You Won’t Believe the Names Yellowstone Fans Are Giving to Their Kids

Yellowstone was the most-watched scripted show on TV for the summer of 2023, and its influence is popping up in an unexpected place: baby names.

According to data from the Social Security Administration (SSA), the two fastest-rising names for baby boys are Kayce and Dutton, both clearly pulled straight from the show. 484 parents chose the name Kayce, inspired by Kayce Dutton (Luke Grimes). This brings the ranking of the name up to #587 from #1077 the year before. 

Dutton made an even bigger jump, up to #835 from #1821. Two hundred ninety-one parents chose this name, and we’re willing to bet every one of them was a Yellowstone fan. 

Yellowstone isn’t the only show making an impact on baby-naming trends. After Dutton and Kayce, the baby boy’s name making the third-largest jump in popularity was Chosen. Could this be the impact of the hit Christian TV series The Chosen? It certainly seems likely.

Popular names for girls were also impacted by favorite TV shows. Neriah was the second fastest-growing name for girls. While this name is old and appears in the Bible, its resurgence coincides with its use in The Chosen. 

What’s coming next for TV-inspired baby names? Here are some of our guesses based on this year’s hits:

Names Inspired By The Last of Us

The Last of Us, the HBO adaptation of the PlayStation game by the same name, has a rotten tomatoes score of 96% at the time of writing and was one of the most-streamed shows of all time for the platform. With its tight focus on the two main characters, there’s a good chance that parents who are fans of this show will be more likely to name their children Joel (Pedro Pascal) or Ellie (Bella Ramsey).

Names Inspired By Wednesday

Of course, this award-winning series is likely to inspire plenty of parents looking for a quirky name for their little girl, and we’re sure to see some babies named after Jenna Ortega’s titular character. However, we also expect to see more little ones named Enid (Emma Myers), inspired by Wednesday’s upbeat best friend.

More Names Inspired By Yellowstone

With names like Kayce and Dutton making waves, we’re not sure the well has run dry of Yellowstone-inspired names just yet. We’re on the lookout for a surge in little boys named Tate (Brecken Merrill), Rip (Cole Hauser), and Jamie (Wes Bentley).