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Crazed Star Wars fans naming their babies after Kylo Ren?

Commentary: Figures show that the name Kylo enjoyed the largest increase of all boy names in the US. Are these people thinking straight?

Chris Matyszczyk
2 min read

Technically Incorrect offers a slightly twisted take on the tech that's taken over our lives.


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A role model, if ever there was one.

LEON NEAL/AFP/Getty Images

Everyone wants to be original these days.

The trouble is that people's imaginations often work in linear ways.

The US Social Security Administration released its list of baby names for 2016 on Friday. And there, at the very top of the list titled "Names that increased in popularity from 2015 to 2016" was, um, Kylo. It shot up from being the 2,368th most popular to position 901.

It doesn't take a leap of the mind to work out where this trend came from. Surely these are parents paying homage to Kylo Ren, he who made a temporary switch from being the slightly mad one in "Girls" to the slightly mad one in "Star Wars: The Force Awakens."

Should one conclude, then, that this surge in little Kylos crawling about the world has been caused by Star Wars fans?

If so, should one remind them that Kylo Ren dumped his mom and stabbed his dad? Aren't these parents risking the same fate for themselves? Or do they see something so ineffably rakish about Kylo Ren that they wish it for their own ren-dition of humanity?

Clearly, Star Wars infects the moral and emotional compass of many. Look at the names that increased in popularity for girls and you'll see that "Leia" rose by 100 places.

Parents of boys seem to embrace the dark side much more readily than do parents of girls, it seems. It's worth, though, creating a little balance by examining some of the other names that parents give to their kids -- the names that are still rising in popularity, that is.

Can you believe that parents are still naming their boys "Beckham," presumably in honor of a pretty but somewhat pedestrian English soccer player? There is also an increasing number of "King"s in the US. Of course there is.

Those of scientific bent will be relieved that more boys are being named "Darwin."

Personally, I was most moved by another name, one that has risen from 243rd place to 218th: Messiah.

Now there's desperate hope for you.