There’s just no denying how big an impact Disney, through Marvel Studios, has had on the global cinema box office through its gigantic Marvel Cinematic Universe. Through film, television, internet and even print media, its presence was ubiquitous; its films, now averaging two a year, are almost always certified blockbusters.
One indicator of how well entrenched the MCU was in the public consciousness was in how it has influenced the most popular names given to newborn babies in recent years. From a 2017-2018 period, the Social Security Administration collected data on the 1,000 most popular baby names in the US.
If you haven’t figured it out yet, said name list has some prominent places for names taken from Marvel characters, specifically ones that have appeared on the MCU. Here’s a list of the top MCU baby names for your consideration:
- Parker (4,346 boys, 1,487 girls) – from Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Tom Holland), who appeared in Captain America: Civil War (2016), Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) and Avengers: Infinity War (2018)…as well as a kid-cameo in Iron Man 2 (2010, unofficial)
- Natasha (355 girls) – from Natasha Romanov/Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), who appeared Iron Man 2, The Avengers (2012), Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2013), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War
- Pepper (7 boys, 121 girls) – from Virginia “Pepper†Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), who appeared in Iron Man (2008) and its sequels, The Avengers (as a cameo), Spider-Man: Homecoming and Avengers: Infinity War
- Loki (91 boys, 5 girls) – from Loki (Tom Hiddleston), who appeared in Thor (2011), The Avengers, Thor: The Dark World (2013), Thor: Ragnarok (2017) and Avengers: Infinity War
- Valkyrie (63 girls) – from Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) as seen in Thor: Ragnarok
- Marvel (29 boys, 21 girls) – from the Marvel brand itself, and possibly Captain Marvel (coming 2019)
- Banner (39 boys) from Bruce Banner/Hulk (Edward Norton and Mark Ruffalo) as seen in The Incredible Hulk (2008), The Avengers, Iron Man 3 (2013, cameo), Avengers: Age of Ultron, Thor: Ragnarok and Avengers: Infinity War
- Rocket (28 boys, 9 girls) – from Rocket “Raccoon†(Bradley Cooper) of the Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) and Avengers: Infinity War
- Cage (23 boys) – from Luke Cage (Mike Colter) as seen in Netflix shows Jessica Jones (since 2015), Luke Cage (since 2016) and The Defenders (2017)
- Quill (15 boys, 5 girls) – from Peter Quill/Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) of the Guardians of the Galaxy films and Avengers: Infinity War
- Drax (11 boys) – from Drax “the Destroyer” (Dave Bautista) as appearing in the same films as above
- Nebula (10 girls) – from Nebula (Karen Gillan) as appearing in the same films as the above two
- Hawkeye (6 boys) – from Clint Barton/Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) as seen in Thor (cameo), the first two Avengers films and Captain America: Civil War
There’s actually one other high ranking Marvel name, though it’s an odd one out due to it coming from 20th Century Fox’s X-Men film universe; the name? Wade as in Wade Wilson/Deadpool, given to 899 newborn baby boys from 2017 to 2018.
