Berkshires, You’ll Never Guess The TV Show Behind 2022’s Most Popular Names

Here's a tough question, Berkshire County: What do you think the three most popular baby names were for 2022? I could probably make that an easier question to answer if I told you one interesting fact and here it is: All three names are inspired by the same TV show.

Does that make the question any easier? Some of you reading this may already have an idea which television show I'm referring to. For those of you who don't, here's a hint. It's a Western...a VERY POPULAR WESTERN.

The show is, of course, Yellowstone. The enormous success and popularity of that TV show have actually caused an upward trend of "cowboy names" for babies according to NameBerry, the world's largest website devoted to baby names.

In a recent study conducted by the team at Organic Baby Formula using data compiled from the U.S. Social Security Administration, they determined that the fastest-growing baby names of last year are the names of popular characters on Yellowstone.

Starting with the most popular, Dutton, Rip, and Kayce were the three names that saw the most gains in 2022. The last name of Kevin Costner's family on the show, Dutton, was 33 times more popular in 2022 than it was in 2021.

Fan-favorite Rip Wheeler, portrayed by Cole Hauser, always acts mean but has a very dark sense of humor. Fans of the show love the character, and that probably explains why Rip was the second most popular trending name.

Finally, the third most popular baby name of 2022, Kayce is from the character Kayce Dutton. One of the main characters John Dutton(Kevin Costner)'s sons, Kayce is an amazing father and always helps out his family making him another fan-favorite.

Something else of interest if you're a fan of Yellowstone, three other characters' names made the top 25: Laramie, Walker, and Tate. For more info on the study, including popular character names from other TV shows that made the list, check out Whiskey Riff's website here.