Brooklyn! It’s currently one of the world’s most successful brands. For proof: Consider the fact that the once disparaged outer-borough has starred in its own Vogue spread and hosted two major runway shows. Brooklyn-themed restaurants are popping up all over the world (including on West Houston Street in Manhattan) and as The New York Times dubiously reported last year, stylish young Parisians (possibly) refer to cool things as being “très Brooklyn.”
No wonder Brooklyn is one of America’s most popular baby names, as the Associated Press reports today:
“Over the past two decades, Brooklyn as a name for girls has surged from No. 912 to the top 30 in each of the last three years. Some credit soccer star David Beckham and his wife, Victoria, for naming their son Brooklyn. Some cite model and actress Brooklyn Decker. Others point to Girls and the many other TV shows and movies that tap into the borough’s gritty, cool vibe.”
Whatever the case may be, New Yorkers are the only ones who aren’t naming their kids Brooklyn: despite being the 28th most popular girls name nationwide, Brooklyn doesn’t crack the Top 100 chart in the state of New York. As The New York Times noted in a post about the name’s rising popularity last year, Brooklyn is especially popular “in some of the country’s least Brooklynian precincts” — states like Utah (#9), Tenessee (#14), Alabama (#8) and West Virginia (#11).
