For some reason the fastest growing baby name in the U.S. isn’t Ben, the true name of Adam Driver’s character in the new Star Wars trilogy (which began with the The Force Awakens and continues with The Last Jedi). Instead the slightly mysterious moniker ‘Kylo’ is. As the first movie of the new Star Wars trilogy taught us, Ben Solo (son of Han Solo and Leia Organa) killed a group of Jedi knights in training under Luke Skywalker’s tuition, and then fled to join the First Order (which has arisen from the ashes of the Empire). At this point, Ben Solo became Kylo Ren (described as the leader of the Knights of Ren, although no other “Rens” have yet been seen), probably so-named by the equally mysterious Supreme Leader Snoke, who is infused with the dark side of the force (and who may or may not be a Sith).
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With that slice of exposition out of the way, it seems that the continued popularity of the forty-year old Star Wars franchise shows no signs of abating, and its social influence has extended to a current trend for naming (mostly) boys Kylo in the U.S.
Other names linked with popular culture that are rising:
Creed, Adonis (from Rocky sequel Creed);
Zayn, presumably after former One Direction singer Zayn Malik;
Kehlani, due to the popularity of the American singer-songwriter.
Figures released by the U.S. Social Security Administration show the name Kylo has jumped 2,368 spots to 901, as of May 2017. At the end of 2015 the name was ranked at 3,269th. In the past names of movie heroes would be adopted by some parents; now it appears that the bad guys are becoming just as popular.
