I'm sorry, how many?

That's right, American parents invented over 100 new baby names last year guaranteeing that their babies stand out from the crowd. This is in addition to the 1,100 new names that parents in the United States created in 2017. Many of the new names on the block were alternative spellings of traditional names such as Alisanne instead of Alison. Others were completely the parents own unique invention. Over the last three years over 29,000 'distinct' names have been given to babies in the United States, a mixture of newly invented names and pop culture references. The Social Security List in America has found a rise in parents naming their children after film, TV and book characters especially those from Game of Thrones and the Twilight saga. Choosing your child's name can be a difficult decision. One thing I had in the forefront of my mind was that I didn't want a popular or trendy name. While I was at school there were several girls in my class with the same name and I didn't want the same thing to happen to my kid because let's face it, it's no fun. While I steered away from the top ten baby names I still kept things fairly traditional as I wanted them to have names that would work for them in adulthood. Saying that, I have friends who gave their children very modern names and I think they also sound great. I've never known anyone in Ireland who invented their baby's name but you never know it could be a new emerging trend this side of the Atlantic soon.