Gaming’s Best Baby Names

Statistically, the late summer and early fall months of August and September hold the highest birth rates throughout the year. Between the joy of the holiday season and having little else to do during the cold winter months, couples turn to each other for entertainment and closeness. From these nights together comes a mushy mass that requires a name.

Over the past twenty years alone, hundreds of gaming characters have been created and labeled with unique and slightly unusual names. On top of continuously breathing life into an industry that can easily be plagued by blandness and dull repetition, these standout characters lend a hand in the baby naming process. If you’re a gamer looking to give your newborn the perfect name, you may not have to look any farther than your gaming library. Following is a small selection of top picks compiled through internet questionnaires and polls that encompasses a wide range of games and genres.

BOY NAMES:

Final Fantasy has not only produced well over 20 different titles, but has contributed plenty to the world of baby-naming. While the earlier games in the series has surely included a vast list of colorful names, it seems later titles like the 7th and 8th entries contributed an intriguing list of baby names that includes Barret, Cid, and Irvine. Series favorites Sephiroth, Cloud, and Squall seem surprisingly unused, leaving one to believe that even gamers have their boundaries.

Beyond Final Fantasy, though, there were several other surprises such as the popularity of the names Raiden and Jax, signifying that Mortal Kombat fans pay attention to more than just the plethora of blood. Cage received a few hits, mostly as a middle name, though. In the same action-esque vain of Mortal Kombat, Devil May Cry’s demon hunter Dante showed up quite a bit, as well.

In the midst of these names from classical tites were two somewhat common monickers whose uses seem to have been bolstered by a rather successful Playstation 3 series. Featured in the Uncharted series, the father-son relationship between Nathaniel and Sullivan (more specifically Nate and Sully) seems to have left enough of an impact on the gaming world to warrant having living beings named after them.

GIRLS NAMES:

Though some femme fetales on this list were from the Final Fantasy series, it seemed there was one other popular gaming saga that garnered the attention of soon-to-be parents across the country. While Link did not garner popular response, Zelda seems to have made the biggest impact in the gaming community.

Following in the footsteps of Raiden and Jax is Sindel, Mortal Kombat’s screaming banshee. Admittedly so, Sindel is amongst one of the classic fighter’s more attractive names. Jade popped up here and there while Kitana was neglected completely.

Before getting into the cast of Final Fantasy characters whose names have influenced the baby-naming game, there’s one name that came up quite often that seemed quite surprising. Acting as Master Chief’s inner monologue in the Halo series was Cortana, an Artificial Intelligence implanted into legendary soldier’s interface. Though Master Chief was the main character of the series, Cortana made a hefty impact.

Finishing off this brief look at baby girl names is a selection of Final Fantasy names from the 7th, 8th, and 10th games. Rinoa, Tifa, Yuna, and even the summon Shiva came up often, putting Final Fantasy at the top of the Baby Name insanity.

If you were to slap a video game label on your newborn, what would you choose? Are you partial to one specific game, or is your devotion to a specific set of names?