At the start of each year the Office for National Statistics in the UK publishes the results of a survey of the most popular names given to babies born during the previous year.
This year in England Emily and Ellie pushed the previous favourite, Chloe, back to third place, although Jack kept its top spot for the ninth year in succession. Meanwhile in Scotland Chloe and Jack were deposed by Emma and Lewis.
But lower down the list, the new entrants and big climbers tend to reflect icons of popular culture, such as sports heroes, soap opera actors and stars of the modern music industry. This could account for the rising popularity of Poppy, Alfie, Harrison, Tyler, Harvey, Kian, Logan, Malachi, Roman and Xander.
On the other side of the Atlantic, new parents are trying to give their infants a head start in life by naming them after upmarket product brands such as L'Oreal, Armani or Chevrolet.
Cleveland Evans, a psychology professor at Bellevue University, Nebraska, has studied US baby names for 25 years. He says that naming a child after a brand such as Armani or Chanel, associated with money or exclusivity, reflects the material hopes of such families. 'It is no different from the 19th century when parents named their children Ruby or Opal... it reflects their aspirations,' he says.
Another reason for the popularity of brands as names is a growing desire by parents to mark their children out as different. And some certainly succeeded. Professor Evans found seven boys named after food giant Del Monte and no fewer than 49 called Canon after the Japanese camera manufacturer. Timberland and Courvoisier had six followers each, and a further seven boys were named Denim.
Car models were the inspiration for girls, with 22 answering to Infiniti and five to Celica.
All of which leads me to wonder how long it will be before the first baby is named Viagra or Cialis - either as a tribute to its conception or in the hope of bestowing future potency or fertility.