Search icon

Entertainment

01st Nov 2021

Huge rise in people naming their babies after house plants

Katy Brennan

Because putting plants absolutely everywhere in our homes just wasn’t enough for us.

Millennials are now naming their babies after house plants, new research has revealed.

It’s no secret that as, a generation, we got a little obsessed with the aesthetic of plants scattered around the house in recent years – and now the fixation is rubbing off on our children.

Research by UK online garden centre Primrose found that our love of plants has inspired the top baby names of the past year.

Starting with girls names, the study found that 2,931 babies were named Lily in 2020.

Coming in at second place was Poppy – with 2,457 babies named after the flower, followed in third place by Daisy.

Holly, Summer and Jasmine all made an appearance the top 5, while Rose, Willow, Violet and Iris were also very popular choices for baby girl names in 2020.

Meanwhile, Rowan topped the list for the most popular green-themed boy’s name, while Robin – both a plant and a bird’s name – came in at number two.

Wren, Florian and Acer came 3rd, 4th and 5th, while Forest and Oak secured a spot in the top ten. Bay and Winter were also mentioned on the list as popular names for boys.

Primrose’s Gardening Expert, Evie Lane, said that our growing love of plants undoubtedly correlates with the rise in these types of names.

“Over the last few years, our love for gardening and plants has grown dramatically. Online searches show that since 2010, the demand for gardening and plants has risen every year. In fact, searches for plants increased by a huge 900% in April 2020 during our first lockdown.

“While the demand this year isn’t as high as in lockdown, plants are still very much on trend, with Google searches increasing by 560% in the last decade.

“The trend is very likely to have influenced our baby name choices, as we associate gardening with growing new life. Plus, plants are very beautiful to look at, so of course you would want to give your baby an equally beautiful name.

“House plants are proving to be very popular still, with a 944% increase in online searches since 2010. Maybe our 2021 and 2022 babies will be named Aloe or Peace Lily!”