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Good point about Draven. I haven't seen the movie.

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I almost included a little note with Joaquin about why I included it. Of course it's a traditional name, it's been in the top 1000 every year since 1944. But, at least in terms of ranking, the name has had a considerable boost since 2003, when Kelly Ripa's son was born. I think it may have come to seem like an acceptable name in non-Hispanic families. I certainly see it used by non-Hispanic posters on naming boards.

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Again, good point about Peyton. I had assumed its popularity was much more recent. But its use (before and after Manning was drafted) would indicate that Peyton Manning is not the dominant influence on the name. This is kind of the opposite of what happened with Ashton (totally switched from a girl name to a boy name once Ashton Kutcher got popular).

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And Santino Quaranta does sound like a more likely influence than Santino Rice.

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Of course, it is difficult to point out when celebrity babies influence naming trends. There is an important distinction between the Hazels and the Maddoxes, which I opted not to really discuss in my initial post. Just from hanging around naming boards, the acceleration of the discussion of Hazel after Julia Roberts gave birth was amazing. Clearly, there was already a trend that was the engine of this discussion (and the reason Julia Roberts chose the name Hazel), but this high profile usage accelerated the discussion.

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Atticus...who knows. Many of these associations are based on my history of hearing new names and being intrigued by them. I remember seeing a Vanity Fair spread that discussed John Edwards's son's mn, and I quickly fell in love with the name.

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Thanks for your comments, though. As usual, they're right on.

This message was edited 5/29/2008, 12:49 PM