British Celebrity Babies Lead in Best Baby Names Poll

by Shabana Adam | 10 January 2013

British celeb baby names are leading polls

Teeny-tiny British stars are leading the best celebrity baby name pack, with the top three choices of baby names coming from tots born to Amanda Holden, Robbie Williams and Una Healey.

A BabyCentre survey of pregnant women released today reveals that Amanda Holden’s choice of Hollie Rose for her baby girl has been chosen as best celebrity baby name of 2012, with Robbie William’s baby daughter Theodora Rose and Una Healy’s daughter Aoife Belle (pronounced Ee-fa Belle), coming in second and third, respectively.

Respondents were less kind about Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s choice of baby name, voting Blue Ivy the worst celebrity baby name of the past 12 months, in joint first place with Fox India, the unusual moniker chosen by Take That’s Mark Owen and wife Emma Ferguson for their third child.

Over 1,400 mums-to-be, on the pregnancy and parenting website, voted for the best and worst celebrity baby names of 2012.

Looking at the preferences of UK women, traditional names are set to dominate the BabyCentre baby name chart in 2013.

Eight out of 10 mums-to-be say that they prefer classic names to more unusual choices like Dolly, daughter of Chantelle Houghton and Alex Reid, and Eugene Pip, Billie Piper and Laurence Fox’s second son, ranked respectively as the second and third worst celebrity baby names of the last year.

Sarah Barrett, Managing Editor of BabyCentre, said: “Over the past 12 months we’ve seen a clear trend emerging as new mothers move away from more unusual names in favour of tried-and-tested classics and this is reflected in the celebrity baby names they favour too.

“Half of expectant parents believe that the name they choose for their child will contribute to their success in life so mums and dads are choosing carefully.

“In light of the economic climate, many pregnant women cited concerns around certain names putting off future employers, believing that a classic name like Hollie Rose is more employable than something off-the-wall like Fox or Blue,” Sarah said.

The Top 5 best and worst baby names out of 17 celebrity babies born in 2012:

Best:

1. Hollie Rose (Amanda Holden and Chris Hughes)

2. Theodora Rose (Robbie Williams and Ayda Field)

3. Aoife Belle (Una Healy and Ben Foden)

4. = Olive (Drew Barrymore and Will Kopelman) and;

4. = Samuel (Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck)

5. Pearl (Jack and Lisa Osbourne)

Worst:

1. = Blue Ivy (Beyoncé and Jay Z) and;

1. = Fox India (Mark Owen and Emma Ferguson)

2. Dolly (Chantelle Houghton and Alex Reid)