The Well-Informed Namer 　　“I’m a big fan of the Netflix series Stranger Things. 　　The sci-fi horror series, released in July, has everyone buzzing.  A second season has already been announced, and while the show received no Emmy nominations, three of its young actors made very hyped appearances....

　　By Abby Sandel 　　When it comes to baby naming, here’s my number one rule: Use the name you love. 　　That sounds straightforward. And yet, as we consider names, we come across all sorts of concerns – often from those closest to us. 　　The result? A shortlist of three or four great names starts to...

　　OK, you’ve seen our picks for 2016’s names of the year--based on their impact on both popular culture and baby names. Now it’s your turn to tell us what name or names YOU would add to this list. And, of course, the reasons behind the choice. 　　Bonus question: What names...

　　By Simon Davis 　　What is the trendiest baby name in American history? Jayden? Madison? Khaleesi? 　　The answer might not sound so trendy to you: it’s Linda. 　　Quantifying trendiness is tricky, since there’s no universally accepted way to calculate how much of a fad a name was. But according to researcher...

　　By Abby Sandel 　　We know that celebrity baby names can impact the popularity charts for years to come. Way before Emily Blunt welcomed baby Hazel, its choice by Julia Roberts pushed it an astonishing 600 places up the US popularity chart. Heather Locklear and Reese Witherspoon were moms to early Avas, which turned that old Hollywood Glamour name into...

　　If your Mom (and Dad) are baffled by your baby name ideas, there’s a reason for that. Baby names that were all the way at the bottom of the extended list in 1957 — a year that saw the birth of many now grandparent-aged people — have become stylish, even...

　　States have official songs and sandwiches. So how about quirky favorite baby names? 　　It turns out that certain boy and girl names, rare in the US, are over-represented in certain states. Our intrepid researcher looked at every name given to at least 100 babies in 2015. Then he calculated the...

　　Irish baby names appeal to a wide range of parents, whether your background is Irish or not. But the Irish baby names most popular here are very different from those that are hot in their homeland. St. Paddy‘s Day is the perfect moment to look at the top Irish baby...

　　Last week we looked at Irish baby names. This week, we turn our attention to Scottish baby names. The new Scottish baby name statistics for 2016 were just released, making it the perfect moment to dive into the data. 　　While Irish names have been white hot in the US for...

　　Posh. It’s a term I dread, and try to avoid whenever I can. You see, it’s a very tetchy and subjective word that brings up all sorts of connotations. To call something “posh” can equally be a compliment of elegance and refinement as much as it can be a derogatory...