‘Pokémon Go’ inspires a new wave of terrible baby names

By Danny Cowan Published July 28, 2016

Pokémon Go is more than just a mobile gaming phenomenon — it’s pre-emptively ruining the lives of schoolchildren born to trend-chasing parents. According to a recent survey from online parenting resource BabyCenter (via bbc.co.uk), Pokémon Go fanatics are naming their newborn babies after in-game creatures like Eevee and Onix.

The site also reports a rise in babies named Star, Ivy, and Shay, which could be inspired by Pokémon characters like Starmie, Staryu, Ivysaur, and Shayman. A survey among the site’s user base found that nearly 50 percent of its audience of expectant mothers are active Pokémon Go players.

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“Parents are always looking to pop culture for baby name inspiration and, right now, it doesn’t get hotter than Pokémon Go,” said BabyCenter editor-in-chief Linda Murray. “It’s possible that parents’ enthusiasm for the game will reignite their love for the brand and spark a full-fledged naming trend.”

According to BabyCenter, the name “Roselia” has seen a rapid rise in popularity among parents of newborn baby girls over the past year. The name jumped 5,859 spots in BabyCenter’s name popularity rankings since 2015, though it still ranks outside the site’s list of the top 1,000 baby names overall.

Roselia is the name of a third-generation Pokémon that made her debut in Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald for the Game Boy Advance. While Roselia is not currently catchable in Pokémon Go, future updates could potentially introduce characters beyond its initial roster of first-generation creatures.

Onyx is another upwardly trending name, rising 2,184 spots in BabyCenter’s ranked list over the last year. The name Star is also a popular pick for parents in 2016, leaping 2,040 places compared to last year’s list of the most popular baby names.

While there have yet to be any unfortunate babies born with names like Pikachu, Cubone, or Mr. Mime, the boy’s name “Ash” saw a significant bump in BabyCenter’s yearly rankings thanks to an increasing number of parents who seek inspiration from the original Pokémon animated series.

“Eevee” is another one of BabyCenter’s more inexplicably popular baby names in 2016, especially considering that babies named Vaporeon, Jolteon, and Flareon are inherently superior in terms of initial stats alone. Hopefully, parents will take evolution paths and effort values into consideration when raising the next generation of human/Pokémon hybrids.

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