Life imitates art just as much as the reverse—and with Marvel’s Cinematic Universe breaking box office records, adding to everyone’s Halloween costume choices, and young kids looking up to these characters like real-life heroes, the notion that a new generation of baby names wouldn’t be influenced is simply uninformed.
According to Yahoo, the cultural impact of Marvel’s roster of superheroes has done exactly that, and impacted parental considerations of baby names.
As the U.S. Social Security Administration’s list of the 1,000 most popular baby names of 2017 suggests, the names of popular Marvel characters have already begun to seep into our real-world, offscreen reality. Let’s dive into these partly inspired, and partly ludicrous choices, shall we?
Spider-Man is presumably to blame for the 5,833 babies born with the name of Parker last year, with 1,487 of them being girls. Wade, from the Ryan Reynolds-starring box office smash, Deadpool, has been exclusively used for 899 boys born in 2017. Frankly, I would’ve just gone with Deadpool, but that’s me.
While Natasha is a pretty standard name, 2,602 babies could’ve been assigned the name due to their parents’ unadulterated love of Black Widow. Pepper, of Pepper Potts and Iron Man fame, was used for 121 girls and seven boys last year.
Perhaps the most stunning choice, here, by a country mile, was the decision by 96 parents to name their child Loki. The Marvel villain is characterized by his disloyalty, untrustworthiness, evil cunning, and devilish behavior. Loki definitely skips school and hops the fence.
Besides that, you’ve got your 63 Valkyries named after Tessa Thompson’s character in Thor: Ragnarok, 39 Banners after Hulk’s alter-ego, 37 Rockets inspired by Guardians of the Galaxy’s eccentric little raccoon, 23 Cages from Netflix’s Luke Cage, 20 Quills, 11 Draxs, 10 Nebulas, six Hawkeyes, and 50 Marvels named after…well, the company that started all of this.
Personally, I can’t wait to purchase my IMAX ticket to the Avengers: Infinity Warremake in 2036 from a 19-year-old college kid named Hawkeye, so I strongly appreciate all the parents out there responsible for these future encounters.
