A 16-YEAR-OLD high school student and her baby boy have proven a rich source of inspiration for baby names in the US.

Maci Bookout first appeared in MTV’s show about teenage pregnancy called ’16 And Pregnant’, and later in ‘Teen Mom’, as she coped with life as a single mother of son Bentley. Both of their names became popular for newborns in the States last year, according to the 2010 list released by the US Social Security Administration.

The name of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s baby son Knox also trended at number three on the boys’ list with Kellan coming in second (after Twilight teen movie star Kellan Lutz). Tiana, third trending name for girls last year in the US, is apparently inspired by Princess Tiana in Disney’s The Princess and the Frog.

The LA Times says that while these TV, movie and celebrity-inspired trends are notable, there is also a resurgence in popularity of genteel, rather old-fashioned names like Ava and Chloe.

Sadly for Elvis fans, naming your child after The King has fallen out of favour – for the first time since 1954, ‘Elvis’ doesn’t appear in the top 1,000 names.

Trending names are those which saw the biggest surge in popularity in a year, but they are not necessarily the most popular. In the US in 2010, the top ten most popular baby names overall for each gender were…

Boys’ most popular names:

1. Jacob

2. Ethan

3. Michael

4. Jayden

5. William

6. Alexander

7. Noah

8. Daniel

9. Aiden

10. Anthony

Girls’ most popular names:

1. Isabella

2. Sophia

3. Emma

4. Olivia

5. Ava

6. Emily

7. Abigail

8. Madison

9. Chloe

10. Mia

The top trending names are…

For girls:

1. Maci

2. Giuliana

3. Tiana

4. Quinn

5. Adalynn

For boys:

1. Bentley

2. Kellan

3. Knox

4. Enzo

5. Karter

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