Reality TV has permeated almost every aspect of our lives. From pop culture to the literal White House, for better or worse, reality TV has become, well, real or at least a real part of our lives. As with anything so all-consuming and a fixture of our day-to-day lives, it makes sense that it would impact popular baby names.
For years the names Bentley and Jace have been trending thanks to Teen Mom. Anyone interested in a name beginning with K or J needs to look no further than the Duggars or Kardashians for a slew of names that are alphabetically similar. In fact, the first draft of this article was literally going to be just every J-named Duggar plus all of the Counting On offspring, but really who has that sort of time to type that all out!? (Plus my fingers started to cramp.)
Skipping the obvious reality TV-inspired baby names (love you Kendall but no one needs this list to think of your name) and also skipping names that feel less than popular (looking at you Jinger with a J), there is still a plethora of baby name inspo floating around on our TVs, ours for the taking. Whether we consider the names of the reality stars themselves or their cleverly named children, there are a variety of reality options, ranging from the Real Housewives to The Bachelor to the kooky Masked Singer.
Going beyond the usual name picks while still somehow refraining from encouraging everyone to name their babies The Situation Part 2, we picked names that stray from the beaten path, or at least, are not from the most dog-eared page of The Complete Baby Name Book in the library. The newest installment of Project Runway is about to grace our TVs (and laptops and cell phones) and while we don't yet know which contestants we'll fall in love with, we know we already obsessed with some of their names!
TRUE
No reality TV list would be complete without a Kardashian on the list. True is the name Khloe gave her daughter with Tristan Thompson and a rising unisex baby name. Just don't pick Jordyn as a middle name!
RAMONA
Ramona is a name inspired by The Real Housewives of New York’s most wide-eyed cast member. It has a Spanish origin and means “wise protector.” It also would work for anyone who loves Beverly Cleary.
CASSIDY
How can we mention the fence-jumping on season 23 of The Bachelor without mentioning the cause of Colton Underwood's fence-jumping, Cassidy? Cassidy, or Cassie for short, may have caused some heartbreak but she has a great name. Cassidy is a unisex name with an Irish origin meaning "curly-headed."
RUMER
Rumer was originally popular in the late 80s when Bruce Willis and Demi Moore chose the name for their baby daughter. The name was inspired by novelist Rumor Godden. Now that baby daughter has grown up and appeared as the Lion on the wacky reality show The Masked Singer causing a recent spike in the name’s popularity.
BENNY
No trip into the world of reality TV would be complete without a nod to the godfather of all Real Housewives programming, Andy Cohen. Andy recently became a father to baby Benjamin. Andy is calling him by the nickname Benny, which we agree is an adorable baby name.
CHRISTMAS
Christmas is an unusual name first brought to our attention via Big Brother housemate Christmas Abbott. The name Christmas is great for December-born babies. The unisex name is also an updated and more modern version of the names Noel/Noelle.
EVELYN
Evelyn is a lovely name meaning “wished for child.” It’s fairly popular as a girl’s name, but is less frequently used for boys. A reality star getting the name Evelyn out there is Evelyn Cormier. Evelyn is appearing on the 2019 season of American Idol, but reality TV aficionados (like us) will recognize her from her apple-loving engagement on 90 Day Fiancé.
GORDON
Gordon is a name of Scottish origin meaning “great hill.” It made our list after being inspired by reality cooking icon Gordon Ramsey. It works perfectly as a baby name because babies and Gordon Ramsey have a lot in common: they both love to scream.
LEGEND
Legend is a unisex that first entered the US Top 1,000 names in 2010, due in part to John Legend. The EGOT winner is also the reason the name has appeared on this now that John Legend is a judge on The Voice. Legend also works as a great middle name.
BRYNN
Also inspired by The Voice is the name Brynn. Brynn Cartelli was the season 14 winner of The Voice. As a name, Brynn has a Welsh origin and means “hill.” It’s also the name of The Real Housewives of New York’s Bethenny Frankel’s daughter.
DJANGO
The name Django comes to this list by way of Project Runway All Stars’s Django Steenbakker. The name Django has a Romani origin and means “I awake.” For anyone unsure of the pronunciation, the “D” is silent.
ACE
The Real Housewives of Atlanta has an Ace up their sleeve! Star Kandi Burruss chose the name Ace for her son. Ace is rising in popularity and has the Latin origin meaning “one, unity.”
FRANKIE
There is a new season of Project Runway and with it has come inspiration, both for the fashion world and for the world of baby names. Frankie Lewis is a contestant for the 2019 season and we love her passion and her name. Frankie is a unisex name, originally popular for boys and now gaining popularity for girls.
NADINE
Another Project Runway-inspired name is Nadine, after contestant Nadine Ralliford. Nadine is the French version of the Russian name Nadia. It means hope.
HESTER
Project Runway inspo strikes again! This time the name we love is Hester, based off of contestant Hester Sunshine, which is a great name all around. We also suggest Sunshine as a middle name.
VAEDA
Teen Mom has inspired many name trends, like Bentley and Jace in the past, and we think the trend will keep going. Teen Mom OG’s Tyler Baltierra and Catelynn Lowell newest baby is here and they’ve named her Vaeda. Other spellings of this name meaning “knowledge” are Veda and Vada, popular with super fans of the 90s movie My Girl.
BEAU
Vanderpump Rules in an inspiration … but only in the realm of baby names. Names like Jax and Ariana have been enjoying popularity and now it's someone else's turn. Stassi's boyfriend, Beau, has been a breath of fresh air on the show and as a baby name is a breath of fresh air to the family.
TAN
The Queer Eye reboot on Netflix brought so much joy into our lives and it also brought five great baby names. For this list we decided to pick Tan as the name to stan. Tan is especially on trend because muted color names and three-letter names are so popular.
GREYSON
When talking reality TV, we’d be remiss to not mention The Jersey Shore! While the names Snooki and Jwoww may not look quite right on a birth certificate, we can look to their children’s names for inspo. Jwoww named her son Greyson, an English name meaning “son of the steward.”
