Naming a baby is a lot like finding a pair of jeans that fit perfectly: really freaking hard. Lots of parents look to baby naming resources to make the quest for the perfect moniker a tad bit easier. One of these sites, Nameberry, recently released their naming trend predictions for 2025, and top of the list was an interesting one: fast fashion baby names.
Just last month, Jessie Paquette, the baby-naming consultant behind @DreamBabyNames, posed fast fashion baby names as a category to avoid in a conversation with Nexstar. She gave the names “Renly, Lakelynn and Icelyn” as examples.
The term “fast fashion,” referring to overly-trendy, cheaply produced clothes, doesn’t exactly have the most positive connotation… so what exactly are fast fashion baby names? And, should you avoid naming your baby one? The answer, well, it’s complicated.
What is a fast fashion baby name?
Fast fashion baby names smush trending styles in naming together, to create a unique, “of-the-moment” name.
“Like their apparel counterparts, Fast Fashion names are modeled on the genuine articles but with a unique twist that references neither the past nor the future but right now,” Nameberry explains the website.
The appeal of these names is that they let parents combine characteristics of different names they like, or to update a more common name to create something personal. Stuck between Sky and Lakelyn? You’ve got Skyelynn. Does Grandma’s name sound too old-fashioned? May becomes Mayli.
Nameberry cautions, however, that fast-fashion names aren’t totally new creations, like Elon Musk’s X Æ AXII, or obscure words that nobody would ever consider as a name, like Carrot (why do I think Carrot could be a cute name now?). The point of fast-fashion names are trendy twists on existing names, like how every item of clothing this fall comes is available in cheetah print, and the same things were available in chevron a few years back.
“Banks and Scotland become Fast Fashion names only if you refashion them as Banx or Scottlynn,” Nameberry explains.
Fast fashion baby names for girls
Nameberry lists names like Amilia, Laynee, Lakelyn, Scottlynn, and Wrenlee as examples of fast fashion names for girls. Amilia and Laynee are unique spellings of more common names (Amelia and Laney), while Lakelyn, Scottlynn, and Wrenlee implement the trending suffixes of -lyn/-lynn and -lee.
Fast fashion baby names for boys
For boys, Nameberry lists Adael, Eydan, Ryett, and Wylder among their examples. Adael uses the popular -ael suffix, while Eydan, Ryett, and Wylder offer alternatives for the more popular spellings of Aidan, Riot, and Wilder.
So, are fast fashion baby names bad?
Let’s start here: no name is a bad name if you love it.
But, baby name regret is a real thing. Colleen Slagen, the consultant who runs NamingBebe.com, shared with Nexstar that she’s had parents come to her to ask for help changing a child’s name — even up to a year after the child was born.
“I was shocked,” Slagen said. “It’s eating at these people. There’s a ton of reasons that this happens, but they’re all kind of different.”
Fast fashion names could end up in the “names we regret” pile because of their trendy characteristics.
Everly and Everleigh are two examples of fast fashion names that exploded in popularity over a decade ago. In 2013, Everly jumped over 500 spots on the charts to become the 379th most-used name for girls. By 2023, it was 69th.
“I steer people away from trendy,” said Slagen. “Any name that jumps over 100 spots a year in popularity … in my mind, that’s the sign of a name that’s going to go out of fashion.”
She directs her clients to the Social Security Administration’s annual rankings of the top-used baby names in the country to sniff out names that might end up oversaturated or dated in the near future.
Plus, just because a name is popular, or is emblematic of it’s time, doesn’t mean your kid will grow to hate it. My own name, Megan, is ranked 10th of the decade in the 90’s, and 36th in the 2000’s, and I promise I do not resent my parents for sentencing me to a lifetime of being referred to as Megan L.
Just like fast fashion, what really matters is if you genuinely like the name. Those leopard print ballet flats aren’t fast fashion if you’re going to wear them for the next decade. That name, attached to a child you’ll love for a lifetime, could be perfect, too.
