Life

10 Baby Names Your Mother-In-Law Will Hate — Until They Meet Your Baby

by Kelly Mullen-McWilliams

All the cool generations love to push the envelope, but do they take things too far with cutting-edge baby names? According to Cafe Mom, millennial parents are passing over time-honored classics like Anne and Elizabeth in favor of more avant-garde monikers, making them baby names your mother-in-law will hate. But trust, you have this millennial's blessing for going ahead with them anyway. After all, you've got to be you — and grandma will get over it.

Let's face it, millennials are awesome. How could they not be, when their interests include technology, self-driving cars, affirmative consent, and stay-at-home fatherhood? So really, it should come as no surprise that they've got a few boundary-pushing baby names up their sleeves, too. Parents are naming their babies after Instagram filters like Lux, reported Time, while Business Insider noted that Ikea furniture makes great inspiration for a baby name. In pursuit of names that truly make an impression, parents are also looking to fantasy television hits like Game of Thrones and Greek and Roman mythology, reported Today's Parent.

But whatever their inspiration, one thing is for sure: millennial baby names are getting more unique by the hour. This generation values distinctiveness over popularity, and fewer parents are satisfied with plain old Jessica and Michael. So bring on baby Khaleesi and Tyrion — but good luck breaking the news to your mother-in-law.

1

Fox

According to Today, parents are loving animal-based baby names like Bear, Fox, Wolf, Lynx, and Falcon. They're super hip, and they have gender-neutral potential to boot. But will mother-in-laws hate it? You're taking a risk with the woodland creatures, you know.

2

Scarlett

Here's a neat new baby name trend, picked up by Today's Parent: names that end in double consonants, like Beckett, Truett, or Scarlett. In fact, I've already met a few Scarletts at my gym day care, and I can only think that mother-in-laws will wonder at the wisdom of naming your baby after the vanity-cursed character from Gone With The Wind. It's a beautiful name, though.

3

Famous

As Parents explained, turning regular nouns into baby names is totally in right now. Think Happy, Clever, Pretty, and Success. The baby name Famous is sure to get on your mother-in-law's nerves, especially if she buys into the old saw about millennial narcissism.

4

Katniss

Even if your mother-in-law is cool about pop culture, she might not relish a super recognizable blockbuster baby name, like Katniss from The Hunger Games. But according to Parents, such names are hip and trendy, with parents choosing names from popular books, movies, and television shows.

As for letting your mother-in-law know about this one ... may the odds be ever in your favor?

5

Jax

According to Cafe Mom, the baby name Jax didn't exist anywhere before the beginning of this century, making it a firmly millennial name. Your mother-in-law won't appreciate it, because its origins aren't exactly Biblical. In fact, Jax is a character in Mortal Kombat, a video game.

But really, why stop there? Any name culled from a video game is sure to irritate the previous generation. Game Skinny also recommended Epona (from The Legend of Zelda), Kratos (from God of War), and Jace (from Magic the Gathering). Can you imagine how cute it would be to have a baby Pikachu?

6

Hashtag

It's official. As of 2012, baby girl Hashtag is a real person, reported People. And why not? Twitter is a huge part of our culture, and worth celebrating. But what will the #inlaws think?

7

Justice

Millennials are into social change, and Justice is a strange and powerful baby name that reflects that. Unfortunately, your mother-in-law might find it a little too extreme. While the name is still very rare, that might soon change. According to AP News, gender-neutral baby names like Justice and Skyler are on the rise. Is your MIL here for it?

8

ILY

If there's one thing most parents of millennials don't care for, it's all those acronyms they don't understand. I knew this for truth after my mother totally called me out for using 'IRL' in a sentence one time.

According to Today's Parent, one new baby name trend that showed up in 2017 was the acronym name — like ILY, text jargon for "I Love You." No, your mother-in-law won't like this, JTLYK.

9

"Addyson, Paysley, Eryn, Allyson, Jessamyn, or Jessyca"

This power set comes from Scary Mommy, who noted with some annoyance that you can't just replace vowels with Ys all willy nilly and expect your kid to be taken seriously. I'm guessing your mother-in-law will feel the same about little baby Jessyca.

But guys, I'm for it, because Jessyca is the best of both worlds. While pronounced like the classic Jessyca, you still get tons of millennial mama street cred — for the spelling.

10

Tanqueray

While I'm personally on the fence about naming your baby after a bottle of anything, according to Parents, it's totally happening. There's no way your mother-in-law will approve of the baby names they recently found on the Social Security Administration's top 1000 list like Shiraz, Chardonnay, Gin, and Syrah.