Forget Junior and Jennifer — 2026 parents are paging through fantasy novels, binging anime, and rewinding reality TV to find baby names that feel like an escape hatch from real life.
According to baby-naming bible Nameberry, moms- and dads-to-be are ditching traditional monikers and chasing names that sound magical, mythical, nostalgic — or straight out of a TikTok-fueled fever dream.
They’re diving into their favorite worlds of “romantasy,” ancient epics, pop-star lore and British lit — and emerging with baby name lists to match.
The site says one of the biggest trends is Tolkien-esque, Scandinavian-like, romantasy-inspired names — the buzzy book-genre mashup of romance and fantasy, fueled by viral series like “A Court of Thorns and Roses.”
Think sweeping, spell-coded picks such as Alistair, Ambrose, Azlan, Bronwen, Calista, Cassian, Cordelia, Elspeth, Emrys, Esmarie, Evander, Isolde, Leontel and Lilivere — names that sound ready for a dragon, a quest, or at least a BookTok fan edit.
Then there’s the anime wave, as the wildly popular genre leaps from screens to birth certificates with names like Aura, Issei, Jinu, Kaya, Kiro, Kota, Kyomi, Renji, Rumi and Suzu — soft, stylish and instantly global.
Hollywood and the bookshelf are also having a baby-name moment.
With new adaptations of “Wuthering Heights” and “Sense & Sensibility” on the way this year, British literature picks such as Briony, Bronte, Conrad, Crusoe, Elinor, Estella, Eyre, Heath, Kazuo and Wilde are climbing the charts — moody, brooding, and perfectly period-drama-coded.
Reality TV isn’t sitting this one out either.
Thanks to the hit series “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,” Utah-style names — bright, bouncy, and unmistakably niche — are trending, including Aven, Benson, Bodee, Scotlyn, Coast and Dottie.
Parents are also looking way, way back.
With the 2026 Winter Olympics headed to history-rich Milan — and a renewed cultural obsession with ancient worlds — ancient-civilization names like Adhara, Agastya, Azad, Cassander, Eulalia, Johari, Nefertari, Tenoch, Vita and Zyanya are getting fresh life.
And, of course, you can’t talk early 2026 pop culture without mentioning Taylor Swift’s late 2025 blockbuster “The Life of a Showgirl.”
Nameberry says showgirl-chic names — glittery, theatrical, a little retro — are poised to shine, including Azura, Caliana, Elodie, Navani, Nomi, Ophelia, Reverie, Roxie, Sakina and Tallulah.
But nostalgia still has a chokehold on new parents.
Grandma-and-grandpa throwbacks are back in rotation — Betsy, Beverly, Bonnie, Connie, Cynthia, Darla, Diane, Ginny, Gloria, Lenny, Nancy, Ronald and more — proving everything vintage eventually becomes vogue again.
And for the numerology-obsessed?
Yep — number-inspired names are officially a thing. Picks like Amillion, Billion, Cinco, Deuce, Dua, Eleven, Five, Four, Ivy, Million, Nine and Octave are popping up — because apparently nothing says “new baby” like… basic math.
From dragons to digits, showgirls to samurai cartoons, one thing’s clear: in 2026, baby names aren’t just names — they’re escapism with a birth certificate.
And it’s not the first time parents have looked beyond the baby-name book for inspiration.
As previously reported by The Post, AI has already tossed its hat into the naming ring — crowning Elara the breakout baby name of 2025.
The sleek, Greek-inspired, vowel-heavy moniker has been bubbling up in chatbot stories, tech forums and math workbooks alike — a modern pick with zero baggage (after all, have you ever actually met an Elara?).
Naming expert Laura Wattenberg even dubbed it the must-have name of the year in a viral blog post — though whether parents are brave enough to adopt a robot-approved baby name remains to be seen.
The post The strange and unexpected baby name trends taking over 2026 appeared first on New York Post.
