Parents turn to Cristal and other brands for baby names

NEW YORK - Americans are increasingly turning to brands when it comes to naming their babies, with several 'blinging' items making an appearance in the list of the 1,000 most popular baby names.

Cristal, the 拢130-a-bottle champagne brand favoured by rappers, is now also the first name of 479 baby girls born in 2002, according to research published by the US government department, the .

The research also reveals that parents have decided that the Toyota brand Lexus is the ideal name for a girl, with 311 babies named after the executive car marque last year. But Armani was split almost equally between the sexes, going to 221 boys and 244 girls. The universal appeal of his brand will likely delight the designer.

These names appear in the list of the top 1,000 names most commonly given to American babies last year, but a report in the Canadian newspaper the National Post says that outside the top 1,000, parents are calling on many other brands when it comes to naming their new born.

A blingin' 269 girls were named Chanel, 24 girls were called Porsche and six lucky boys got the boot when they were dubbed Timberland by their parents. Other brands to feature include Evian, which is naive spelt backwards, Fanta, Guinness, Stetson and even Nivea, the skincare brand.

In the UK, the name Chardonnay, along with the variation Chardonay, made an appearance among the most popular girls' names after a character in the schlocky TV show 'Footballers' Wives'.

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