Prada, Armani and Dolce: The designer baby names on the rise

Parents naming their babies after fashion designers is on the rise, with names such as Armani, Prada and Dior surging in popularity in 2022 – and over 276k babies named after top fashion brands this year.  

More than 65,000 babies were called Armani in 2022, which tops the list of fashion-inspired baby names. Accent Clothing looked at a range of baby names, highlighting the most popular and those that have had a sudden boost in popularity.  

Prada was the biggest riser – the fashion-forward name increased by over 10,000 places in the list of popular baby names, with 700 babies named after the iconic fashion house, compared to just 280 the previous year.  

Klein and Dolce also made a significant impact in 2022. 3,640 babies were named Klein in 2022, compared to 2,100 in 2021, while babies named Dolce doubled from 420 to 840. Fendi missed a spot in the top ten, however, a considerable 840 babies were still named after the brand. 

The top ten fashion-inspired baby names of 2022 are: 

1.     Armani – 65k babies 

2.     Kenzo – 60k babies 

3.     Valentino – 44k babies 

4.     Dior – 41k babies 

5.     Chanel – 32k babies 

6.     Coco – 19k babies 

7.     Boss – 4.6k babies 

8.     Diesel – 4.6k babies 

9.     Klein – 3.6k babies 

10.  Hermes – 2.6k babies 

Honourable mentions go to some of the rarer (and more unusual) fashion names recorded over recent years – 1,800 babies were named Yves, while 280 babies were named Gucci in the last two years. Givenchy and Versace have also inspired a handful of fashion-loving parents, with five recorded cases of children being named Givenchy and eleven named Versace in the past few years.  

Dr Jane Pilcher, SFHEA, Associate Professor of Sociology, who specialises in baby names, explains that names say more about parents than children: 

“It’s telling that of the fashion brand names mentioned, they’re all high-end brands. It might be that parents who are choosing these names want some of the prestige and status to be reflected in their child’s name and rub off on the child. This shows baby names can reflect parents and their aspirations. There may be an element of parents choosing names based on what they want their child to achieve and be in life, but overall, baby names always say more about the parent than the child.” 

Ian Kelly, Buying & Commercial Director at Accent Clothing, commented: 

“It is interesting to see how many parents love a brand so much that they name their children after their favourite designer clothing brands. We looked at a range of names related to fashion houses, taking out any top scorers such as Stella or Celine, which are popular in their own right. We were very interested to see which names have grown in popularity – Prada has seen a huge surge this year. It just goes to show the immense impact fashion can have on us all.”