2026’s Biggest Baby Name Trend Is a Total Throwback

Double names have long been popular in the South, often as a way to honor family members while making the name a bit more unique (and, potentially, less confusing, so people know which Barbara or Anne you’re referring to). The practice actually dates back to 17^th-century England, though, when King Charles I took the throne. Double names were a big Catholic tradition and, being Catholic, he influenced the country and beyond at the time. (Many people wanted to name their children after a saint, and double names provided a more expanded list of first names for an ever-expanding population, Psychology Today asserts.)

For any potential parents-to-be, there is one facet of double-naming worth noting: Its impact on identity—and paperwork. Psychology Today’s research found many people with double names, such as Mary Anne or Ann-Louise, often abbreviated their names to just one word as they got older, which can cause issues with TSA—“your passport says ‘Betty Lou’ but your boarding pass says ‘Betty’”—or even squabbles within families, as people debate why one portion of the name was chosen over the other (“Are you favoring one side of the family?”).